Judaism And the Gentiles: Jewish Patterns of Universalism

That’s the title of a new book by Terence Donaldson by Baylor University Press that arrived in the post today for review. The publishers notice runs thusly:

In the Second-Temple period non-Jews were attracted to Judaism’s communal life, religious observance and theological imagination. On the Jewish side, this was matched by the development of several discrete “patterns of universalism”-ways in which Jews were able to conceive of a positive place for Gentiles within their symbolic world. In this book Terence Donaldson collects and comments on all of the texts (to the end of the second Jewish rebellion in 135 CE) that deal with Gentile sympathizers, proselytes, ethical monotheists and participants in end-time redemption. In impressive detail, Donaldson identifies, defines, and describes these “patterns of universalism.”

Fascinating, huh!  It’s a great big ‘commentary’ on all the texts up to 135 CE which relate to the subject of the inclusion of the Gentiles.  This looks a great one to dive into- and so I will, shortly.  When the review goes live, I’ll update this and the link to the pdf will be available here.