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[German Version] I. Epistle of Jeremiah – II. Paraleipomena Jeremiou I. Epistle of Jeremiah The Epistle of Jeremiah (‘Επίστολη ᾿Ιερεμίου/ Epístolē Ieremíou, Epistula Jeremiae, Ep Jer) purports to be a copy of a letter sent by the prophet Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon (Babylonian Exile). The Greek letter, probably composed originally in Hebrew or Aramaic between 330 and 180, is treated by the Septuagint as an independent literary entity; the Vulgate instead integrates it into the book of Baruch as ch. 6. Closely dependent on Isa 44:9–20 and Jer 10:1–16, it is an admonitory explanation of the true nature of the Babylonian gods and their images: being corruptible, …

[German Version] (Sep 20, 1900, Dresden – Sep 6, 1979, Tübingen). Jeremias earned his Dr.phil. in 1922, his Lic.theol. in 1923, and gained his Habilitation in New Testament at Leipzig in 1925. During his teaching career, he was tutor at the Theological Seminary of the Brethren in Herrnhut (1922; Bohemian and Moravian Brethren: II), lecturer at the Herder Institute in Riga (1924), associate professor and director of the Institutum Judaicum in Berlin (1928), professor at Greifswald (1929) and Göttingen (1935) before becoming emeritus in 1968. Jeremias was one of the outstanding…

[German Version] I. Definitions and Problems - II. Greco-Roman Antiquity- III. New Testament (Primitive and Early Christianity) - IV. Christian Antiquity to the Beginning of the MiddleAges - V. The Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period - VI. German Anti-Semitism in Recent History - VII. Systematic Theology I. Definitions and Problems The term “anti-Semitism” in its narrowest sense relates to a racist ideology that emerged in France and Germany in the last decades of the 19th century and depicted Jews as a separate race which endangered European culture and life. It became the official ideology of various European political parties and in the 20th century it was translated into concrete policies in various dictatorships in Germany, Hungary, Romania and Poland. It was used to justify the Holocaust. In the now customary broader sense, “anti-Semitism” refers to hatred of Jews known to us from the works of numerous Hellenistic and Roman authors in antiquity and which took a wide variety of forms in Christian and Islamic cultures in the Middle Ages and modern times. It brought about a lasting discrimination against Jews, excluding them, for instance, from positions of authority and forcing them into restricted economic and social structures. Ghetto formed; special Jewish clothing was required; there were often forced conversions, and the Jews were generally regarded as an inferior and dangerous group. Jews were driven out of almost all European countries and territories, often for centuries, and European history documents many massacres of thousands, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of Jews. In the 20th century the number of victims of anti-Semitism reached the millions. Since the history of anti-Semitism extends over more than two millennia in a large number of countries and in a wide variety of historical and cultural circumstances, it resists any religious, cultural or economic explanation. Attempts have been made in the past and the present to describe and explain the phenomenon of “anti-Semitism” on an economic, social and psychological as well as religious basis, but no comprehensive understanding that explains its widespread appearance and varied expressions in different circumstances has been achieved. Anti-Semitism flourishes even in places where the practice of religion is in decline. It survived Jewish assimilation and integration in society, in connection with which Jews relinquished all special social and economic features. Anti-Semitism was even sustained in places where almost all Jews had been annihilated, as in post-war Poland. The study and discussion of anti-Semitism has come to occupy a central position in academic research among scholars of history, sociology, psychology, religious studies, and philosophy in the countries and nations concerned. The catalogue of the Harvard University Library lists 3000 books on the subject, and scholarly periodicals and institutes are occupied with it in many countries and many languages. Increasingly it is being realized that this field holds important implications for all aspects of human thought and bel…

[German Version] I. Terminology The Hebrew title רַבִּי/ rabbî is derived from the nominalized adjective רַב/ rab, “great, of high rank,” which in postbiblical Hebrew took on the meaning “master” (Rav) in contrast to a slave or student/disciple ( m. Sukk. 2:9; m. Giṭ. 4:4; m. ʾAbot 1:3). The honorific rabbi (“my master/teacher”) became a title, associated with the names of Palestinian men of learning (e.g. Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph), while Rav was used for Babylonian rabbis. Rabbi is also found as a name for Judah ha-Nasi. The Aramaic form rabban (“our master”) is associated with some 1st- and 2nd-century rabbis, e.g. Yohanan …

[German Version] From the days of the Early Church, relations between Christianity and Judaism were dominated for the most part by theological hostility and practical enmity (Anti-Semitism/Anti-Judaism). The relationship was marked by contempt and persecution on the part of Christians, aversion and resistance on the part of Jews (Judaism and Christianity). Before the 19th century, only occasional encounters questioned the traditional antagonism and emphasized matters in…

[German Version] I. Problems of Terminology – II. Early Judaism – III. New Testament and Primitive Christianity – IV. Early Church – V. Middle Ages to the Present – VI. The Church and Judaism Today I. Problems of Terminology The terminological distinction between Judaism and Christianity (Ἰουδαϊσμός – Χριστιανισμός) made its first appearance at the beginning of the 2nd century, initially in the Ignatian Epistles (Ign. Magn. 10.3; Phld.…

