Samaria, Samarians, Samaritans

This volume represents the current state of Samaritan research. The studies, which were presented at the seventh international conference of the Société d'Études Samaritaines, deal with several aspects of the field of Samaritan studies, like the connections of Samaritan history and religion to the Old Testament, problems of the temple building on Mount Gerizim in the Persian or Hellenistic period, linguistic characteristics of the Samaritan Hebrew language and Samaritan theological questions of the Arabic era. Papers were written by the leading scholars of Samaritan studies.

Autorentext

József Zsengellér, Caspar Karoli Reformed University, Budapest, Hungary.

Zusammenfassung

Papers in this volume were presented at the seventh international conference of the Société d'Études Samaritaines held at the Reformed Theological Academy of Pápa, Hungary in July 1725, 2008. The discussed Samaritan topics permeate different areas of biblical studies: The question of the Samaritan Pentateuch has a serious impact on the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. The pre-Samaritan text-type among the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as the dating and isolation of Samaritan features of the Samaritan Pentateuch provide fresh and important data for gaining a better understanding of the composition of the Torah/Pentateuch. New reconstructions of the early history of the Samaritans have a great effect on the history of the Jewish people in the Persian and Hellenistic period. As a distinct group in the centuries around the turn of the Common Era in Palestine, Samaritans played an important role in the social and religious formation of early Judaism and early Christianity. Living for centuries under Islamic rule, Samaritans provide a good example of linguistic, cultural and religious developments experienced by ethnic and religious group in Islamic contexts.