Books by Lutz Doering
Purity plays a central role in ancient Judaism. It is relevant in the encounter with the sacred, ... more Purity plays a central role in ancient Judaism. It is relevant in the encounter with the sacred, especially at the Jerusalem Temple but also in the context of sacred communities, for example the Qumran yaḥad. Ancients Jews, however, also strove for purity far away from the Temple, both in the Land of Israel remote from Jerusalem and in the Diaspora. Yet, means, procedures, and conceptualizations in relation to purity and purification varied. While purity therefore seems to be “everywhere” in ancient Judaism, it is not everywhere the same. The present volume explores different texts and material evidence in relation to purity, impurity, and purification, from both the historic land of Israel and the Diaspora. It adduces comparative evidence from Greece, probes and refines concepts of moral and ritual im/purity, and traces the relevance of purity debates into nascent Christianity.
Table of Contents: Laura von Bartenwerffer/Lutz Doering/Jörg Frey: Purity in Ancient Judaism. An Introduction - Christophe Nihan/Julia Rhyder: Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible. The State of the Discussion and Future Perspectives - Yitzhaq Feder: Reconstructing the Holy Camp. Qumran and the Evolution of Purity in Ancient Judaism - Roland Deines: Archaeological Finds as Evidence for Everyday Purity Practice in the Hellenistic-Roman Period in Judea and Galilee - Joseph Scales: The Limits of Evidence. The Miqveh as an Indicator of Jewish Purity Practices in Second-Temple Period Galilee - Carsten Claußen: Purity Observance and Ancient Synagogues. Ancient Jewish Water Installations in the Diaspora - Andrej Petrovic: Inner Purity, Ritual Purity, Conscience. Perspective of the Greek Ritual Norms (on LSCG 139) - Thomas Kazen: Purity as Popular Practice. Erasing the Anachronistic Divide between Household and Cult - Cecilia Wassén: Purity, Impurity, and In-Between - Michael DeVries: Purity and Cult in the Qumran War Texts. A Reconsideration - Ruben A. Bühner: Purity and Messianism. Some Observations and Surprises Based on the Contrast Between the Messianic Expectations in Pss. Sol. 17 and the Dead Sea Scrolls - Yair Furstenberg: Principles of Gradual Purification in Qumran Law - Laura von Bartenwerffer: First Day Ablutions in Qumran and Philo - Michael B. Cover: Symbolic Purity and the Temple of the Soul in Philo's Allegorical Commentary - Milena Hasselmann: »Be separate said the Lord and I will receive you«. 2 Cor 6:14-7:1 as an Example of the Connection of Purity and Identity in the New Testament - Christina Eschner: Purity and Impurity of Food and People in Acts 10:1-11:18. Is the Abolition of Jewish Food Laws at the Center of the Cornelian Narrative?
Greek authors likened "philosophical discourse" in the Hellenistic and Roman eras to an orchard. ... more Greek authors likened "philosophical discourse" in the Hellenistic and Roman eras to an orchard. Logic, physics, and ethics served as the orchard walls, the trees, and the fruit of this enterprise. In a similar manner, this collection of essays, written by an international group of scholars and devoted to Philo of Alexandria's fashioning of a new Jewish philosophical discourse, harvests the fruits of many disciplines – including the study of Ancient Judaism and History of Religions, Ancient Philosophy, and the Classics – and brings them to bear on one of the Roman period's most prolific and creative Jewish thinkers and public figures. Essays treat Philo’s relationship to the varied schools of philosophy: Socratic thought, Pyrrhonism, Epicureanism, Pythagoreism, Stoicism, and Middle Platonism all played a role in the seedbed of Philo’s orchard. The volume also includes a new catalogue of Philo’s library and a study of Philo’s reception in Christian philosophical discourse.
This volume offers contributions to two basic questions of the study of the Tosefta: How can we d... more This volume offers contributions to two basic questions of the study of the Tosefta: How can we describe the character and relationship of the Tosefta manuscripts? And how does the Tosefta relate to other rabbinic traditions and texts? It also sheds light on other topics of Tosefta research: "magic", emotions, and gender. The volume, based on two international colloquia in Munster in 2016 and 2017, marks the beginning of a new phase in the study of Tosefta, encouraging an international conversation between scholars on method and contents.
