<<The>> Seleucid and Hasmonean periods and the apocalyptic worldview the first Enoch Seminar Nangeroni Meeting Villa Cagnola, Gazzada (June 25-28, 2012)

This marked an important step forward in the discussion because of seeking to find formal characteristics for identifying the most important literary form for apocalyptic. However, although it is now widely cited, it was criticized from the beginning, being challenged or modified by other scholars. 2 Both Sanders and Charlesworth want a less confining definition (but see Collins's reply to Sanders 3 ). The debate continues in the symposium published in Semeia 36 (1986). 4 Also, despite criticism, it is generally a helpful definition, especially as worded in the basic definition. 5 However, I want to focus on the part of the definition that refers to a transcendent reality that is "temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation. " As it is worded in the basic definition, it seems acceptable; however, it is given a more specific connotation in Collins's commentary. He specifies that it includes an afterlife. But why can you not have a "transcendent reality" which includes a "temporal" dimension involving "eschatological salvation" without having to look for specific reference to an afterlife? In discussions of definitions, it is sometimes forgotten that we have to look at individual writings and describe what we see. We cannot begin by creating abstractions in a vacuum nor assuming distinctions just because several generations of scholars have made such assumptions. If we turn round and base our definitions on a particular collection of literature that fits our preconceptions, FC LIBRARY OF SECOND TEMPLE STUDIES Title Copyright Contents List of Contributors Part I INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS 1. INTRODUCTION Lester L. Grabbe 2. THE SELEUCID AND HASMONEAN PERIODS AND THE APOCALYPTIC WORLDVIEW—AN INTRODUCTION Lester L. Grabbe 3. NON-APOCALYPTIC RESPONSES TO APOCALYPTIC EVENTS: NOTES ON THE SOCIOLOGY OF APOCALYPTICISM Gabriele Boccaccini Part II MAJOR PAPERS AND RESPONSES 1. UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE APOCALYPTIC WORLDVIEW AND JEWISH SECTARIAN VIOLENCE: THE CASE OF THE WAR BETWEEN ALEXANDER JANNAEUS AND DEMETRIUS III Kenneth Atkinson RESPONSE TO ATKINSON Albert I. Baumgarten RESPONSE TO ATKINSON Sandra Gambetti 2. WAS THE MACCABEAN REVOLT AN APOCALYPTIC MOVEMENT? Gerbern S. Oegema RESPONSE TO OEGEMA Lorenzo DiTommaso RESPONSE TO OEGEMA John Kampen 3. APOCALYPTIC WORLDVIEWS—WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW THEY SPREAD: INSIGHTS FROM THE SOCIAL SCIENCES Anathea E. Portier-Young RESPONSE TO PORTIER-YOUNG Edward Dąbrowa RESPONSE TO PORTIER-YOUNG Torleif Elgvin 4. OVERALL RESPONSE TO THE MAIN PAPERS Erich S. Gruen Part III SHORT PAPERS SESSION 1 1. THE ARAMAIC DEAD SEA SCROLLS AND THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF JEWISH APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE Daniel A. Machiela RESPONSE TO MACHIELA Lester L. Grabbe 2. AN UNLIKELY MIXTURE: SELEUCIDS AND LAGIDS IN DANIEL AND IN PERSIAN APOCALYPTIC Vicente Dobroruka RESPONSE TO DOBRORUKA Lester L. Grabbe SESSION 2 3. TEXTS ON MESSIANIC REIGN FROM THE HASMONEAN PERIOD: 4Q521 AS INTERPRETATION OF DANIEL 7 Torleif Elgvin RESPONSE TO ELGVIN Joseph L. Angel 4. 4QAPOCRYPHON OF DANIEL AR (4Q246) AND THE BOOK OF DANIEL Årstein Justnes RESPONSE TO JUSTNES Joseph L. Angel SESSION 3 5. THE PARADOX OF MIDRASH AND THE APOCALYPTIC AUTHOR: FROM MESOPOTAMIAN DIVINATION TO RABBINIC MIDRASH, THROUGH QUMRAN AND APOCALYPSE Paul Mandel RESPONSE TO MANDEL Kenneth Atkinson 6. APOCALYPTIC ELEMENTS IN HASMONEAN PROPAGANDA: CIVIC IDEOLOGY AND THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL LEGITIMATION Yonder Moynihan Gillihan RESPONSE TO GILLIHAN Kenneth Atkinson 7. SOME AFTERTHOUGHTS Michael E. Stone Part IV CONCLUSIONS PERSPECTIVES ON THE APOCALYPTIC WORLDVIEW IN THE HASMONEAN PERIOD Lester L. Grabbe Index "This tightly focused collection of essays, from an invited seminar of international specialists, centres on the question of the apocalyptic worldview around the time of the Maccabean revolt. What was the nature of apocalyptic at this time? Did the Maccabees themselves have a distinct apocalyptic worldview? These questions lead to other, more specific queries: who of the various groups held such a view? Certain of the essays analyse the characteristics of the apocalypses and related literature in this period, and whether the apocalyptic worldview itself gave rise to historical events or, at least, influenced them. The collection begins with two introductory essays. Both the main and short papers have individual responses, and two considered responses by well-known experts address the entire collection. The volume finishes with a concluding chapter by the lead editor that gives a perspective on the main themes and conclusions arising from the papers and discussion."--Bloomsbury Publishing This tightly focused collection of essays, from an invited seminar of international specialists, centres on the question of the apocalyptic worldview around the time of the Maccabean revolt. What was the nature of apocalyptic at this time? Did the Maccabees themselves have a distinct apocalyptic worldview? These questions lead to other, more specific queries: who of the various groups held such a view? Certain of the essays analyse the characteristics of the apocalypses and related literature in this period, and whether the apocalyptic worldview itself gave rise to historical events or, at least, influenced them. The collection begins with two introductory essays. Both the main and short papers have individual responses, and two considered responses by well-known experts address the entire collection. The volume finishes with a concluding chapter by the lead editor that gives a perspective on the main themes and conclusions arising from the papers and discussion