Papers by Massimo Gargiulo
Ricerche Storico Bibliche , 2023
The paper discusses different views about diaspora in Rabbinic literature and how exile and diasp... more The paper discusses different views about diaspora in Rabbinic literature and how exile and diaspora were used by Christian authors as a sharply polemical issue toward Judaism. A particular focus in on Pesaḥim 87b and Origen, Contra Celsum I, 55
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Sacramentaria & Scienze Religiose, 2023
With Jewish – Hellenistic literature we can designate a corpus identified either by the language ... more With Jewish – Hellenistic literature we can designate a corpus identified either by the language or by the historical period, according to the value given to the term Hellenistic. This paper, moving from the hypothesis that language is not necessarily a distinctive element between literary traditions which share many other features in a systematic manner, examines the Greek genre of erotapokriseis in order to verify its diffusion into rabbinic Judaism, first of all through the medium of educational system. Such research hypothesises are useful to pave the way for new studies about possible Greek influences also on the first centuries of rabbinic Judaism.
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Similitudini, metafore e allegoria nel De opificio mundi di Filone di Alessandria, 2021
Domande simili: creazione e legge nel proemio del De opificio mundi
di Filone Alessandrino e nel ... more Domande simili: creazione e legge nel proemio del De opificio mundi
di Filone Alessandrino e nel giudaismo del secondo tempio e rabbinico
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Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni, 2021
In the first section Philo’s commentary on the laws about sacrifice in
Lev. 1-7 is analysed, espe... more In the first section Philo’s commentary on the laws about sacrifice in
Lev. 1-7 is analysed, especially from De specialibus legibus. His exegesis
aims at an ethical and spiritual interpretation of sacrifice, but does not deny the importance of the sacrificial act and its literal meaning. A comparison between Philo and the Rabbinic tradition shows some analogies in the exegetical methods both use, and in some fundamental issues, as the importance both attach to the right intention of the offerer. This was in harmony with the criticism against traditional sacrifice found in Greek philosophy and served to bring out the diversity of Hebrew cult compared to the pagan ceremonies. Philo acknowledges the Jerusalem Temple with its priesthood as the only place where that cult is possible, but he also assigns a universal function to it. The sacrifice priests carry out there, plays not only a religious role, but it is a social way of aggregation as well and teaches people through a non-verbal language which is similar to that of mime and dance. The sacrifice thus
becomes a δεῖγμα representing also acts other than the one performed
during the rite. In this respect the word is used in a way similar to Plato. This happens especially with the gesture of laying the hands on the victim. The interpretation Philo gives of this will be followed by some Church fathers.
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La Bibbia dell'Amicizia. Brani dei Neviim/Profeti commentati da ebrei e cristiani, 2020
Il mio contributo analizza il dialogo tra Natan e David in 2 Sam 12,1-12 e la sua ricezione nelle... more Il mio contributo analizza il dialogo tra Natan e David in 2 Sam 12,1-12 e la sua ricezione nelle tradizioni ebraica e cristiana
Un commento alla Bibbia scritto a più mani da ebrei e da cristiani rappresenta, nel panorama italiano, e non solo, una novità. La Bibbia dell'Amicizia nasce dall’incontro di due realtà: l’amore per la Parola di Dio e l’amicizia tra ebrei e cristiani. Da millenni ebrei e cristiani leggono e meditano la Bibbia separatamente. Da alcuni decenni è iniziato un percorso di dialogo per superare odi e incomprensioni: è ora possibile iniziare a leggere la Bibbia insieme.
Il progetto ha come finalità quella di far gustare la Bibbia e far dialogare, per la prima volta in modo così articolato e con una pubblicazione sui testi fondativi delle due religioni. Dopo il successo del primo volume, sulla Torah/Pentateuco (2019), in questo secondo volume cinquantadue studiosi si soffermano sui Neviim/Profeti, ossia sui libri storici e profetici, commentando passi scelti tra i più significativi. Lo scopo non è quello di arrivare a una lettura unificata della Bibbia nella quale le diversità si stemperino fino ad annullarsi, ma quello di conoscersi meglio, di conoscere meglio le rispettive letture e interpretazioni, accettando che esse possano essere diverse.
