Three faith perspectives for fixing the world that characterize the Second Temple Period
- ✔✔Apocalyptic:
society is getting increasingly evil - even traditional religion is corrupt
keep the faith, withdraw from socie
...
Three faith perspectives for fixing the world that characterize the Second Temple Period
- ✔✔Apocalyptic:
society is getting increasingly evil - even traditional religion is corrupt
keep the faith, withdraw from society, preserve the beliefs and practices, all will proceed
as God ordains
expect God to replace this evil world with a new, heaven-like one
Programs led by Nehemiah and Ezra - ✔✔¥ rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem
¥ strictly enforcing Sabbath laws
¥ disbanding interfaith marriages
Four possible motivations for Ezra and Nehemiah's policy on inter-faith marriages -
✔✔¥ social - their religion is key to preserving their cultural distinctiveness
¥ economic - control of marriages protects the temple-tax base (marriage to foreign
women shrinks the base, to foreign men grows the base)
¥ spiritual - marriages are symptomatic of a broad range of "abominations"
¥ practical - they want to avoid God's wrath
How the story of Ruth speaks to the issue of inter-faith marriages - ✔✔¥ there was no
criticism of Ruth's marriage to Boaz the Israelite even though she was foreign because
she adopted Israel's faith
The historical setting of the life of Daniel, and the setting of the book of Daniel - ✔✔¥
Daniel was an early exile; became a high official after training in Babylon - 597BC
¥ lived through Babylonian Empire into Persian Empire
¥ 6 chapters = Babylonian court tales, 6 = visions
Four common features of apocalyptic literary style, demonstrated in Daniel's visions -
✔✔¥ revelation (apokalypsis) = hidden knowledge revealed in visions, symbols, etc.
vision, mythical beasts
¥ ethical dualism = righteous few v. evil majority
wicked beasts v. "holy ones"
¥ cosmic dualism = spiritual forces influence world events
heavenly "Ancient of Days" decrees fates of earthly kingdoms
¥ temporal dualism = present evil age ("last days") followed by new heaven and new
earth
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