Shaye J.D. Cohen
CB 23 (Spring 2015) 11
From the Hebrew Bible to Judaism, From the Old Testament to Christianity
Culture and Belief 23 (Harvard College/GSAS: 5275)
(http://isites.harvard.edu/k108382 )
Description: The Hebrew Scriptures, what Christians call the “Old Testament” and Jews call the “Bible,” are the basis of both Judaism and Christianity. In this course we shall survey how this work of literature, through interpretation and re-interpretation, spawned two different cultural systems. Topics to be surveyed include: canon and prophecy; exegesis and Midrash; Shabbat and Sunday; temple, synagogue, church; the Oral Torah and the Logos; sin and righteousness; messiah and redemption.
NB: for the purposes of this course the word “Bible” refers to the collection of books that Christians call “the Old Testament,” that Jews call Tanakh, and that ecumenically- minded and progressive people call “the Hebrew Scriptures” or “the Hebrew Bible.” It does NOT refer to the collection of books that Christians call “the New Testament.”
Course requirements:
· The weekly readings. Note that much of the reading consists of biblical or other ancient texts, which must be read s-l-o-w-l-y. If you read them quickly, as if they were excerpts from a college textbook, you will not understand them.
· The lectures and the lecture notes. If I don’t get through the entire lecture, I still expect you to have read and understood the material on the notes. Lectures from previous iterations of the course (which are not precisely the same as this version) are available here or here (my thanks to my friend Beardsley Ruml for producing these videos). Videos of this year’s lectures should be available on the course page.
· Attendance at section (beginning the second week of the term). Attendance is expected, and is to your benefit since your TF in section will review material being covered that week. You are allowed two passes/absences, no questions asked. If you can’t attend your regular section, and do not want your absence to be counted, you may, having obtained the approval of the principals involved, sit in on a different section that week. The first item of business in section will be a brief (5 minute) check-in (it could be called a quiz), reviewing some of the terms and information of that week. It will be graded check-no check. Active participation in section is encouraged. Section attendance, check-ins, and participation count 20% of the final grade. If you ignore section altogether you may fail the course.
· Midterm exam – one hour. Paragraph length ID’s plus passages plus a non-essay. [20%]
· Two short papers (approx. 5 pages each), one before the midterm and one after; details to be distributed on separate sheet. [15% each, total 30%]
· Final exam – three hours. Paragraph length ID’s plus passages plus two non-essays. [30%]
Course calendar: As a rule the class as a whole will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays; sections will meet on W/Th/F )(tbd). Read the syllabus carefully, however; there are exceptions.
Students with disabilities: if you require special accommodations, please speak with the Head TF before the third week of class.
Academic Integrity and Collaboration: You are permitted, even encouraged, to study together. Read the assigned passages with a friend, discuss them together. With a friend or a group study the terms, IDs, and the like. Prepare for the midterm and final in a study group. However, when you submit a piece of writing with your name on it – the midterm, the final, the short papers, or anything else– you are affirming that it is your own work and that it fairly reflects what you have learned. You may study with friends for the exams, but you take the exams alone. You may discuss the paper assignments with your friends, but when you submit your paper you are stating that it is your work, except insofar as you acknowledge (in a footnote or equivalent) any assistance that you received, whether from a friend, a book or article, or an online resource.
How to contact me: . Office: 6 Divinity Avenue, Semitic Museum, inside the NELC office, rm 105. I will hold public office hours in our classroom every Wednesday from 9:30am until class time. Feel free to drop in and chat. If there is a matter that you would like to discuss with me privately, please make an appointment.
Head TF: Tyler Schwaller .
One required book, one recommended (available at the Harvard COOP):
· The Jewish Study Bible, ed. Adele Berlin and Marc Brettler (Oxford University Press) (ISBN 0195297512 hardcover; ISBN 0195297547 softcover), (referred to below as JSB). NB: All readings from the Bible should be done from this edition. Read the notes on each assigned text. If you wish to save money you can read this work online here (click on Jewish Study Bible). (We will also be reading some passages from the Christian scriptures, the New Testament. This is readily available on-line, e.g. here (click on Oxford Annotated Bible and go to New Testament).
· LATE BREAKING NEWS: The Jewish Study Bible has just appeared in a second edition (2014). For this course you may use either the first edition or the second. The online version is now the second edition.
· We will be reading large chunks of the Dialogue with Trypho by Justin Martyr. I recommend that you acquire the following edition: St. Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho, trans. Thomas B. Falls, revised by Thomas Halton, edited by Michael Slusser (Catholic University of America Press, 2003). (ISBN 0813213428). If you prefer you can save money and read the Dialogue with Trypho in an older translation online, for example here or here. Note that the online text contains only chapter enumeration, whereas the Falls-Halton-Slusser edition contains paragraph enumeration as well. So, for example, if the syllabus refers to “Dialogue with Trypho 16.4,” you will be able to find the exact spot in the Falls-Halton-Slusser edition (“chapter 16, paragraph 4), but in the online edition you would go to Dialogue with Trypho chapter 16 and have to figure out where paragraph 4 is. This is not particularly difficult since chapters are usually rather short, and if you read a little extra it won’t kill you.
