INTRODUCTION TO SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM

SPRING 2011
3 SEMESTER HOURS

WELCOME

I look forward to our shared opportunity of learning as we get to know each

other by studying together an often neglected period of biblical history. Many
OT courses never make it this far in the history and NT courses simply skim the
surface before jumping into the Roman historical period. Hopefully this course
will help us fill out the “blank page” between the OT and NT in our Bibles. I
encourage you to think beyond credits and grades and enjoy exploring this
period of history.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this course, we will study the history of Judah/Judea from 539, the rise of
Cyrus and the Persian Empire, to 70 CE, the destruction of the second temple.
The focus of the course will be the socio-political highlights surrounding Syria-
Palestine and their implications to the political and religious developments of
Judah primarily during the Persian and Greek periods with some attention given
to the early Roman period. We will survey significant people and events via
historical sources of the period (including biblical and intertestamental
documents), archeological findings, and secondary interpretations.

COURSE RELATIONSHIP

Prerequisites for this course are OT 520 Old Testament Introduction and NT 520
New Testament Introduction.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Alan Cope
alan.cope@asburyseminary.edu
103 Seamands Dr., Wilmore, KY 40390
615-415-4746
alancope.wordpress.com

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Learning is shared experience just like a great meal around the table. Each of us
should prepare something to share with others and engage each other in
conversation, laughter, debate, listening, insight, and discovery.
COURSE OBJECTIVES

The course will enable us to:

 Assemble a framework of the socio-political highlights of the period

linking it with existing knowledge of the OT and NT historical periods

 Survey, summarize, analyze, and compare primary historical sources

 Develop skills in researching, thinking, writing, reading, and working

together

 Learn and apply skills in evaluating interpretations of history

 Identify, plan, and assess one additional learning goal of your own
choosing

REQUIRED ASSIGNMENTS

• Weekly Participation & Learning Assessments (360 points)

Each Monday a weekly assignment will be posted in the online classroom.

The assignment will include the reading for the week and some learning
activity you will participate in. These learning activities may include postings
on the online discussion board, group activities, short writing assignments, or
simple visual projects like a timeline or diagram. Your participation and
contribution will be assessed either individually or as part of a group. There
will be twelve assignments during the semester each worth 10 points. Most
often I will do the assessment but sometimes it will be on the basis of feedback
from your group mates or yourself. See rubric.

• Book Surveys (240 points)

We will prepare book surveys, using the IBS model, for Ezra-Nehemiah, 1
Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees ( a separate survey of each book). This will
include summarizing the contents of the book with chapter title, classifying
the major units of the book and their structural relationship to each other, and
identifying recurring themes in the book. Each of the three surveys will be
worth 80 points (see reubric). A more detailed description and examples will
be provided.
• Creative Project 200 points

This will be a product you create as a result of a more intense focus upon a
particular person, event, writing, etc. from the period. The end product may
be a research paper (10-12 pages), a writing portfolio (15-20 pages), an audio-
visual project (see separate guidelines), etc. Please consult with me on your
ideas so that we can agree upon expectations.

• Final Exam 100 points

• Your Personalized Learning Objective 100 points

In addition to the projects outlined above, you may choose one additional
learning objective for yourself. This may be congruent with the course
objectives above or in addition to them. You will identify one additional
learning objective, describe to me how you will accomplish it, and
demonstrate to me through some product, performance, or process that you
have accomplished the objective. Some idea or examples will be discussed in
class.

GRADING

The grading will based on the following ten point scale that is a function of the
grading rubric below:

POINT SCALE
Points Letter Grade Points Letter Grade
10 A 5 C+
9 A- 4 C
8 B+ 3 C-
7 B 2 D
6 B- 0-1 F

GRADING RUBRIC
Assessment Area Scale Description
Content 0-3 the information in and insight of your work
the tone of your contributions and
Attitude 0-2 participation: respectful, scholarly, positive,
encouraging, etc.
your writing (grammar, spelling),
Skill 0-3 argumentation, structure, use of evidence,
reception to feedback,
Habits 0-2 timeliness, form, style
ONLINE EXPECTATIONS

What you can expect of me:

1. Prompt replies to questions and postings.
2. Interaction, participation, and direction in the online discussions
3. Prompt feedback and assessment on assignments.
4. Occasional mistakes as I continue to learn this mode of teaching

What I expect of you:

1. Participation in online discussions.
2. On time completion of assignments.
3. Honest questions when you don't understand the material or the instructions.
4. Your patience as we work together in this medium.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS

Grabbe, Lester L. An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism. London: T &T Clark,

2010.

