Orientation to the History of Roman Judaea

No field of study is livelier than the history of Roman-era Judaea (ca. 200 BC to AD 400). Bold reinterpretations of texts and new archaeological discoveries prompt us constantly to rethink assumptions. What kind of religion was Judaism? How did Jews--and Christians--relate to Roman imperial power? Should we speak of Judaism or Judaisms? How should the finds at Qumran affect our understanding? Did Paul and other early Christians remain within Judaism? Should we translate Ioudaioi as ""Jews"" or ""Judaeans""?
These debates can leave students perplexed, this book argues, because the participants share only a topic. They are actually investigating different questions using disparate criteria. In the hope of facilitating communication and preparing advanced students, this book explores two basic but neglected problems: What does it mean to do history (if history is what we wish to do)? And how did the ancients understand and describe their world? It is not a history, then, but an orientation to the history of Roman Judaea.
Rather than trying to specify which questions are good ones or what one should think about them, the book offers new perspectives to help unleash the historical imagination while reckoning squarely with the nature of our evidence.

""This magisterial work advocates a humanistic approach to historical enquiry as the meticulous exploration of sources in all their emic particularity, while generously acknowledging the value of social-scientific investigation. In particular, it overwhelmingly confirms that ancient Ioudaioi were members of an ethnic group, not adherents of a religion ('Judaism'), whereas Christ-groups represented an asymmetrical identity, as in voluntary associations. Since this perspective revolutionizes how we interpret Judean and Christ-movement texts historically, Steve Mason's book is now indispensable reading.""
--Philip Esler, Portland Chair in New Testament Studies, University of Gloucestershire; Author of Babatha's Orchard

""Mason's new work is invaluable for researchers and indispensable for students. He provides a lucid, balanced, and often brilliant account of the theoretical/methodological problems attendant upon history, and especially ancient history, and especially ancient Judean history. Whatever choices are made, and Mason's house has many mansions, researchers young and old will be led to understand better why and how they are making choices. I will require this book of every one of my graduate students from now on and use parts of it in undergraduate teaching as well.""
--Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture, UC Berkeley; Co-author of Imagine No Religion

""Advanced students and professional scholars alike will benefit greatly from Mason's rich reflections on the practice of ancient history and the particular challenges of capturing the sense of our ancient sources for Roman Judaea. Lucid, rigorously argued, always thought-provoking, Orientation to the Study of Roman Judaea is a first-class study from a great practitioner of ancient history.""
--Sarah Pearce, Ian Karten Professor of Ancient Jewish Studies, University of Southampton


Steve Mason, formerly Canada Research Chair in Greco-Roman Cultural Interaction at Toronto's York University, is now Distinguished Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions and Cultures in the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a dual Canadian-British national, he edits and contributes to the Brill project Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary. His latest monograph is A History of the Jewish War, A.D. 66-74 (2016).