Preface
PART ONE: THE CULTURAL AND LITERARY BACKGROUND
1. Judaism versus Hellenism
- The People of the Book
A. Greeks and Romans
B. The Septuagint and Hellenistic Literature
C. Greek Culture in Palestine
D. The Religious Influence of Hellenism
- The Reaction against Hellenism
A. The Hellenizing Party in Jerusalem
B. The Vengeance of Antiochus
C. The Maccabees and the Maccabean Revolt
D. The Hasmonean House
E. Herod and the Romans
2. The People of the Book
- Torah Religion
A. From Temple to Torah
B. The Rallying Point of Revolt
C. The Holy Covenant
- The Torah and the Sects
A. The Pharisees
B. The Sadducees
C. The Essenes
D. The Zealots
E. The Covenanters of Qumran
3. The Sacred Writings
- The Holy Scriptures
A. The Hebrew Canon
B. The Scriptures in the Dispersion
- The Oral Tradition
A. Its Origin and Development
B. Its Form and Content
- The 'Outside Books'
A. The Non-canonical Literature
B. The Milieu of Apocalyptic
4. The Apocryphal Literature
- The Books Commonly called 'the Apocrypha'
A. Their Identity
B. Their Contents and Literary Genre
C. Their Historical and Religious Value
- The Other 'Apocryphal' Books (or the pseudepigrapha)
A. Their Identity
B. In the Qumran Community
- The Apocryphal Books in Christianity
A. In the New Testament
B. In the History of the Church
PART TWO: THE APOCALYPTISTS
5. The Message and Method of Apocalyptic
- The Apocalyptic Tradition
A. The Hidden Secret
B. The Language of Symbolism
C. The Ezra-legend
- Apocalyptic and Prophecy
A. The Unity of History
B. The Last Things
C. The Form of Inspiration
6. The Messiah and the Son of Man
- The Old Testament Background
- The Traditional or National Messiah
A. The Messiah not Indispensable
B. The Levitic Messiah
C. The Davidic Messiah
D. The Messiah and the Dead Sea Scrolls
E. Jesus and the Messiah
- The Transcendent Messiah and the Son of Man
A. The Apocalyptic Son of Man
B. The Oriental Background
C. The Son of Man as Messiah
D. Suffering and Death
E. Jesus and the Son of Man
7. The Resurrection and the Life Beyond
- The Resurrection, Its Origin and Development
A. The Old Testament Preparation
B. Its Historical Origin
C. Subsequent Developments
D. The Resurrection and the Messianic Kingdom
- The Nature of Survival
A. Sheol, the Abode of Souls
B. Moral Distinction in Sheol
C. Moral Change in the Life Beyond
D. The Individual Soul and the Final Judgment
- The Resurrection Belief and the Nature of the Resurrection Body
A. The Resurrection of the Body and the Survival of Personality
B. The Resurrection body and its Relation to Its Environment
C. The Relation of the 'spiritual' body to the physical body
A Select Bibliography
Rulers and Events
Index of Subjects
Index of Texts