Collins (Old Testament criticism and interpretation, Yale Divinity School) and Harlow (New Testament and early Judaism, Calvin College) draw 13 essays from The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism, along with two others, to provide an overview of Judaism in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods. Professors of Judaism, religion, and history from the US, Europe, Australia, and Israel discuss early Judaism in modern scholarship, Jewish history from Alexander to Hadrian, Judaism in Israel and the diaspora, the Jewish scriptures, early Jewish biblical interpretation, the Dead Sea Scrolls, early Jewish literature written in Greek, the use of the terms "apocrypha" and "pseudepigrapha," Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, Jews among Greeks and Romans, early Judaism and Christianity, Rabbinic Judaism, and archeology, papyri, and inscriptions. Annotation 2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
