Jewish Identity and Politics Between the Maccabees and Bar Kokhba ─ Groups, Normativity, and Rituals

In this valuable contribution to understanding Jewish identity in the Second Temple Period (168 BCE to 135 CE) in ethnic and political contexts, Eckhardt (religion and politics, U. of Munster) compiles edited versions of 11 papers presented at the namesake conference held in 2009 at his campus. In these essays (one in untranslated German), international experts in Jewish studies, ancient history, and related fields examine issues including identification as Hebrew, Israelite, or Judean; the basis of the Maccabees' claim to priestly rule; purity/impurity in rabbinic Judaism; insider/outsider identity in texts of Qumran sect's Dead Sea Scrolls; Herod as a "half-Jew"; identification of "Herod's Days" with Hanukkah; and the complex roles of dietary laws and circumcision in maintaining group identity. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Benedikt Eckhardt, Ph. D. (2011) in Ancient History, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, is Research Fellow at the Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat Munster. He has published on Hasmonean and Herodian history and other aspects of the religious history of antiquity.