Hebrew and Stoicism

Abstract

The movement toward recovery from defeat in the first century CE and after may be seen in the degree to which Hebrew literature of the period has parallels with — and might be influenced by — Stoic philosophy. Stoicism existed already in the biblical age but by the time of the Tannaim became the prevalent philosophy of the upper classes throughout the Roman empire.1 The most profound and enduring monument to Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, was written roughly in the same period as the Mishna. There are many parallels between Judaism and Stoicism (Hengel, 1981; Feldman, 1993), not least because Stoicism deals with moral questions which are central to Judaism and is, therefore, closer to Judaism than any other philosophy in the ancient world. Lieberman (1963) points out that many fundamental teachings of Stoicism appear in some form in the Bible. Whatever the relationship between Stoicism and rabbinic Judaism, certain ideas associated with Stoic thought appear more frequently and intensely during and after the tannaitic era than previously.