Part 1 — The Crisis of Sacred History Part 2 — Jerusalem and Judah Before the Return Part 3 — How Persia Created Judaism Part 4 — Ezra and the Law Part 5 — Hellenistic Romances Part 6 — Persian Propaganda Part 7 — Sacred History is Phony History Part 8 — Is Dating Phony Too? Part 9 — Persians and Greeks Epilogue: — Christianity Appendix: — Inventing a Religion Reviews — The Lost Temple of Israel Select Bibliography
Biblical theology is a subject in decline. The evidence of this decline is not so much the permanent crisis in which it seems to have settled, or the lack of a new consensus to replace the great works of Eichrodt or von Rad. Rather the decline is evident in the fact that an increasing number of scholars no longer regard theology as the ultimate focus of biblical studies, or even as a necessary dimension of those studies at all.
John J Collins in The Hebrew Bible and Its Interpreters (1990)
The CAIS-SOAS (The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies) of London University has a version of this book here.
Key points
These pages explain the true origins of Judaism
The actual origin of Judaism was in the time of the Persian empire of Darius II, not a thousand years earlier with Moses or hundreds of years before that with Abraham
The bible, as the Jewish scriptures or the Christian Old Testament, was started by Persian colonists, rewritten by the Ptolemies and added to by the Hasmoneans, so it was not ancient at the time of Jesus but was probably still being written by the Essenes
Byzantium: Byzantine Studies on the Internet Edited by Paul Halsall (Fordham University),Byzantium is a course supplement for Byzantine Studies and more.
The Cambridge Classics External Gateway to Humanities Resources Edited by Bruce Fraser (University of Cambridge), Cambridge Classics provides access to internet resources of general interest to classical scholars, including links to materials on philosophy, ancient science, linguistics, drama and art.
Diotima: Materials for the Study of Women and Gender in the Ancient World Edited by Suzanne Bonefas (Associated Colleges of the South/Miami University) and Ross Scaife (University of Kentucky), Diotima features a wide-range of resources for teaching and research on women in the ancient world.
Exploring Ancient World Cultures Edited by Anthony F. Beavers (University of Evansville),Exploring Ancient World Cultures is a general textbook project dedicated to the ancient Near East, ancient India, ancient Egypt, ancient China, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, early Rome and medieval Europe.
Kirke: Katalog der Internet-Ressourcen für die Klassische Philologie aus Erlangen Edited by Ulrich Schmitzer (Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), Kirke (in German) is an extensive index of internet sites relating to the classical periods of Greece and Rome.
NetSERF: The Internet Connection for Medieval Resources Edited by Beau A C Harbin (The Catholic University of America), NetSERF is a subject-oriented index of medieval resources available on the Internet.
Romarch: Roman Art and Archeology Edited by Pedar Foss (University of Cincinnati) and supported by the University of Michigan, Romarch is a wide-ranging index of resources on ancient Italy and the Roman world.
