Above, Below, Before, and After

The research of Martha Himmelfarb has pushed scholars to re-examine what we thought we knew about the formative histories of Judaism and Christianity. In studies on such topics as apocalypses, pseudepigrapha, and messianism, Himmelfarb opened up new perspectives on Second Temple Judaism and its legacy within its late antique and medieval successor communities. Inspired by the sweeping breadth of her learning and scholarship, this volume explores the transmission and transformation of Jewish and Christian texts and traditions within and across the boundaries of language, culture, and religion. The volume's contributors range widely across sources, genres, and contexts, from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Hellenistic Judaism to Nag Hammadi literature and Jewish and Christian magic, and from classical rabbinic literature and patristic writings, to Hekhalot literature and medieval midrashim. Contributors not only revisit the histories of apocalypticism, sectarianism, and messianism but also take up questions regarding the materiality of manuscripts, the boundaries of religious communities and identities, the ritual uses of heavenly visions, and the history of Jewish priests and priesthood before and after the destruction of Jerusalem Temple. In dialogue with Himmelfarb's work, the volume exemplifies the value of studying Jewish and Christian traditions in concert as well as bridging the disciplinary divides that too often fragment the fields of Biblical Studies, Second Temple Judaism, New Testament Studies, Rabbinics, Patristics, Late Antiquity, and Medieval Studies.Ra'anan Boustan/David Frankfurter/Annette Yoshiko Reed: Tours by the Light of Martha Himmelfarb

I. Rethinking Second Temple Judaism
Annette Yoshiko Reed : Hellenistic Judaism beyond Judaism and Hellenism – Benjamin G. Wright : Ben Sira and Cat Stevens: Raising Sons to Stand in the River of Tradition – Steven Fraade : Leadership in the Damascus Document and Related Texts: A Tale of Two Titles - Aryeh Amihay : Social Distancing: Between Sectarianism and Unity in Second Temple Judaism

II. At the Intersections of Judaism and Christianity
John Marshall : Jewish? Judean? Naming John's Apocalypse – Elaine Pagels : »The Innumerable Multitude«: Converted or Coerced? – Abraham Jacob Berkovitz : On Mechanics and Meaning in Rabbinic Exegesis: Revelation, Gentiles, and Psalm 29 in Tannaitic Midrash – Peter Schäfer : O Felix Culpa: Curse and Blessing of the Expulsion from Paradise – Hayim Lapin : Amulo of Lyon, the Two Messiahs, and the Dissemination of Rabbinic Culture – William Adler : »Should We Pay Heed to Those Who Say that Jesus was Appointed as a Priest by the Jews?«: Michael Glycas's Refutation of the »Secret Codex« in Tiberias

III. Priesthoods and Liturgies in Transformation
Richard Bauckham : Priests and Levites in the Jerusalem Necropolis – Michael D. Swartz : Priests and Strangers: The Role of the Laity in Yerushalmi Yoma – Ophir Münz-Manor : Singing Rabbis? Reconsidering the Relationships between Rabbinic Literature and Piyyut – Mika Ahuvia : A Woman of Valor in the Late Antique Synagogue – David Frankfurter : Heavenly Liturgy and Its Materialization in Early Coptic Magical Texts

IV. Material Texts
Annemarie Luijendijk : »Embalm Them with Cedar Oil«: Maintenance of Manuscripts with Oil of Cedar – Nicola Denzey Lewis : Reconsidering the Logic of Nag Hammadi's Codex II – John Reeves : 'Otot Ha-Mashiah (Signs of the Messiah) According to Ms. Oxford Bodl. Or. 135: A Transcription and Translation

V. Apocalyptic Afterlives
Elena Dugan : On Late Ancient Readers of 1 Enoch: Suspected, Suspicious, and Supposed – James Vanderkam : Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer and the Book of Jubilees – Sarit Kattan Gribetz : The Abraham Discords: Eschatology and Ancestry in Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer's Binding of Isaac – David Stern : An Apocalyptic Scroll – Ra'anan Boustan : Hekhalot Literature, Scholastic Ritual, and Intercessory Prayer in Midrash Mishle – Gideon Bohak : Divination and Eschatology in Late Antique Judaism