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MASCULUM ET FEMINAM CREAVIT EOS (Gen. 1,27) Paradigmi del maschile e femminile nel cristianesimo antico, 2020
In rabbinic literature Gen 1,27 is the starting point to build the opposition between male and fe... more In rabbinic literature Gen 1,27 is the starting point to build the opposition between male and female. But the semantics of real bodies do not admit such a simple dual situation, and the laws have to deal with bodies which correspond to neither of the two genders. Rabbis cannot deny that and try to trace it back to a binary scheme through some exegetical strategies. A very similar endeavour is seen in the Greek - Roman context and in Roman jurisprudence
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Educare a un’umanità più fraterna: il contributo delle religioni. INTERRELIGIOUS AND INTERCULTURAL INVESTIGATIONS 11, 2021
The article offers some reflections and practical examples about the way Jews are presented in It... more The article offers some reflections and practical examples about the way Jews are presented in Italian religion textbooks and in Roman Catholic liturgy. An example is given from liturgical readings about the sacrifice / binding of Isaac and the risks of a neo-typological exegesis. A few proposals are made to push forward the way opened by Nostra Aetate.
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IL BAMBINO NELLE FONTI CRISTIANE. XLV Incontro di Studiosi dell’Antichità Cristiana (Roma, 11-13 maggio 2017), 2019
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Adamantius, 2018
Philo’s Quaestiones can ofer on one side some elements of comparison between his exegetical crite... more Philo’s Quaestiones can ofer on one side some elements of comparison between his exegetical criteria and
Rabbinic Judaism. First of all, for the Rabbis it is a precept to answer the objections about Torah, that is what Philo
himself does. He acknowledges that sometimes Scripture has to speak the language of man, when its purpose becomes
teaching more than truth. Likewise some rabbis claimed that Torah used human language in order to be understood by
everybody. In addition, both Philo and Rabbinic exegesis aim at fulfl what Scripture lef unsaid, taking into consideration the diferent levels of receptiveness of men. As a prerequisite of this work, both consider Torah as a unity whose
parts clarify each other. Other afnities are found in more particular halakic issues, in the general theological view and
in the ideas about mankind. On the other side, Quaestiones as exegesis for all people pave the way for a comparison
with less highbrow Greek philosophy. Among many and diferent images borrowed from Greek literature, Quaestiones
seem to have a particular afnity with the popular gnomic traditions. Tis is seen in the similar way Philo and Greek
proverbs deal with themes such as friendship and obedience. Trough this adaptable method, the exegesis of Quaestiones could fit people with different levels of education.
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Spinoza, philosophe grammairien, J. Baumgarten, I. Rosier-Catach et P. Totaro (ed.), Paris, CNRS Editions, 2019
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La Bibbia dell'Amicizia, 2019
A translation and short commentary of Nm 6,1-8 on nazirate, with references to Jewish and patrist... more A translation and short commentary of Nm 6,1-8 on nazirate, with references to Jewish and patristic exegesis.
"La Bibbia dell'Amicizia". A commentary on the Bible written by Jews and Christians is something new. In this historical moment, with the return of anti-Semitic prejudices and a growing ignorance of the biblical text, a collaboration between scholars of the two monotheistic religions - that share the same Bible - is a sign of friendship. This volume is the fruit of the love for the Word of God and friendship between Jews and Christians. Jews and Christians have been reading and meditating on the Bible separately for thousands of years. Some decades ago, Jews and Christians have begun a process of dialogue to overcome hatred and misunderstanding. It is now possible to start reading the Bible together. The aim of the project is to make appreciate the Bible and to make Jews and Christians have a dialogue, for the first time in such a structured way and with a publication on the founding text of the two religions. Fifty scholars dwell on the first five books of the Bible (Torah or Pentateuch) in a reading based on their own traditions and writing new original introductions to each book and commentaries on selected passages. The aim is not to arrive at a unified reading of the Bible in which diversities are eliminated, but knowing better the respective interpretations, accepting that they may be different.
