The Narrative World of the Old Testament

FHS Year 2

This second-year paper explores the rich and diverse world of biblical narrative, particularly in light of various methods of approaching narrative, coping with divergent sources behind narratives, investigating the often loaded way in which language and quotations are used in narratives, exploring aspects of cultural borrowing within narratives, and look at multiple narratives in multiple genres within the exilic and post-exilic periods.

Aims and objectives.

Aims:

To develop and refine students understanding of the various ways in which narratives operate in terms of sources, editing, and cultural borrowing and to equip students with a range of heuristic lenses through which to understand and contextualise biblical texts.

Objectives:

Students completing this paper will:

  • Develop a refined, critical awareness of the numerous ways in which biblical narrative can be contextualised.
  • Have an excellent knowledge and critical understanding of several key texts including Genesis 1-2, 6-9; Ezra 9-10; Judges 21; Jonah; 2 Samuel 13.
  • Develop a deep knowledge of the history of the exilic and post-exilic periods through examining primary biblical and non-biblical material.
  • Understand the pertinent critical issues currently debated among scholars concerning each of the texts and periods specified.
  • Be able to write intelligently on the selected texts and topics in dialogue with both primary material and scholars.

Course delivery:

  • 8 lectures
  • 8 tutorials
  • Optional Hebrew text classes.

Lecture schedule:

  1. Introduction: review of major and recent contributions to Biblical narrative.
  2. Genesis, creation and flood narratives.
  3. “History”: multiple narratives and genres concerning the exilic and post-exilic periods.
  4. Ezra 9-10: selective language, selective quotations, and the demonization of the ethic Other.
  5. Jonah, irony, and the problem of the impressive Other.
  6. Judges 21: shock, sources, and repetition.
  7. 2 Samuel 13 and Genesis 34: Feminist and Social-scientific approaches.
  8. The Hebrew Bible, medical humanities, and illness narrative.

This booklist is in sections:

  1. Resources for Old Testament Study
  2. General Introductions
  3. Selected Texts
  4. History of Israel
  5. Israelite Law
  6. Methods and Approaches in Old Testament scholarship

Resources for Old Testament Study

Commentaries

Anchor Bible

Hermeneia

Jewish Publication Society

New International Commentary on the OT

New International Critical Commentary

Oxford Bible Commentary (also available through OxLIP)

Two Horizons OT Commentary

Word Biblical Commentary

Recommended Series

Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies

Oxford Handbooks

The Old Testament Guides published by Sheffield Academic Press [and later T&T Clark], as well as the new series of Old Testament Guides published by Sheffield Phoenix Press

Society for Old Testament Study Monograph Series

Primary Material

Charlesworth, J. H., Ed.The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.2 Vols.(Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1983, 1985).

Dalley, S., Myths from Mesopotamia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).

Dalley, S., The Epic of Gilgamesh (New York: Penguin, 2003).

Dobbs-Allsopp, F.W., Hebrew Inscriptions: Texts From the Biblical Period of the Monarchy With Concordance(New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2005).

Gibson, J. C. L., Textbook of Syrian Semitic inscriptions (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971-1982).

*Hallo, W. W., and Younger, K. L., EdsThe Context of Scripture3 vols. (Leiden: Brill,1997-2002).

Tadmor, H., The Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III King of Assyria. Critical Edition with Introductions, Translations and Commentary(Jerusalem,Israel Acad. of Sciences and Humanities,1994).

Useful resources(which are available through OxLIP)

BibleWorks10

Dead Sea Scrolls

Anchor Bible Dictionary

Oxford Bible Commentary

Critical editions of the Hebrew Bible, Lexicon, and dictionaries

*BibliaHebraica Quinta (available in individual volumes, not all volumes are yet published)

Elliger, K et al Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

Brown, F., Driver, S. R., Briggs, C. A., Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon: With an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic Peabody(Mass: Hendrickson).

*Botterweck, G. J., and Helmer R., eds.Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Translated by John T. Willis.(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974–2006).