· This syllabus is work in progress; expect improvements.
· The readings for each session follow the date and title of the session
Foundations; Historical Perspectives (lectures 1-8)
1. M Jan 26: Introduction to the course: why the Bible matters; some historical background
2. W Jan 28: What is the Hebrew Bible? The canons of the Hebrew Bible
· is the Jewish Bible the same as the Christian Bible?
· Jewish Study Bible (JSB), “The Canonization of the Bible” by Marc Brettler, under “Essays: Backgrounds for Reading the Bible)
· The canons of the Hebrew Bible (chart)
(Remember that on this syllabus and for the purposes of this course “the Bible” means the Old Testament, the Tanakh, the Hebrew Scriptures.)
3. M Feb 2: What is Judaism? The truth claims of Judaism cluster around three points: God, Torah, and Israel.
· a universal moral God with particularistic claims; God of the philosophers vs. the God of the Bible; the centrality of the Torah, the people of Israel
· GOD: R. Moses b. Maimon (1138 [older textbooks 1135]-1204), known as Rambam or Maimonides, Thirteen Principles of Faith: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/rambam13.html (Note: we are interested here only in the first page, the list of thirteen articles of faith; the rest of the webpage, an excerpt from a book by Shmuely Boteach, is of no concern to us)
· TORAH: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/bible/TO_Torah_880.htm (what is the Torah)
o http://www.myjewishlearning.com/daily_life/About_Jewish_Daily_Life/TO_Halakhah/Halakhah_Sources_Devel.htm (what is Halakhah)
o (people of) ISRAEL: (are the Jewish people chosen?) (Chosen people: some modern views)
· Modern varieties (denominations) of Judaism. (We’re not discussing contemporary Judaism, but here’s the point: just as there are many varieties of Judaism today, we should assume that there were many varieties in antiquity too.)
4. W Feb 4: What is Christianity? If the truth claims of Judaism can be said to cluster around God-Torah-Israel, then the truth claims of Christianity can be said to cluster around God-Christ-Church.
· GOD: The Symbol [=Creed] of the Council of Nicea (325 CE) and Constantinople (381 CE) (go to http://catholic-resources.org/ChurchDocs/Creeds.htm and scroll down to The Creeds of Nicea and Constantinople). Compare the two creeds.
o If you want some background info on the Nicene Creed, check out http://64.33.81.65/index.htm or the old Catholic Encyclopaedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11044a.htm).
· CHRIST: http://www.patheos.com/Library/Christianity/Beliefs/Sacred-narratives.html and
http://www.patheos.com/Library/Christianity/Beliefs/Ultimate-Reality-and-Divine-Beings.html
· CHURCH:
http://www.patheos.com/Library/Christianity/Ethics-Morality-Community/Community-Organization-and-Structure.html
· Feel free to browse through the Patheos site re Christianity.
· Modern varieties of Christianity (denominations). (We’re not discussing medieval or contemporary Christianity, but here’s the point: just as there are many modern varieties of Christianity, we should assume that there were many varieties in antiquity too.)
5. M Feb 9: Historically considered, the Bible is neither Jewish nor Christian
· Why and how Judaism is not the same as biblical Israel
· Why and how Christianity is not the same as biblical Israel
· What is the Mishnah?
· What is the New Testament
· http://www.patheos.com/Library/Christianity/Origins/Scriptures
· Shaye J.D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, third edition (2014), chapter seven (excerpt)
6. W Feb 11 Through interpretation the Bible becomes Jewish (if you’re a Jew) or Christian (if you’re a Christian)
· midrash [not to be confused with Mishnah], typology, allegory,
· Jewish Bible Interpretation in Antiquity:
o JSB “Midrash and Midrashic Interpretation” by David Stern
· Christian Bible Interpretation in Antiquity:
· Christocentric interpretation , prophetic interpretation, typology, allegory,
o The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Essays, Christian Interpretation in the Pre-Modern Era (the first part, up to “The Middle Ages”)
M Feb 16: no session Presidents’ Day – draft of first paper due to your TF; see separate sheet
7. W Feb 18: The Life and Death of Jesus
The following readings come from From Jesus to Christ, an excellent website that was mounted in connection with an excellent PBS series that aired in 1998. Feel free to explore the website.
What Can we Really Know about Jesus?
