Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period - Erwin R. Goodenough - Paperback - Abridged

This volume presents the most important portions of Erwin Goodenough's classic thirteen-volume work, a magisterial attempt to encompass human spiritual history in general through the study of Jewish symbols in particular. Revealing that the Jewish religion of the period was much more varied and complex than the extant Talmudic literature would lead us to believe, Goodenough offered evidence for the existence of a Hellenistic-Jewish mystic mythology far closer to the Qabbalah than to rabbinical Judaism. Since [Jacob Neusner's one-volume abridgement] presents the fruits of Goodenough's decades-long study of ancient Jewish art, climaxed by his study of the third-century synagogue at Dura-Europas, it is probably the best introduction to Goodenough's mature thought. Neusner contributes a twenty-nine-page foreword that explains the enduring importance of the entire thirteen-volume work.--David M. Hay, Studia Philonica Annual 1Goodenough, Erwin R. is the author of 'Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period - Erwin R. Goodenough - Paperback - Abridged' with ISBN 9780691019222 and ISBN 0691019223.