<p>This work was originally published in the Brown Judaic Studies series in 1984 by Scholars Press. It was first brought to my attention by Sarah Schwarz at Penn. The book describes the thinking of the Hellenistic Jewish community outside Palestine, beyond rabbinic influence, in the early days of the Christian church. It particularly addresses their influences on the Church, their interactions with it, and their shared cultural perceptions. The author's social-anthropologic approach to the history of religion was ground-breaking. This new edition of the work is accompanied by a comprehensive new introduction and updated bibliographysituating the book in the literature, bringing its content up to date, and describing its influence on subsequent work.</p>

The Commerce of the Sacred: Mediation of the Divine Among Jews in the Greco-Roman World

Politics & Social Sciences

Lightstone, Jack

Anthropology

Columbia University Press

Jack Lightstone's Commerce of the Sacred remains an original and influential contribution to Judaic studies. Lightstone offers critical perspectives on the practices and beliefs of Greco-Roman Jews who lived outside of Palestine and beyond rabbinic control or influence. He investigates their influence on early Christians and examines how the two communities defined themselves in relation to each another. He challenges the view of Judaism as a single set of practices and beliefs and argues that Jews of the Greco-Roman Diaspora did not retain a shared, biblical 'perception of the world' centered on the Jerusalem temple. Rather, they believed multiple points of contact between God and man could be made through particular rites: prayer in the presence of the sacred scrolls, pleas for help at the tombs of dead saints and martyrs, and the interventions of holy men with alleged supernatural powers, to name a few. Many early Christians also participated in this Judaic 'commerce of the sacred', blurring the social and religious boundaries that distinguished Jews and Christians. Lightstone innovatively combines approaches from the history of religions and social anthropology to provide a different picture of Judaism during this period. Featuring a new foreword and an updated bibliography, Commerce of the Sacred resituates the Jews in the Greco-Roman world.

Commerce of the Sacred: Mediation of the Divine Among Jews in the Graeco-Roman Diaspora

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lightstone, Jack. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Lightstone, Jack

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lightstone, Jack. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Commerce of the Sacred: Mediation of the Divine Among Jews in the Greco-Roman World

Commerce of the Sacred: Mediation of the Divine Among Jews in the Graeco-Roman Diaspora