Books by Gregg E . Gardner
Charity is central to the Jewish tradition. In this formative study, Gregg E. Gardner takes on th... more Charity is central to the Jewish tradition. In this formative study, Gregg E. Gardner takes on this concept to examine the beginnings of Jewish thought on care for the poor. Focusing on writings of the earliest rabbis from the third century C.E., Gardner shows how the ancient rabbis saw the problem of poverty primarily as questions related to wealth - how it is gained and lost, how it distinguishes rich from poor, and how to convince people to part with their wealth. Contributing to our understanding of the history of religions, Wealth, Poverty, and Charity in Jewish Antiquity demonstrates that a focus on wealth can provide us with a fuller understanding of charity in Jewish thought and the larger world from which Judaism and Christianity emerged.
Peopling the Past: Real People in the Ancient World and the People who Study Them, 2021
Near Eastern Archaeology, 2019
Guest editors: Gregg E. Gardner and Lily C. Vuong. This issue of NEA includes articles such as: E... more Guest editors: Gregg E. Gardner and Lily C. Vuong. This issue of NEA includes articles such as: Exile and Return of the First Temple Vessels: Competing Postexilic Perspectives and Claims of Continuity; Another Temple, Another Vessel: Josephus, the Arch of Titus, and Roman Triumphal Propaganda; When Yosa Meshita Took the Temple Menorah: A Rabbinic Legend; and more.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/loi/nea
This book examines the origins of communal and institutional almsgiving in rabbinic Judaism. It u... more This book examines the origins of communal and institutional almsgiving in rabbinic Judaism. It undertakes a close reading of foundational rabbinic texts (Mishnah, Tosefta, Tannaitic Midrashim) and places their discourses on organized giving in their second to third century C.E. contexts. Gregg E. Gardner finds that Tannaim promoted giving through the soup kitchen (tamhui) and charity fund (quppa), which enabled anonymous and collective support for the poor. This protected the dignity of the poor and provided an alternative to begging, which benefited the community as a whole – poor and non-poor alike. By contrast, later Jewish and Christian writings (from the fourth to fifth centuries) would see organized charity as a means to promote their own religious authority. This book contributes to the study of Jews and Judaism, history of religions, biblical studies, and ethics.
Papers by Gregg E . Gardner
Bulletin of ASOR (BASOR), 2024
This paper discusses the growing trend in Late Hellenistic- and Early Roman-era Judea (ca. 200 b.... more This paper discusses the growing trend in Late Hellenistic- and Early Roman-era Judea (ca. 200 b.c.e.–70 c.e.) for constructing “display tombs”—funerary architecture designed to achieve maximum visibility and project the status of the individual or family who financed the construction, not just in the cities, but also in the countryside. It uses the case study of the recently excavated pyramidal tomb marker at Horvat Midras (Israel), an affluent village, located on the border of Idumea and Judea about 30 km southwest of Jerusalem in the Judean Foothills. After a detailed discussion of the new finds, it is placed within the material and broader socioeconomic contexts of rural Judea in these periods. As will be shown, this monument’s architectural style, location, and other attributes enhance our understanding of monumental funerary architecture in rural settings, adds new archaeological data to often-overlooked rural areas, and contributes to a better understanding of socioeconomic elites in rural Judea at this time.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2023
Recent scholarship on material religion has demonstrated how decentralizing texts, focusing on ob... more Recent scholarship on material religion has demonstrated how decentralizing texts, focusing on objects, and using material culture to shape our research inquiries enhances our understanding of religious traditions. This article seeks to initiate a conversation on material religion and ancient Judaism by applying methods from the former to archaeological finds from Roman-era Palestine and the numerous references to objects in late antique rabbinic texts. Focusing on ceramic oil lamps as a test case, I argue that attention to objects and how they were manufactured illuminates the influence of materiality on early rabbinic thought. Manufacturing was an important component of the Galilee’s material environment, which had a generative influence on its inhabitants. This paper shows how focusing on material culture and broad conceptualizations of materiality (including production, performance, and sensation) can enhance our understanding of late antique Judaism and rabbinic teachings that would later become central to Jewish tradition.
