the landmaRk woRk that launched an eRa This remarkable book has shaped a generation of scholarship. A new foreword by Mark A. Chancey outlines Sanders’s achievement, reviews the principal criticisms raised against it, and describes the legacy he leaves future interpreters. Praise for Paul and Palestinian Judaism sandeRs “Paul and Palestinian Judaism revolutionized New Testament studies. This great book began the serious academic retrieval of Second Temple Judaism as the defining context, in positive ways, of Paul’s life and work. Brilliantly analyzing a broad range of early Jewish texts, Sanders likewise exposed the deep and abiding anti-Judaism afflicting—and disfiguring—centuries of Christian scholarship. Both intellectually and morally, his writing sounded a summons that P has reshaped an entire field of study. If, in the forty years since its first publication, things a have begun to change, it is thanks to Sanders, and to the enduring achievement of Paul and Palestinian Judaism.” l e Paula FRedRiksen hebrew University, Jerusalem s “E. P. Sanders’s Paul and Palestinian Judaism is a modern classic. It changed the way we look t P at Paul and the way we look at ancient Judaism. Forty years later, it is still worth reading and i a worth arguing about.” n u shaye J. d. cohen i 40 th anni veRsaRy editi on harvard University a l “For New Testament students still trapped in Billerbeck-and-Kittel scholarship, the book will n a be revolutionary. For everyone who tries to understand early Judaism or the Christian move- n ment that emerged from it, Sanders’s work requires a thorough rethinking of our assumptions.” J Pa u l a n d wayne a. meeks, professor emeritus u d yale University d Pa l e s t i n i a n J u d a i s m a e. P. sandeRs is Arts and Sciences Professor of Religion Emeritus at Duke Univer- sity and has taught at McMaster University and Queen’s College, Oxford. His landmark works i s A CompArison of pAtterns of religion include, from Fortress Press, Comparing Judaism and Christianity (2016), Paul: The Apostle’s Life, Letters, and Thought (2016), Jesus and Judaism (1985), and Paul, the Law, and the Jewish m People (1983). Religion / New Testament e . P. s a n d e R s With A foreWord by mArk ChAnCey Also by E. P. Sanders, from Fortress Press Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People(1983) Jesus and Judaism (1985) Paul: The Apostle’s Life, Letters, and Thought (2015) Jewish Law from Jesus to the Mishnah: Five Studies (original ed. 1990; Fortress Press ed., 2016) Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE–66 CE (original ed. 1992; Fortress Press ed., 2016) Comparing Judaism and Christianity: Common Judaism, Paul, and the Inner and the Outer in Ancient Religion(2016) In memory of Susan Phillips July 2 1947 – September 26 1975 Paul and Palestinian Judaism Paul and Palestinian Judaism A Comparison of Patterns of Religion, 40th Anniversary Edition E. P. Sanders, with a Foreword by Mark Chancey Fortress Press Minneapolis PAUL AND PALESTINIAN JUDAISM A Comparison of Patterns of Religion, 40th Anniversary Edition Copyright © 2017 Fortress Press. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Email [email protected] or write to Permissions, Fortress Press, PO Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209. First American Edition by Fortress Press 1977; copyright© 1977 by SCM Press Ltd., London, and Fortress Press, Philadelphia Biblical quotations when taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyrighted 1946, 1952, © 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., are used by permission. Cover image: Paul between two apostles (detail), fresco transferred to canvas; first half of the twelfth century, from the Chapel of Santa Maria, Orcau. Museo Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. The apostle holds a book with the (misspelled) text of Acts 9:15, Vas electionis est mihi . . . (“He is a chosen vessel unto Me [to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel . . .],” NKJV). Commons.wikimedia.org. Cover design: Joe Reinke Print ISBN: 978-1-5064-3814-6 eBook ISBN: 978-1-5064-3845-0 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z329.48-1984. Manufactured