- 368 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
How the Bible Became Holy
About This Book
In this sweeping narrative, Michael Satlow tells the fascinating story of how an ancient collection of obscure Israelite writings became the founding texts of both Judaism and Christianity, considered holy by followers of each faith. Drawing on cutting-edge historical and archeological research, he traces the story of how, when, and why Jews and Christians gradually granted authority to texts that had long lay dormant in a dusty temple archive. The Bible, Satlow maintains, was not the consecrated book it is now until quite late in its history.
He describes how elite scribes in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E. began the process that led to the creation of several of our biblical texts. It was not until these were translated into Greek in Egypt in the second century B.C.E., however, that some Jews began to see them as culturally authoritative, comparable to Homerâs works in contemporary Greek society. Then, in the first century B.C.E. in Israel, political machinations resulted in the Sadducees assigning legal power to the writings. We see how the world Jesus was born into was largely biblically illiterate and how he knew very little about the texts upon which his apostles would base his spiritual leadership.
Synthesizing an enormous body of scholarly work, Satlowâs groundbreaking study offers provocative new assertions about commonly accepted interpretations of biblical history as well as a unique window into how two of the worldâs great faiths came into being.
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Table of contents
- Contents
- Note on Documentation and Sources
- Map
- Introduction
- Part I
- 1 The Northern Kingdom: Israel, 922â722 BCE
- 2 The Writings of Judah: Judah, 722â586 BCE
- 3 The Second Commonwealth: Babylonia, Persia, and Yehud, 586â520 BCE
- 4 Ezra and the Pentateuch: Persia and Yehud, 520â458 BCE
- 5 Nehemiah to Chronicles: Yehud and Elephantine, 445â350 BCE
- Part II
- 6 The Dawn of Hellenism: Judea, 350â175 BCE
- 7 The Maccabean Revolt: Judea, 175â135 BCE
- 8 The Holy Books: Judea, 135â104 BCE
- 9 The Septuagint: Alexandria, Third Century BCEâFirst Century CE
- 10 The Sadducees and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Judea, 104â103 BCE
- Part III
- 11 Jesus and the Synagogue: Judea and Galilee, 4 BCEâ30 CE
- 12 Paul: Jerusalem And Abroad, 37â66 CE
- 13 The Gospels: Judea, 66â100 CE
- 14 Early Christians: Rome and Egypt, 100â200 CE
- 15 The Rabbis: Judea, 100â220 CE
- Epilogue
- Chronology
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments
- General Index
- Index of Scripture and other Ancient Sources