This meta question seeks to provide community-driven guidance for the site #synagogue tag.
Jewish synagogues affect many SE sites, including History and Judaism. But, there are indeed some Bible-specific questions about synagogue that shed light on Biblical texts, particularly New Testament, but also any time in the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and possibly other texts from the period of Babylonian Captivity onward. Jewish thought development through time the Second Temple was built happens about the same time synagogues.
While many questions may belong on those sites, asking a Christian-specific question on one of those sites may trigger a vote to have the question migrated here. There is a place for questions about synagogue on this Biblical Hermeneutics site; the question is about scope.
Where does scope already exist in today's literature?
We have many examples of NT-specific synagogue literature today. Consider just a few...
- The Role of the Synagogue in the Aims of Jesus
- Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations
- Jesus in the Synagogue of Capernaum
- From Synagogue to Ecclesia
From Ryan, The Role of the Synagogue in the Aims of Jesus1
The synagogue was a vital aspect of Jewish societal, political, and religious life in Galilee and Judea during the late Second Temple period. According to the evangelists, it also played an essential role in the life and career of Jesus. As the Gospels report, it was Jesus’s custom to attend synagogue gatherings on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16), and it was also the primary venue for his teaching and preaching activities outside of Jerusalem...
Luke 4:16 (NASB)
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
Synagogue in the Gospels
Jesus taught frequently in synagogues...
Matthew 4:23 (NASB)
Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
Luke 4:15, 44 (NASB)
15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.
...
44 So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
John 18:20 (NASB)
Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret.
Jesus drew much flack early in his ministry for healing in a synagogue on the Sabbath...
Mark 3:1-6 (NASB)
He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. 2 They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 He *said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” 4 And He *said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
Synagogue after Jesus
In Acts, Paul and others also taught about Jesus in synagogues outside Palestine...
Acts 14:1 (NASB)
In Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.
Synagogues affected NT apostles teaching topics because some things were already taught in them...
Acts 15:21 (NASB)
For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.
Relevance to Bible study
From these passages, several questions arise that end up asking Bible study questions that mainly need answers about historical context, not grammar or language...
About synagogue customs and rules that affect visiting teachers
- What about synagogue customs and rules allows someone like Jesus to teach?
- Why is Jesus able to teach in synagogues when he is not a formal teacher?
- When Jesus was thrown out of his own synagogue in Luke 4:14-30, why was he still able to appear in synagogues throughout Palestine after that?
- Jesus was already known in Palestine. So, why are Paul and others doing the same outside of Palestine where they were not already known?
Apocryphal and New Testament -wide questions
- What was the synagogue's place through that same phase of history as the Second Temple and the New Testament?
- When did synagogues start, both in terms of the approximate year and in the Bible?
- Why were they useful and needed?
- Did they have any affect on Jewish belief, even through access to education?
- What religious-political influence was connected to them?
- How did synagogues and the Second Temple impact each other in beliefs and teachings that are reflected in the New Testament?
Conclusion
What kind of scope and guidance do we need to know if a question about synagogue relates to our Biblical Hermeneutics site?
- Ryan, Jordan J. “Introduction and Status Quaestionis.” In The Role of the Synagogue in the Aims of Jesus, 1–20. 1517 Media, 2017. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1tm7h69.6.
