The Spirit within Me: Self and Agency in Ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library)

by Carol A. Newsom

Publisher:

Yale University Press

, 2021

Overview

The first full-length study of the evolution of self and agency in ancient Israelite anthropology

Conceptions of “the self” have received significant recent attention in philosophy, anthropology, and cultural history. Scholars argue that the introspective self of the modern West is a distinctive phenomenon that cannot be projected back onto the cultures of antiquity. While acknowledging such difference is vital, it can lead to an inaccurate flattening of the ancient self.

In this study, Carol A. Newsom explores the assumptions that govern ancient Israelite views of the self and its moral agency before the fall of Judah, as well as striking developments during the Second Temple period. She demonstrates how the collective trauma of the destruction of the Temple catalyzed changes in the experience of the self in Israelite literature, including first-person-singular prayers, notions of self-alienation, and emerging understandings of a defective heart and will. Examining novel forms of spirituality as well as sectarian texts, Newsom chronicles the evolving inward gaze in ancient Israelite literature, unveiling how introspection in Second Temple Judaism both parallels and differs from forms of introspective selfhood in Greco-Roman cultures.

Key Features

• Explores the assumptions that govern ancient Israelite views of the self
• Chronicles the evolving inward gaze in ancient Israelite literature
• Examines first-person-singular prayers, notions of self-alienation, and emerging understandings of a defective heart and will

Contents

• Preface
• 1 The Self in Israelite Culture: A Preliminary Overview
• 2 Agency in Biblical Narrative
• 3 Moral Agency in Israelite Perspective: Three Case Studies
• 4 Sin-Consciousness, Self-Alienation, and the Construction of Interiority
• 5 Rational Agency and the Birth of the Human: Genesis 2-3 and Its Early Interpretation
• 6 The Hodayot of the Maskil and the Subjectivity of the Masochistic Sublime
• Conclusion
• List of Abbreviations
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Subject Index
• Ancient Source Index
• Hebrew Key Word Index

Praise for The Spirit within Me

Newsom’s study is marked by careful attention to the primary texts and an interweaving of contemporary theory. The differing perspectives that she identifies in the literature open new ways for scholarship to explore the complexity of the Second Temple Jewish world.

—Jason Maston, Religious Studies Review

Newsom’s strong philological skills combined with a deep literary sensitivity have made her one of the best biblical scholars of her generation. The present work explores the various means of constructing the self in Second Temple Judaism and offers striking new insights regarding the nature of moral agency.

—Gary Anderson, author of Sin: A History and Charity: The Place of the Poor in the Biblical Tradition

Product Details

• Title: The Spirit within Me: Self and Agency in Ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism
• Author: Carol A. Newsom
• Series: Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Print Publication Date: 2021
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Pages: 277
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Judaism › History--Post-exilic period, 586 B.C.-210 A.D; Self › Israel--History--To 1500; Self › Religious aspects--Judaism--History--To 1500; Agent (Philosophy) › History--To 1500
• ISBNs: 9780300208689, 0300208685
• Resource ID: LLS:SPRTMRFRNCLBRRY
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-10-02T19:56:08Z

About Carol A. Newsom

Professor Newsom’s current research focuses on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Wisdom tradition, the book of Daniel, and apocalyptic literature. She is author of The Book of Job: A Contest of Moral Imaginations (Oxford University Press, 2003). The The