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Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 151, 2018
In this paper violence is studied as a key for the interpretation of the stories about king Saul ... more In this paper violence is studied as a key for the interpretation of the stories about king Saul in the Bible and Rabbinic literature. It is also used for a comparison with Greek tragedy and the figure of Ajax
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Eastern Theological Journal, 2017
Music and silence are relevant elements in the stories about Saul and David. In the Bible the fir... more Music and silence are relevant elements in the stories about Saul and David. In the Bible the first king, after being rejected by God, is segregated as he gets no answer by Yhwh and the men around him; only after his heroic death, the divine voice will speak to him once again. Opposite to him, David has a continuous dialogue with God; with his music he can cure Saul’s foolishness and through dances and songs he will bring the ark to Jerusalem as the new anointed. In the rabbinic tradition he is the sweet singer of Israel and Josephus describes him with the Greek pattern of the “first inventor”. Music makes him a model of devotion too: he writes the psalms and his Aeolian harp – an instrument which has parallel in the Greek myth – wakes him just for the midnight prayer. It will be only a noise to make him lose the struggle with the angel of death; then, immediately before dying, David will be silent for a moment.
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Mt 5,17-20 can be fully understood in the context of the hermeneutic work of the Jewish rabbis; t... more Mt 5,17-20 can be fully understood in the context of the hermeneutic work of the Jewish rabbis; the words used by Jesus refer to their exegetical methods and to the idea that the torah cannot be modified. Jesus’ position anticipates one of the main elements of rabbinic Judaism. Given this context, this paper offers a new hypothesis about the original aramaic version of Jesus’ words on the torah’s fulfilment, in a
time when the pharisee’s position was starting to impose the importance of oral tradition alongside the written word of God. using the root
gmr Jesus enters into dialogue with contemporary Judaism, putting
forward his own idea of fulfilment.
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Povertà e ricchezza nel cristianesimo antico (I-V sec.). XLII incontro di studiosi dell'antichità cristiana, 8-10 maggio 2014, 2016
Rabbinic literature deals with the theme of wealth and poorness in a way similar to the Bible: to... more Rabbinic literature deals with the theme of wealth and poorness in a way similar to the Bible: to be reach is a sign of God’s favour for a honest life. But it is a risk too, if man cannot control his passions. On the other hand, poverty may be caused by God’s punishment, but it also may be a virtue. This ambivalence fits well for wisdom literature, which is the most concerned with wealth and poorness. Pirqe Avot is an example of this attitude. It stresses the importance of charity and redistribution, but also shares with the Greek philosophy the idea that too much wealth leads to anxiety and proposes the ideal of autárkeia, using the classical literary genre of question-and-answer. This genre had a large use in the collections of aphorísmata of the imperial period, among which also Pirqe Avot may be then included.
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Mutuare, interpretare, tradurre: storie di culture a confronto : atti del 2. incontro Orientalisti, Roma, 11-13 dicembre 2002. STUDI SEMITICI, vol. 21 N.S., 115-125, Roma (già sul sito www.orientalisti.net), 2006
The political crisis produced in Athens and Jerusalemsimilar cultural reactions: both tried to st... more The political crisis produced in Athens and Jerusalemsimilar cultural reactions: both tried to strengthen their identity (re)writing their history since the beginning by the redaction of detailed, but often artificial, genealogies. But also in the wider project of the so called Deuteronomistic history and its parallel Books of Chronicles we can find some links with the great Greek historiography of the 5th century, of which some examples are given.
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Materia giudaica IX / 1-2, pp.167-174, 2004
Several texts from the Hellenistic age speak of a kinship between Jews and Spartans; among them t... more Several texts from the Hellenistic age speak of a kinship between Jews and Spartans; among them the most interesting is 1 Macc. In this book Sparta is always linked with Rome, the constitution of which is celebrated in a way that reminds Polybius’s description of Roman mixed constitution, whose prototype was just Lycurgus’s system. This may suggest 1 Macc. used the kinship with Sparta, re-creating the Rome-Sparta couple, to praise Maccabean government as a mixed constitution, an acceptable model in the Roman world.
