Seeking out the land : : land of Israel traditions in ancient Jewish, Christian and Samaritan literature (200 BCE-400 CE) / / by Ze'ev Safrai.

• Superior document: Jewish and Christian perspectives series ; Volume 32
• VerfasserIn: Safrai, Zeev,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2018]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Jewish and Christian perspectives series ; Volume 32.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (572 pages).

Seeking out the Land describes the study of the Holy Land in the Roman period and examines the complex connections between theology, social agenda and the intellectual pursuit. Holiness as a theological concept determines the intellectual agenda of the elite society of writers seeking to describe the land, as well as their preoccupation with its physical aspects and their actual knowledge about it. Ze'ev Safrai succeeds in examining all the ancient monotheistic literature, both Jewish and Christian, up to the fourth century CE, and in demonstrating how all the above-mentioned factors coalesce into a single entity. We learn that in both religions, with all their various subgroups, the same social and religious factors were at work, but with differing intensity.

Table of Contents

The approach of the Ancients to the Bible -- The geography of the Land in Second Temple literature -- The description of the Land of Israel in Josephus' works -- The Land in rabbinic literature -- The evolution of the concept of the sanctity of the Land -- The Land in Early Christian literature -- The Land in Samaritan literature -- Jewish and Christian sacred sites in the Holy Land -- Concern with the Land in the Roman-Byzantine period: an overview.