Judeans and Jews

"Daniel R. Schwartz is perhaps the leading authority of post-Achemenid Second Temple Jewish history. His career-long involvement with Josephus scholarship and his recent magisterial commentary on II Maccabees mean Judeans and Jews contains the mature reflections of a master in the field." -- David Goodblatt, Distinguished Professor and Endowed Chair in Judaic Studies, Department of History, University of California, San Diego "Judeans and Jews is a most interesting and instructive read, an ingenious volume that represents the fruits of long reflection and that gives scope to a distinguished author's individual voice." -- Tessa Rajak, Professor Emeritus of Ancient History, University of Reading

Presenting the Second Temple era as an age of transition between a territorial past and an exilic and religious future, Judeans and Jews sharpens our understanding of this important era.

In writing in English about the classical era, is it more appropriate to refer to “Jews” or to “Judeans”? What difference does it make? Today, many scholars consider “Judeans” the more authentic term, and “Jews” and “Judaism” merely anachronisms.

In Judeans and Jews, Daniel R. Schwartz argues that we need both terms in order to reflect the dichotomy between the tendencies of those, whether in Judea or in the Disapora, whose identity was based on the state and the land (Judeans), and those whose identity was based on a religion and culture (Jews).

Presenting the Second Temple era as an age of transition between a territorial past and an exilic and religious future, Judeans and Jews not only sharpens our understanding of this important era but also sheds important light on the revolution in Jewish identity caused by the creation of the modern state of Israel.