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«Rivista degli Studi Orientali» n.s. LXXVIII (2004), 49-55., 2004
The links existing between Song iii 4 and viii 2 and between them and Prov. v 13, on the one hand... more The links existing between Song iii 4 and viii 2 and between them and Prov. v 13, on the one hand suggest to emend ytir'Ah of the Masoretic Text in Song iii 4 by ytrwm, on the other show how the Song used the wisdom language to set the love teaching given by the mother to her daughter against the wisdom teaching given in Proverbs i-ix by the father to his son.
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Besides all the elements that bind them together, Proverbs 1-9 and the Song of Songs share a refe... more Besides all the elements that bind them together, Proverbs 1-9 and the Song of Songs share a reference to a central text of the Hebrew Bible, the Shema (Dt 6). On the one hand this fact confirms their relationship; on the other hand, it prove that, in the new context of the Hellenism, the authors wanted to replace the Law as the historical way to the salvation of Israel with Wisdom and Love as ethical salvation. Moreover, it is possible that the Song of Songs operated a contaminatio using as a model also the Greek poet Meleager of Gadara
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The very large number of exhortations to Wisdom in proportion to the few real precepts in Prov. i... more The very large number of exhortations to Wisdom in proportion to the few real precepts in Prov. i-ix reveals that the literary genre to which this pericope belongs is the protrepticon; it was of use to the father to draw his son towards the Jewish wisdom tradition, that he saw as an anthology . This anthology would have been, with an image used by the Hellenistic poet Meleager of Gadara, a crown for his head. The most dangerous enemy was the strange woman: in order to preserve his son from her sexual traps, the father/preceptor resorted to some tòpoi of Greek erotic poetry, in particular of Meleager: sweet-bitter eros, perhaps with an allusive comparison with an insect as the bee (5,3); the hunting eyes (6,25); the metaphor of drinking water as love-making (5,15). These elements, to which two linguistic indications can be added, are useful to supply a terminus post quem for the composition of Prov. i-ix.
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Papers by Massimo Gargiulo
di Filone Alessandrino e nel giudaismo del secondo tempio e rabbinico
Lev. 1-7 is analysed, especially from De specialibus legibus. His exegesis
aims at an ethical and spiritual interpretation of sacrifice, but does not deny the importance of the sacrificial act and its literal meaning. A comparison between Philo and the Rabbinic tradition shows some analogies in the exegetical methods both use, and in some fundamental issues, as the importance both attach to the right intention of the offerer. This was in harmony with the criticism against traditional sacrifice found in Greek philosophy and served to bring out the diversity of Hebrew cult compared to the pagan ceremonies. Philo acknowledges the Jerusalem Temple with its priesthood as the only place where that cult is possible, but he also assigns a universal function to it. The sacrifice priests carry out there, plays not only a religious role, but it is a social way of aggregation as well and teaches people through a non-verbal language which is similar to that of mime and dance. The sacrifice thus
becomes a δεῖγμα representing also acts other than the one performed
during the rite. In this respect the word is used in a way similar to Plato. This happens especially with the gesture of laying the hands on the victim. The interpretation Philo gives of this will be followed by some Church fathers.
Un commento alla Bibbia scritto a più mani da ebrei e da cristiani rappresenta, nel panorama italiano, e non solo, una novità. La Bibbia dell'Amicizia nasce dall’incontro di due realtà: l’amore per la Parola di Dio e l’amicizia tra ebrei e cristiani. Da millenni ebrei e cristiani leggono e meditano la Bibbia separatamente. Da alcuni decenni è iniziato un percorso di dialogo per superare odi e incomprensioni: è ora possibile iniziare a leggere la Bibbia insieme.
