DOCSLIB.ORG

Is There Evidence of Alexandrian Culture Influencing the First Century Christians? – a Question Explored Through Christian

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Is There Evidence of Alexandrian Culture Influencing the First Century Christians? – a Question Explored Through Christian Is there evidence of Alexandrian Culture influencing the first century Christians? – a question explored through Christian connections to the practice of mummification. Craig L. Hall B.Ec (UNE), M.A. (Alphacrucis) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Research Department of Ancient History, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University, Sydney. 9th October 2015 ii Declaration of Authorship I, Craig L. Hall, hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of a university or other institution of higher learning, except where due acknowledgment is made in the acknowledgments. Date: 9th October 2015 iii Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... v Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... viii Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 Chapter One ..............................................................................................................................5 Why should Alexandria be a focus? ..................................................................................5 Christianity in the Roman Empire ......................................................................................8 Roman influence in the New Testament Corpus .............................................................9 Christians as Roman subjects – Disciplinary Methodology ........................................ 10 Hellenistic Egypt and the Ptolemies ............................................................................... 12 Alexandrian influence in first century Christians ........................................................... 15 Jews at Elephantine Egypt .............................................................................................. 16 Disciplinary Methodology and Lacuna ........................................................................... 18 Contextual Conclusions .................................................................................................... 21 Chapter Two ........................................................................................................................... 26 A Discussion of Method .................................................................................................... 26 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 26 Historical Method ............................................................................................................... 26 The Judge Method ............................................................................................................ 27 Ancient History in history - historical method ................................................................ 28 Social Scientific Method ................................................................................................... 31 Heterogeneous Methodology of ‘realia’ ......................................................................... 32 Methodological Conclusions ............................................................................................ 34 Chapter Three ........................................................................................................................ 35 Literature Review .............................................................................................................. 35 Chapter Four .......................................................................................................................... 48 Origins of Christianity in Egypt in Context ..................................................................... 48 Persistent Egyptian burial customs – mummification .................................................. 53 A Self-Identity Question .................................................................................................... 58 Mummification in Graeco-Roman Egypt ........................................................................ 66 Chapter Five ........................................................................................................................... 70 The Geographical spread of the Egyptian Method ...................................................... 70 Mummification in the Pacific ........................................................................................ 70 iv Mummification in Ephesus ........................................................................................... 70 Mummification in Rome ................................................................................................ 72 Chapter Six ............................................................................................................................. 74 Christians and Egyptian Mummification......................................................................... 74 Christians, Mummification, and Mummy Labels ........................................................... 81 Resurrection as an attractant .......................................................................................... 88 Conclusion - Mummification as a Christian marker ..................................................... 90 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 93 Ancient Sources & Papyri .................................................................................................. 