He was born, lived, and died a Jew
The Complexity of his Religious Identity;
Jesus’ Ministry and Teaching
Death and Resurrection:
· who is responsible for the death of Jesus – Jews or Romans?
o From Jesus to Christ: Jesus’ Many Faces: Arrest and Execution
o http://www.bibleodyssey.org/passages/related-articles/crucifixion-of-jesus-and-the-jews.aspx
o http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_of_Jesus (read the first three parts: Gospel Narratives, Historicity, Other Accounts; skim whatever else looks interesting)
8. F Feb 20: “The parting of the ways” between Jews and Christians; Justin Martyr and Early Christianity
What makes Christianity not-Judaism? what makes Judaism not-Christianity? how did the separation of Jews/Judaism from Christians/Christianity come about?
From the From Jesus to Christ website:
o The Diversity of Early Christianity
o Wrestling with their Jewish Heritage
· Who was Justin Martyr? browse the entry in Wikipedia or the Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. St. Justin Martyr .
· Two key passages of Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho:
o The problem of the Law: Justin 9-10; Justin’s solution: 44.2
o : The Scriptures are ours, not yours: Justin, Dialogue 29
Law and Ritual
Lectures 9-10: Circumcision
Some questions we’ll consider: What is/are the meaning/s of Jewish circumcision? What does circumcision mean for Paul, and why must Christians cease to observe it? Are Justin’s anti-circumcision arguments the same as those of Paul? If the Bible commands the circumcision of the foreskin, why don’t Christians do it?
9. M Feb 23: Circumcision in the Hebrew Bible and Judaism
o Passages about circumcision: Genesis 17; Exodus 12:43-50. Other passages you may want to look at: Genesis 34; Exodus 4:24-26; Leviticus 12; Joshua 5.
o Shaye J.D. Cohen, Why aren’t Jewish Women Circumcised? (University of California, 2005) 3-28
o Mishnah and Talmud Nedarim (in the lecture notes)
o Foreskin of heart, lips, and ears: Deuteronomy 10:16, 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4, 6:10, 9:25. Other passages you may want to look at: Exodus 6:12, 30; Leviticus 26:41; Ezekiel 44:7-9.
10. W Feb 25: Circumcision in Christian perspective
o Shaye J.D. Cohen, Why aren’t Jewish Women Circumcised? (University of California, 2005) 67-83
o Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 15 (end) –16, 18, 19, 23, 28-29. Other passages you may want to look at: 41.4, 43.1-2, 92, 113.6-7, 114.4, 137.1.
Lectures 11-12: The Food Laws
Questions we’ll consider: Did Christianity do away with all of the Jewish food laws? How does Barnabas understand the biblical food laws? Would Paul have approved Barnabas’ interpretation? What was the social function of the food laws in Jewish and/or Christian communities? If the Bible commands abstention from pork, why don’t Christians abstain?
11. M Mar 2: Prohibited Foods in the Torah and in Judaism
o Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14; Exodus 23:19, 34:26, and Deuteronomy 14:21; Exodus 22:30; Genesis 9:1-4 and Leviticus 17:10-16 and Deuteronomy 12:16, 23-25
o David Friedenreich, "Food and Table Fellowship," in The Jewish Annotated New Testament, 521-524
12. W Mar 4: Prohibited Foods in Christianity
o Barnabas chapter 10 (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.vi.ii.x.html) or http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/barnabas.html
o If you want to know more about the Epistle of Barnabas, go to the Catholic Encyclopedia s.v. Epistle of Barnabas.
o In the New Testament: Mark 7; Acts 10 and Acts 15; 1 Corinthians 8
o Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 20
o Irven M. Resnick, “Dietary Laws in Medieval Jewish-Christian Polemics,” Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations 6 (2011) 1-15 (read 1-8, skim the rest as you like) (this link takes you to the abstract; click your way to the article itself)
F Mar 6: Review for the midterm
Lectures 13-14: Sabbath
13. M Mar 9: The Sabbath
o Genesis 2:1-4; Exodus 20:8-11, 31:12-17, 35:1-3; Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Isaiah 56:1-8, 58:13-14; Other passages you may want to look at: Exodus 16; Numbers 15:32-36; Jeremiah 17:19-27; Ezekiel 20:11-24.
o Robert Goldenberg, “The Place of the Sabbath in Rabbinic Judaism,” from The Sabbath in Jewish and Christian Traditions, ed. T. Eskenazi et al. (New York: Crossroad, 1991)
W Mar 11 Midterm exam
14: F Mar 13: From Sabbath to Sunday
o New Testament: Mark 1:21-34; 2:23-3:6 (Matthew 12:1-14); Luke 14:1-6; John 5:1-18
o Do Christians observe the Sabbath? Justin 12.3, 19.5, 21.1, 26-27, 41.4
o Craig Blomberg, “The Sabbath as Fulfilled in Christ,” in The Sabbath in Jewish and Christian Traditions, ed. T. Eskenazi et al. (New York: Crossroad, 1991)