Jews, Christians, and the Roman Empire: The Poetics of Power in Late Antiquity

400 Pages·2016·6.28 MB·English

by  Natalie B. Dohrmann and Annette Yoshiko Reed

Jews, Christians,
and the Roman Empire
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JEwish CultuRE and ContExts
Published in association with
the herbert d. Katz Center for advanced Judaic studies
of the university of Pennsylvania
david B. Ruderman, series Editor
Advisory Board
Richard i. Cohen
Moshe idel
alan Mintz
deborah dash Moore
ada Rapoport-albert
Michael d. swartz
a complete list of books in the series
is available from the publisher.
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JEw s, ChR ist i a ns,
and the
RoM a n EMPiR E
the Poetics of Power in late antiquity
Edited by
natalie B. dohrmann
and
annette Yoshiko Reed
university of pennsylvania press
philadelphia
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Publication of this volume was assisted by grants from
the herbert d. Katz Publications and Martin d. Gruss
Endowment Funds of the herbert d. Katz Center
for advanced Judaic studies of the university of Pennsylvania.
Copyright © 2013 university of Pennsylvania Press
all rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for
purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book
may be reproduced in any form by any means without
written permission from the publisher.
Published by
university of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
www.upenn.edu/pennpress
Printed in the united states of america on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Jews, Christians, and the Roman Empire : the poetics of power
in late antiquity / edited by natalie B. dohrmann and annette
Yoshiko Reed. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Jewish culture and contexts)
includes bibliographical references and index.
isBn 978-0-8122-4533-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Judaism—history—talmudic period, 10–425. 2. Church
history—Primitive and early church, ca. 30–600. 3. Rome—
Religion. i. dohrmann, natalie B. ii. Reed, annette Yoshiko,
1973–. iii. series: Jewish culture and contexts.
BM177.J495 2013
296.09’014—dc23
2013004237
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Contents
list of abbreviations ix
introduction: Rethinking Romanness, Provincializing Christendom 1
Annette Yoshiko Reed and Natalie B. Dohrmann
PaRt i. RaBBis and othER RoMan suB-ElitEs 23
1. The afterlives of the torah’s Ethnic language: The sifra and Clement on
leviticus 18.1–5 29
Beth A. Berkowitz
2. The Kingdom of Edessa and the Creation of a Christian aristocracy 43
William Adler
3. law and imperial idioms: Rabbinic legalism in a Roman world 63
Natalie B. Dohrmann
4. The law of Moses and the Jews: Rabbis, Ethnic Marking,
and Romanization 79
Hayim Lapin
PaRt ii. ChRistianization and othER
ModalitiEs oF RoManization 93
5. There is no Place like home: Rabbinic Responses to
the Christianization of Palestine 99
Joshua Levinson
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vi Contents
6. Between Gaza and Minorca: The (un)Making of Minorities in late
antiquity 121
Hagith Sivan
7. Christian historiographers’ Reflections on Jewish-Christian Violence in
Fifth-Century alexandria 137
Oded Irshai
8. narrating salvation: Verbal sacrifices in late antique liturgical Poetry 154
Ophir Münz-Manor
9. israelite Kingship, Christian Rome, and the Jewish imperial imagination:
Midrashic Precursors to the Medieval “Throne of solomon” 167
Raʿanan Boustan
PaRt iii. ContinuitY and RuPtuRE 183
10. Chains of tradition from Avot to the ʿAvodah Piyutim 189
Michael D. Swartz
11. Change and Continuity in late legal Papyri from Palaestina tertia:
Nomos Hellênikos and Ethos Rômaikon 209
Hannah M. Cotton
12. The Representation of the temple and Jerusalem in Jewish and Christian
houses of Prayer in the holy land in late antiquity 222
Rina Talgam
13. Roman Christianity and the Post-Roman west: The social Correlates of
the Contra Iudaeos tradition 249
Paula Fredriksen
notes 267
select Bibliography of secondary sources 345
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Contents vii
list of Contributors 379
index 383
acknowledgments 389
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abbreviations
CJ The Justinian Code, Codex Justinianus, ed. P. Krüger (Berlin,
1877, 192910).
CTh The Theodosian Code, ed. t. Mommsen and P. M. Meyer,
Theodosiani libri XVI (Berlin, 1905); trans. C. Pharr, The
Theodosian Code and Novels: And the Sirmondian Consti-
tutions (2nd ed.; union, n.J., 2001 [1952]).
Egeria Itinerarium Egeriae, John wilkinson, Egeria’s Travels (3rd ed.;
warminster, 1999).
Eusebius, DE Eusebius, Demonstratio evangelica, ed. i. heikel, GCs Euse-
bius werke 4 (leipzig, 1913).
Eusebius, HE Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica, ed. E. schwartz and t.
Mommsen, GCs n.F. 6 (2nd ed.; Berlin, 1999); trans. G.
a. williamson (new York, 1965).
Eusebius, PE Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica, ed. K. Mras, GCs 43.1–2
(Berlin, 1954–1956).
Eusebius, VC Eusebius, Vita Constantini, ed. F. winkelmann, GCs Euse-
bius werke 1.1 (2nd ed.; Berlin, 1991); trans. averil Cam-
eron and stuart G. hall, Eusebius: Life of Constantine
(oxford, 1999).
JLA Journal of Late Antiquity
laa late antique archaeology
Sirm. Constitutiones Sirmondianae, ed. t. Mommsen and P. M.
Meyer, Theodosiani libri XVI cum constitutionibus sirmon-
dianus (Berlin, 1905); trans. C. Pharr (union, n.J., 2001
[1952]).
socrates, HE socrates of Constantinople, Histoire ecclésiastique, ed.
G. C. hansen, 4 vols., sC 477, 493, 505, 506 (Paris,
2004–2007).
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