Creation, Covenant, and the Beginnings of Judaism

Know about the book -

Creation, Covenant, and the Beginnings of Judaism is written by Ari Mermelstein and published by Brill Academic Pub. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 9004281053 (ISBN 10) and 9789004281059 (ISBN 13).

This study examines the relationship between time and history in Second Temple literature. Numerous sources from that period express a belief that Jewish history began with an act of covenant formation and proceeded in linear fashion until the exile, an unprecedented event which severed the present from the past. The authors of Ben Sira, Jubilees, the Animal Apocalypse, and 4 Ezra responded to this theological challenge by claiming instead that Jewish history began at creation. Between creation and redemption, history unfolds as a series of static, repeating patterns that simultaneously account for the disappointments of the Second Temple period and confirm the eternal nature of the covenant. As iterations of timeless, cyclical patterns, the difficult post-exilic present and the glorious redemption of the future emerge as familiar, unremarkable, and inevitable historical developments. --