In modern times, various Jewish groups have argued whether Jewishness is a function of ethnicity, of nationality, of religion, or of all three. These fundamental conceptions were already in place in antiquity. The peculiar combination of ethnicity, nationality, and religion that would characterize Jewishness through the centuries first took shape in the second century B.C.E. This brilliantly argued, accessible book unravels one of the most complex issues of late antiquity by showing how these elements were understood and applied in the construction of Jewish identity?by Jews, by gentiles, and by the state.
Beginning with the intriguing case of Herod the Great's Jewishness, Cohen moves on to discuss what made or did not make Jewish identity during the period, the question of conversion, the prohibition of intermarriage, matrilineal descent, and the place of the convert in the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds. His superb study is unique in that it draws on a wide range of sources: Jewish literature written in Greek, classical sources, and rabbinic texts, both ancient and medieval. It also features a detailed discussion of many of the central rabbinic texts dealing with conversion to Judaism.
In modern times, various Jewish groups have argued whether Jewishness is a function of ethnicity, of nationality, of religion, or of all three. These fundamental conceptions were already in place in antiquity. The peculiar combination of ethnicity, nationality, and religion that would characterize Jewishness through the centuries first took shape in the second century B.C.E. This brilliantly argued, accessible book unravels one of the most complex issues of late antiquity by showing how these elements were understood and applied in the construction of Jewish identity?by Jews, by gentiles, and by the state.
Beginning with the intriguing case of Herod the Great's Jewishness, Cohen moves on to discuss what made or did not make Jewish identity during the period, the question of conversion, the prohibition of intermarriage, matrilineal descent, and the place of the convert in the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds. His superb study is unique in that it draws on a wide range of sources: Jewish literature written in Greek, classical sources, and rabbinic texts, both ancient and medieval. It also features a detailed discussion of many of the central rabbinic texts dealing with conversion to Judaism.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A NOTE ON God AND PARENTHESES
PROLOGUE: JEWS AND OTHERS
PART I: WHO WAS A JEW?
I
Was Herod Jewish?
2
"Those Who Say They Are Jews and Are Not":
How Do You Know a Jew in Antiquity When
You See One?
3
Ioudaios, Iudaeus, Judaean, Jew
PART II: THE BOUNDARY CROSSED:
BECOMING A JEW
4
From Ethnos to Ethno-religion
5
Crossing the Boundary and Becoming a Jew
6
Ioudaizein, "to Judaize"
7
The Rabbinic Conversion Ceremony
PART III: THE BOUNDARY VIOLATED:
THE UNION OF DIVERSE KINDS
8
The Prohibition of Intermarriage
9
The Matrilineal Principle
IO
Israelite Mothers, Israelite Fathers: Matrilineal
Descent and the Inequality of the Convert
EPILOGUE: JEWS, JUDAISM, AND
JEWISHNESS: US AND THEM
APPENDIX A: WAS MARTIAL'S SLAVE
JEWISH?
APPENDIX B: WAS MENOPHILUS
JEWISH?
APPENDIX C: WAS TROPHIMUS
JEWISH?
APPENDIX D: WAS TIMOTHY JEWISH?
GLOSSARY OF SOME HEBREW TERMS
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS
GENERAL INDEX
INDEX OF PREMODERN SOURCES
INDEX OF MODERN SCHOLARS
Shaye J. D. Cohen is Ungerleider Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University. His earlier books include Josephus in Galilee and Rome: His Vita and Development as a Historian (1979) and From the Maccabees to the Mishnah: A Profile of Judaism (1987).
"I cannot begin to do justice to the nuances and wealth of information that these articles offer. Cohen possesses an enviable gift of being provocative and challenging... He opens the door to the rewarding realm of the internal life of one community. And as unrepresentative as this community may, at first, appear, no scholar interested in issues of identity, self-definition, core and periphery, community and law, family, class and gender in antiquity can afford to give Cohen a miss." - Hagith Sivan, Bryn Mawr Classical Review "One of the greatest strengths of Cohen's erudite book is that he is willing to acknowledge that many parts of his argument are open to challenge. While some might be overwhelmed by the sheer volume, this reviewer thinks he has done a great service in collecting an immense amount of relevant data, allowing readers to weigh the evidence for themselves and draw their own conclusions... Cohen's book is the most comprehensive study to date on the question of Jewish identity in antiquity." - J. S. Kaminsky, Choice "Cohen himself exemplifies the scrupulous precision which he shows to be necessary to his subject... An outstanding work of scholarship." - M. J. Edwards, Classical Review"
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