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ENG 338: The Bible As Literature

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Title: ENG 338: The Bible As Literature


1
ENG 338 The Bible As Literature
  • Dr. Michael Kramp
  • Ross 1190A
  • 970-351-2130
  • Michael.Kramp_at_unco.edu
  • http//asstudents.unco.edu/faculty/mkramp
  • Office Hours MW 12-1pm Tu 930-11am

2
The Bible As Text
  • Diverse Text
  • Composed over 1100 years
  • No original texts survive
  • Dead Sea Scrollsdiscovered 1947
  • Masoretic Textbiblical manuscripts edited by
    Medieval Jews
  • 5th CenturyJeromes Latin Vulgate

3
The Bible as Text
  • Monotheistic Text
  • Greek biblialittle books
  • Old Testament
  • New Testament
  • Hebrew Scriptures
  • Christian Scriptures
  • Apocrypha

4
The Bible as Text
  • Hebrew Scriptures (Tanak)12th-2nd BCE
  • Christian Scriptures50-150 CE
  • SeptuagintGreek edition of Hebrew Bible
  • Various combinations of Hebrew, Christian, and
    Apocryphal texts
  • Various orders of books
  • Various canons

5
The Bible as Text
  • TANAK
  • TorahTeaching, Law
  • Moses as central figure
  • 1st five books of Bible
  • Pentateuch1st 5 books of Bible
  • Neviim (Prophets)
  • Israels conquest of Canaan until Babylonian
    conquest and destruction of Jerusalem (1250
    BCE-587BCE)
  • Oracles of Israels prohpets

6
The Bible as Text
  • KethuvimWritings
  • Diverse material
  • Psalms, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ruth,
    Esther, Job, Proverbs, Daniel
  • Tanaks conclusions
  • Jewish bible ends with 1, 2Chronicles
  • Cyrus the Great (emperor Persia, successor of
    Babylon) welcomes Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem
    to rebuild Temple (558-530 BCE)
  • Christian bible ends Old Testament with prophetic
    oracles proclaiming impending Messiah

7
Testament/Covenant
  • Promise
  • Agreement
  • Treaty
  • Contract
  • Post-Flood Covenant
  • Abrahamic Covenant
  • Sinai Covenant
  • Deuteronomic Revision
  • Jeremiahs Revisionexplains Babylonian captivity

8
Testament/Covenant
  • New Covenant of Christian scriptures
  • Context of Hebrew Covenant
  • Textually
  • Culturally
  • Geographically

9
Biblical Languages
  • Hebrew Biblemostly written in Hebrew
  • Some late books written in Aramaic
  • Christian ScripturesKoine Greek
  • Common language of 1st-century world
  • Develops out of fusions created by Alexander the
    Greats conquests (336-323)
  • Fosters Hellenism

10
History of Bible as Text
  • No originalsnothing
  • SeptuagintGreek translation of Hebrew Scriptures
  • Lengthy processbegins 250 BCE
  • Based in Alexandria
  • Work of the 70 (LXX)
  • Biblical books typically written on scrolls
  • Tradition upheld

11
History of Bible as Text
  • Codexes of Christian Scripture
  • Codex Sinaiticus
  • Bible as fluid textmuch oral transmission prior
    to written text
  • How much?
  • Masoretic Text9th and 10th Century CE
    Manuscripts of Jewish scribes
  • 1947Dead Sea Scrollsscrolls date from 250 BCE
    to 68 CE

12
History of Bible as Text
  • 5000 manuscript copies of Christian
    Scripturesnot one precisely alike
  • New Testament texts almost all fragments
  • Harmonization--ex post facto conformation of
    Gospels
  • Great Persecution of Christians (303-305 CE)
  • Constantine I (306-337) encouraged production of
    Christian scriptures
  • Paulmay be earliest Christian writer

13
History of Bible as Text
  • Canon formation as process/negotiation
  • Post-exilic Judean priests
  • Perhaps something written by 4th century BCE?
  • Neviim by 200 BCE?
  • Kethuvin last to be canonized
  • Likely after destruction of Temple (70 CE)
  • What to omit?