Academic Studies Press, Oct 1, 2019
Religious Competition in the Third Century CE: Jews, Christians, and the Greco-Roman World, 2014
The essays in this work examine issues related to authority, identity, or change in religious and... more The essays in this work examine issues related to authority, identity, or change in religious and philosophical traditions of the third century CE. This century is of particular interest because of the political and cultural developments and conflicts that occurred during this period, which in turn drastically changed the social and religious landscape of the Roman world. The specific focus of this volume edited by Jordan D. Rosenblum, Lily Vuong, and Nathaniel DesRosiers is to explore these major creative movements and to examine their strategies for developing and designating orthodoxies and orthopraxies. Contributors were encouraged to analyze or construct the intersections between parallel religious and philosophical communities of the third century, including points of contact either between or among Jews, Christians, pagans, and philosophers. As a result, the discussions of the material contained within this volume are both comparative in nature and interdisciplinary in approach, engaging participants who work in the fields of Religious Studies, Philosophy, History and Archaeology. The overall goal was to explore dialogues between individuals or groups that illuminate the mutual competition and influence that was extant among them, and to put forth a general methodological framework for the study of these ancient dialogues. These religious and philosophical dialogues are not only of great interest and import in their own right, but they also can help us to understand how later cultural and religious developments unfolded.
Teaching Theology & Religion, 2016
Near Eastern Archaeology, 2014
This article examines the ceramic oil lamps of Jerusalem during the Roman and Byzantine eras (63 ... more This article examines the ceramic oil lamps of Jerusalem during the Roman and Byzantine eras (63 b.c.e. to 640 c.e.). Following an overview of the importance of lamps to their ancient users and modern archaeologists, it demonstrates how the history of Jerusalem can be illuminated through the development of its lamps. This paper examines the forms, decorations, and chronology of the most prominent types — the Herodian, Decorated Discus, Beit Nattif, and Slipper Lamps. Bringing the artifacts into conversation with texts demonstrates that early Jewish and Christian writings attribute a number of meanings to lamps due to their function as repositories of light. Jerusalem is included within this matrix of symbols, as the city that both produces and receives a special divine light. This article demonstrates how lamps can shed light on materiality, the use of symbols, and the early histories of Christianity and rabbinic Judaism.
Journal for the Study of Judaism, 2014
Recent scholarship has shown how investigations into food and poverty contribute to our understan... more Recent scholarship has shown how investigations into food and poverty contribute to our understanding of late-antique Judaism and Christianity. These areas of inquiry overlap in the study of charity, as providing food was the preeminent way to support the poor. What foods and foodways do the earliest texts of rabbinic Judaism prescribe for the poor? This article examines Tannaitic discussions of the foods that should be given as charity, reading these texts within their literary and historical contexts. I find that they prescribe a two-tiered system whereby foods for the week aim to meet the poor’s biological needs, while those for the Sabbath fulfill religious requirements. These rabbinic instructions, however, also reinforce social separation and deepen the poor’s sense of exclusion. This article contributes to scholarship on poverty and charity in late antiquity, the use of food in the construction of rabbinic identity, and the tensions that arise from establishing material requi...
Encyclopedia of Jewish-Christian Relations Online
Biblical Archaeology Review, 2010
Both the menorah and lamps were repositories of light. By lighting the ceramic lamp, the menorah,... more Both the menorah and lamps were repositories of light. By lighting the ceramic lamp, the menorah, too, is simultaneously lit.
This project focuses on Mishnah Peah and Tosefta Peah, two tractates of legal discourse that elab... more This project focuses on Mishnah Peah and Tosefta Peah, two tractates of legal discourse that elaborate upon the offerings to the poor mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. These texts are read closely in light of their literary contexts and comparative, contemporaneous works ...
Strength to Strength: Essays in Appreciation of Shaye J. D. Cohen. Edited by Michael L. Satlow. Brown Judaic Studies 363. Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 2018, 2018
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Books by Gregg E . Gardner
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/loi/nea
Papers by Gregg E . Gardner
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/loi/nea
Presented by The University of British Columbia and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Matz Institute for Research in Jewish Law