The study of ancient Judaism has enjoyed a steep rise in interest and publications in recent deca... more The study of ancient Judaism has enjoyed a steep rise in interest and publications in recent decades. However, much of this study has focused on the ideas and beliefs represented in ancient texts, with only limited study regarding the daily lives and material culture of Jewish individuals and their communities. The nascent institution of the synagogue formed an increasingly important venue for communal gathering and daily or weekly practice. This collection of essays is intended to bring together a broad spectrum of new archaeological and textual data with various emergent theories and interpretive methods in order to address the need to understand the place of the synagogue in the daily and weekly procedures, community frameworks, and theological structures in which Judaeans, Galileans, and Jewish people in the Diaspora lived and gathered. The interdisciplinary studies will be of great significance for anyone studying ancient Jewish belief, practice, and community formation.
This is the first complete translation of the Tosefta tractate Shabbat into German, with brief in... more This is the first complete translation of the Tosefta tractate Shabbat into German, with brief introduction and detailed commentary by annotation, published by W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, in March 2019. – Apart from the title page, three specimens are made available here: the table of contents, the preface, and a reading sample.
In the ancient world, letter-writing not only forged connections between individuals, but also he... more In the ancient world, letter-writing not only forged connections between individuals, but also helped to construct and cultivate group-identities and communities. This volume explores the interrelation of epistolary communication and socio-political practice across four key cultural configurations: Greece, Rome, Judaism, and Christianity.
• Incorporates a range of original case studies, offering new insights into the socio-political dimensions of letter-writing in the ancient world across key cultural contexts
• Utilizes a multi-disciplinary approach to ancient epistolography, drawing on Jewish and Biblical studies, classics, and ancient history, and combining both literary and historical perspectives on this vital aspect of antiquity
Special issue “Jews and Drama,” guest-edited by Lutz Doering and Sandra Gambetti
Ancient Jewish letter writing is a neglected topic of research. Lutz Doering’s new monograph seek... more Ancient Jewish letter writing is a neglected topic of research. Lutz Doering’s new monograph seeks to redress this situation. The author pursues two major tasks: first, to provide a comprehensive discussion of Jewish letter writing in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods and, second, to assess the importance of ancient Jewish letter writing for the emergence and early development of Christian epistolography. Although individual groups of Jewish letters have been studied before, the present monograph is the first one to look at Jewish letters comprehensively across the languages in which they were written and/or handed down (chiefly Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek). It operates with a broad concept of "letter” and deals with documentary as well as literary and embedded letters. The author highlights cross-linguistic developments, such as the influence of the Greek epistolary form on Aramaic and Hebrew letters or the non-idiomatic retention of Semitic "peace” greetings in some letters translated into Greek, which allowed for these greetings to be charged with new meaning. Doering argues that such processes were also important for early Christian epistolography. Thus, Paul engaged creatively with Jewish epistolary formulae. Frequent address of communities rather than individuals and the quasi-official setting of many Jewish letters would have provided relevant models when Paul developed his own epistolary praxis. In addition, the author shows that the concept of communication with the "Diaspora”, in both halakhic-administrative and prophetic-apocalyptic Jewish letters, is adapted by a number of early Christian letters, such as 1 Peter, James, Acts 15:23-29, and 1 Clement . Ancient Jewish and early Christian letters also share a concern with group identity and cohesion that is often supported by salvation-historical motifs. In sum, Lutz Doering addresses the previously under-researched text-pragmatic similarities between Jewish and Christian letters.
(with H.-G. Waubke & F. Wilk, ed.) Judaistik und neutestamentliche Wissenschaft: Standorte – Grenzen – Beziehungen (FRLANT 226; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008)
Schabbat: Sabbathalacha und -praxis im antiken Judentum und Urchristentum (TSAJ 78; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1999)
Conference Organization by Lutz Doering
A conference of the Cluster of Excellence Religion and Politics, University of Münster, in cooper... more A conference of the Cluster of Excellence Religion and Politics, University of Münster, in cooperation with the School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, 23–25 September 2024.
Registration for in-person or Zoom participation until 13 September (see flyer).
(Alexander von) Humboldt Tagung at WWU Münster, Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum. Consideration... more (Alexander von) Humboldt Tagung at WWU Münster, Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum. Considerations of Philo's philosophical library (Gregory Sterling), the interrelation of theology and philosophy (Rainer Hirsch-Luipold), the Omnis probus (Maren Niehoff, Troels Engberg-Pedersen), Philo and Scepticism (Carlos Lévy, Mauro Bonazzi), and Philo's Philosophy of Language (Michael Cover). Responses by David Runia and Lutz Doering.