*Clines, D. J.A.The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew.(Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 8 volumes 1993–2011).

Clines, D. J.A.,Ed.,The Concise Dictionary of Classical Hebrew(Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009).

Freedman, D. N., Ed.The Anchor Bible Dictionary(New York and London: Doubleday). Also available through OxLIP.

Holladay, W. L.,A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament(Leiden: Brill, 1988).

Sakenfeld, K. D., Ed.,The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible5 vols.(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006-2009).

General Introductions

*Alter, R., The Art of Biblical Narrative. New York: Basic Books, 1981

Amit, Y. Reading Biblical Narratives: Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001

Auerbach, E., ‘Odysseus’ Scar’. In Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature. By E. Auerbach, 3-23. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013.

*Fewell, D. N. Ed. The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Gunkel, H.The Legends of Genesis: The Biblical Saga and History. New York: Schocken, 1964.

*Gunn, D. M., and Fewell, D. N., Narrative in the Hebrew Bible. Oxford Bible Series. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Selected Texts

Genesis: General

Brett, M. G. Genesis: Procreation and the Politics of Identity. Old Testament Readings.(London and New York: Routledge, 2000).

Blenkinsopp, J. The Pentateuch.(London: SCM Press, 1992).

Dalley, S., The Epic of Gilgamesh (New York: Penguin, 2003).

Dalley, S., Myths from Mesopotamia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).

Day, J., From Creation to Babel: Studies in Genesis 1-11. LHBOTS (London and New York: T & T Clark).

Heidel, A.The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels.(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1946).

Moberly, R. W. L.The Theology of the Book ofGenesis(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009).

O’Brien, J., and Wilfred M.,In the Beginning: Creation Mythsfrom Ancient Mesopotamia, Israel, and Greece. (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1982).

The first creation narrative

Barr, J., “Is God a Liar? (Genesis 2-3) - and Related Matters”, The Journal of Theological Studies 57/1 (2006), 1 - 22.

Barr, J., The Garden of Eden and The Hope of Immortality (London: SCM, 1992).

Brenner, A., A., and Gale, A. Y.,Genesis.Texts and Contexts.(Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2010).

Day, J.,God’s Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea: Echoes of a Canaanite Myth in the Old Testament(Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1985).

Moberly, R.W.L., “Did the Interpreters Get it Right? Genesis 2–3 Reconsidered”, The Journal of Theological Studies 59/1 (2008), 22 – 40

Moberly, R. W. L., The Theology of the Book of Genesis. (Cambridge: CUP, 2009).

Genesis 2:4b-3:24

Abraham, J.,Eve: Accused or Acquitted? A Reconsideration of Feminist Readings of the Creation Narrative Texts in Genesis 1-3 (Carlisle, U.K.: Paternoster Press, 2002).

Bechtel, L. M., ‘Genesis 2.4b-3.24: A Myth about Human Maturation’, JSOT 67 (1995), 3-26.

Becking, B., ‘Once in a Garden. Some Remarks of the Construction of the Identity of Woman and Man in Genesis 2-3’, inOut of Paradise. Eve and Adam and Their Interpreters

HBM30.,Becking, B.,Hennecke, S. Eds(Sheffield,Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2011), 1-13.

Blenkinsopp, J., The Pentateuch. An Introduction to the First Five Books of the Bible.(London: SCM, 1992)

Brenner, A., A Feminist Companion to Genesis. (Sheffield: SAP, 1993).

Dragga, S., ‘Genesis 2-3: A Story of Liberation’, JSOT 55, (1995), 3-13.

Edenburg, C., ‘From Eden to Babylon. Reading Genesis 2-4 as a Paradigmatic Narrative’, inPentateuch, Hexateuch, or Enneateuch?Identifying Literary Works in Genesis through Kings.SBL.AIL,8.,Dozeman, T. B.,Römer, T.,andSchmid, K. Eds.,(Atlanta,Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), 155-167.

Laffey, A.,Wives Harlots and Concubines; The Old Testament in Feminist Perspective (London: SPCK, 1990).

