A.F. Segal: “The Other Judaisms of Late Antiquity”

I’m very pleased to have my gift-copy of the re-publication of some key works by Alan F. Segal in one handy volume:  The Other Judaisms of Late Antiquity, Second Edition, which now includes also his major essay, “Heavenly Ascent in Hellenistic Judaism, Early Christianity, and Their Environment” (which originally appeared in the series, Aufstieg und Niedergang der roemischen Welt, 1980).

Segal was a phenomenal scholar (and a trusted friend of mine), with a remarkable facility for languages, and a lot of good sense to his interpretative judgements.  It’s great to have these works by Alan gathered into this handy (and reasonably priced at $39.95) volume.  The publisher’s online catalogue entry is here.

The first part of this volume includes these essays:  “Dualism in Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism:  A Definitive Issue,” “The Ruler of This World,” “Hellenistic Magic:  Some Questions of Definition,” “The Sacrifice of Isaac in Early Judaism and Christianity,” “Torah and Nomos in Recent Scholarly Discussion,” “Covenant in Rabbinic Writings,” and “Romans 7 and Jewish Dietary Laws”.  The second part is devoted to the large essay from ANRW.  There is also a composite bibliography, plus indexes of primary sources and modern authors.

This is the second work by Segal published by Baylor University Press in the new series of republished work:  The Library of Early Christology.  In an earlier posting here, I noted the appearance of Segal’s high-impact work, Two Powers in Heaven (1977).  The republication of these works will make Segal’s contributions more readily available for scholars and succeeding generations of students.