This is the list of sessions offered by the Hellenistic Judaism section at the SBL Denver Annual ... more This is the list of sessions offered by the Hellenistic Judaism section at the SBL Denver Annual Meeting
Papers by Lutz Doering
The Menorah and the Seven-Branched Candelabrum: Jewish and Christian Manifestations in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods. Edited by Andrea Worm and Maria Streicher. 2 vols. Andere Ästhetik Studien 15 Berlin: De Gruyter, 2025
With regard to the signification(s) of the Menorah, not enough consideration has been given to di... more With regard to the signification(s) of the Menorah, not enough consideration has been given to different contexts and developing circumstances. While some early Jewish depictions of the Menorah might indicate a relation of the object marked by the Menorah with priests and their families, there are instances in which the Menorah arguably provides a link with the Jerusalem Temple prior to its destruction, while Jewish authors writing in Greek like Philo and Josephus focus on the cosmological, astronomical symbolism of the Menorah. A different symbolic value is present when, in the centuries after the Temple destruction, the Menorah (sometimes in multiple specimens) occurs together with other objects like the shofar, the lulav, and the etrog as symbols of Jewish worship. Finally, the Menorah came to indicate a person's 'Jewishness', especially in the context of inscriptions; this should probably be seen in some relation with the parallel rise of the cross as emblem in late antique Christianity. This chapter attempts to chart, and to reflect on, the development of the Menorah as a symbol and emblem in ancient Judaism. – The PDF contains a mere teaser of the initial pages of the chapter. I shall be happy to send a personal copy of the article upon request.
The Medieval Afterlife of Hellenistic Judaism: Reception & Reinvention in Western Europe. Edited by C. Bay et al. Basel: Schwabe, 2025
This paper discusses the two busts of Philo of Alexandria from the high altarpiece in the Münster... more This paper discusses the two busts of Philo of Alexandria from the high altarpiece in the Münster Cathedral Treasure that present Philo as an “Old Testament prophet“ and the author of the Wisdom of Solomon. It traces the ascription of Wisdom to Philo in Christian sources from antiquity to the Middle Ages and beyond, pointing also to the occurrence of this ascription in Jewish texts in Hebrew from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. Moreover, two further visual representations of Philo as “prophet” and author of Wisdom are compared: the Goldene Tafel, formerly of Minden Cathedral, and the fresco in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Le Puy-en-Velay. Finally, the articles assesses the contribution of the Münster Philo busts for the reception of Philo of Alexandria.
Qumran and the New Testament. Edited by Jörg Frey. BEThL 340. Leuven: Peeters, 2024
This paper (originally given as Main Paper at the Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense in 2022) present... more This paper (originally given as Main Paper at the Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense in 2022) presents and compares the communities emerging from the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ekklêsiai featuring in the letters of the Apostle Paul regarding their respective social organization, membership and (self-) perception. It is argued that both the communities in the Qumran texts and Paul’s ekklêsiai can be regarded as special forms of ancient associations. Both are groups with an alternative civic ideology, which, unlike most associations, do not loyally integrate into the societies surrounding them. Both are, in different ways, translocally orientated. Both have an admission procedure – more complex for the communities of the Qumran texts, essentially linked to baptism in Paul's case. Exclusion is also known to both. Similarities can be found in the self-perception (or, in Paul’s case, the perception presented by the Apostle) of the communities as comprising ‘saints’ or the like, designated by God, as well as in the application of temple terminology to the respective community, which is however differently developed. Both hold communal meals, but their conceptualization varies greatly. While the communities in the Qumran texts were forms of associations within Israel or Judaism in the land of Israel, the Pauline ekklêsiai were predominantly non-Jewish communities in Asia Minor and Greece, though connected with Jewish Christ-believers. The members of Paul’s community were familiar with Graeco-Roman associations, though Paul himself might have also drawn on some knowledge of ‘Judaean’ forms of associations. – This is a pre-print, with the page numbers of the publication inserted in brackets.
Brief und Bildung: Von der Antike bis zur Moderne, eds. E.-M. Becker and A. Fürst; Epistula 1; Berlin., 2024
This article discusses the transmission of knowledge in ancient Jewish letters using the examples... more This article discusses the transmission of knowledge in ancient Jewish letters using the examples of the two introductory letters of Second Maccabees (2 Macc 1:1-2:18), the Letter of Baruch (2 Bar 78-86) and the letters of Rn Gamaliel to distant areas of the Land of Israel and the Diaspora (tSan 2:6).
NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion, 2024
This is the pre-print version of Lutz Doering, “Review Essay: The Literature of the Sages”, NTT J... more This is the pre-print version of Lutz Doering, “Review Essay: The Literature of the Sages”, NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion 78 (2024): 169–181. This essay reviews the 2022 volume, The Literature of the Sages: A Re-visioning, edited by Christine Hayes in the series Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum (CRINT).