Mettinger, T. N. D., The Eden Narrative: A Literary and Religio-historical study of Genesis 2-3. (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2007).

vanWolde, E., ‘Why the Verb בראDoes Not Mean 'to Create' in Genesis 1.1-2.4a’,JSOT 34/1 (2009), p. 3-23.

Jonah

Barrett, R., ‘Meaning More than They Say: The Conflict between Yhwh and Jonah’JSOT 37/2 (2012), p. 237-257.

Ben Zvi, E.Signs ofJonah: Reading and Rereading in Ancient Yehud. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 367. London and New York: Sheffield Academic Press, 2003.

Gillmayr-Bucher, S. ‘Jonah and the Other: A Discourse on Interpretative Competence’ inImagining the Other and Constructing Israelite Identity in the Early Second Temple Period, Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies(LHB.OTS456), London et al.,Bloomsbury, 2014, p. 201-218

Goswell, G. ‘Jonah among the Twelve Prophets’,JBL 135/2 (2016), p. 283-299.

Jenks, G. C., ‘The Sign of Jonah: Reading Jonah on the Boundaries and from the Boundaries’ inBible, Borders, Belonging(s), Engaging Readings from Oceania, Society of Biblical Literature. Semeia Studies(SBL.SS75), Atlanta,Society of Biblical Literature, 2014, p. 223-238.

Lacocque, A., andLacocque, P.Jonah: A Psycho-religious Approach to the Prophet. Studies on the Personalities of the Old Testament. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1990.

Lindsay, R., ‘Overthrowing Nineveh: Revisiting the city with postcolonial imagination’,BCrTh 12/1 (2016),

Timmer, D., ‘Jonah's Theology of the Nations: The Interface of Religious and Ethnic Identity’RB 120/1 (2013), p. 13-23

Judges 21, 2 Samuel 13, and Genesis 34

Bach, A., 1997a.Women, Seduction and Betrayal in Biblical Narrative.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bach, A., 1997b. Rereading the Body Politic: Women and Violence in Judges 21.Biblical Interpretation6 (1), 1-19.

*Bader, M. A., 2006.Sexual Violation in the Hebrew Bible: A Multi-Methodological Study of Genesis 34 and 2 Samuel 13. New York and Oxford: Peter Lang.

Bal, M., 1987.Lethal Love: Feminist Literary Readings of Biblical Love Stories.(Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature).Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press.

Barnes, R. H., 1999. Marriage by Capture.Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute5(1), 57-73.

Bechtel, L. M., 1994. What If Dinah Is Not Raped? (Genesis 34).The Journal for the Study of the Old Testament19 (62), 19-36.

*Blyth, C., 2010.The Narratives of Rape in Genesis 34: Interpreting Dinah’s Silence.Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chalcraft, D. J., 1997.Social-Scientific Old Testament Criticism.(Biblical seminar; 47; Sheffield reader).Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.

Dobbs, F. W., and Linafelt, T., 2001, The Rape of Zion in Thr 1:10.Zeitschrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft113(1), 77-81.

*Esler. P. F., 2012.Sex, Wives, andWarriors: Reading Old Testament Narrative with Its Ancient Audience.Cambridge: James Clarke.

Esler. P. F., Ed. 2006.Ancient Israel: The Old Testament in its Social Context. Philadelphia: Fortress.

*Exum, C., 1993.Fragmented Women: Feminist (Sub)Versions of Biblical Narratives.(Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Supplement series, 163).Sheffield: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Press.

Finkelstein, J. J., 1966.Sex Offenses in Sumerian Laws.Journal of the American Oriental Society86, 355–72.

Frymer-Kensky, T., 2002.Reading the Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of Their Stories.New York: Shocken Books.

Frymer-Kensky, T., 1998.Virginity in the Bible. In: V.H. Matthews, B. Levinson, and T. Frymer-Kensky, Eds.Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East.(Journal for the Study of Old Testament.Supplement Series, 262). Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 79-96.

Frymer-Kensky, T., 1992.In the Wakeof the Goddesses: Women, Culture, and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth. New York: Free Press.

