John J. Collins 
The Invention of Judaism 
Torah and Jewish Identity from Deuteronomy to Paul

Most people understand Judaism to be the Torah and the Torah to be Judaism. However, in
The 
Invention of Judaism, John J. Collins persuasively argues this was not always the case. The Torah became the touchstone for most of Judaism’s adherents only in the hands of the rabbis of late antiquity. For 600 years prior, from the Babylonian Exile to the Roman destruction of the Second Temple, there was enormous variation in the way the Torah was understood. Collins provides a comprehensive account of the role of the Torah in ancient Judaism, exploring key moments in its history, beginning with the formation of Deuteronomy and continuing through the Maccabean revolt and the rise of Jewish sectarianism and early Christianity.

Table of Content

Preface

Introduction: Jews, Judeans, and the Maccabean Crisis

1. Deuteronomy and the Invention of the Torah

2. Torah in the Persian Period

3. The Persistence of Non-Mosaic Judaism

4. Torah as Narrative and Wisdom

5. Torah as Law

6. Torah and Apocalypticism

7. The Law in the Diaspora

8. Paul, Torah, and Jewish Identity

Epilogue


Notes

Bibliography

Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Sources

Index of Modern Authors

About the author

John J. Collins is Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School. His books include Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography and The Apocalyptic Imagination. He is general editor of the Yale Anchor Bible Series.