Il progetto ha come finalità quella di far gustare la Bibbia e far dialogare, per la prima volta in modo così articolato e con una pubblicazione sui testi fondativi delle due religioni. Dopo il successo del primo volume, sulla Torah/Pentateuco (2019), in questo secondo volume cinquantadue studiosi si soffermano sui Neviim/Profeti, ossia sui libri storici e profetici, commentando passi scelti tra i più significativi. Lo scopo non è quello di arrivare a una lettura unificata della Bibbia nella quale le diversità si stemperino fino ad annullarsi, ma quello di conoscersi meglio, di conoscere meglio le rispettive letture e interpretazioni, accettando che esse possano essere diverse.
Rabbinic Judaism. First of all, for the Rabbis it is a precept to answer the objections about Torah, that is what Philo
himself does. He acknowledges that sometimes Scripture has to speak the language of man, when its purpose becomes
teaching more than truth. Likewise some rabbis claimed that Torah used human language in order to be understood by
everybody. In addition, both Philo and Rabbinic exegesis aim at fulfl what Scripture lef unsaid, taking into consideration the diferent levels of receptiveness of men. As a prerequisite of this work, both consider Torah as a unity whose
parts clarify each other. Other afnities are found in more particular halakic issues, in the general theological view and
in the ideas about mankind. On the other side, Quaestiones as exegesis for all people pave the way for a comparison
with less highbrow Greek philosophy. Among many and diferent images borrowed from Greek literature, Quaestiones
seem to have a particular afnity with the popular gnomic traditions. Tis is seen in the similar way Philo and Greek
proverbs deal with themes such as friendship and obedience. Trough this adaptable method, the exegesis of Quaestiones could fit people with different levels of education.
"La Bibbia dell'Amicizia". A commentary on the Bible written by Jews and Christians is something new. In this historical moment, with the return of anti-Semitic prejudices and a growing ignorance of the biblical text, a collaboration between scholars of the two monotheistic religions - that share the same Bible - is a sign of friendship. This volume is the fruit of the love for the Word of God and friendship between Jews and Christians. Jews and Christians have been reading and meditating on the Bible separately for thousands of years. Some decades ago, Jews and Christians have begun a process of dialogue to overcome hatred and misunderstanding. It is now possible to start reading the Bible together. The aim of the project is to make appreciate the Bible and to make Jews and Christians have a dialogue, for the first time in such a structured way and with a publication on the founding text of the two religions. Fifty scholars dwell on the first five books of the Bible (Torah or Pentateuch) in a reading based on their own traditions and writing new original introductions to each book and commentaries on selected passages. The aim is not to arrive at a unified reading of the Bible in which diversities are eliminated, but knowing better the respective interpretations, accepting that they may be different.
time when the pharisee’s position was starting to impose the importance of oral tradition alongside the written word of God. using the root
gmr Jesus enters into dialogue with contemporary Judaism, putting
forward his own idea of fulfilment.
di Filone Alessandrino e nel giudaismo del secondo tempio e rabbinico
Lev. 1-7 is analysed, especially from De specialibus legibus. His exegesis
aims at an ethical and spiritual interpretation of sacrifice, but does not deny the importance of the sacrificial act and its literal meaning. A comparison between Philo and the Rabbinic tradition shows some analogies in the exegetical methods both use, and in some fundamental issues, as the importance both attach to the right intention of the offerer. This was in harmony with the criticism against traditional sacrifice found in Greek philosophy and served to bring out the diversity of Hebrew cult compared to the pagan ceremonies. Philo acknowledges the Jerusalem Temple with its priesthood as the only place where that cult is possible, but he also assigns a universal function to it. The sacrifice priests carry out there, plays not only a religious role, but it is a social way of aggregation as well and teaches people through a non-verbal language which is similar to that of mime and dance. The sacrifice thus
becomes a δεῖγμα representing also acts other than the one performed
during the rite. In this respect the word is used in a way similar to Plato. This happens especially with the gesture of laying the hands on the victim. The interpretation Philo gives of this will be followed by some Church fathers.
