The first three volumes of The Cambridge History of Judaism cover the history of the Jews from the Exile in 587 BCE to the early Roman period extending into the third century CE. A comprehensive examination is made of all the relevant literary and archeological sources, and special attention is given to the interaction of Iranian, Semitic, Hellenistic and Roman cultures. The contributors include both Jewish and Gentile scholars from many countries, and this History thus helps to deliver the study of Jewish history and Christian origins from geographical and religious limitations, and contributes to a deeper understanding and a broader tolerance. This first volume opens with three introductory chapters to the work as a whole dealing with the geographical background, the chronology and the numismatic history of Judaism. The remainder of this volume concentrates on the Persian period, the two and a half centuries following the Babylonian Exile.
In The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount, first published by the Cambridge University Press in 1964 and issued as a paperback in 1976, Professor Davies made a new approach to the Sermon, placing it in its historical setting within the context of the world from which it originated. This shorter book sets out the main lines of his argument in a more accessible form so as to interest the widest possible readership. The Sermon has been described both as a pernicious document, and as the finest statement of the highest morality ever produced. Professor Davies examines it in five settings. First he considers how Matthew himself intended the Sermon to be understood, placing it in its setting within the Gospel as a whole and showing that Matthew presented Jesus as a second Moses and lawgiver. He then considers it in the setting of Jewish Messianic expectation and the contemporary Judaism, where he shows that there were certain forces at work which led to the presentation of Jesus in this
These essays presented to Dr Dodd to honour a great teacher and scholar are on two themes. Part I systematically surveys the present state of research on the background of the New Testament. (Dr Dodd's studies in the Septuagint and Hermetica suggested this theme.) Part II is on the particular problem of eschatology in the new Testament (with which his name is chiefly identified).
For over one hundred years, the International Critical Commentary series has held a special place among works on the Bible. It has sought to bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis — linguist
For over one hundred years, the International Critical Commentary series has held a special place among works on the Bible. It has sought to bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis — linguist
For over one hundred years, the International Critical Commentary series has held a special place among works on the Bible. It has sought to bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis — linguist
'How should this massive work of scholarship be assessed? The three volumes stand as one of the major commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew in which all future interpreters of the Gospel will find a s