114 Internet .................................................................................................................................. 115 Appendix 1 ........................................................................................................................... 116 Appendix 2 ........................................................................................................................... 116 Appendix 3……………………………………………………………………………...…..117 v Is there evidence of Alexandrian Culture influencing the First century Christians? – a question explored through Christian connections to the practice of mummification. Abstract This thesis research seeks to explore early Christianity in Egypt, particularly first century, by answering the question: Is there evidence of Alexandrian culture influencing the First century Christians? – and whether this may be a marker for early Christians in Egypt. Rather than seeking evidence conventionally via specificity of the term χριστιανοì or other nomina sacra in papyri, made difficult by the lack of first century examples, this thesis therefore takes the approach of looking for evidence of Alexandrian culture in Christian practice or texts. Do the Christians say they encountered and converted people from Alexandria, and is there other evidence of Egypto-Alexandrian culture meeting Christian culture? Due to Graeco-Roman culture being explicable from outside Alexandrian Egypt, this discussion focuses on the specificity of unique residual Egyptian culture persistent in the Alexandrian sphere – such as the process of mummification evident in first century Egypt and early Christian burial methods as a potential marker for both syncretistic practice and early Christian activity in Egypt in the first century. vi Abbreviations Ar Aristophanes Athanasius vita Ant Athanasius Vita Antoni Aug De Res Mort Augustine De Resurrectione Mortuorum Dio Cassius Hist. Rom Dio Cassius Historiae Romanae Diodorus Siculus Lib Hist Diodorus Siculus Library History Diog L De Vit Philos Diogenes Laertius De Vita Philos Ecc Hist Eusebius Ecclesiastical History Hdt Hist Herodotus The Histories Hp Off Hippocrates, De officina medici P.Grenf Papyrus Grenfell P.Eirene Papyrus Eirene P.Petaus Papyrus Petaus Philo Emb Gaius Philo The Embassy to Gaius Philo Flacc Philo Flaccus Plb Polybius Histories PSI Publicazioni della Società Italiana (Papiri greci e latini) SB Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Aegypten SB Kopt Koptisches Sammelbuch Sept Septuagint Simon., Anth Simonedes T.Mom.Louvre Tiquettes de momies du Musée du Louvre (Tablets) X. Eph Xenophon of Ephesus Ephesiaca Biblical Acts Acts of the Apostles (Book of Acts) 1 Cor 1 Corinthians (First Letter to Corinthians) 1 Pet 1 Peter (First Letter of Peter) Gal Galatians Gen Genesis Neh Nehemiah (Book of Nehemiah) NIV New International Version vii NKJV New King James Version NT New Testament OT Old Testament Rom Romans 2 Kgs 2 Kings (Second book of Kings) viii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Macquarie University for its Research Masters program and the Department of Ancient History and Faculty of Arts members who have assisted and supported me in this work. In particular many thanks to my supervisor Associate Professor Paul McKechnie for his availability, conversation, thoroughness and generosity. Also I am indebted to Emeritus Professor Edwin A. Judge for his time, encouragement and many discussions on the first century – his openness is greatly appreciated.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • EG-Helwan South Power Project Raven Natural Gas Pipeline
    EG-Helwan South Power Project The Egyptian Natural Gas Company Raven Natural Gas Pipeline ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT June 2019 Final Report Prepared By: 1 ESIA study for RAVEN Pipeline Pipeline Rev. Date Prepared By Description Hend Kesseba, Environmental I 9.12.2018 Specialist Draft I Anan Mohamed, Social Expert Hend Kesseba, Environmental II 27.2.2019 Specialist Final I Anan Mohamed, Social Expert Hend Kesseba, Environmental Final June 2019 Specialist Final II Anan Mohamed, Social Expert 2 ESIA study for Raven Pipeline Executive Summary Introduction The Government of Egypt (GoE) has immediate priorities to increase the use of the natural gas as a clean source of energy and let it the main source of energy through developing natural gas fields and new explorations to meet the national gas demand. The western Mediterranean and the northern Alexandria gas fields are planned to be a part from the national plan and expected to produce 900 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) in 2019. Raven gas field is one of those fields which GASCO (the Egyptian natural gas company) decided to procure, construct and operate a new gas pipeline to transfer rich gas from Raven gas field in north Alexandria to the western desert gas complex (WDGC) and Amreya Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant in Alexandria. The extracted gas will be transported through a new gas pipeline, hereunder named ‘’the project’’, with 70 km length and 30’’ inch diameter to WDGC and 5 km length 18” inch diameter to Amreya LPG. The proposed project will be funded from the World Bank(WB) by the excess of fund from the south-helwan project (due to a change in scope of south helwan project, there is loan saving of US$ 74.6 m which GASCO decided to employ it in the proposed project).
