Kirjahaku

Ancient Judaism questions a broad range of basic assumptions made by students of Second Temple Judaism and calls for a radical rethinking of approaches to Jewish history studies. Michael Stone challenges theologically conditioned histories of ancient Judaism devised by later orthodoxies, whether Jewish or Christian, and he stresses the importance of understanding religious experience as a major factor in the composition of ancient religious documents. Addressing the Dead Sea Scrolls and apocalyptic literature as well as recent theories, Stone emphasizes the stunning complexity of both the raw data and the resulting picture of Judaism in antiquity.

This book explores the legend of Adam's Contract with Satan that was made after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. This legend was current in the Eastern Orthodox churches of SE Europe as well as in the Caucasus. Unknown forms of the legend have been found in two traditions, the Romanian and the Armenian, and are investigated here. Notably this legend has found its way into folk stories and sometimes into folk music, showing how widely it was accepted and distributed. This legend also inspired images in both traditions. In Romania the most striking illustration are to be found in Bukovina province, in frescos on the famous painted churches of that region, as well as in manuscript. In Armenia features of this story are incorporated into the iconography of the Baptism of Christ in the River Jordan.