Steven Wasserstrom
Hum 110 3.24.03
Presence and Disappearance:
The Temple in Israelite Religion
Outline
1. The Building of the Temple: Construction as Proclamation
2. The Functions of the Priesthood and the Sacrifice
3. The Daily Temple Service
4. The Prohibition against Images and the Symbolism of the Temple
5. The Destruction of the Second Temple and the Disappearance of God
6. The Temple in Rabbinic Judaism
Terms
First Temple: King Solomon in the tenth century, destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 bce.
Second Temple: also known as Zerubabel's Temple, dedicated in 515 bce; virtually rebuilt by Herod in 20 bce; destroyed by Titus in 70 c.e
Cohens, Levites: two classes of priest
Menora; seven-armed candalabrum
Parket: veil hanging before the Sanctuary
Cherubim: carved beings in Tabernacle and later in Temple
Shekhina: Indwelling of God, said to dwell in the Temple
Avoda: Thrice-daily Temple service, replaced by thrice-daily worship after 70 c.e.
Selected Bibliography
Blenkinsopp, Joseph. Sage Priest Prophet: Religious and Intellectual Leadership in Ancient Israel (Westminster John Knox Press, 1995)
Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity (W.W. Norton, 1989)
Comay, Joan. The Temple of Jerusalem (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975)
Durkheim, Émile, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, tr. Karen Fields (Free Press, 1995)
Friedman, Richard Elliot. The Disappearnce of God: A Divine Mystery (Little, Brown, 1995)
Guttmann, Joseph "Jewish Art and Jewish Studies," in The State of Jewish Studies, eds. Cohen, Shaye and Edward Greenstein, (Wayne State University Press, 1990) pp. 193-213.
Haran, Menahem. Temples and Temple-Services in Ancient Israel: An Inquiry into the Character of Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School (Oxford, 1978)
Haywood, C.T.R. The Jewish Temple: A Non-Biblical Sourcebook (Routledge, 1996)
Keel, Othmar, and Uehlinger, Christoph. Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel (Fortress Press, 1998)
Levenson, Jon. Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible (Harper & Row, 1985)
Kochan, Lionel. Beyond the Graven Image: A Jewish View (NYU Press, 1997)
Meyers, Carol. "Temple, Jerusalem," The Anchor Bible Dictionary vol. 6, pp. 350-369
Smith, J.Z. Map is not Territory (University of Chicago, 1993)