    [Show full text]
  • Saleh Poll Tax December 2011
    On the Road to Heaven: Poll tax, Religion, and Human Capital in Medieval and Modern Egypt Mohamed Saleh* University of Southern California (Preliminary and Incomplete: December 1, 2011) Abstract In the Middle East, non-Muslims are, on average, better off than the Muslim majority. I trace the origins of the phenomenon in Egypt to the imposition of the poll tax on non- Muslims upon the Islamic Conquest of the then-Coptic Christian Egypt in 640. The tax, which remained until 1855, led to the conversion of poor Copts to Islam to avoid paying the tax, and to the shrinking of Copts to a better off minority. Using new data sources that I digitized, including the 1848 and 1868 census manuscripts, I provide empirical evidence to support the hypothesis. I find that the spatial variation in poll tax enforcement and tax elasticity of conversion, measured by four historical factors, predicts the variation in the Coptic population share in the 19th century, which is, in turn, inversely related to the magnitude of the Coptic-Muslim gap, as predicted by the hypothesis. The four factors are: (i) the 8th and 9th centuries tax revolts, (ii) the Arab immigration waves to Egypt in the 7th to 9th centuries, (iii) the Coptic churches and monasteries in the 12th and 15th centuries, and (iv) the route of the Holy Family in Egypt. I draw on a wide range of qualitative evidence to support these findings. Keywords: Islamic poll tax; Copts, Islamic Conquest; Conversion; Middle East JEL Classification: N35 * The author is a PhD candidate at the Department of Economics, University of Southern California (E- mail: [email protected]).
    [Show full text]
  • Monumental Tombs of Ancient Alexandria
    P1: ILM/IKJ P2: ILM/SPH QC: ILM CB427-Venit-FM CB427-Venit April 10, 2002 13:36 Char Count= 0 MONUMENTAL TOMBS OF ANCIENT ALEXANDRIA The Theater of the Dead marjorie susan venit University of Maryland iii P1: ILM/IKJ P2: ILM/SPH QC: ILM CB427-Venit-FM CB427-Venit April 10, 2002 13:36 Char Count= 0 published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru,UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011-4211,USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon´ 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http: // www.cambridge.org C Marjorie Susan Venit 2002 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2002 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Sabon 10/13 pt. System LATEX2ε [tb] A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Venit, Marjorie Susan. Monumental tombs of ancient Alexandria : the theater of the dead / Marjorie Susan Venit. p. cm. isbn 0-521-80659-3 1. Tombs – Egypt – Alexandria. 2. Alexandria (Egypt) – Antiquities. 3. Alexandria (Egypt) – Social conditions. 4.Art– Egypt – Alexandria. I. Title. dt73.a4 v47 2002 932 – dc21 2001037994
    [Show full text]
  • Bio-Climatic Analysis and Thermal Performance of Upper Egypt “A
    ESL-IC-12-10-48 Bio-Climatic Analysis and Thermal Performance of Upper Egypt “A Case Study Kharga Region” Mervat Hassan Khalil Housing & Building National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt, P. Box 1770 E. mail: marvat.hassan.khalil@gmail .com ABSTRACT As a result of the change and development of Egyptian society, Egyptian government has focused its attention of comprehensive development to various directions. One of these attentions is housing, construction and land reclamation in desert and Upper Egypt. In the recent century the most attentions of the government is the creation of new wadi parallel to Nile wadi in the west desert. Kharga Oasis is 25°26′56″North latitude and 30°32′24″East longitude. This oasis, is the largest of the oases in the westren desert of Egypt. It required the capital of the new wadi (Al Wadi Al Gadeed Government). The climate of this oasis is caricaturized by; aridity, high summer daytime temperature, large diurnal temperature variation, low relative humidity and high solar radiation. In such conditions, man losses his ability to work and to contribute effectively in the development planning due to the high thermal stress affected on him. In designing and planning in this region, it is necessary not only to understand the needs of the people but to create an indoor environment which is suitable for healthy, pleasant, and comfortable to live and work in it. So, efforts have been motivated towards the development of new concepts for building design and urban planning to moderate the rate, direction and magnitudes of heat flow. Also, reduce or if possible eliminate the energy expenditure for environmental control.
