The Survivors of Israel: A Reconsideration of the Theology of Pre-Christian Judaism

This study challenges the conventional view of scholars like E. P. Sanders that Late Second Temple Judaism was theologically nationalistic, offering in its place a theory which argues that the intertestamental writings do not anticipate the salvation of all Jews but only of a faithful remnant within Israel. Working carefully with the major books of the pseudepigrapha and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Mark Adam Elliott shows that the authors of such works anticipated an imminent -- and scathing -- judgment of Israel that would exclude many, or even most, Israelites from the saved community. This provocative finding not only confronts accepted perspectives on Late Second Temple Judaism but also suggests important implications for our reading of Paul and the New Testament.