Agrippa I and Palestinian Judaism in the first century
A number of scholars have argued that Agrippa I, upo? becoming king of Judea, aligned himself with, or at least followed the practices of, the Pharisees. While by no means the unanimous opinion of modern scholarship, this assertion has found its way into almost all recent reference work.1 The religious orientation of Agrippa is significant not just for the biography of the king. It is relevant to issues in the history of first-century Judaism. Affiliation with the Pharisees on the part of a popular ruler would support the widely-held view that the former were an extremely influential group and/or that Pharisaism was the dominant form of Palestinian Judaism. A shrewd politician like Agrippa would be unlikely to adopt religious practices rejected by the majority of his Jewish subjects or to align himself with a peripheral faction lacking broad appeal. While such a posture is not impossible ? especially if Agrippa's motivation was genuine conviction rather than political pragmatism ? a Pharisaic orientation that involved "swimming against the stream" would presumably be reflected in the popular standing of the king,or at least in the sources concerning him. So if we were able to prove that Agrippa followed the Pharisees we would have a strong argument for the dominant position of the Pharisaic party.2 But if, as I hope to show, the Judaism of Agrippa was not Pharisaic in character our understanding of the religion of first-century Judea will be different. I shall argue that the practices of Agrippa in fact reflect the common form of first-century Judaism, but that the common form was not Pharisaic. I shall return to these issues below; first we must examine the available evidence concerning the Judaism of Agrippa. I begin with the testimony of Josephus and then I shall discuss the evidence of rabbinic literature. An appendix follows my conclusions in which I argue that a well known source about "Yannai the King" actually refers to Agrippa I.
Prosopographie de la société juive du royaume de Judée de 134 av. J.-C. à 73/74 siècle ap. J.-C., d'après l'oeuvre de Flavius Josèphe
Le royaume de Judee va, entre la fin du IIeme siecle av. J.-C. a l'an 70 ap. J.-C., connaitre de profonds bouleversements. La societe juive face aux puissances hellenistiques et romaine va reussir a conserver son identite tout en perdant son phare qu'est le Temple. La guerre contre Rome, a partir de 66 ap. J.-C,. revele des tensions politiques, sociales et religieuses. Il n'y a pas un judaisme mais des judaismes. L'aristocratie sacerdotale de plus arrogante va tenter de conserver son influence a tout prix. Une partie de la population va remettre en cause la structure de la societe. Bien souvent ces revoltes, insurges, tant meprises par Flavius Josephe, vont se battre pour defendre un ideal alliant une forme de patriotisme au judaisme.
Colleagues as Change Agents: How Department Networks and Opinion Leaders Influence Teaching at a Single Research University
This study investigates colleague–colleague relationships within life sciences departments and how they may promote teaching reform. The authors found that discipline-based education researchers are perceived as promoting changes among colleagues in views about teaching and teaching practices. Other faculty may also be leveraged to support change.