    [Show full text]
  • En-10 Geochemical Characteristics and Environmental Isotopes Of
    Seventh Conference of Nuclear Sciences & Applications 6-10 February 2000. Cairo, Egypt En-10 Geochemical Characteristics and Environmental Isotopes of Groundwater Resources in some Oases in the Western Desert, Egypt EG0100098 M.S.Hamza, M.A.Awad, S.A.El-Gamal and M.A.Sadek Siting and Environmental Department, National Center for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Control, Atomic Energy Authority, 3 Ahmed El-Zomor St., Nasr City-11762, B.O.BOX 7551, Cairo-Egypt. ABSTRACT A study has been conducted using hydrochemistry and environmental isotopes (deuterium, oxygen-18 & carbon-14) on the Nubian Sandstone aquifer which underlies the Western desert oases. The concerned three oases (El-Farafra, El-Dakhla and El-Kharga) covers an area about 8000 km2 from the total area of the Western Desert. Seventy one water samples were collected from these three oases and subjected to both chemical and isotopic analysis to evaluate their groundwater resources. The hydrochemical data of these water samples reveals that thier salinity doesn't exceed 500 mg/I as well as the presence of marine and meteoric water types with different percentage. The mineralization of the investigated groundwater may be evoluated under flusing the original marine water entrapped between the pores of the aquifer matrix by meteoric water which is furthely modified through leaching, dissolution, cation exchange and oxidation-reduction processes. The investigated groundwater indicates some sort of quality hazards for drinking and domestic purposes due to the high concentration of both iron (agverage 6 mg/1) and hydrogen sulphide (average 2.5 nig/I ) relative to WHO standard. This water can be used safety for all kinds of livestocks.
    [Show full text]
  • HIST 351 Introduction to Ancient Egypt
    HIST 351 Introduction to Ancient Egypt Credits: 3.0 Contact hours: 45 This is a syllabus based on a popular course in our Cairo program prior to the program’s suspension in mid-2013. In reopening our Cairo program, we are both developing new courses and updating successful courses from past semesters. This syllabus is meant to be representative of this course. A fully updated version with new content and materials will not be available until closer to the start of the term in which it will run. Aims and Objectives of the Course: Students should leave this course with a basic understanding of ancient Egyptian civilization, as well as what influence it still has on modern culture. The course also aims to make ancient Egyptian civilization appear less distant and strange to students. It includes extensive discussion of cultural relativism meant to engage the students in the idea any cultural practice, taken out of context, could seem peculiar, eccentric, or even grotesque. The course introduces the students to historiography and enables them to read ancient Egypt’s history with a critical eye. Course Description: This course surveys ancient Egyptian civilization from approximately 5000 BC, when Neolithic culture begins on the Nile, to 30 BC, when Egypt becomes part of the Roman Empire. Students will be introduced to the history, art and architecture, and religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, as well as all aspects of daily life in ancient Egyptian times. The class will also consider the influence of ancient Egypt in modern culture. There will be field trips to pyramid sites and to the Cairo Museum, TBA.
    [Show full text]
  • Hellenistic and Pharaonic Influences on the Formation of Coptic Identity
    Scriptura 85 (2004), pp. 292-301 HELLENISTIC AND PHARAONIC INFLUENCES ON THE FORMATION OF COPTIC IDENTITY Annette Evans Department of Ancient Studies Stellenbosch University Abstract Conflicting descriptions of Coptic identity still exist today. The Copts regard themselves as those descendents of Pharaonic Egyptians who have retained their identity because of their Christian faith, in spite of Egypt having become a predominantly Islamic, Arab country. They claim to have “caught a glimpse of the Light of Christianity” before the birth of Christ. This article offers iconographical evidence to supplement an explanation of how the ancient Egyptian mythopoeic thinking, in combination with the syncretistic cultural environment of Hellenism, mediated this phenomenon. Today the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt represents “a return to the apostolic father type leading of the church”. Although pharaonic and gnostic influences appear to have contributed to their remarkable eusebeia, the Copts perceive themselves as having abided by the decisions of the first three Church Councils and have respected and upheld the canon. 1. Introduction The word Copt originated from the ancient Egyptian word for Memphis, Hah-ka-Ptah – the house or temple of the spirit of Ptah. With the suppression of the prefix and the suffix the stem kaPt or gypt remained, which was then corrupted to the Arabic Qibt (Atiya 1968:16). The Hellenes used Aiguptos for both Egypt and the Nile, and Aiguptoi was used by Origen to distinguish Egyptian Christians from Hellenes (Van der Vliet and Zonhoven 1998:117). The Copts have a unique identity: inseparable from their pharaonic past, yet intimately associated with the beginning of Christianity.