Frymer-Kensky, T., 1989a. Law and Philosophy: The Case of Sex in the Bible. In: T. Frymer-Kensky, 2006.Studies in Bible and Feminist Criticism. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 239-254.

*Gravett, S., 2004. Reading ‘Rape’ in the Hebrew Bible: A Consideration of Language.Journal for the Study of the Old Testament28, 279-299.

Lapsley, J. E., 2005.Whispering the Word: Hearing Women’s Stories in the Old Testament.Lousiville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press.

*Lipka, H. B., 2006.Sexual Transgression in the Hebrew Bible.(Hebrew Bible Monographs, 7). Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press.

Pitt-Rivers, J. A., 1977.The Fate of Shechem or The Politics of Sex: Essays in the Anthropology of the Mediterranean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pressler, C., 1993.The View of Women Found in the Deuteronomic Family Laws. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.

*Scholz, S., 2010.Sacred Wittness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis: Fortress

*Stone, K., 1997.Sex, Honor and Powerin the Deuteronomistic History: A Narratological and Anthropological Analysis.Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.

*Trible, P., 1984.Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives.(Overtures to Biblical Theology, 13). Philadelphia: Fortress Press

*Yamada, F. M., 2008.Configurations of Rape in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary Analysis of three Rape Narratives.New York: Peter Lang.

Yuval-Davis, N., 1997.Gender and Nation.(Politics and Culture). London: Sage Publications.

The Hebrew Bible, medical humanities, and illness narrative.

Becker, G., Disrupted lives: How people create meaning in a chaotic world. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997).

Bury, M. ‘Chronic Illness as Biographical Disruption’, Sociology of Health and Illness, 4/2 1982, 167-182.

Carel, H., Illness: The Cry of the Flesh. (Durham: Acumen, 2013).

Frank, A., The wounded storyteller: Body, illness, and ethics. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).

Garro, L., ‘Narrative representations of chronic illness experience: Cultural models of illness, mind, and body in stories concerning the temporomandibular joint (TMJ)’Social Science and Medicine38 (1994), 775–788.

Garro, L., Chronic illness and the construction of narratives. In M. J. DelVecchio, P. Brodwin, B. Good, and A. Kleinman Eds.Pain as Human Experience. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992), 100–137

Good, B. Medicine, Rationality, and Experience. (Cambridge University Press, New York, 1994).

Kleinman, A.,Writing at the Margin: Discourse between Anthropology and Medicine. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995)

Kleinman, A., The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, and the Human Condition. (New York: Basic Books, 1988)

Locock, L., and Ziebland, S., ‘Mike Bury: Biographical disruption and long-term and other health conditions’ in F. Collyer, (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Social Theory in Health, Illness and Medicine. (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 582 – 598.

Mattingly, C., The Paradox of Hope: A call to Suffering. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010).

Newsom, C. A. “Re-consideringJob.”Currents in Biblical Research5.2 (2007): 155–182.

Perdue, L. G.The Sword and the Stylus: An Introduction to Wisdom in the Age of Empire. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008.

Scarry, E., The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World. (Oxford: OUP, 1985).

Sontag, S. Aids and Its Metaphors, (London: Allen Lane, 1989).

History of Israel

Introductory Material

Bartlett J.R. Ed. Archaeology and Biblical Interpretation (London and New York: Routledge,1997).

Barton, J., Ed.The Biblical World. 2 vols. (London: Routledge, 2002).

Barr, J.,History and Ideology in the Old Testament: Biblical Studies at the End of the Millennium. (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).

Bright, J.A History of Israel. 3d ed. Westminster Aids to the Study of the Scriptures. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1981).

Clements, R.E. Ed.The World of Ancient Israel: Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspectives (Cambridge: CUP, 1989).

Coogan, M.D. Ed. The Oxford History of the Biblical World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).

Smelik K.A.D. Writings from Ancient Israel: A Handbook of Historical and Religious Documents (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1991).

