The Jewish Pesach and the Origins of the Christian Easter: Open Questions in Current Research / Edition 1

by Clemens Leonhard

Overview

The study assesses the main issues in the current debate about the early history of Pesach and Easter and provides new insights into the development of these two festivals. The author argues that the prescriptions of Exodus 12 provide the celebration of the Pesach in Jerusalem with an etiological background in order to connect the pilgrim festival with the story of the Exodus. The thesis that the Christian Easter evolved as a festival against a Jewish form of celebrating Pesach in the second century and that the development of Easter Sunday is dependent upon this custom is endorsed by the author’s close study of relevant texts such as the Haggada of Pesach; the “Poem of the four nights” in the Palestinian Targum Tradition; the structure of the Easter vigil.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783110188578
Publisher:	De Gruyter
Publication date:	11/16/2006
Series:	Studia Judaica , #35
Edition description:	Reprint 2012
Pages:	518
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.06(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Clemens Leonhard, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.

Editorial Reviews

"Der Studie sind viele Leser ‒ sowohl Theologen wie auch Judaisten ‒zu wünschen: sie steht beispielhaft für eine Form der interdisziplinären Forschung, die unser Verständnis von Entwicklung beider Religionen und ihrer Liturgien befördern kann."
Elisabeth Hollender in: Frankfurter Judaistische Beiträge 2007/2008

From the Publisher