Periods of Jewish History (Religious History Perspective)

Early Biblical Period:  1800?-1000? BCE

*The foundations of covenant history*

Prehistory:  creation, spread of humanity

Ancestral Period:  1800 BCE?  1600 BCE?

          abraham’s covenant

          The ancestors:  isaac, jacob/israel

Exodus Period:  1300 BCE?  1200 BCE?

          moses' covenant

Kingdom of Israel founded by david

          Foundation of jerusalem by david (1000 BCE?)

          Building of the temple by solomon  (900 BCE?)

First Temple Period:  circa 900-586 BCE

*The decline of covenant history*

Divided Kingdoms

          israel (in the north):  falls in 722 BCE

judah (in the south):  falls in 586 BCE, first temple destroyed

Babylonian Exile:  586-538 BCE

*The failure of covenant history*

Second Temple Period:  530s CE-70 CE

*The ups and downs of covenant history*

The Rule of Foreign Empires

          persians (500s-300s BCE)

          hellenistic greeks (300s-100s BCE)

                   * brief independence (ca. 160-60 BCE) *

          romans:  second temple destroyed in 70 CE
 

Rabbinic Judaism:  ca. 150-1500 CE

*The reconception of covenant history*

New religious authorities

          Rabbinic academies in the east:  500-900 CE

          Rabbinic academies in the west:  1000-1300 CE

Alienation of Jews

          Expulsion from western europe:  1300-1500 CE

          Resettlement of Jews:  ashkenazi and sephardi

Modern Judaism:  ca. 1600 CE-Present

*The integration of jews into society:  end of covenant history?*

The emancipation of European Jews:  1790s-1900s CE

Responses to modernity

          anachronism:  remaining alienated

          reform:  rethinking religious identity

          ethnicity:  Jewishness, not Judaism?