James A Montgomery’s
their history, theology, and literature
Introduction to Montgomery’s Samaritans
Contact Between Jews and Samaritans
§
Problems in Samaritan Studies
Introduction
to Montgomery’s Samaritans
James Montgomery, a Christian clergyman, based this book on his Bohlen
Lectures of 1906. The book itself was published in 1907. As the author states in his preface –
The following work has grown out of the
author's desire to gain an answer for the question: Who are the Samaritans?
… In large part this work is a digest
of the labors of many scholars for over three centuries…. The difficult problem
of the origin of the Samaritan sect has been here discussed in the light of
modern criticism as a preliminary to the subsequent history.
Their own Chronicles have been
carefully explored for historical data…. The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim
references have been collated, and a digested treatment of the Talmudic
references is offered. The Samaritan theology has been treated formally and at
some length….
Judging by Montgomery’s text, he would feel quite at home with the
current scholarly consensus that the key points in the separation of Samaritans
an Jews were the building of the Samaritan temple on Mt. Girizim, in the late
fourth century B.C.E. and its destruction, by the Jewish king John Hyrcanus
(128 BCE). (see). In the words
of Anderson and Giles pp.
Very
likely, the designation "Samaritan" has had a long history of
referents and only gradually became identified with a religious sect based in
Using
these three proofs to mark the beginning of the religious sect, it is
reasonable to identify the Hasmonean period (168-123 B.C.E.) as the stage at
which the Samaritan sect clearly emerges on the historical horizon…. It can be demonstrated that the Samaritan
sect existed as a self-conscious religious group utilizing the Samaritan
Pentateuch and preferring Mount Gerizim as the place for worship in the
mid-second century B.C.E. Accordingly, prior to the Maccabean revolt, we can
identify and describe the origins and early history of a group of Samaritans,
which we will call Proto-Samaritans, and after John Hyrcanus, we can more
categorically identify the Samaritan religious sect.
Select
Bibliography and Links[4]
The Samaritan Community’s own web site - http://the-samaritans.com/ and The Samaritan Update
Search in the following
(usually available in university libraries) for “Samaritan”
Index To Theses (http://www.theses.com/
) - A comprehensive listing
of theses with abstracts accepted for higher degrees by universities in
ProQuest Digital Dissertations – key online searchable source.
Bibliographies
Crown Alan. D., A
Bibliography of the Samaritans, Scarecrow Press; 2nd Edition edition
(1993), ISBN: 0810826461
- A Bibliography of the Samaritans, supplement to
the Second Edition,
Crown Alan. D. and
Reinhard Pummer, A
Bibliography of the Samaritans: Revised, Expanded And Annotated (Atla Bibliography Series), Scarecrow Press; 3rd edition
(2005), ISBN: 081085659X
Purvis
Collection’s Samaritan Bibliography
Summary and Encyclopedic Works
Crown Alan.
D. (ed.), The Samaritans, Tübingen:
J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1989.
Crown Alan. D., Reinhard Pummer, and Abraham Tal., (eds.), A Companion to Samaritan Studies, Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1993. 244 p
Pummer,
Reinhard, “The
- “The
- The
Samaritans (Iconography of Religions Xxii/5), Brill Academic Publishers
(1987), ISBN: 9004078916
Encyclopedia Judaica,
“Samaritans” article in volume 14 columns 725-758, Keter 1972
History,
Religion and Culture
Anderson, Robert T. and Terry Giles, The
Keepers: An Introduction to the History and Culture of the Samaritans, Hendrickson Publishers (2002), ISBN:
1565635191 - see
review
- Tradition
Kept: The Literature Of The Samaritans[5], Hendrickson Publishers (2005),
ISBN: 156563747X
Boid,
Crown Alan. D. (ed.), The
Samaritans: Their Religion, Literature, Society and Culture, Coronet Books Inc (1988), ISBN:
3161452372
Feldman, Louis H.,
"Josephus' Attitude toward the Samaritans: A Study in Ambivalence" in
Volume 3: Jewish
Sects, Religious Movements,and Political Parties in Proceedings of
the Third Annual Symposium of the Philip M. & Ethel Klutznick Chair in
Jewish Civilization October 14-15, 1990.