Vanderkam, James C. An Introduction to Early Judaism. Grand Rapids, Mich.:

Eerdmans, 2001.

A Bible that includes the Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical books. For example,

The Harper-Collins Study Bible (NRSV).

Other specific readings will accompany each module. As permissible, these will
be provided in the on-line classroom.

RECOMMENDED READING

See the items marked by an asterisk under BIBLIOGRAPHY below.

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE

(To be provided separately.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

These are the sources that I have been reading in preparation for our class. The sources
marked with an * would be good places to begin as you read more deeply in this period.

*Primary Sources
Ezra-Nehemiah, Harper Collins NRSV, (37 pgs)
Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Harper Collins NRSV, (24 pgs)
Josephus, Ant. XI, Loeb, ed. (84 pgs)
Behistun Inscription, (in Kent, Old Persian) (19 pgs)
Elephantine Papyri , COS, (16 pgs)
Cyrus Cylinder
Nabonidus Chronicle

Secondary Sources
Ackroyd, Peter R. “Archaeology, Politics, and Religion: the Persian Period.” Iliff Review
39:2 (1982): 5-24. (20 pages)
-----. Exile and Restoration. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968. (256 pages)
Bright, John. History of Israel. 4th ed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2000. (chps 9-
10, 62 pages)
Dandamaev, Muhammad. “Assyrian Traditions during the Achaemenid Times.”
Assyria 1995: Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary Symposium of the Neo-Assyrian
Text Corpus Project, Helsinki, September 7-11, 1995. S. Parpola and R. M. Whiting,
eds. Helsinki, 1995. (10 pgs)
Eph‘al, Israel. “Syria-Palestine Under Achaemenid Rule.” Cambridge Ancient History.
Volume IV. J. Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond, D. M. Lewis, M. Ostwald, eds.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988. (25 pages)
*Grabbe, Lester L. Judaism from Cyrus to Hadrian: the Persian and Greek Periods. Vol. 1.
Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992. (chps 1-2, 145 pages)
Hoglund, Kenneth G. Achaemenid Imperial Administration in Syria-Palestine and the
Missions of Ezra and Nehemiah. Atlanta: Scholars, 1992. (247 pages)
*Kuhrt, Amélie. The Ancient Near East c. 3000-330 volume 2. London: Rouledge, 1995. (54
pages)
*Leith, Mary Joan Winn. “Israel Among the Nations: The Persian Period.” The Oxford
History of the Biblical World. Michael D. Coogan, ed. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1998. (40 pages)
Olmstead, Albert T. History of the Persian Empire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1948. (524 pages)
Root, Margaret Cool. “Art and Archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire.” Civilizations of
the Ancient Near East. Jack Sasson, ed. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000. (22
pages)
Smith, Morten. “Jewish Religious Life in the Persian Period.” The Cambridge History of
Judaism. W. D. Davies and Louis Finkelstein, eds. Cambridge/New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1984. (61 pages)
Stern, Ephraim. Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, Volume II: the Assyrian, Babylonian,
and Persian Periods (732-332 B.C.E.). New York: Doubleday, 2001. (Part III, chps
1-5, 169 pages)
*Stern, Ephraim. “Archeology of Persian Palestine.” Cambridge Ancient History.
Volume IV. (88-114) J. Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond, D. M. Lewis, M. Ostwald,
eds. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988. (26 pages)
Yamauchi, Edwin M. “Persians.” In Peoples of the Old Testament World. A. Hoerth, G.
Mattingly, and E. Yamauchi eds. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994. (17 pages)

On my reading list
Dandamaev, Muhammad. Slavery in Babylonia: From Nabopolassar to Alexander the Great
(626-331 B.C.). Marvin Powell and David Weisberg, eds. Victoria Powell, trans.
DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1984.
Dandamaev, Muhammad and Vladimir G. Lukonin. The Culture and Social Institutions of
Ancient Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Grabbe, Lester L. A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud: A
History of the Persian Province of Judah. Vol. 1. London/New York: T & T Clark,
2004.
McCullough, W. Stewart. The History and Literature of the Palestinian Jews from Cyrus
to Herod, 550 B.C. to 4 B.C. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1975.
Stern, Ephraim. Material Culture of the Land of the Bible in the Persian Period 538-332 B.C.
Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1982.
Yamauchi, Edwin M. Persia and the Bible Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990.

