C. D. Elledge. Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE–CE 200. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. 253 pp.

Abstract

Reviewed by: Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE–CE 200 by C. D. Elledge Deborah Forger C. D. Elledge. Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE–CE 200. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. 253 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009418000570 By the fourth century CE, belief in the resurrection, the notion of coming back to life after death, is well attested in both rabbinic and early Christian circles. To understand the concept's origins, scholars have sought to trace a singular line of intellectual development from an earlier period in Jewish history to the notions flourishing within these later, normative traditions. C. D. Elledge's chief aim in Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE–CE 200 is to correct this past teleological focus by studying the extant Jewish literature, from the latest writings of the Hebrew Bible to portions of the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, and even other Hellenistic Jewish authors, such as Philo and Josephus, on their own terms. Like many scholars trained in critical readings of ancient texts, Elledge does not bring much material evidence to bear on the question. The result, nonetheless, is a well-informed and well-researched monograph, which complexifies our current knowledge of resurrection. Elledge defines resurrection as an eschatological event, brought about by "divine agency" and characterized by "the new, qualitatively different life into which the dead are raised," yet his detailed work attests to considerable diversity in its conceptualization (3). After a brief introductory chapter, Elledge structures his monograph into two main parts. The first half (chapters 2–5) complicates current scholarly portrayals of resurrection. Chapter 2 unpacks how ancient Jews envisioned a wide range of future embodied states, from the recreation of the very same physical body (2 Maccabees; 2 Baruch 51:1–3; 4 Ezra); to a luminous, angelic-like destiny (Daniel 12:1–3); to a complete separation of the soul from the body (1 Enoch 91–108); as well as an equally diverse set of geographical locales that the raised would inhabit. Chapter 3 tackles the thorny issues of origin and context. Elledge traces the hypotheses of past scholars, including Persian (Zoroastrian), [End Page 449] Greek, Canaanite, Egyptian, and even ancient Israelite contexts; he argues instead that the "diversity of expression in which Jews imagined resurrection makes it virtually impossible to demonstrate a single line of religious 'influence' that can account for its complexities" (57). In chapters 4 and 5, Elledge addresses issues of legitimation and denial. Since the aristocratic Sadducean class was not alone in denying the resurrection, but such denials were widespread across various social classes, ancient Jews employed texts like Genesis 1, Isaiah 24–27 and 65–66, and Ezekiel 37:1–14 to legitimate their belief in the resurrection. The resultant picture delineated in this half of the book, which I find compelling, is that though resurrection was an emergent and popular notion, it was neither the only nor a universally accepted solution to the significant challenges Jews experienced in the Hellenistic era. The second half of the book tackles several long-held assumptions regarding early Jewish beliefs about the resurrection. Chapter 6 disrupts the assumed binary between the belief in the souls' immortality and bodily resurrection: it stresses how "much of Greek reflection on the soul could assume its corporeal or material characteristics" (108). Chapter 7 employs evidence from the Book of Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36) to argue that "one need not wait for 2 Maccabees (c.100 BCE) to identify a physical, bodily, and earthly conception of human renewal in early Judaism" (147). By closely reading excerpts from the first-century BCE Messianic Apocalypse and the late Hasmonean/early Herodian 4QInstruction, Elledge demonstrates how even within the Dead Sea Scrolls, concern for the cosmic realm and the bodily fate of the dead existed. Chapter 9 reassesses the evidence found in Josephus, showing that Josephus not only reports on how the Pharisees affirmed bodily resurrection (cf. War 2:163), but that his language regarding the Essenes also intimates toward "the possibility of a future embodiment beyond their present torture" during the early Roman era (178). Overall, Elledge's work is engaging, informative, and evocative...