Specific works on Historiography

Davies, P.,In Search of Ancient Israel(Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992).

Dever, W. G.,What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?What Archaeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001)

Grabbe, L. L., Ancient Israel: What do we know and how do we know it? (London: T & T Clark, 2006).

Grabbe, L. L.,Can a “History of Israel” be Written?JSOTsup 245, (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997).

Lemche, N. P.The Old Testament between Theology and History: A Critical Survey. Louisville: (Westminster John Knox, 2008).

Lemche, N. P., The Israelites in History and Tradition (London: SPCK, 1998).

Provan, I. W., Long, P. V, and Longman, T.,A Biblical History of Israel Louisville, KY and (London: Westminster/John Knox, 2003).

Schniedewind, W.,How the Bible Became a Book: The Textualization of Ancient Israel. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Thompson, T. L.,The Early History of the Israelite People: From the Written and Archaeological Sources (Leiden: Brill, 2000).

Whitelam, K. W., The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History(London. Routledge, 1996).

History of Israel Bibliography: The United Monarchy

Albertz, R., ‘Secondary Sources Also Deserve to be Historically Evaluated: The Case of the United Monarchy’, inThe Historian and the Bible. Essays in Honour of Lester L. Grabbe.LHB.OTS530.Davies, P. R.,Edelman, D. V., Eds.(New York/London,T&T Clark, 2010), 31-45.

Alt, A., ‘The Formation of the Israelite State in Palestine’ and ‘The Monarchy in Israel and Judah’, inEssays on Old Testament History and Religion.BiSe9.,Alt, A., Ed.(Sheffield,Sheffield Academic Press, 1989), 171-237.

Becking, B., ‘David between Ideology and Evidence’, inBetween Evidence and Ideology. Essays on the History of Ancient Israel Read at the Joint Meeting of the Society for Old Testament Study and the Oud TestamentischWerkgezelschap. Lincoln, July 2009.OTS59.Becking, B.,Grabbe, L. L., Eds. (Leiden / Boston,Brill, 2011), 1-30.

Cahill, J. M., “Jerusalem at the Time of the United Monarchy: The Archaeological Evidence”, in Vaughn, Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology. The First Temple Period, Society of Biblical Literature.Symposium Series.SBL.SyS18.(Atlanta,Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), 13-80.

Andrew G., and Killebrew, A. E., Ed., Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology. The First Temple PeriodSociety of Biblical Literature.Symposium Series 18.(Atlanta, Society of Biblical Literature), 13 – 80.

Day, J. Ed., In Search of Pre-exilic Israel. Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar.Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Supplement Series 406.(London / New York, T & T Clark, 2004).

Finklestein I., David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition.(New York: Free Press, 2006).

Finklestein I., ‘The archaeology of the United Monarchy: An alternative view’ Levant 28, (1996), 177-187.

Gelinas, M., “United Monarchy-Divided Monarchy: Fact or Fiction?”, in Holloway, S. W., Handy, L. K., Eds, The Pitcher is Broken. Memorial Essays for Gösta W. Ahlström.Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Supplement Series 190.(Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 227 – 237.

Grabbe, Lester L. Ed., Israel in Transition. From Late Bronze II to Iron IIa (c. 1250-850 B.C.E.).Volume 2.The Texts.LHB.OTSESHM5218.(New York/London,T&T Clark, 2010).

Grabbe, L. L.,Ahab Agonistes: The Rise and Fall of the Omri Dynasty(London: T&T Clark, 2007)

Ishida, T., Ed.,Studies in the Period of David and Solomon and Other Essays.(Winona Lake, IN., 1982).

Jamison-Drake, D. W.,Scribes and Schools in Monarchic Judah.(Sheffield: Almond Press, 1991).

Kallai, Zecharia, “The United Monarchy of Israel - A Focal Point in Israelite Historiography”, in Kallai, Z., Ed., Biblical Historiography and Historical Geography. Collection of Studies.Beiträge zur Erforschung des Alten Testaments und des Antiken Judentums 44.(Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, 1998), 137 – 144.