14
History of Bible as Text
  • Academy of Yaveneh (90 CE)
  • Attempted to unify and consolidate teachings of
    post-War Jerusalem
  • Josephus, The Jewish War (75-79 CE) recognizes a
    canon of sorts
  • New Testament not canonized until 4th century
  • Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, issued Easter
    Letter creating list
  • Numerous attempts at Christian canon (e.g.
    Muratorian Canon)

15
History of Bible as Text
  • Gospel of St. Thomas (found 1945)
  • Only complete other Gospel
  • Nag Hammadi, Egypt
  • No narrativessayings of Christ
  • Influence of Gnosticism

16
Gnosticism
  • Linked to debates of Marcion
  • Claimed Christians should reject entire Hebrew
    bibleHebrew God ethically inferior
  • Claimed True God purely spiritual
  • Gnosticism decried a heresy
  • Mystical approach to human existence

17
Gnosticism
  • Enlightened believer achieves salvation via
    spiritual insight
  • Dualistic influenceinvisible heavenly realm and
    inferior visible world
  • Gnostics dismissed Hebrew Scriptures as limited
    to inferior visible world
  • Christianity insisted upon link to Hebrew
    Scriptures

18
History of Bible as Text
  • St. Jeromes Latin Vulgate (385-405 CE)
  • Late 5th CenturyRoman Empire collapses
  • 730 Venerable Bede translates parts of Vulgate
    into Old English
  • 14th century John Wycliffes English
    translation
  • Condemned

19
History of Bible as Text
  • 1455 Johannes Gutenbergs movable print
  • 1517 Start of Protestant Reformation
  • 1522-1534 Luthers German translation of Bible
  • William Tyndale1st English translator to world
    with Hebrew and Greek texts
  • Charged with heresy and burned at stake

20
History of Bible as Text
  • Coverdale Bible (1535)
  • Great Bible (1539)
  • 1611 King James Bible
  • Commissioned by James I
  • Seven year process
  • Poetic
  • Influential
  • Obscures meaning for poetry
  • Various contemporary translations differ

21
Challenges of Biblical Study
  • No originals
  • Many writersfew, if any, known
  • Several cultures in play
  • Several literary traditions
  • No clear narrative
  • No clear textual connection between Christian and
    Hebrew scripture
  • Questionable conceptual link

22
Biblical Criticism
  • Accurate and objective reading of Bible
  • Difficultvery difficult
  • Spiritual, salvific, divine text for at least 1/3
    of the world

23
Biblical Criticism
  • Challenge of preconceptions
  • Not completely true nor completely false
  • Not one narrative or author
  • Geographical connection between Hebrew and
    Christian Scriptures
  • Conscious attempt of Christian authors to pick up
    Hebrew narrative and characters

24
Historical Criticism
  • Consider documents that offer historical records
  • Standards of evidence
  • Standards of factual accuracy and plausibility
  • Material realmnot interested in sublime or
    supernatural
  • Source Criticismsearch for oral and written
    sources

25
Biblical Criticism
  • Form Criticisminterested in smaller units or
    forms of Biblegenres, types, traditions,
    folklore
  • Redaction Criticismfocus on author/editor
    relationship
  • Literary Criticismconducts literary reading
  • meaning, significance
  • Examines final form

26
Biblical Narrative
  • Israels National Epic
  • Creation of world, ancestral leaders, Canaan,
    nation state, monarchy, Babylonian destruction
    (587 BCE)
  • Shaped by post-exilic editors
  • 140-63 BCE Brief autonomous Jewish State
  • Result of successful Jewish rebellion (1, 2
    Maccabees
  • The Romans are Coming

27
The World of the Hebrew Bible
  • Ancient world
  • Archaeologists cannot verify historical origin of
    Israels ancestors
  • Can verify origins of surrounding communities
  • Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia produced
    sophisticated literature
  • Egyptians created 1st unified nation state
    (mid-3rd millennium BCE)

28
The World of the Hebrew Bible
  • Israel located in between dominant world powers
  • Dominated by Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian,
    Persian, Greek, Roman, European, (American?)
    civilizations
  • Fertile Crescentarable land from Persian Gulf
    northward to Syria and then south to Canaan and
    Egypt
  • Jerichodates to 9000 BCE
  • Detailed timeline (page 45-48)
  • Travels of Abraham map biblical world

29
Mesopotamia
  • Land between the rivers
  • Tigris and Euphrates
  • 3500 BCESumerians
  • UrAbrahams birthplace
  • Urukhome to Gilgamesh
  • CuneiformSumerian system of writing
  • Vast cultural contributionliterary, religious,
    musical, scientific

30
Mesopotamia
  • Zigguratdistinctive Mesopotamian architectural
    form
  • Babylonbecomes greatest city of region
  • Named for Mardukcreator of universe and king of
    Mesopotamian gods
  • 2500 BCE Sumer invaded by Akkadians
  • Sargon I established worlds first empire
    (2334-2279 BCE)
  • Succeeded by Naram-Sindestroyed Elba in N. Syria

