What Is Hellenistic Judaism?

Abstract

Martin Hengel argued effectively that all Judaism in the Hellenistic period was Hellenistic Judaism, but Judaism in the land of Israel remained very different from its counterpart in the Diaspora. Recent study of globalization and “glocalization” has shown that local cultures are not obliterated by globalization but react to it in various ways. There is also a new and growing appreciation of the differences between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. The category of Hellenism, understood as the ways of thinking of all the peoples subjected to Greek influence, remains useful, but it must be understood to embrace considerable local diversity, and not limited to the use of the Greek language.