Selling religious progress to a nostalgic nation: Jewish doctrinal revolution in 2 Maccabees 7

Abstract

2 Maccabees 7 forms part of a corpus of Septuagintal texts that seemingly challenge the traditional way in which God works. These conceptual revolutions are normally induced within times of hardship and persecution. This is logical when considering that these irregular times lead to questions regarding the consistency of God and his statutes. Accordingly, this article proposes 2 Maccabees 7 to be such a text. It introduces progress through an explicit doctrinal demonstration of life after death, as well as the ritual of using one's body as sanctification/redemption of an entire nation. It is the aim of this article to extract these, and possibly other religious breakthroughs. It attempts to portray the way in which 2 Maccabees 7 makes sense of God through modified doctrine in times of suffering and sells it through emotional appeal