Un commento alla Bibbia scritto a più mani da ebrei e da cristiani rappresenta, nel panorama italiano, e non solo, una novità. La Bibbia dell'Amicizia nasce dall’incontro di due realtà: l’amore per la Parola di Dio e l’amicizia tra ebrei e cristiani. Da millenni ebrei e cristiani leggono e meditano la Bibbia separatamente. Da alcuni decenni è iniziato un percorso di dialogo per superare odi e incomprensioni: è ora possibile iniziare a leggere la Bibbia insieme.
Il progetto ha come finalità quella di far gustare la Bibbia e far dialogare, per la prima volta in modo così articolato e con una pubblicazione sui testi fondativi delle due religioni. Dopo il successo del primo volume, sulla Torah/Pentateuco (2019), in questo secondo volume cinquantadue studiosi si soffermano sui Neviim/Profeti, ossia sui libri storici e profetici, commentando passi scelti tra i più significativi. Lo scopo non è quello di arrivare a una lettura unificata della Bibbia nella quale le diversità si stemperino fino ad annullarsi, ma quello di conoscersi meglio, di conoscere meglio le rispettive letture e interpretazioni, accettando che esse possano essere diverse.
Rabbinic Judaism. First of all, for the Rabbis it is a precept to answer the objections about Torah, that is what Philo
himself does. He acknowledges that sometimes Scripture has to speak the language of man, when its purpose becomes
teaching more than truth. Likewise some rabbis claimed that Torah used human language in order to be understood by
everybody. In addition, both Philo and Rabbinic exegesis aim at fulfl what Scripture lef unsaid, taking into consideration the diferent levels of receptiveness of men. As a prerequisite of this work, both consider Torah as a unity whose
parts clarify each other. Other afnities are found in more particular halakic issues, in the general theological view and
in the ideas about mankind. On the other side, Quaestiones as exegesis for all people pave the way for a comparison
with less highbrow Greek philosophy. Among many and diferent images borrowed from Greek literature, Quaestiones
seem to have a particular afnity with the popular gnomic traditions. Tis is seen in the similar way Philo and Greek
proverbs deal with themes such as friendship and obedience. Trough this adaptable method, the exegesis of Quaestiones could fit people with different levels of education.
"La Bibbia dell'Amicizia". A commentary on the Bible written by Jews and Christians is something new. In this historical moment, with the return of anti-Semitic prejudices and a growing ignorance of the biblical text, a collaboration between scholars of the two monotheistic religions - that share the same Bible - is a sign of friendship. This volume is the fruit of the love for the Word of God and friendship between Jews and Christians. Jews and Christians have been reading and meditating on the Bible separately for thousands of years. Some decades ago, Jews and Christians have begun a process of dialogue to overcome hatred and misunderstanding. It is now possible to start reading the Bible together. The aim of the project is to make appreciate the Bible and to make Jews and Christians have a dialogue, for the first time in such a structured way and with a publication on the founding text of the two religions. Fifty scholars dwell on the first five books of the Bible (Torah or Pentateuch) in a reading based on their own traditions and writing new original introductions to each book and commentaries on selected passages. The aim is not to arrive at a unified reading of the Bible in which diversities are eliminated, but knowing better the respective interpretations, accepting that they may be different.
time when the pharisee’s position was starting to impose the importance of oral tradition alongside the written word of God. using the root
gmr Jesus enters into dialogue with contemporary Judaism, putting
forward his own idea of fulfilment.
ognuna delle due tradizioni ne ha evidenziato quegli
aspetti che considerava più congeniali e significativi. Momenti salienti della vita del patriarca, come la
vocazione, la benedizione, la circoncisione e l’aqedah
di Isacco, nonché tematiche come l’osservanza della
Torah, sono stati interpretati secondo istanze teologiche e prospettive religiose diverse.
Tuttavia, uno sguardo più attento ai testi permette
di rinvenire fi li comuni e di scovare prestiti da una tradizione all’altra. Se ne deduce che la realtà delle relazioni tra ebrei e cristiani nei primi secoli, anche e forse
soprattutto dal punto di vista esegetico, era molto più
aperta a contatti reciproci di quanto lasci credere l’applicazione rigida e precoce del modello della separazione tra le due strade.
Anche in questo senso Abramo si dimostra «padre
di molti».
