Customers in North America who wish to purchase this publication, please contact Augsburg Fortress Press. From Joshua To Caiaphas: High Priests After The Exile by James C. VanderKam (John A. O'Brien Professor of Hebrew Scriptures, University of Notre Dame) is a comprehensive, 548-page history of the high priests who served in the Second Temple period of Israel and their influence and importance in understanding early Judaism. A masterpiece of scholarship and research, Professor VanderKam writes with a distinctive clarity that allows even the non-specialist general reader to come away with a comprehensive and coherent understanding of Temple Judaism as represented by the fifty-one men who served as high priest from about 515 BCE down to 70CE when the Jerusalem temple was destroyed by the Romans. No Old Testament Studies, Israelite History, or Judaic Studies collection can be considered either comprehensive or complete without the inclusion of this impressive and seminal work. Also very highly recommended are Professor VanderKam's previous contributions: The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (1994); An Introduction To Early Judaism (2001); The Book Of Jubilees (2001); and The Meaning Of The Dead Sea Scrolls (which was co-authored with Peter Flint, 2002).

Beginning late in the Old Testament period and continuing for the next six hundred years, the Jewish high priests were often the most important members of Jewish society. They not only possessed religious authority but also exercised political control. This book gathers and assesses the surviving evidence about each of the fifty-one men who served as high priest from about 515 BCE until approximately 70 CE when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

Despite the attention that has already been paid to the theme of creation in the book of Sirach, scholarship has yet to provide a comprehensive analysis of Ben Sira's instruction regarding the cosmic order and its role in the divine bestowal of wisdom upon human beings. This book, which consists of two parts, fills a lacuna in scholarship by offering such an analysis. The first part of this study examines Ben Sira's three main treatments of the created world, thus providing a comprehensive description and synthesis of Ben Sira's doctrine concerning the created order of the cosmos. The second part of this work analyzes the place of human beings in general, and the Jewish people in particular, within the cosmic order. This second part includes an analysis of the role of the created order in Ben Sira's wisdom instruction in 1:1-10 and 24:1-34 as well as an elucidation of the way in which his treatments of various kinds of people—civic leaders, wives, doctors, manual laborers, scribes, and cultic personnel—are integral to Ben Sira's doctrine of creation. This study demonstrates that the created order is a fundamental category that Ben Sira relies upon in articulating his instructions about wisdom and wise behavior.

This highly engaging and readable book is a study of Joseph Caiaphas, a Jewish high priest of the first century and one of the men who sent Jesus to his death.Caiaphasis a valuable resource for scholars of ancient history and students of the Gospel of Acts.

With a rigorous use of the sources, the book throws new light on the High Priesthood (301-152 BCE). Setting this institution in the widest contest of the interaction between the Judaic and Hellenistic world, it gives a valid contribution to the international research in this field.

The T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism provides a comprehensive reference resource of over 600 scholarly articles aimed at scholars and students interested in Judaism of the Second Temple Period. The two-volume work is split into four parts. Part One offers a prolegomenon for the contemporary study and appreciation of Second Temple Judaism, locating the discipline in relation to other relevant fields (such as Hebrew Bible, Rabbinics, Christian Origins). Beginning with a discussion of terminology, the discussion suggests ways the Second Temple period may be described, and concludes by noting areas of study that challenge our perception of ancient Judaism. Part Two presents an overview of respective contexts of the discipline set within the broad framework of historical chronology corresponding to a set of full-colour, custom-designed maps. With distinct attention to primary sources, the author traces the development of historical, social, political, and religious developments from the time period following the exile in the late 6th century B.C.E. through to the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt (135 C.E.). Part Three focuses specifically on a wide selection of primary-source literature of Second Temple Judaism, summarizing the content of key texts, and examining their similarities and differences with other texts of the period. Essays here include a brief introduction to the work and a summary of its contents, as well as examination of critical issues such as date, provenance, location, language(s), and interpretative matters. The early reception history of texts is also considered, and followed by a bibliography specific to that essay. Numerous high-resolution manuscript images are utilized to illustrate distinct features of the texts. Part Four addresses topics relevant to the Second Temple Period such as places, practices, historical figures, concepts, and subjects of scholarly discussion. These are often supplemented by images, maps, drawings, or diagrams, some of which appear here for the first time. Copiously illustrated, carefully researched and meticulously referenced, this resource provides a reliable, up-to-date and complete guide for those studying early Judaism in its literary and historical settings.

Drawing on historical backgrounds, New Testament view, and reception history, this book offers a comprehensive study on the high priest Caiaphas and his importance for Jewish society in the time of Jesus, for Early Christianity and for the reception in later times Unter Berücksichtigung der historischen Hintergründe, der Sicht des Neuen Testaments und der Wirkungsgeschichte bietet dieses Buch eine umfassende Untersuchung zu dem Hohenpriester Kaiphas, zu seiner Bedeutung für den Jüdischen Tempelstaat zur Zeit Jesu, zu seinem Einfluß auf das frühe Christentum und zu seiner Rezeption in der Nachwelt.