    [Show full text]
  • Christianity In
    CHRISTIANITY IN THE CONTEMPORARY MIDDLE EAS Venue: Mathematical Institute Presentations & Speakers Andrew Wiles Building Welcome - Martin Ganeri. O.R Vice regent, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter Blackfriars Hall, Oxford Woodstock Road Christianity in the Middle East - an Oxford, 0X2 6GG introduction and Overview - Anthony O'Mahony, Heythrop College, University of London Fee for the day (payable by cheque): £20 Christianity in Iraq: present situation and Includes lunch, tea & coffee future challenge - Professor Herman TeuleT Concessions on application. University of Louvain and Director. Institute for Registration deadline: Friday 24th Eastern Christianity October 2014 Coptic Christianity in Egypt today: reconfiguring power, religion and politics- To request a registration form please Dr Mariz Tadros, University of Sussex email Charlotte Redman: Armenian Christianity in the Middle East - [email protected] modern history and contemporary challenges - Dr Hratch Tchilingirian, Armenian Conference hosted by the Las Casas Institute, Studies, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford Blackfriars Hall, Oxford Erasing the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Orthodox Christians in Turkey: «»pH^!^&£: Comparative lessons for Middle Eastern Christianity from the Turkish model of Religious Cleansing - Prof Elizabeth Prodrornou, Tufts University, Former Commissioner and vice-chair US Commission on International Religious freedom 2004-2012 & currently US Secretary of State Working Group on Religion and Foreign Policy Programme 'Christianity in
    [Show full text]
  • Sarah the Princess: Tracing the Hellenistic Afterlife of a Pentateuchal Female Figure1
    Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, 2018 Vol. 32, No. 2, 115-134, http://dx.doi.org/1470850 Sarah the Princess: Tracing the Hellenistic Afterlife of a Pentateuchal Female Figure1 Hanna Tervanotko McMaster University, Department of Religious Studies University Hall, Room 127, 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1 [email protected] Elisa Uusimäki University of Helsinki, Department of Biblical Studies Faculty of Theology, P.O. Box 4, Vuorikatu 3 00014 Helsinki, Finland [email protected] ABSTRACT: This article analyses Philo of Alexandria’s and Josephus Fla- vius’s interpretations of Sarah from the viewpoint of social and political power attached to her. Both ascribe the figure royal attributes (i.e. she is depicted as a princess or queen) and other features that promote her as a virtuous model and an individual of public standing. A variety of emphases, philological and phil- osophical interpretations alike, jointly serve to construct Sarah’s exemplarity. The aim of this article is to demonstrate that different dimensions of biblical female figures may be revealed when their role as spouses and mothers is not taken as the starting point of analysis in studies concerning the reception his- tory of biblical women. Keywords: Sarah, Philo of Alexandria, Josephus Flavius, scriptural interpre- tation, biblical female figures 1. Introduction The figure of Sarah has been recently analysed in the cultural context of the Greco-Roman era by Maren Niehoff and Atar Livneh in particular.2 These 1. This work was supported by the Academy of Finland; under Grant 274924 and under Grant 285265. Many thanks to Joan Taylor and our colleagues in the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Helsinki for their astute feedback on earlier ver- sions of this article.
    [Show full text]
  • African Origins of Essene-Therapeutae
    The African-Egyptian Essene-Therapeutae Jews The word truly comes from the Egyptian word kashai, which means “secret.” And there is a Jewish word of similar sound, chsahi, meaning “secret” or “silent”; and this word would naturally be translated into essaios or “Essene,” denoting “secret” or “mystic.” Even Josephus found that the Egyptian symbols of light and truth are represented by the word choshen, which transliterates into the Greek as essen. Historical references have been found also wherein the priests of the ancient temples of Ephesus bore the name of Essene. A branch of the organization established by the Greeks translated the word Essene as being derived from the Syrian word asaya, meaning “physician,” into the Greek word therapeutes, having the same meaning. The Jewish historian, Josephus found that the Egyptian symbols for light and truth were represented in the word chosen, which in Greek also translates to Essen, leading to speculation that the Essenes may in fact be the chosen ones mentioned in The Bible. The Essenes referred to themselves as essania, meaning ‘Sons of the Sun’. This may help to explain why one of the most important movers in the early formation of the Brotherhood, the so called heretic Pharaoh, Akhenaten (Tuthmose III Great, Great Grandson) abandoned the old Gods in favour of the Aten, as represented by the solar disc. It is noteworthy that in his book, "The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls," A. Powell Davies says of the Essenes, "The Christian Church in its organization, its sacraments, its teaching and its literature is related to-and in its early stages may have been identical with-the New Covenanters, who were known as Essenes, some of whom wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls." Likewise significant in the pre-Qumran traditions of the Essenes is the existence of certain Zoroastrian elements, a fact which I have previously maintained and which Arnold Toynbee has also pointed out in a recent writing.
