Historical-Backgrounds

Daily Gleanings about open access photographic resources from Carl Rasmussen and Jesse Gavin.

From AWOL:

The American Numismatic Society has created an Open Access digital library. One purpose is to host unpublished and/or orphaned MA and PhD theses/dissertations that have numismatic content. As a part of this library your thesis will be Open Access, full-text searchable, and http://schema.org properties will help Google relevance. If you (or someone you know) wants their research hosted for free (CC-BY license) alongside other numismatic work, email Andrew Reinhard at areinhard@numismatics.org.

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The Logos blog has a couple minute and slightly humorous segment from Darrell Bock on the importance of background information for New Testament Studies.

The Lexham Theological Wordbook began shipping late last year and includes my entry on “Forgiveness.”

The Lexham Bible Dictionary has recently been updated with, among other items, my entries on “Haifa” and “Jenin.”

Connections can read these contributions via my LinkedIn page under “Publications.”

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[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“80”] John Walton, Victor Matthews, and Mark Chavalas[/caption]

Ahead of class this fall, the folks at InterVarsity have kindly forwarded John Walton, Victor Matthews, and Mark Chavalas’s Old Testament backgrounds commentary (2000). According to the publisher’s description,

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Through his vast conquests, Alexander’s comparatively short life left several important marks on history:

1. Alexander’s conquests effected a substantial influx of Greeks into various areas around the known world, and these Greeks brought their distinctive culture with them ( Ferguson 13). To be sure, the Greeks had already established several colonies outside the Balkan Peninsula by this time, but after Alexander’s conquests, the numbers of Greeks living in other lands and degree of their influence with these lands’ native peoples significantly increased ( Ferguson 13; Schürer 1:11).
2. Alexander’s life allowed the culture that the Greek conquerors and settlers had carried with them to take hold more quickly and firmly in foreign soil than it might otherwise have done ( Ferguson 14). This increased exposure to Greek culture was especially significant for the peoples of the Near East, including the Jews ( Ferguson 14).
3. Alexander’s campaigns spread Attic-standard currency throughout the known world, and this distribution enhanced economic consistency also increased people’s economic interconnectedness ( Ferguson 14; Wright 153).
4. Although the Greek language was relatively widespread in the fifth century BC, it became vastly more disseminated through Alexander’s conquests ( Blass & Debrunner §2; Caragounis 566; Deissmann 58; Ferguson 14; Moule 1; Voelz 912, 931; Wallace 15, 17–18; Wright 153). In turn, this wide dissemination among non-native speakers caused a certain simplification of the classical tongue ( Ferguson 14; Wallace 15, 19).
5. The non-Greek world became vastly more acquainted with Greek philosophy and the use of it to describe a way of life ( Ferguson 14; Wright 153).
6. The increased acquaintance with Greek philosophy entailed a general increase in the overall level of education ( Ferguson 14). While this increase in education was certainly not evenly distributed throughout the empire (Schürer 1:11), more people were better educated and more literate than they had previously been, and this fact, combined with the use of Koine as a lingua franca for the Greek empire as a whole, increased communication among people from different cultures ( Ferguson 14).
7. As Greek language and philosophy spread, so did Greek religion, though it too had begun to spread before Alexander’s time ( Ferguson 14; cf. Schürer 1:11). In particular, Alexander’s conquests abroad significantly increased the adoption of Greek deities and the practice of identifying local deities with the members of the Greek pantheon ( Ferguson 14; see Schürer 1:11–29).
8. The Alexandrian conquests effected greater urbanization in the lands they affected, tending to present the polis, rather than the countryside, village, or temple-state, as the fundamental backbone of societal structure (cf. Plato 414d–415e; see Ferguson 14).
9. Finally, despite the spread of things like similar language, philosophy, culture, and economics more broadly ( Blass & Debrunner §2; Deissmann 59; Voelz 912, 931; Wallace 15, 17; Wright 153), Grecian conquest introduced greater opportunities for individualism as Greek conventions provided alternatives to traditional ones ( Ferguson 14). In such an environment, perhaps contrary to what had gone before it, choices of individuals in the conquered lands could receive greater priority than the things that these individuals would have otherwise inherited from their communities of origin ( Ferguson 14–15).

In large measure, therefore, Alexander’s conquests accelerated the development or increased the strength of Hellenic influences that were already beginning to creep toward many of the areas that he subjugated.

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With Phillip II of Macedon’s (359–336 BC) son, Alexander the Great (356–323 BC), the Greeks established an empire vast enough to influence Palestine (see Ferguson 10, 13). When Thebes revolted after his father’s death, Alexander successfully re-unified the Greek city-states, albeit by conquest ( Plutarch, Alex. 11.3–6; Ferguson 12), and Alexander was made head of the campaign against Persia in his father’s stead ( Arrian, Anab. 1.1; cf. 1 Macc 1:1). In prosecuting this campaign, Alexander moved through Asia Minor ( Plutarch, Alex. 24.1), Phoenicia ( Plutarch, Alex. 24.1–25.2), Palestine ( Plutarch, Alex. 25.3–5), Egypt ( Plutarch, Alex. 26), Mesopotamia ( Plutarch, Alex. 31), Iran ( Plutarch, Alex. 37), and even as far as India ( Plutarch, Alex. 55; cf. 1 Macc 1:3–4) before dying in Babylon from a fever ( Plutarch, Alex. 75; cf. 1 Macc 1:5; see Ferguson 12). Yet, throughout these conquests, Alexander typically replaced neither the ruling class nor the religions in these conquered areas ( Ferguson 12). Rather, instead of primarily intending and explicitly acting to spread Hellenism, Alexander concentrated on appointing governors, placing garrisons, and founding cities ( Ferguson 12), things that eventually did indeed create and spread Hellenism.

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Over the coming weeks, I plan to write a series of posts that outline some background issues that seem particularly relevant for New Testament interpretation. Of the numerous points of historical background that could be included here, four dimensions of the period leading up to the turn of the era will initially receive attention. These background dynamics will include: (1) the Greek conquest and its continuing effects, (2) the Maccabean revolt and the Hasmonean period, (3) the Roman conquest, and (4) sectarian developments within Judaism. As the series grows, if other areas suggest themselves as being particularly salient, thoughts about additional topics will certainly be welcome.

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