Hellenistic Period

*Primary Sources

1 Maccabees, Harper Collins NRSV, (46 pgs)

2 Maccabees, Harper Collins NRSV, (32 pgs)
Ecclesiasticus (selections), Harper Collins NRSV, (c. 20 pgs)
Tobit, Harper Collins NRSV, (22 pgs)
Letter of Aristeas, OTP, (28 pgs)
Zenon Papyri (selections)
Josephus, Ant. XII, (selections)

Secondary Sources

*Bickerman, Elias. The God of the Maccabees. Leiden: Brill, 1979. (92 pgs)
____________. The Jews in the Greek Age. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1988. (90 pgs)
Bosworth, Albert. “Alexander the Great.” The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Michael D.
Coogan, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. (4 pgs)
Bright, John. History of Israel. 4th ed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2000. (chap 11,
25 pages)
Collins, John J. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic
Literature. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998. (50 pgs)
Davies, W. D. and Louis Finkelstein, eds. The Cambridge History of Judaism, Vol 2. The
Hellenistic Age. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
 • Marie-Christine Halpern-Zylberstein, “The Archeology of Hellenistic
Palestine” (34 pages)
• Martin Hengel, “The Political and Social History of Palestine” (44 pages)
• Mathias Delcor, “The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Hellenistic
Period” (40 pages)
• H.L. Ginsberg, “The Book of Daniel” (20 pgs)
Derfler, Steven L. The Hasmonean Revolt: Rebellion or Revolution. Lewiston: The Edwin
Mellen Press, 1989. (77 pgs)
Goldstein, Jonathan. 1 Maccabees. The Anchor Bible. Vol. 41. New York: Doubleday,
1976. (105 pgs)
*Grabbe, Lester L. Judaism from Cyrus to Hadrian: the Persian and Greek Periods. Vol. 1.
Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992. (chps 3-5, 164 pgs)
*Greenspoon, Leonard. “Between Alexander and Antioch.” The Oxford History of the
Biblical World. Michael D. Coogan, ed. New York: Oxford University Press,
1998. (35 pgs)
Habicht, C. “The Seleucids and Their Rivals.” Cambridge Ancient History. Rome and the
Mediterranean to 133 B.C. Vol. VIII. eds. A.E. Astin, M.W. Frederiksen, and RM.
Ogilvie. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984. (63 pgs)
*Schäfer, Peter. “The Hellenistic and Maccabaean Periods.” Israelite and Judaean History.
John H. Hayes and J. Maxwell Miller, eds. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1977. (66
pages)
Tcherikover, Avigdor. Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews. Philadelphia: Jewish
Publication Society, 1959. (265 pgs)
Turner, E. G. “Ptolemaic Egypt.” Cambridge Ancient History. The Hellenistic World. Vol.
VII part 1. F. W. Walbank, A.E. Astin, M.W. Frederiksen, and R.M. Ogilvie, eds.
Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984. (57 pgs)

On my reading list

Bosworth, Albert. Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great.
Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Debevoise, Neilson. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1938.
Goldstein, Jonathan. 2 Maccabees. The Anchor Bible. Vol. 41a. New York: Doubleday,
1983.
Grabbe, Lester L. A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: The
Coming of the Greeks: The Hellenistic Period (335-175 BCE). Vol. 2. London/New
York: T & T Clark, 2008.
McCullough, W. Stewart. The History and Literature of the Palestinian Jews from Cyrus to
Herod, 550 B.C. to 4 B.C. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1975.
Nickelsburg, George W. E. Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah.
Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981.
Schalit, Abraham. The Hellenistic Age: Political History of Jewish Palestine from 332 BCE to
67BCE. The World of the Jewish People. Vol. 6. New Brunswick: Rutgers University
Press, 1972.
Schürer, Emil. The Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ. G. Vermes, et al., rev. 3 vols. In
4. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1973-87. (Hendrickson republished this work in
1994 in 5 vols.)
 Early Roman Period

*Grabbe, Lester L. Judaism from Cyrus to Hadrian: the Roman Period. Vol. 2. Minneapolis:
Fortress, 1992. (chps 6-7, 149 pgs)

On my reading list

“Herodian Dynasty,” “Herod’s Building Program,” “Herod the Great,” “Herod

Antipas,” “Herod Philip,” “Archelaus,” “Agrippa,” “Felix,” and “Festus
Porcius,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Volumes 3 and 4. David N. Freedman, ed.
New York: Doubleday, 1992.
Nickelsburg, George W. E. Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah.
Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981.
Schürer, Emil. The Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ. G. Vermes, et al., rev. 3 vols. In
4. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1973-87. (Hendrickson republished this work in
1994 in 5 vols.)
Smallwood, E. Mary. The Jews Under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian. Leiden:
Brill, 1976. Cor. and repr., 1981.

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