Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE-CE 200

Abstract

Belief in resurrection of the dead became one of the most adamant conceptual claims of Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. This book provides a focused analysis of the gradual emergence and diverse receptions of the discourse of resurrection within early Jewish literature, from its early emergence within portions of 1 Enoch (c.200 BCE), until its standardization as a non-negotiable eschatological belief in the Mishnah (c.CE 200). Within this historical environment, resurrection emerged as an insurgent and controversial theodicy that challenged more traditional interpretations of death. The study further demonstrates how scribal circles legitimated the controversial eschatological claim by clothing it in the raiment of earlier scriptural language, grounding it in the theology of creation, and insisting that it was essential to the affirmation of divine justice. As resurrection gained a reception in multiple movements within early Judaism, a diverse range of conceptions flourished, including a fascinating variety of assumptions about the embodied character of eschatological life, as well as how resurrection would transpire within larger cosmic-spatial parameters of the world. The hope also maintained a somewhat tensive relationship with belief in the immortality of the soul, another popular approach to the afterlife within early Judaism. Supportive chapters explore the emergence of resurrection within specific literary texts and collections, including 1 Enoch, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus, 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, and select inscriptions. As the nascent church and early rabbinic Judaism developed their own approaches to resurrection, they remained both the heirs and creative reinterpreters of earlier Jewish theologies of resurrection.