    [Show full text]
  • 2014.Axx Barbantani, Mother of Snakes and Kings
    Histos () – MOTHER OF SNAKES AND KINGS: APOLLONIUS RHODIUS’ FOUNDATION OF ALEXANDRIA* Abstract: Of all the lost Foundation Poems attributed to Apollonius Rhodius, active at the court of Ptolemy II, the Ktisis of Alexandria must have been the most important for his contemporaries, and surely is the most intriguing for modern scholars of the Hellenistic world. Unfortunately, only a brief mention of this epyllion survives, in a scholion to Nicander’s Theriaka , relating to the birth of poisonous snakes from the severed head of Medusa, carried by Perseus over Libya . Deadly and benign serpents belong to a multi- cultural symbolic imagery intertwined with the Greek, Macedonian, Egyptian and Jewish origins of the city. This paper explores the possible connections of the only episode preserved from Apollonius’ Ktisis with the most ancient known traditions on the foundation of Alexandria —possibly even created at the time of Alexander or of the first Lagid dynasts, Ptolemy I and II. And I wished he would come back, my snake. For he seemed to me again like a king, Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld, Now due to be crowned again. D. H. Lawrence , Snake (Taormina, ) Introduction pollonius of Rhodes is credited with a certain number of Foundation poems in hexameters, namely on Alexandria, Naucratis, Caunus, ACnidus, Rhodes and, possibly, Lesbos. The epic poem Argonautica is Apollonius’ only work which has survived through direct tradition, and the only one mentioned in the biographical sources, while his Κτίσεις are only known through short quotations and summaries by different ancient authors * The research on Apollonius’ Κτίσεις began in , when I was asked to edit the fragments for FGrHist IV, ed.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Essenism: Heinrich Graetz and Mysticism
    Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Faculty Scholarship 1998 A New Essenism: Heinrich Graetz and Mysticism Jonathan Elukin Trinity College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/facpub Part of the History Commons Copyright © 1998 The Journal of the History of Ideas, Inc.. All rights reserved. Journal of the History of Ideas 59.1 (1998) 135-148 A New Essenism: Heinrich Graetz and Mysticism Jonathan M. Elukin Since the Reformation, European Christians have sought to understand the origins of Christianity by studying the world of Second Temple Judaism. These efforts created a fund of scholarly knowledge of ancient Judaism, but they labored under deep-seated pre judices about the nature of Judaism. When Jewish scholars in nineteenth-century Europe, primarily in Germany, came to study their own history as part of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement, they too looked to the ancient Jewish past as a crucia l element in understanding Jewish history. A central figure in the Wissenschaft movement was Heinrich Graetz (1817-1891). 1 In his massive history of the Jews, the dominant synthesis of Jewish history until well into the twentieth century, Graetz constructed a narrative of Jewish history that imbedded mysticism deep within the Jewish past, finding its origins in the first-cen tury sectarian Essenes. 2 Anchoring mysticism among the Essenes was crucial for Graetz's larger narrative of the history of Judaism, which he saw as a continuing struggle between the corrosive effects of mysticism [End Page 135] and the rational rabbinic tradition. An unchanging mysticism was a mirror image of the unchanging monotheistic essence of normative Judaism that dominated Graetz's understanding of Jewish history.
    [Show full text]