Antiochia I: Frühchristliche und diasporajüdische Identitätsbildung im Ausstrahlungsbereich einer antiken Großstadt. Edited by Tanja Forderer and Daniel Schumann. COMES 8. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 357–372 , 2024
This essay discusses Didache 6.1–3 as an epilogue to the section on the “two ways” in the Didache... more This essay discusses Didache 6.1–3 as an epilogue to the section on the “two ways” in the Didache, addressed to neophytes coming from a Gentile context. In doing so, the essay initially addresses Did. 6.2, “For if you are able to bear the whole yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect. But if you are not, then do what you can.” Various explanations in scholarship of “the whole yoke of the Lord” are discussed. The essay makes a new suggestion: the expression relates to the entire Torah as interpreted by Christ according to the legal tradion shared by the Didache. Perfection is thus acknowledged for those Gentile neophytes who keep the entire Torah understood in this sense; for those unable to do so, keeping as much as they could is an option. The essay then discusses Did. 6.3, “Now, concerning food, bear what you are able; but from meat sacrificed to idols keep strictly away, for it is worship of dead gods.” This position is then compared with Paul and the Apostolic Decree. It is argued that the view of the DIdache differs from both, encouraging the keeping of food laws as far as possible and mandating strict abstention only from idol meat. The Didache thus participates in early Christian debate on what Gentile neophytes have to keep of the Jewish law. – This is a pre-print version of the published essay, with original pagination inserted in brackets.
Parting of the Ways: The Variegated Ways of Separations between Jews and Christians, 2024
The article briefly reviews some aspects of the literary structure and source-critical questions ... more The article briefly reviews some aspects of the literary structure and source-critical questions of the Didache, comments on its genre, and discusses in detail the two selected topics of fasting and prayer in Did. 8.1–3, with a view to what the Didache might contribute to the issue of the so-called “Parting of the Ways”. It is argued that the Didache, directed at a Christ-believing group composed of both Jews and gentiles, attempts to establish boundaries vis-à-vis a specific group of Jews polemically called “hypocrites” which bears some relation with pre-70 CE Pharisees, and that this conversely shows that “the ways” between the Didache group “and Judaism” have not fully parted.
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Books by Lutz Doering
Table of Contents: Laura von Bartenwerffer/Lutz Doering/Jörg Frey: Purity in Ancient Judaism. An Introduction - Christophe Nihan/Julia Rhyder: Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible. The State of the Discussion and Future Perspectives - Yitzhaq Feder: Reconstructing the Holy Camp. Qumran and the Evolution of Purity in Ancient Judaism - Roland Deines: Archaeological Finds as Evidence for Everyday Purity Practice in the Hellenistic-Roman Period in Judea and Galilee - Joseph Scales: The Limits of Evidence. The Miqveh as an Indicator of Jewish Purity Practices in Second-Temple Period Galilee - Carsten Claußen: Purity Observance and Ancient Synagogues. Ancient Jewish Water Installations in the Diaspora - Andrej Petrovic: Inner Purity, Ritual Purity, Conscience. Perspective of the Greek Ritual Norms (on LSCG 139) - Thomas Kazen: Purity as Popular Practice. Erasing the Anachronistic Divide between Household and Cult - Cecilia Wassén: Purity, Impurity, and In-Between - Michael DeVries: Purity and Cult in the Qumran War Texts. A Reconsideration - Ruben A. Bühner: Purity and Messianism. Some Observations and Surprises Based on the Contrast Between the Messianic Expectations in Pss. Sol. 17 and the Dead Sea Scrolls - Yair Furstenberg: Principles of Gradual Purification in Qumran Law - Laura von Bartenwerffer: First Day Ablutions in Qumran and Philo - Michael B. Cover: Symbolic Purity and the Temple of the Soul in Philo's Allegorical Commentary - Milena Hasselmann: »Be separate said the Lord and I will receive you«. 2 Cor 6:14-7:1 as an Example of the Connection of Purity and Identity in the New Testament - Christina Eschner: Purity and Impurity of Food and People in Acts 10:1-11:18. Is the Abolition of Jewish Food Laws at the Center of the Cornelian Narrative?
• Incorporates a range of original case studies, offering new insights into the socio-political dimensions of letter-writing in the ancient world across key cultural contexts
• Utilizes a multi-disciplinary approach to ancient epistolography, drawing on Jewish and Biblical studies, classics, and ancient history, and combining both literary and historical perspectives on this vital aspect of antiquity
Conference Organization by Lutz Doering
Registration for in-person or Zoom participation until 13 September (see flyer).
Papers by Lutz Doering