Jack Lightstone's "Commerce of the Sacred" remains an original and
influential contribution to Judaic studies. Lightstone offers
critical perspectives on the practices and beliefs of Greco-Roman
Jews who lived outside of Palestine and beyond rabbinic control or
influence. He investigates their influence on early Christians and
examines how the two communities defined themselves in relation to
each another. He challenges the view of Judaism as a single set of
practices and beliefs and argues that Jews of the Greco-Roman
Diaspora did not retain a shared, biblical "perception of the
world" centered on the Jerusalem temple. Rather, they believed
multiple points of contact between God and man could be made
through particular rites: prayer in the presence of the sacred
scrolls, pleas for help at the tombs of dead saints and martyrs,
and the interventions of holy men with alleged supernatural powers,
to name a few. Many early Christians also participated in this
Judaic "commerce of the sacred," blurring the social and religious
boundaries that distinguished Jews and Christians.
Lightstone innovatively combines approaches from the history of
religions and social anthropology to provide a different picture of
Judaism during this period. Featuring a new foreword and an updated
bibliography, "Commerce of the Sacred" resituates the Jews in the
Greco-Roman world.
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