Mixed Marriages: Intermarriage and Group Identity in the Second Temple Period
Overview
Intermarriage and group identity in the second temple period is investigated from different points of view with regard to methodology and analyzed texts. With an introduction to the history of research and a summarizing final section, the individual contributions are associated with the larger context of the recent debate. The diversity of texts on mixed marriage within the Hebrew Bible and related scripture will be shown and emphasized and the question of continuity and discontinuity as well as the socio-historical background of marriage restrictions is discussed.
Covering a wide range of texts from the Hebrew Bible as well as from the Elephantine, Qumran and several pseudepigrapha, like Jubilees, Mixed Marriages’ focus is on possible counter texts with a more positive notion of foreign wives, in addition to restrictive and prohibitive texts.
These different approaches will illuminate the dynamics of the construction of group identity, culminating in conflicts concerning separation and integration which can be found in the debate on the topic of the “correct” marriage.
Key Features
- Thorough examination of marriage in the second temple period
- Clear and balanced window into the worlds inhabited by biblical characters
- Leading scholarship from a diverse field of disciplines
Contents
- “Introduction: The Discourse on Intermarriage in the Hebrew Bible” by Christian Frevel
- “Deepening the Water: First Steps to a Diachronic Approach on Intermarriage in the Hebrew Bible” by Christian Frevel and Benedikt J. Conczorowski
- “An Ethnic Affair? Ezra’s Intermarriage Crisis against a Context of ‘Self-Ascription’ and ‘Ascription of Others’” by Katherine Southwood
- “The Question of Mixed Marriages between the Poles of Diaspora and Homeland: Observations in Ezra-Nehemiah” by Ralf Rothenbusch
- “Intermarriage and Group Identity in the Ezra Tradition (Ezra 7–10 and Nehemiah 8)” by Juha Pakkala
- “All the Same as Ezra? Conceptual Differences between the Texts on Intermarriage in Genesis, Deuteronomy 7 and Ezra” by Benedikt J. Conczorowski
- “Understanding the Mixed Marriages of Ezra–Nehemiah in the Light of Temple-Building and the Book’s Concept of Jerusalem” by Jan Clauss
- “Mixed Marriage in Torah Narratives” by Karen S. Winslow
- “From the Well in Midian to the Baal of Peor: Different Attitudes to Marriage of Israelites to Midianite Women” by Yonina Dor
- “‘Married into Moab’: The Exogamy Practiced by Judah and His Descendants in the Judahite Lineages” by Gary N. Knoppers
- “The Question of ‘Mixed Marriages’ (Intermarriage): The Extra-Biblical Evidence” by Sebastian Grätz
- “Mixed Marriages and the Hellenistic Religious Reforms” by Armin Lange
- “‘Separate Yourself from the Gentiles’ (Jubilees 22:16): Intermarriage in the Book of Jubilees” by Christian Frevel
- “Intermarriage in Qumran Texts: The Legacy of Ezra–Nehemiah” by Hannah Harrington
- “Moses’ Cushite Marriage: Torah, Artapanus, and Josephus” by Karen S. Winslow
- “Feminist- and Gender-Critical Perspectives on the Biblical Ideology of Intermarriage” by Claudia V. Camp
Product Details
- Title: Mixed Marriages: Intermarriage and Group Identity in the Second Temple Period
- Editor: Christian Frevel
- Series: Library of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament Studies (LHBOTS)
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Publication Date: 2013
- Pages: 352
- Resource Type: Collected Essays
- Topic: Bible Backgrounds