Topics in Early Jewish History: The meaning of 'Jew' and 'Christian' in the Second Temple Period and Late Antiquity

Scholars debate on the use of the term “ioudaios” in antiquity. Does this term refer to a person from Judea or a Jew or both? In this seminar we will analyze how the ancient authors communicated about Jews and Christians in the texts of the Second Temple Period and Late Antiquity. Participants of the seminar will engage with a variety of ancient Hebrew and Greek (and Latin) texts that witness to the terms “Jew” and “Christian”. By examining the ethnic, political, cultic and philosophical dimensions these terms reflect we will challenge modern assumptions of the ancient “religions”.