A History of Judaism

A panoramic history of Judaism from its origins to the present Judaism is by some distance the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions. Despite the extraordinarily diverse forms it has taken, the Jewish people have believed themselves bound to God by the same covenant for more than three thousand years. This book explains how Judaism came to be and how it has developed from one age to the next, as well as the ways in which its varieties have related to each other. A History of Judaism ranges from Judaism’s inception amidst polytheistic societies in the second and fi rst millennia, through the Jerusalem Temple cult in the centuries preceding its destruction, to the rabbis, mystics and messiahs of medieval and early modern times and, finally, the many expressions of the modern and contemporary Jewish worlds. Throughout, Martin Goodman shows how Judaism has been made and remade over the millennia by individuals as well as communities, and shaped by the cultures and philosophies in which Jews have been immersed. It becomes a truly global story, spanning not only the Middle East, Europe and North Africa, but also China, India and America, andone that untangles the threads of doctrinal and philosophical debate running through Judaism’s history. Goodman demonstrates that its numerous strains have often adopted incompatible practices and ideas – about the authority of ancestral traditions, the meaning of scripture, the nature of God, the afterlife and the End of Days – but that disagreement has almost always been tolerated without schism. There have been many histories of the Jewish people but remarkably few attempts to describe the history and evolution of Judaism itself. This panoramic book, the fi rst of its kind in almost seventy years, does glorious justice to the inexhaustible variety of one the world’s great religions.
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A History of Judaism

A panoramic history of Judaism from its origins to the present Judaism is by some distance the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions. Despite the extraordinarily diverse forms it has taken, the Jewish people have believed themselves bound to God by the same covenant for more than three thousand years. This book explains how Judaism came to be and how it has developed from one age to the next, as well as the ways in which its varieties have related to each other. A History of Judaism ranges from Judaism’s inception amidst polytheistic societies in the second and fi rst millennia, through the Jerusalem Temple cult in the centuries preceding its destruction, to the rabbis, mystics and messiahs of medieval and early modern times and, finally, the many expressions of the modern and contemporary Jewish worlds. Throughout, Martin Goodman shows how Judaism has been made and remade over the millennia by individuals as well as communities, and shaped by the cultures and philosophies in which Jews have been immersed. It becomes a truly global story, spanning not only the Middle East, Europe and North Africa, but also China, India and America, andone that untangles the threads of doctrinal and philosophical debate running through Judaism’s history. Goodman demonstrates that its numerous strains have often adopted incompatible practices and ideas – about the authority of ancestral traditions, the meaning of scripture, the nature of God, the afterlife and the End of Days – but that disagreement has almost always been tolerated without schism. There have been many histories of the Jewish people but remarkably few attempts to describe the history and evolution of Judaism itself. This panoramic book, the fi rst of its kind in almost seventy years, does glorious justice to the inexhaustible variety of one the world’s great religions.
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The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Vintage)

“Illuminating . . . absolutely fascinating.” —The New York Times

“First-rate. . . . An important addition to the Dead Sea Scrolls literature. . . .  Shanks’ compelling narrative of their discovery and contents . . . truly does justice to the material.”  —Archaeology

Fifty years ago, in a cave near Qumran on the Dead Sea, a Bedouin shepherd made a remarkable discovery–a cache of scrolls, in Hebrew and Aramaic, dating roughly from the time of Jesus. Here, in hundreds of literary fragments, was a window into an unknown world–the world where Christianity and modern Judaism were born.

Everyone has heard about the scrolls, but what, exactly, are their contents? Who wrote them? What do they reveal? Do they undermine the authority of the Hebrew Bible? Do they shed new light on Jesus, his sayings and his sacraments? Until recently, only a handful of experts could answer these questions, for only they had access to the scrolls. Now, thanks to the liberating efforts of scholars such as Hershel Shanks, the scrolls are the property of us all, their mystery at long last yielding to meaning. Here, in arresting detail, is the most complete assessment of the scrolls to date. It is a history of their discovery and dissemination, a summary of their scholarly interpretation, and a thoughtful meditation on their ultimate significance. Above all, it is an act of generosity–a great scholar’s gift to the common understanding of the most important ancient texts found in modern times.
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