in the U.S.A. CONTENTS Forerwdo xi Pref atcoe the 40th Anniversary Editixoxnv ii Preface 1t9o7 7t hEed ition xxix Abbreviations xxxix INTRODUCTIO N 1.P aualn Jdu daiisnNme wT estamsecnhto larship 2.Theh olicsotmipca roifps aotnt oefrr nesl igion 1 2 Purpoofts hese t udy 18 Difficuolftt hiceeo sm parison 19 Addendpuamt:ta enrtdnr sa jectories 20 3.Sources 24 PALESTINJIUADNA ISM PARTO NE I TA NNAITICL ITERATURE 33 1.Thep ersisotfte hnveci eeo wfR abibnriecl iagsoi nooenf l egalistic works-righteousness 33 2.Theu soefR abbimnaitce rial 59 PharainsRdea ebsb is 60 Dataena du thenticity 63 Thee cleucsotefi Tca nnmaaitteirci al 69 3.Then atuorfeT annlaiiattteiurcr e 76 Tannaliittiecar naTdta unrnear ietliicg ion 81 4.Thee lecatnitdoh nce o venant 84 Thet heomfge r atuity 85 Theel ecatnitdoh enex planoafit ti ons 87 Thee nduvrailnigod fti hcteoy v enparnotmails es 101 Gods'isod fte h ceo vencaonmtm:a ndamnebdnl tess sings 104 5.Obedieanndcdie s obedrieewnaacrnedpd; u nishment 107 Three quiroefom beendti ence 107 Thbeu rdeonb eodfi ence 110 Disobeadssi ieannn gcdue i lt 111 Rewaarndpd u nishment 171 6.Rewaarndpd u nishamnetdnh twe o rtlodc ome 125 Godj'uss tirceet rainibdntu htweio ortnloc d o me 125 Weighfuilnfigl maenntdtr sa nsgartteh sjesu idognmse nt 128 viii Contents 7. Salvation by membership in the covenant and atonement 147 All Israelites have a share in the world to come 147 The Sadducees 150 The 'amme ho-'arets 152 Atonement 157 Summary 180 8. Proper religious behaviour: zakah and tsadaq 183 Zak ah 183 Tsadaq 198 9. The Gentiles 206 1 o. The nature of religious life and experience 212 Studying and doing and the presence of God 217 Prayer and the time of death 223 11. Conclusion 233 II THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS 239 1. Introduction 239 2. The covenant and the covenant people 240 The covenant 240 The members of the covenant and its enemies 242 3. Election and predestination 257 4. The commandments 270 5. Fulfilment and transgression; the nature of sin; reward and punishment 271 The requirement of fulfilment 271 Destruction of the wicked 272 Sin as transgression 272 Punishment for intra-covenantal transgression 284 Reward, the requirement of perfection and man's nothingness 287 6. Atonement 298 7. The righteousness of God and the righteousness of man 305 8. The religious life 312 9. Conclusion 316 Appendix 1 : The authorship and Sitz im Leben of the Hodayot 321 Appendix 2: IQS 8. I-<p 323 Appendix J: IQS 8.3f 326 Appendix 4: The nothingness of man and Gattungsgeschichte 327 III APOCRYPHA AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA 329 1. Ben Sirach 329 The election and the covenant 329 The fate of the individual Israelite; reward and punishment 333 Atonement 338 Covenant, commandments, sin and atonement in Ben Sirach and Rabbinic literature 341 The wicked and the righteous 342 l:;ontents ix 2. I Enoch 346 Introduction 346 The Book of Noah 348 I Enoch 12-36 350 I Enoch 83-<)o 351 I Enoch 91-104 352 I Enoch 1-5; 81; 108; 93.1-10; 91.12-17 359 Summary 361 3. Jubilees 362 The election 362 The commandments 364 Reward and punishment 366 The basis of salvation; the 'true Israel' 367 The Gentiles 374 God's mercy; man's repentance and atonement 375 The righteous 380 Appendix 1: Jubilees and the Essenes 383 Appendix 2: The integrity of Jubilees 386 4. The Psalms of Solomon 387 Introduction 387 The pattern of religion in Ps. Sol. 9 388 The election 389 The commandments; chastisement; reward and punishment 390 God's justice and mercy 392 Repentance and atonement 397 The identification of the righteous and the wicked 398 The righteousness of God 407 5. IV Ezra 409 IV Ezra in recent scholarship: the problem posed by the book 409 The dialogues 413 The visions 416 IV PALESTINIAN JUDAISM 200 b.c.e.-200 c.e.: Conclusion 419 Covenant and law 419 The common pattern of religion: covenantal nomism 422 Apocalypticism and legalism 423 Sects and parties 425 Judaism in the time of Jesus and Paul 426 PART TWO PAUL V PAUL 431 1. Introduction 431 Sources 431 Method of proceeding 433 The question of the centre and the beginning point 434 2. The solution as preceding the problem 442