Building on the Ruins of the Temple: Apologetics and Polemics in Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism

Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2021

Book review of "Building on the Ruins of the Temple: Apologetics and Polemics in Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism" by Adam Gregerman.Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016.

The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. is considered to be one of the most traumatic events in Jewish history, having an impact on Jewish groups across the entire spectrum of Second Temple Judaism. Yet scholarly opinions are divided as to whether 70 constituted a trauma for communities of Jewish Christ-believers. Some suggest that the event had relatively little impact on nascent Christian communities, while others view the event as both traumatic and formative in the development of Christianity. Scholars on both sides of this debate use the language and concept of trauma to describe the impact of 70 in the development of Christianity. Missing from the discussion, however, is a consideration of what exactly constitutes a trauma. On the basis of Jeffrey Alexander’s theories about communal trauma, this paper will argue that the destruction was experienced as a trauma by at least some Jewish followers of Christ. This response was, however, negated or denied by church leaders who argued that the event had been foretold and indeed was the deserved punish- ment for the Jewish role in Jesus’ crucifixion, and therefore should not be traumatic for Christ-believers, even those of Jewish origin.

Boissinot P. (dir.), Archaeology and social sciences, University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, P@lethnology, 9 (2017), 31-51., 2017

Divine presence on earth constitutes an aporia. However, it is also necessary, since that which we call “religion” is simply a series of social practices which aim to establish a line of communication, benevolent if possible, between superior beings and mankind. Ontologically speaking, divine powers are “superhuman”, which means that common parameters do not apply to them. This paper explores the first temple of Jerusalem using two sources: textual and archaeological evidence. We will therefore compare the theological and archaeological data in order to analyse the interactions between these two disciplines. The place of worship appears to be an ideal laboratory where several disciplines, methodologies and issues can be brought together to understand representations of divinity. In other words, we will explore how the consideration of “discourses about the gods” (theo-logy) can enhance the work of archaeologists and raise new questions: inversely, we will highlight that which archaeology contributes to those who conduct research into the representation of divinity in the texts.

The destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70 was an unquestionably traumatic event in the history of the Jewish people. By all accounts it was a social, political, and theological disaster. As such, contemporary Jewish figures wrestled with the meaning of the event. This article analyses the efforts by two figures in this internal Jewish dialogue to provide this meaning, namely, the historian Josephus and Jesus of Nazareth. We will see that in both cases the meaning of the destruction was rooted in the firm conviction of the God of Israel’s existence and his self-revelation in Scripture. The temple was destroyed not apart from God or in spite of God, but in full accordance with his will. This will, moreover, was judged to be accessible through Scripture, both in terms of its prophetic value and its establishment of a metanarrative – redemptive history – that provided a framework for historical events. In addition, the reason for the destruction was judged by both to be the sins of (certain) people. The major difference between them lay rather in the question of which sins exactly were judged to be responsible.

Religion 36 (2006) 113-115, 2006

Jurnal teologic, Vol. 23/1, 2024

In 70 AD Jerusalem was conquered and the temple in Jerusalem was looted and destroyed, and among the war trophies, trophies that were part of the triumphal procession, were the precious objects taken as plunder from the temple in Jerusalem, including the seven-armed chandelier of solid gold, the gold table on which the 12 loaves of bread were placed, the embroidered curtain, the golden vessels and a Torah scroll later given by the emperors Vespasian and Titus to the temple of the goddess of peace. The triumphal arch erected in the Forum in honour of Titus was decorated with relief reproductions of these trophies and depictions of scenes from the war in which the Jews had been so cruelly defeated. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD a large number of the people and a significant number of scholars who had escaped with their lives took refuge in Jamnia and established an academic school there on the initiative of Yohanan ben Zakkai. This place and this school were to become the spiritual center of Judaism in place of the destroyed one. Here in Jamnia, Yohanan ben Zakkai gathered together scholars and scholars who created a new system of religious law that was later applied in all the countries where Jews were scattered. Here civil laws were drawn up, curricula were drawn up, prayers were established, holiday ceremonies were set, which were later adopted by all Jews in the Diaspora. Judaism was reorganising itself around the thinking of the Pharisees, but with the destruction of the Temple, the Sadducees had ceased their role and were out of history.