Dipartimento SARAS - Università di Roma Sapienza
Bea Center for Judaic Studies - Pontificia Gregorian University
Al termine «diaspora» viene usualmente attribuito il significato negativo di «dispersione, sparpagliamento» del popolo d'Israele dal proprio luogo di origine. Sulla base di una più attenta considerazione dei dati storici e letterari, tale prospettiva principalmente negativa dovrebbe essere rivista. Infatti, durante il periodo del Secondo Tempio varie comunità giudaiche vivevano stabilmente in diverse regioni geografiche, spesso lontano dalla terra d'Israele, e accettavano di condividere con altri popoli una serie di fattori solitamente determinanti per la definizione della propria identità, quali ad esempio l'esprimersi in una determinata lingua, accettare usi propri di determinati contesti politico-sociali ed inserirsi pienamente nel contesto economico. Per una trattazione metodologicamente più corretta di ciò che convenzionalmente viene chiamato "diaspora" è quindi forse opportuno invertire la prospettiva e considerare la «dispersione»-o forse meglio la «disseminazione»-del popolo ebraico come una situazione normale e permanente durante tale periodo, indipendentemente da come esso abbia concepito la propria origine, nei tempi in cui furono redatti e accolti come autorevoli gli scritti biblici.
del pogrom alessandrino del 38 d.C., oggetto dell’In Flaccum e della
Legatio ad Gaium, il convegno si propone di indagare come alla
dimensione universale ed etico-teologica applicata alle vicende storiche,
Filone faccia corrispondere un progetto educativo incentrato sulla
pedagogia mosaica, competitivo e alternativo rispetto alla paideia
pagana. Dai trattati dell’Expositio, cronologicamente riconducibili agli
anni compresi tra il 40 e il 49 d.C. e, secondo le ultime evidenze
scientifiche, composti da Filone durante il soggiorno romano, emergono
infatti significativi indizi che inducono a ipotizzare che l’Alessandrino
abbia letto nella tragica fine di Caligola e nell’iniziale politica
dell’imperatore Claudio il segno di una precisa volontà divina,
scorgendo nuovi margini di azione per una rigenerazione dell’Ebraismo.
Da questa prospettiva la strategia politica filoniana appare pienamente
comprensibile e valutabile nel quadro di un competitivo confronto con il
paganesimo. Recuperando infatti quei parallelismi tra ebraismo e
pitagorismo già indicati in ambito greco e sviluppati a vario titolo in
ambito giudaico ellenistico, Filone fonda la propria proposta politica e
culturale su un modello ascetico che appare, di fatto, concorrenziale
rispetto a quello propugnato in ambito pagano e rappresentato da
Cheremone, inviato a Roma presso l’imperatore Claudio per
rappresentare la comunità greca di Alessandria.
Alla luce dell’intreccio tra speranza profetica e pentimento, tra
pentimento ed età messianica, individuabile nei trattati dell’Expositio,
sembra quindi legittimo interrogarsi sulle finalità dell’introduzione nel
De Specialibus della figura dell’ἄρχων νόμιμος, al quale vengono affidate
le indicazioni per un buon governo volte a garantire un regno
prolungato. Si tratta di una prospettiva esclusivamente etica ed
escatologica, realizzabile in un indefinito futuro messianico, oppure,
dietro l’apparente accettazione di una situazione politica definita si cela
una visione politica globale?
Il convegno intende interrogarsi su questi temi a partire da una
contestualizzazione storico-politica e etnico-religiosa del pogrom
alessandrino del 38 a.C., dalle più recenti risultanze archeologiche
relative agli Ebrei romani e dall’analisi filologico-letteraria degli scritti
filoniani riconducibili al periodo in oggetto
JEWISH-CHRISTIAN RELATIONS
Presentazione della nuova licenza in Studi giudaici e relazioni ebraico-cristiane
DELL’INCONTRO TRA CIVILTÀ E
DELLA PERSECUZIONE RELIGIOSA.
1-2 MACCABEI: TRADIZIONE,
REDAZIONE, TEOLOGIA