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[Editor's note: The first of the following two reviews, by Kevin G. O'Connell, S.J., was originally published in JBL 90 (1971): 228-31. A longer JBL review of Martin Hengel's Judaism and Hellenism, not reprinted here, came out six years later (see Louis H. Feldman, "Hengel's Judaism and Hellenism in Retrospect," JBL 96 [1977]: 371-82). The second review included here, by]. K. Aitken, represents a reassessment of Hengel's seminal work some thirty years later.]
Judentum und Hellenismus: Studien zu ihrer Begegnung unter besonderer Berucksichtigung Palastinas bis zur Mitte des 2. Jh.s v. Chr, by Martin Hengel. WUNT 10. Tubingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1969; 2nd ed., 1973. ISBN 3161452704 (paper); 3161452712 (cloth).
Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine during the Early Hellenistic Period. 2 vols. Translated by J. Bowden. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974 (a onevolume, paperback edition was issued by Fortress in 1981). ISBN 0800602935.
This is a massive, detailed, and often complex study of Judaism's relation to Hellenism in Palestine during the third and the first half of the second centuries B.C.E. The book was prepared as a Habilitationsschrift, and its four chapters treat successively: the encounter of Judaism in Palestine with the civilization of early Hellenism as a technically determined political and economic force, Hellenism in Palestine as a cultural force and its influence on the Jews, Palestinian Judaism's encounter and struggle with the spirit of the Hellenistic age, the interpretatio graeca of Judaism and the reform efforts of the Hellenists in Jerusalem. The language is generally clear, but sentences are sometimes too cumbersome for effective communication. Most printing errors have been listed at the end of the book, but the following additional corrections are necessary: p. 262, line 9, bestritten for bestitten; p. 438, line 23, 7 for 6; p. 545, n. 242, line 19, [epsilon][kappa][tau][iota][sigma][theta][[eta]] for [epsilon][kappa][tau][iota][sigma][theta][[eta].
The book's main thesis is that all Judaism from about the mid-third century B.C.E. must be regarded as Hellenistic in the strict sense, because it had all received strong Hellenistic influence. The evidence amassed in support of this thesis should overwhelm the most hardened skeptic. To replace the customary distinction between Hellenistic and Palestinian Judaism, Hengel suggests a distinction between "the Greek-speaking Judaism oi the western diaspora and the Aramaic/Hebrew speaking Judaism of Palestine or of...