Jewish Law from Jesus to the Mishnah
Five Studies
E. P. Sanders
Fortress Press
Minneapolis
JEWISH LAW FROM JESUS TO THE MISHNAH
Five Studies
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Cover image: Portion of a Synagogue Mosaic Floor (Replica), original Beth Alpha Synagogue, Israel, 6th century CE, Menorah, The Jewish Museum New York (photo) / Godong/UIG / Bridgeman Images
Cover design: Ivy Palmer Skrade
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Print ISBN: 978-1-5064-0609-1
eBook ISBN 978-1-5064-0816-3
Abbreviations and Transliterations
1. The Synoptic Jesus and the Law
Conflicts and Agreements in Comparison with other Contemporary Debates
2. Did the Pharisees Have Oral Law?
3. Did the Pharisees Eat Ordinary Food in Purity?
4. Purity, Food and Offerings in the Greek-Speaking Diaspora
5. Jacob Neusner and the Philosophy of the Mishnah
Fortress Press is pleased to publish this classic study by E. P. Sanders in a new edition. Typesetting the book anew has resulted in new format and new pagination throughout; it also allows us to produce an electronically searchable e-book, sold separately, for a new generation of readers.
Three of the studies collected here were written on the way to completing what I hope will be a fairly short book on Jewish practice and belief—with the emphasis on practice—in the early Roman period (63 bce to 66 ce). Some topics—pharisaic oral traditions (ch. II), pharisaic purity laws (ch. III), and various aspects of Diaspora praxis (ch. IV)—required extended presentation of the primary evidence, since my views diverge rather sharply from those which currently prevail. I argue that the special pharisaic traditions did not have the same status as the written law, that the Pharisees did not eat ordinary food in priestly purity, and that in the Diaspora Jews went their own way with regard to food, purity and donations to the temple, rather than basing their behaviour on Palestinian rules. Their food laws were their own, their purity practices were distinctive, and their gifts to the temple were determined by their own reading of the scriptures in Greek.
The first study, ‘The Synoptic Jesus and the Law’, serves two functions. It surveys the passages on the Jewish law in the synoptic gospels which I did not discuss in detail in Jesus and Judaism (1985) and demonstrates that my earlier conclusions stand even if one accepts many more passages as ‘authentic’. I have expanded the essay so that it will also serve as a primary introduction to numerous legal topics, many of which are taken ...
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About Jewish Law from Jesus to the Mishnah: Five StudiesIn this volume, E. P. Sanders presents five studies that advance the re-examination of the nature of Jewish law that he began in Jesus and Judaism (Fortress Press, 1985). As usual, he is able to shed new light on old questions and demonstrate that many accepted interpretations are misguided. A chapter on “The Synoptic Jesus and the Law” considers how serious the legal issues discussed between Jesus and his opponents would have been, had they been authentic. Two chapters explore whether the Pharisees had oral law, and whether they ate ordinary food in purity (the thesis of Jacob Neusner). A study of Jewish food and purity laws in the Greek-speaking Diaspora bears on the particular point of law which led to the argument between Peter and Paul at Antioch. Finally, Sanders turns to a pointed essay that sets his own approach to rabbinic traditions and the Mishnah in distinct contrast from that of Jacob Neusner. A new preface points to the enduring contribution of these compelling and influential studies. |
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