Within the Second Temple Period, Jews living in diaspora communities adapted and re-expressed their faith and scriptures as minorities among the diverse cultures and religions that surrounded them. One such case occurred among Jews living in Egypt during the Ptolemaic Period, who rearticulated their faith and teachings in the Greek language and through educational efforts in their community centers. One of their texts was the Greek Book of Sirach, a Jewish religious text translated from Hebrew. A major purpose of the text was to shape its reader's educational, religious, and cultural formation. For Sirach, this formation resulted from the lived-out practice of divinely given wisdom rooted in the Torah.
Using historical and linguistic methods, this book addresses how Greek Sirach shaped, educated, and reinforced Jewish youths' beliefs and behaviors, including their cultic and sacrificial practices, while living as a minority in Ptolemaic Egypt. This book will be of interest to theologians and historians, as well as those studying the challenges faced by religious communities seeking to preserve, re-apply, and re-contextualize their faith when they are not the dominant cultural or religious group.
"This monograph showcases a careful, socio-linguistic and historical analysis of Greek Sirach, especially in regard to sacrificial offerings. It contributes to a better understanding of Second Temple Judaism in Egypt, of the religious formation of Jewish youth there, and of the wider context for early Christianity."
Dr. Gregory Bloomquist, Emeritus Professor of Theology at Saint Paul University Ottawa
"The New Testament did not occur in a vacuum. The Greek book of Sirach, a Second Temple Jewish text, reveals a portion of Judaism committed to maintaining its religious and ethnic identity. Beckman produces a sophisticated reading of important aspects of Greek Sirach from within its context in order to provide the reader with an understanding of the book itself as well as its potential impact on the later first-century context."
Dr. Joseph Fantin, Professor of New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary
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