31
Mesopotamia
  • Akkadians fall to Amorites (Westerners)
  • Expanded Babylon
  • Akkadian version of Epic of Gilgamesh likely the
    earliest
  • Widely popular tale
  • Read in Israel
  • Famous flood storyUtnapishtim survives

32
Law Code of Hammurabi
  • HammurabiSixth king of Amorites
  • Babylon now central city of Mesopotamia
  • Publishes sophisticated law codes
  • 282 distinct units
  • Not egalitarian
  • Inscribed on 8 foot basalt slab
  • Hammurabi shown receiving laws from Shamashsun
    god
  • Parallels Moses on Sinai

33
Egypt
  • Temple of Ptah
  • Geographically protected by deserts and the Nile
  • Nomesearly small political districts of Egypt
  • 3100 BCE Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt merge

34
Egypt
  • Old Kingdom/Pyramid Age 3rd to 6th Pharonic
    Dynasties (2686-2150 BCE)
  • Middle Kingdom/Feudal Age 11th and 12th
    Dynasties (2030-1720 BCE)
  • New Kingdom/Empire (18th-20th Dynasties
    (1570-1075 BCE)
  • Thutmose I extends Egyptian dominion into Canaan
  • c. 1490 BCE Egyptian forces defeat
    Syrian/Canaanite coalition at Battle of Megiddo

35
Egypt
  • Legacy of Egyptian hieroglyphics
  • Rosetta Stone (deciphered 1820s)
  • Greek, hieroglyphic, demotic
  • Pyramid and Sphinx centuries old when Jacob and
    sons seek refuge from famine
  • Amarna Age
  • Akhenaton (1364-1347 BCE) scandalously declared
    only Aton (Egyptian sun god) should be
    universally acknowledged
  • Monolatryworship of single god while conceding
    existence of others

36
Egypt
  • 1306 BCE Nineteenth Royal Dynasty
  • Ramses I
  • Ramses II (1290-1224 BCE)
  • Zenith of Egyptian empire in size and fame
  • May be Pharaoh of Exodus
  • No record of Exodus
  • Merneptahsuccessor of Ramses II
  • Boasts of conquests in Canaan
  • 1st mention of Israel as distinct geographical
    site

37
Egypt
  • Great cross-influence of Egyptian and Hebrew
    cultures
  • Maatcultural concept of justice/truth/right
    thought/ethical conduct
  • Egyptian afterlife--rewards for good behavior
  • Not clearly intrinsic to Hebrew thought until
    late
  • Circumcision

38
Canaan
  • Ugaritancient Canaanite settlement
  • Discovered library of cuneiform textsincluding
    Gilgamesh
  • ElChief Canaanite god
  • Father of Years, Compassionate, Father of
    Humankind
  • Baalson of El
  • Canaanite god of storm, rain, and fecundity
  • Hebrews adopt qualities of El for their god
  • Hebrew god distinct from El

39
Israel
  • David and Solomon extend Kingdom of IsraelEgypt
    to Euphrates
  • Conquered Moab, Ammon, and Edom
  • 922 BCE Solomons death
  • Kingdom divides
  • Larger portion to Northern Kingdom of Israel
  • Judah (South) still ruled by Davidic Kings
  • Documentary Hypothesissuggests that during
    divided kingdom, oral narratives initially
    compiled into linear continuous narrative

40
Assyrians
  • 9th century BCE Assyrians (named for Assur, god
    of war) begin conquests of Near East
  • 8th century BCE Assyrian emperor rules Judah
    and Israel
  • Samaritans result from Assyrian transplants

41
King Josiah
  • Judean King (640-609)
  • Re-conquered much of Israels land
  • Religious reform and revival
  • Revived Mosaic traditions
  • National celebration of Passover
  • Repaired temple
  • Found Deuteronomy scroll
  • 1st account of Deuteronomistic History written
    under Josiahs reign (through 2 Kings)

42
Rise of Babylonian Empire
  • 612 BCE Nineveh (Assyrian capital) falls to
    Babylonians and Medes (ancient Iranian people)
  • 609 BCE Egyptian pharaoh Necho invades Judah
  • Kills Josiah at Meggido
  • Necho and Nebuchadnezzar (leader of Babylon)
    fight at Battle of Carchemish (Syria)
  • Necho defeatedends Egypts reign in Near East

