Quote:
Originally Posted by All-American
I wasn't going to mention it because it really is a very minor point with little to no relevance regarding his main point. He says that the Jews had only one temple at Jerusalem-- which is not precisely true. Archaeologists in the near east are finding several examples of jewish temples with the same basic floorplan and apparent purposes of the temple at Jerusalem. One example is at Elephantine-- built by Jews who fled Jerusalem during its destruction by the Babylonians, and with the approval of the main body of the Jews. The idea that a temple could exist at THAT site in Jerusalem alone came about years afterward.
Like I said, VERY minor point wherein he is not EXACTLY correct-- so yes, I likewise hesitate to call him out on things.
And he has some greek words transliterated into the Latin alphabet, but no Greek script. Unless I missed it.
And I will finish the book, worry you not; I'm just going to wait until a cheaper version arrives in the mail.
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Okay, yes, this is a good point. But remember, Ehrman is talking about "the Judaism from which Christianity sprang" (p. 17). He is talking about post-Hellenistic Judaism, where this *was* the case. In the Assyrian, Babylonian, and maybe even Persian period (the period of Elephantine), there could be discussion not only to how many Jewish temples there were, but how many *Gods* the Israelite people (well, okay, probably more the elites, which were responsible for Hebrew literature, after all) worshipped. So yes, Judaism was a very diverse phenomenon, just like Christianity, but given what Jesus taught (an apocalyptic form of Judaism), it was based on a very centralized, obviously monotheistic strand of Judaism, probably not unlike what the Pharisees thought in many respects, but with a decidedly apocalyptic flavor.