The Centre for Jewish Studies
University of Manchester
Extra-Mural Lectures January-March 2000
For the full list of lectures, click here
Jan 25th: Philip Alexander: "What has Athens in common with Jerusalem?
Jewish Attitudes towards 'Hellenism' from the Maccabees to Modern Times"
Abstract: Many would argue that the encounter between Judaism and Hellenism
was one of the most significant clashes of culture in history, that, indeed,
it defined western civilization as we know it.
The worldview of classical Greece and the worldview of the Hebrew Bible
are fundamentally different but, through the influence of Christianity,
they are held in uneasy tension within European culture which over the centuries
has oscillated between these two poles, sometimes stressing its Hebraic
and sometimes its Hellenic side.
Judaism itself is often cited to support the thesis that Judaism and
Hellenism are opposites. Certainly the dominant attitude of the major Second
Temple and Talmudic period texts is opposition to things Greek. The Hasmonaeans
asserted Jewish political independence of the Greeks, events annually recalled
in the festival of Hanukkah. And the Rabbis of the Talmud famously imposed
a ban on the study of Greek wisdom.
However, when we look a bit closer the sharp opposition between Judaism
and Hellenism begins to dissolve. It is, in fact, very difficult to define
an essence for Hellenism and for Judaism which can be opposed one to the
other. Both Judaism and Hellenism are highly complex and historically diverse
cultures. And there have been times when Jews have adapted in a creative
way Greek ideas and integrated them successfully with Biblical and Rabbinic
thought.
Moreover the 'Hellenism v. Judaism' dichotomy has often been used for
political purposes which have little to do with historical reality. Thus
Orthodox thinkers in the 19th century branded the Maskilim, the advocates
of the Jewish enlightenment, 'Hellenizers' so that they could invoke against
them both the spirit of the Hasmonaeans and the Rabbinic ban on Greek wisdom.
One Israeli scholar has argued that modern Hebrew literature, with its adoption
of Greek literary forms such as plays and novels and belles lettres marks
the final triumph of Hellenism within Judaism.
These are some of the ideas which I shall attempt to explore, using
concrete historical examples, in my talk on Tuesday evening.
Philip Alexander is Professor of Post-Biblical Jewish
Literature and is engaged in research in Second Commonwealth and early Rabbinic
Judaism, Jewish Mysticism and Jewish Bible Interpretation; Major Publications:
Textual Sources for the Study of Judaism (1984), Serekh ha-Yahad
and Two Related Texts (1998). Recent publications on Talmudic dream
interpretation, Magical texts in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Jewish interpretation
of the Song of Songs. Consultant to The Dead Sea Scrolls: Electronic Reference
Library. e-mail: Philip.Alexander@man.ac.uk
The Centre for Jewish Studies
The Department of Religions and Theology
University of Manchester
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