43
Babylonian Empire
  • 597 Judah rebels against Babylon
  • Nebuchadnezzar sacks Jerusalem
  • Upper-classes deported to Babylon
  • Including Ezekiel
  • Prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel preach
    alternative messages in Babylon
  • 587 Nebuchadnezzar attacks Jerusalem (again) and
    destroys Solomons Temple
  • Population removed to Babylonpoor left

44
Babylonian Exile (587-538 BCE)
  • Productive era in biblical compositionTorah,
    Prophets
  • Followed by productive period during succeeding
    Persian rule
  • Became inspiring time to remember/draft/revise
    Israels national epic
  • Torah ends with Moses failure to reach Promised
    Landcorresponds with Babylonian experience
  • Divine promises remain in future

45
Rule of Persia
  • 539 Cyrus the Great (Persian) captures Babylon
  • Cyrus permits Hebrew exiles back to Jerusalem
  • Allows Hebrews to worship Hebrew god
  • Did not allow reestablishment of Davidic Kings
  • Did allow rebuilding of Temple of Jerusalem
  • Rededicated c. 515 BCE

46
Rule of Persia
  • Second Temple Period6 centuries following
    reconstruction of Temple
  • Jerusalem and surrounding area ruled by Persia,
    then Greece, then Rome
  • Much of the Writings written during this period

47
Alexander the Great
  • 4th Century BCE Moves through Persian Empire
  • Promotes Hellenismmerged classical Greek culture
    with Near Eastern civilizations
  • Fusion of Greek and Eastern cultures
  • Establishes Koine Greek
  • Cosmopolitan multi-culturalism
  • 323 BCE Alexander dies

48
Post-Alexander
  • Empire divided amongst generals
  • PtolemyEgypt
  • SelecusSyria and Mesopotamia
  • Judea eventually ruled by Selecuid King Antiochus
    IV (175-163 BCE)

49
The Maccabean Revolt
  • Antiochus IV attempts to unify diverse Hebrews by
    imposing Hellenism
  • Torah-observant Jews (Maccabees)
    revolt--successful
  • Guerilla warfare
  • Antiochus persecutes hasidismJews loyal to
    national religion

50
Roman Occupation
  • 63 BCE Pompey occupies Judea
  • 40 BCE Roman Senate appoints Herod I kind of
    Judea
  • Unpopular
  • Must take Jerusalem by force
  • 66-73 CE Jewish Revoltfails
  • Titus and Vespasian capture and destroy Jerusalem
  • Massacre tens of thousands of Jews
  • Destroy temple

51
Post-Jewish Rebellion
  • No more Jewish political state
  • More unified Judaism as religious community
  • Rabbis reinterpret Torah regulations
  • Constantine (307-337 CE) proclaims Christianity
    official
  • Theodosius (379-395 BCE) bans all older
    Graeco-Roman religions

52
The Promise of the Land of Canaan
  • At the center of worlds great powers
  • Between Mediterranean Sea, inland Deserts, Nile,
    Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia
  • Conquered
  • Vast multicultural influence
  • Once fertile and moist
  • Megiddocrossroads of cultures
  • Location of Armageddon

53
The Promise of the Land of Canaan
  • Strategic locale between worlds great powers
  • Always a site of great interest and
    desiresomebody always wants it

54
The Hebrew God
  • The ShemaDeuteronomistic commitment to one
    single GodJahweh
  • Does not explicitly deny other gods
  • Henotheismallegiance to one god while conceding
    that others also exist
  • Apparent throughout Hebrew scriptures
  • Hebrew god as incomparablebut not necessarily
    alone
  • Mutliplicity of names for Hebrew godtranslations
    suggest uniformity

55
Names for Hebrew God
  • Elohimplural gods or divine powers
  • Canaanite Elgeneric Near Eastern divine being,
    divinity
  • Chief god of Cannaanite pantheon (roster of gods)
  • Strong documented influence on Hebrew god
  • Artistically depicted as dignified old man with
    long beard
  • No biblical writer has anything bad to say about
    Elplenty of bad things said about Baal and his
    female counterpart Asherah

56
Names for Hebrew God
  • El ShaddaiGod Almighty, God of the Mountain
  • Name derived from pre-Mosaic tradition
  • God as member of divine councilcommon to Near
    Eastern thought
  • Other divinities lack compassion of Hebrew deity

57
Satan
  • Satanthe satan
  • Functionaladversary or adversary of humanitynot
    god
  • Pitchfork dude a Medieval creation
  • May be servant of a deitycalled to duty by god
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