The Meaning of Ioudaios and its Relationship to Other Group Labels in Ancient ‘Judaism’

This article, the first in a two-part series, describes and critically evaluates major contributions in the last seventy years of scholarship on the relationship between Ioudaios (‘Jew’ or ‘Judaean’) and other group labels.The first section examines the common suggestion that Ioudaios was an outsider label, and ‘Israel’ an insider label. The second section surveys explanations of the relationship between Ioudaios and other terms such as ‘Galilaean’, ‘Idumaean’ and ‘Ituraean’, evaluating them in light of the evidence from Josephus. The conclusion sketches the decline of religion and rise of ethnicity as interpretive categories in scholarship on Ioudaios, and raises questions about the meaning of the term that require further discussion. The second article in this series will analyse the use of religion and ethnicity in scholarship on the meaning of Ioudaios, and evaluate the debate over the term’s English translation.

[1]  Dennis J. Mizzi.  Jewish Identities in Antiquity: Studies in Memory of Menahem Stern , 2011 .

[2]  A. Reinhartz.  The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus , 2011 .

[3]  Johannes Maier.  Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah , 2010 .

[4]  Z. Rodgers,et al.  A Wandering Galilean: Essays in Honour of Seán Freyne , 2009 .

[5]  Philip F. Esler.  Judean Ethnic Identity In Josephus’ Against Apion , 2009 .

[6]  L. Feldman,et al.  Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary , 2008 .

[7]  J. Bergsma.  Qumran Self-Identity: "Israel" or "Judah"? , 2008 .

[8]  G. Bohak.  The Ways That Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages , 2008 .

[9]  S. Heschel.  The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany , 2008 .

[10]  Daniel R. Schwartz,et al.  Jewish Identity in the Greco-Roman World: Judische Identitat in Der Griechisch-Romischen Welt , 2007 .

[11]  J. Elliott.  Jesus the Israelite Was Neither a `Jew' Nor a `Christian': On Correcting Misleading Nomenclature , 2007 .

[12]  S. Mason.  Jews, Judaeans, Judaizing, Judaism: Problems of Categorization in Ancient History , 2007 .

[13]  D. Schwartz.  "Judaean" or "Jew"? How should we translate Ioudaios in Josephus? , 2007 .

[14]  A. Levine.  The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus , 2006 .

[15]  D. Goodblatt.  Elements of ancient Jewish nationalism , 2006 .

[16]  G. Shogren.  Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul's Letter , 2005 .

[17]  Ingrid Hjelm.  What do Samaritans and Jews have in Common? Recent Trends in Samaritan Studies , 2004 .

[18]  Kevin G. O'connell,et al.  Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine during the Early Hellenistic Period , 2004 .

[19]  S. Wilson.  "Jew" and related terms in the ancient world , 2004 .

[20]  P. Head,et al.  The Nazi Quest for an Aryan Jesus , 2004 .

[21]  J. J. Collins,et al.  Hellenism in the Land of Israel , 2003 .

[22]  Philip F. Esler.  Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul's Letter , 2003 .

[23]  L. Grabbe.  :The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties , 2003 .

[24]  M. Chancey.  The Myth of a Gentile Galilee , 2002 .

[25]  Harvey.  The True Israel: Uses of the Names Jew, Hebrew, and Israel in Ancient Jewish and Early Christian Literature , 2001 .

[26]  P. Tomson.  ‘Jews’ in the Gospel of John as Compared with the Palestinian Talmud, the Synoptics and Some New Testament Apocrypha , 2001, Anti-Judaism and the Fourth Gospel.

[27]  L. Frizzell.  "The Jews" in the Fourth Gospel , 2000 .

[28]  S. J. Cohen,et al.  The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties , 2001 .

[29]  W. Horbury,et al.  The Gentiles in Judaism 125 bce–ce 66 , 1999 .

[30]  Barth L. Campbell.  Portraits of Paul: An Archaeology of Ancient Personality , 1999 .

[31]  D. Goodblatt.  From Judeans To Israel: Names of Jewish States in Antiquity , 1998 .

[32]  E. Meyers,et al.  Galilee : history, politics, people , 1998 .

[33]  A. Adam.  According To Whose Law? Aristobulus, Galilee and the Nomoi TΩN IoyΔAiΩN* , 1996 .

[34]  J. Barclay.  Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: From Alexander to Trajan (323 Bce-117 Ce) , 1996 .

[35]  M. Smith,et al.  Studies in historical method, ancient Israel, ancient Judaism , 1996 .

[36]  Sacha Stern.  Jewish identity in early rabbinic writings , 1994 .

[37]  P. Bilde.  Religion and Religious Practice in the Seleucid Kingdom , 1990 .

[38]  Seth Schwartz.  The “Judaism” of Samaria and Galilee in Josephus's Version of the Letter of Demetrius I to Jonathan (Antiquities 13.48–57) , 1989, Harvard Theological Review.

[39]  Anthony D. Smith,et al.  The ethnic origins of nations , 1988 .

[40]  P. Tomson.  THE NAMES ISRAEL AND JEW IN ANCIENT JUDAISM AND IN THE NEW TESTAMENT: II , 1986 .

[41]  Moses A. Shulvass.  The History of the Jewish People , 1985 .

[42]  W. Sollors.  Theory of American Ethnicity , 1981 .

[43]  G. W. Nickelsburg.  Jewish literature between the Bible and the Mishnah , 1981 .

[44]  W. Sollors.  Theory of American Ethnicity, or: "? S Ethnic?/Ti and American/Ti, De or United (W) States S S1 and Theor?" , 1981 .

[45]  Anthony D. Smith,et al.  The Ethnic Revival , 1981 .

[46]  S. Freyne.  The Galileans in the light of Josephus' Vita , 1980, New Testament Studies.

[47]  R. Fuller.  THE “JEWS” IN THE FOURTH GOSPEL , 1977, Dialog.

[48]  M. Hengel.  Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in their Encounter in Palestine during the Early Hellenistic Period , 1974 .

[49]  E. Schürer.  The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ: Volume II , 1973 .

[50]  Walter E. Bauer,et al.  A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature , 1979 .

[51]  A. M. Hunter.  The Study of the New Testament , 1945 .

[52]  W. Grundmann.  Jesus der Galiläer und das Judentum , 1940 .

[53]  J. Bernard,et al.  A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to St. John , 1929 .

[54]  Karl Bornhäuser.  Das Johannesevangelium : eine Missionsschrift für Israel , 2022 .