Judaic and Christian Visions of the Social Order

Jacob Neusner is distinguished service professor of the history and theology of Judaism and senior fellow with the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. He is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. He holds nine honorary degrees and fourteen academic medals, along with other awards. He has published more than a thousand books.Bruce D. Chilton is the Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Bard College, executive director of the Institute of Advanced Theology, and rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist. His books include: Rabbi Jesus, Rabbi Paul, Mary Magdalene, Abraham's Curse, The Cambridge Companion to the Bible, The Way of Jesus, and The Targums (with Paul Flesher). Alan J. Avery-Peck is Kraft-Hiatt Professor of Judaic Studies and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts. Specializing in Jewish history and religion in the first six centuries C.E., his work includes The Encyclopedia of Religious and Philosophical Writings in Late Antiquity: Pagan, Judaic, Christian (co-edited with Jacob Neusner).

• PrefaceChapter 1. Foreword: How Does Religion Imagine Society?Ancient IsraelChapter 2. From the Repertoire of the Hebrew Bible: Visions of the Social OrderJudaismChapter 3. Enoch's Vague Visions of a Future Social Order; Foils to its Vivid Portrayals of the Present ChaosChapter 4. Visions of the Social Order: The Qumran LibraryChapter 5. Through Greek Eyes: Jewish "Theocracy" and "State of the Wise"Chapter 6. Philo's Constructs of Social OrderChapter 7. The Mishnah and Concepts of the Social OrderChapter 8. The Social Vision of Rabbinic JudaismChapter 9. Torah and Culture: H. Richard Niebuhr's Christ and Culture after Fifty Years: A Judaic ResponseChapter 10. Six People You Meet in the Synagogue: Visions of Social Order in Early Rabbinic PrayerChristianityChapter 11. The Kingdom of GodChapter 12. Paul's Theory of the Social OrderChapter 13. Early Christian Martyrdom, Scripture, and Social OrderChapter 14. Irenaeus of Lyons (130-200) Re-Imagining the Cosmos from the Perspective of the OppressedChapter15. Origen's Social Vision of Christian LifeChapter 16. Eusebius's (and Constantine's) Theory of the Political OrderChapter 17. Augustine of Hippo (354-430): Architect of Western Christianity's Political TheologyConclusinosChapter Conclusions, Observations, and Limitations: Reflections on the Visions of the Social Order Collaborative Project