On Further Defining the First–Century CE Synagogue: Fact or Fiction? a Rejoinder to H. C. Kee

Abstract

Recently in this journal H. C. Kee has exposed and refuted perceived anachronistic notions concerning the existence of the pre-70 CE synagogue.1According to Kee's thesis, the pre-70 CE synagogue was not a distinctive architectural edifice, but a voluntary gathering place for worship. Kee writes: The earliest distinct buildings date from the third century, and vary widely in style and interior arrangements. There is simply no evidence to speak of synagogues in Palestine as architecturally distinguishable edifices prior to 200 CE. Evidence of meeting places: ‘Yes’, both in private homes and in public buildings. Evidence of distinctive architectural features of a place of worship or for study of Torah: ‘No’.2 As a result, Kee attempts to redate the Theodotus inscription, our major epigraphical source for the pre-70 CE Palestinian synagogue, to the ‘mid–second to late third century CE’.3This late dating is necessary in Kee's theory, since this inscription documents a succession of synagogue rulers, extending back to Theodotus’ grandfather, which would place the Palestinian synagogue and its institutions well into the first century BCE.

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