Nazirites in Late Second Temple Judaism ─ A Survey of Ancient Jewish Writings, the New Testament, Archaeological Evidence, And Other Writings from Late Antiquity

Several Second Temple era sources refer to Nazirites as people who have made a special vow to abstain from certain behaviors such as drinking wine, cutting their hair, or having contact with a corpse, says Chepey (religion, Richland College and Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas), but say little else about them, such as being constituents of any voluntary association. He surveys the available evidence from the period and explores what each piece reveals about the possible role Nazirites held within the social life of Jews. He does not aspire to a general history or description of them. The study is revised from his 2004 Ph.D. dissertation in oriental studies for the University of Oxford. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Stuart Chepey, D.Phil. 2004, in Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, is an instructor of religion at Richland College, as well as The Parish Episcopal School, in Dallas, Texas.