© 1992. ISBN 1-881871-04-5
Hjelm Ingrid, Samaritans
and Early Judaism: A Literary Analysis (Journal for the Study of the Old
Testament. Supplement Series, 303)
(2000)
- “What do Samaritans and Jews have in Common? Recent Trends in Samaritan Studies”, Currents in Biblical Research 2004 3: 9-59
Purvis, James D., The
Samaritan Pentateuch and Origin of the Samaritan Sect,
Schur, Nathan, History
of the Samaritans (Beitrage Zur Erforschung Des Alten Testaments Und Des
Antiken Judentums, Bd 18), Peter Lang Pub Inc; 2nd Rev/En edition (1992), ISBN:
3631436424
- The
Karaite Encyclopedia (Beitrage Zur Erforschung Des Alten Testaments Und Des
Antiken Judentums, 38), Peter Lang Pub Inc (1995) ISBN: 3631477422
Steinberg,
David, The Origin and
Nature of the Samaritans and their Relationship to Second Temple Jewish Sects
- Israelite Religion to
Judaism: the Evolution of the Religion of Israel
- Jewish Sects of the Second
Temple Period
- Flavius Josephus, Judaea and
Rome: A Question of Context
Whaley, Ernest Boyd,
"Josephus' Antiquities 11.297-347: Unraveling the Evidence
Regarding the Founding of the Gerizim Temple and the Background of the
Samaritan Religious Community" in Volume 3: Jewish
Sects, Religious Movements and Political Parties in Proceedings
of the Third Annual Symposium of the Philip M. & Ethel Klutznick Chair in
Jewish Civilization October 14-15, 1990.
© 1992. ISBN 1-881871-04-5
Whaley, Ernest Boyd,
Liturgy[6]
and Literature
Ben Hayyim, Ze' ev. Tibat Marqe:
A Collection of Samaritan Midrashim,
Cowley, Arthur. E. The
Samaritan Liturgy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1909.
MacDonald, J., Memar Marqah. 2
vols.
Texts
and Language
Ben-Hayyim, Z. and Abraham Tal, A
Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew: Based on the Recitation of the Law in Comparison
With the Tiberian and Other Jewish Traditions, Eisenbrauns; Rev edition (2000) ISBN:
1575060477
Shehadeh,
Haseeb, The Arabic Translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch Vol. I:
Genesis-Exodus, The
- The
Arabic Translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch Volume II:
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, The
Purvis, James D., The Samaritan Pentateuch and Origin of
the Samaritan Sect,
Tal, Abraham, A
Dictionary of Samaritan Aramaic (Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch Der
Orientalistik), Brill Academic Publishers (2000), ISBN: 9004116451
- “The
Samaritan Targum to the Pentateuch, its Distinctive Characteristics”, Journal of Semitic Studies.1976;
- The Samaritan Targum to the
Pentateuch. 3 vols. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1980-1983
[1] Richard J. Coggins, Samaritans and Jews:
The Origins of Samaritanism Reconsidered (Atlanta: John Knox, 1975),
[2] Purvis pp.
13-14, for a strong statement correlating the appearance of the Samaritan sect
with the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch.
[3] That worship on Gerizim alone is
not sufficient to determine a separate Jewish sect is evidenced by the temples
at Elephantine, Leontopolis, 'Araq-el-Emir, and
Gerizim had a strongly divisive
effect, see Purvis, Samaritan Pentateuch, 10-12.
[4] Most fundamental works in largest font.
[5] Contains commentaries on various Samaritan works and
selections from them in English. Includes bibliographical references and
indexes. Contents - Samaritan Pentateuch -- Samaritan Joshua -- Kitab al-tarikh
(The annals of Abu'l Fath) -- Additional Samaritan chronicles: The new
chronicle (Chronicle Adler) and Chronicle II -- Tibat Marqe (Memar Marqe) --
The Samaritan liturgy -- Miscellaneous texts.
[6] “The texts of the liturgy were
collected by Cowley in his two volume work of 1909, The Samaritan Liturgy. It
is an admirable work which prints the text in Hebrew letters (almost 900
pages), has a lengthy introduction (100 pages), a glossary, lists of high
priests, genealogical tables, as well as indices of authors and initial lines
of poems. Unfortunately it is not without shortcomings…. Since Cowley, further liturgical texts have
been edited, especially by Ben--Hayyim.
In
- “A
Critical Edition with Translation of the Hebrew Text of the Malef: and a
Comparison of its Teachings with those in the Samaritan Liturgy”, 1962, unpublished PhD. thesis, Leeds
Cowley, Arthur. E. The Samaritan
Liturgy.
- The
Samaritan day of atonement liturgy: With selected translations (Monograph
series -
Mowbray, D. D. W., “A critical
edition and translation of the Samaritan
Liturgies for the Zimmut of Pesah and
Zimmut Sukkot ans Associates Semi-Festival Liturgies”, 1959, unpublished Ph.D.
thesis,
Trotter, R. J. F., A Critical Study
of the ideological Background of 14th Century Samaritanism with
Special Reference to the Works of Abisha b. Phinehas, to Abdullah b. Solomon
and Ben manir, 1962,
unpublished Ph.D.,
Turetsky, M., “A critical
investigation and translation of the Karaite liturgy for the Passover services,
and a comparison of it with the corresponding Rabbanite and Samaritan
liturgies” 1962 – 1963, unpublished Ph.D. thesis,
Unsdorfer, J., “A critical edition
and translation of the Karaite Liturgy for Yom Ha' Kippur, and a comparison of
it with the corresponding Rabbanite and Samaritan liturgies”, 1961 – 1962,
unpublished Ph.D. thesis,