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272 DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE IN THE APOCRYPHAL PERIOD.—
SOURCES.—
B.C. 200-100: Sirach; Daniel; Ethiopic Enoch 1-86, 83-90, 91-104; Baruch 1-38; Tobit ; Sibylline Oracles (part of Book iii.); Testa- ments of the Twelve Patriarchs (B.c. 140- A.D. 30); Book of Jubilees ; Judith.
B.C. 100-1: Ethiopic Enoch 37-70; 1 Maccabees; Psalms of Solomon ; 2 Maccabees.
A.D. 1-100: Assumption of Moses; Book of Wisdom; Philo; Slavonic Enoch; 4 Mac- cabees ; Josephus; Apocalypse of Baruch ; Book of Baruch (from 39 onwards); 2 (4) Esdras; Ascension of Isaiah; Shemoneh Esreh.
[In the above list of authorities the Targums are not included. They undoubtedly contain frag- ments as old as the time of John Hyrcanus; but as they were not published until, perhaps, the 3rd or 4th cent. A.D., they must obviously be used with caution as sources for estimating the develop- ment of Jewish doctrine during our period].
Introduction. 1, The question stated. 2. Relation of later Judaism to foreign systems of thought. (1) Persian influence. (2) Greek influence. 3. Decay of the older Hebraism. 4. Classification of the Apocrypha according to the national influences under which they were composed. i, THe Doctrine or Gop. 1. The OT position. 2. The position of this doctrine in Jewish writings of the Apocryphal period. 3. The extent to which foreign influences affected the doctrine of God as reflected in these writings. 4, Popular superstitions regarding the name Jahweh. 5. The Christian doctrine of God. ii. THE DocrRinE OF THE WISDOM. 1. In OT presented not only as human, but also as Divine. 2. Hellenizing of the Heb. Hokhma in the Alexandrian Wisdom of Solomon. 3. The Logos of Philo. 4. The Memra of the Targums. 5. NT conception of the Logos, iii, ANGELOLOGY AND DEMONOLOGY. A. Angelology. . OT doctrine of angels. . Post-exilic development of angelology on Persian lines seen in (1) Daniel, (2) Tobit, 2 Mac., 2 (4) Esdras. . Conception of elemental angels in post-canonical Jewish literature. - Doctrine of angels as held by the Essenes and by Philo. . Denial of angels by the Sadducees. B. Demonology. 1. The position as refiected in the earlier OT literature. . The Satan of Job, Zechariah, the Chronicler, and the Similitudes of Enoch. . The doctrine of evil spirits in the Apocrypha and in Josephus, . Demonology of the Alexandrian Jews, . Development of demonology in the Jewish pseudepi- grapha. C. Relation of the religious consciousness of our Lord to current beliefs about angels and demons. iy, ANTHROPOLOGY. Teaching of the Apocrypha and Pseudepi- grapha as to— . Psychological nature of man. . Original moral condition of man. . Immortality of the soul. . The first sin and its consequences. . Free will and foreordination. . Ethics: (1) Palestinian ; (2) Alexandrian. - Final shape given by Christian doctrine to Jewish anthropology Tur MESSIANIC Hope, 1. Meaning of the expression. 2. The OT position. 8. The Messianic idea in the Apocrypha. 4, Transformation into Apocalyptic ideas, 5 6 7 8
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. The Messianic idea in later Palestinian books. . The Messianic expectation in Hellenistic Judaism. . Peculiarities of the later Messianic hope. . Question as to retrogression of Messianic idea during the post-Prophetic period. ESCHATOLOGY. 1. Position of eschatological doctrine in OT. 2. Post-canonical development, with special reference to— (1) Future judgment.
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2) Realms of the departed: (a) Sheol; ()) Paradise ; (c) Heaven ; (d) Gehenna. (3) The Resurrection. ; 8. Question as to the influence of Zoroastrianism upon Jewish eschatology. Literature.
Introduction.—1. The question stated.—Our first concern in discussing the subject of doctrinal development in the Apocryphal period is to get a clear conception of the true bearings of the question, ‘The field over which our investigation is to extend consists practically of the intervening space between the Old and New Testaments. We have to deal with a transition period, to be con- sidered with due reference both to what precedes and what follows; we are to look back on the OT, and forward to the NT. In short, we must have the OT basis from which to start, and the NT position to which we are to be led up, both in full vision. The question might be broadly stated, then, as the relation of Jewish views of theology at this time to the Old and New Testaments— the special point to be elucidated being whether and how far the Apocrypha and other non-canonical pre-Christian Jewish writings bridge the distance between them. They do so historically ; do they do so doctrinally? Is there evidence of real doc- trinal development ?
The student of theology will hardly say there is no felt want of such a bridge. hile the NT stands most intimately related to the OT, and would be a real enigma without it, it is yet true that the difference between them is of the most marked description. And many, instead of follow- ing the somewhat doubtful course of leaping from the one to the other, naturally prefer to tread the path, indistinct and curiously winding though it be, that undoubtedly leads through the gloom of these 400 years into the full-orbed light of the Christian era. They claim that amid much that is admittedly of questionable value, and amid much to which distinct objection can be taken in these Apocryphal writings, the latter nevertheless furnish stepping-stones by means of which it is possible gednaliy to climb the long ascent from Malachi to Matthew. Nor is there anything @ priori extravagant in this claim. In virtue of its own inherent living power of growth, and in accordance with the divinely chosen method of its gradual delivery to man, revealed truth must have gained something, if not in actual content, at least in clearness of expression, during such a period. As a matter of fact we find that, in the two centuries immediately preceding the Christian era, Jewish literature, though obviously past its prime, has still a measure of vigorous life. It throbs with patriotic feeling, of which indeed (in the Books of Maccabees) it reflects perhaps the most signal instances on record. It shows also that during these ‘Middle Ages of sacred history’ the lamp of true piety continued to burn, and, so long as that was the case, scriptural doctrine could not altogether have stood still, but must of necessity have undergone some development in its applica- tion to the circumstances of the age. wat this theological development must have made itself felt in the Jewish religious books of the period. As will be seen from the list of authorities given above, these numbered many more than those in- cluded in the OT Apocrypha. Among other extant works falling within the limits of our period are the remarkable and mysterious Palestinian Book of Enoch (preserved in Ethiopic), parts of which date from the 2nd cent. B.c. ; the Greeco-Jewish- Christian Sibylline Oracles, which, from a large Jewish nucleus issued from Alexandria towards the middle of the same century, grew first under Jewish and subsequently under Christian hands, into a ‘chaotic wilderness’ of fourteen books; the Book