An Introduction to Early Judaism

James VanderKam has proven himself one of the foremost authorities on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the vast literature of Second Temple Judaism - two areas which typically overwhelm the average research student and biblical scholar. Here in this accessible volume (easy to follow, 234 pages), VanderKam provides a succinct overview of the sea of literature and lays the foundation to eliminate the enormous task of getting a hold of the literature from the Second Temple period. It is helpful (especially trying to cut through for the specific task of research) to have a resource which provides a simple and straightforward explanation of the whos, whats and wheres of documents which are filled with people, places and symbols quite foreign to most everything else you learn in church and typical coursework for New Testament studies. But it remains difficult to overestimate the importance of this literature, as it provides the closest and clearest information of how Judaism interpreted their own Scriptures at the time when the Christian movement emerged. This book is a wonderful introduction and would be a great addition to an introduction or survey course.

This book gives an excellent background for the New Testament. It will put you in the sandals of the NT writers. The book is a must read for anyone seeking to develop a deeper understanding of the culture of the Bible. I have suggested this book to several people and I plan to read it again in the future.

James Vanderkam's AN INTRODUCTION TO EARLY JUDAISM is a good overview of certain aspects of Second Temple Judaism. By far the largest portion of the book is an introduction to the literature of the period (Qumran, the apocrypha, pseudepigrapha, etc.). There is also a fairly long section on history from Persia to Bar Kokhba. Unfortunately the practices, theology and social structures of Judaism are largely ignored.

This book is very useful as a history of Judaism as it markedly evolved from the Biblical to the Talmudic era. VanderKam is highly conversant with the Dead Sea Scrolls and other recently un-earthed archeological material and integrates their evidence into his historical narrative. Conversly, he gives little indication of being aware of Talmudic aggadot that pertain to this historical era of Judaism's transition . For example there is not even a reference to the Mishna Avot, which is concerned with the rabbinical sages during this period of the development of Judaism.