[German Version] ( Apoc. Sedr.), apocalyptically conventionalized didactic text, mostly on anthropological themes, named after the biblical Sedrach/Shadrach (LXX and Θ Dan 1:7; 3:12 – corruption of Esdras [Ezra]?). It records Sedrach’s rapture to the third heaven, where he argues with God about the causes of human suffering, the power of the devil, Adam’s sin, the frailness of the body, and the length of sinners’ penance. The date, source, and even the exact compass of the apocalypse are unclear. The text survives fragmen…

Pharisees were members of one of the group movements that characterized early Judaism (Essenes; Sadducees). The name, first found in Phil. 3:5 and based on Aram. pĕrîšayyâ (= Heb. pĕrûšîm, “separated ones”), might well have been first used by others to denote separatists, but the Pharisees themselves could also adopt it in the sense of holy or abstemious ones. 1. Sources We have no reliable sources dating from the period before a.d. 70. For sources we are dependent on Josephus (ca. 37–ca. 100, J.W.  and Ant. ), primitive Christian writings (Paul, the Gospels, and Acts, which are in part anti-Pharisaic), and later rabbinic accounts (Mishnah; Talmud). 2. History The origins of the Pharisaic movement are obscure. It is suspected that there are links to a “company of Hasideans … who offered themselves willingly for the law” (1 Macc. 2:42), which participated in the Maccabean revolt. We know little, however, about the spread or development of such a group. We first find something tangible…

The term “Sadducees” (Gk. saddoukaioi, Heb. ṣaddûqîm, Aram. ṣadduqayya, thought to derive from David’s high priest, Zadok [ ṣādôq], see 2 Sam. 15:24–29) is used for members of a party of priests and nobles in Jerusalem. We have references to them, at times under the name “Boethusians,” only occasionally in Josephus and early Christian and rabbinic writings, mostly hostile. Only within limits, then, can we reconstruct their history and character. Historically important is the question of power in the political and religious life of Palestinian Judaism fro…

The seventh day of the week as a day of rest is one of the basic religious and social institutions of Judaism and, along with circumcision, a chief mark of Jewish identity. 1. Term In both biblical and postbiblical texts the usual term is šabbāt. We also find šabbātôn (also meaning “seventh year”) and the combination šabbat šabbātôn, “Sabbath of complete rest,” which can refer to the Sabbath year or to the Day of Atonement. 2. Origin We have no clear knowledge of the origin of the term, which is etymologically obscure. Some derive it from the Heb. verb šbt (cease, celebrate), other…

1. Herod the Great (“the Elder,” according to Josephus Ant.  18.130), the founder of the last Jewish dynasty, derived on his father’s side from Idumeans, who had been forcibly Judaized, and on his mother’s side from Nabateans. He was born in 73 b.c. Already in his youth he was given political appointments by his father Antipater, one of the highest officials in the Hasmonaean kingdom. In 47 b.c. he became military commander in Judea. Like his father, he exploited power struggles between the Hasmonaean br…

The Hasmonaeans (also sometimes called the Maccabees) were the last Jewish ruling family. Under the Hasmonaeans the Jews in Palestine enjoyed a period of political independence in the second and first centuries b.c. The Hasmonaean name occurs for the first time in Josephus (Asamonaioi), and later it is common in the rabbinic writings (beth/bĕnê ḥašmonai). The derivation is uncertain. Josephus ( Ant.  12.265; J.W.  1.36) refers to an ancestor of the same name, but more likely it arises from an association with the place Heshmon (Josh. 15:27) or Hashmonah (Num. 33:29–30). The family was of priestly origin. It did not originally belong to the priestly aristocracy (Priest, Priesthood) but to a simple priestly group (the family of Joarib, 1 Macc. 2:1–5; cf. Joiarib in Neh. 11:10; 12:6, 19). It owed its rise to power to the leading role played by the Hasmonaean Mattathias (1 Macc. 2:15–28, 42–48) and his sons Judas (“who was called Maccabeus,” 166–160 b.c., 1 Macc. 3:1–9:23; 2 Macc. 8–15), Jonathan (160–143, 1 Macc. 9:31–12:52), and Simon (143–135, 1 Macc. 13:1–16:16) in the war against the Seleucids. The Hasmonaeans…

1. The name “Enoch” (or “Hanoch,” both from Gk. Henōch, Heb. ḥănôk) is of uncertain meaning, perhaps “follower” or “initiate.” It is used in the Bible for various figures in Genesis 1–11 and the story of the patriarchs: (1) the eldest son of Cain and builder of the first city, of the same name (Gen. 4:17–18); (2) the son of Jared, descendant of Seth (see 2); (3) the son of Midian, grandson of Abraham (Gen. 25:4; 1 Chr. 1:33); and (4) the eldest son of Reuben, grandson of Jacob (Gen. 46:9; Exod. 6:14; 1 Chr. 5:3), and founder of the family of the Hanochites (Num. 26:5). 2. Jewish piety connected many speculations with Enoch the son of Jared. Already in the oldest account (Gen. 5:21–24 P), he bears many mythical features. He lives for 365 years, the number of days in the solar year. He is distinguished by a close walk with God and by experiencing translation instead of death. He is the seventh of the fathers of the race after Adam. All these m…

The office of high priest, directing the cult and its personnel, was one of the religious institutions of Israel (§1), as it was of most ancient societies. 1. We have no documentation from the earliest period. The oldest references come from the age of the monarchy (Amos 7:10–15; 1 Sam. 14:3; 21:1–9; 2 Kgs. 12:7; …