Relations between Jews and non-Jews in the Hellenistic-Roman period were marked by suspicion and hate; maintain most studies of that topic. But if such conjectures are true; asks Louis Feldman; how did Jews succeed in winning so many adherents; whether full-fledged proselytes or "sympathizers" who adopted one or more Jewish practices? Systematically evaluating attitudes toward Jews from the time of Alexander the Great to the fifth century A.D.; Feldman finds that Judaism elicited strongly positive and not merely unfavorable responses from the non-Jewish population. Jews were a vigorous presence in the ancient world; and Judaism was strengthened substantially by the development of the Talmud. Although Jews in the Diaspora were deeply Hellenized; those who remained in Israel were able to resist the cultural inroads of Hellenism and even to initiate intellectual counterattacks. Feldman draws on a wide variety of material; from Philo; Josephus; and other Graeco-Jewish writers through the Apocrypha; the Pseudepigrapha; the Church Councils; Church Fathers; and imperial decrees to Talmudic and Midrashic writings and inscriptions and papyri. What emerges is a rich description of a long era to which conceptions of Jewish history as uninterrupted weakness and suffering do not apply.
#539503 in Books Princeton University Press 1990-07-30 1990-08-19Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .57 x 6.00l; .82 #File Name: 069100854X216 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I used this book as a reference for my thesis ...By Karen P. RhodesI used this book as a reference for my thesis on marriage in St. Augustine; Florida; during the second Spanish colonial period; 1784-1821. This and several other books served as background for my examination of the application in St. Augustine of the Royal Pragmatic on Marriage (real pragmática de casamientos). Though this book specifically examines Seville in the sixteenth century; for me it brought out concepts and attitudes that informed the creation and application of the marriage law I am studying. Mary Elizabeth Perry has made a deep inquiry into the status of woman in Seville at that time; covering all levels of social status. It is well-documented; with an extensive bibliography.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy Mason OliverGreat4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Excellent portrait of women in historyBy A CustomerThis is a great study of the roles of women in early modern Spain. Normally; books of this nature focus on women of the nobility or elite classes. However; Perry takes an indepth look at such women as prostitutes and healers. The author also incorporates many personal stories reconstructed from a variety of sources such as court records or Inquisitional records. This is definitely a book for all with the care the author has taken in presenting a "readable" account.
