Smith College-Spring 2013

Religion 211: Wisdom Literature and Other Books from the Writings

Professor Joel S. Kaminsky (E-mail: jkaminsk@smith.edu)                         
Office: Wright Hall 113 (Office Phone: 3608)                      
Office Hours: 1:40-2:35 MF or by appointment.

Required Books 
1. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, 4th College editionNew Revised Standard Version.  It is best to buy a copy of this Bible because it is the one I will use in class.  Furthermore it is an excellent Bible and has many study tools within it.  Other versions that are in modern English (e.g. Jerusalem, New English) are acceptable if you already own one and cannot afford the Oxford.  The Authorized (meaning the King James) is not acceptable because it is not in modern English.  It is essential to own a Bible that also includes the Apocrypha.

2. James Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom, 3rd edition (referred to as OTW).

3. The Wisdom Books, translated by Robert Alter.

4. J. Gerald Janzen, At the Scent of Water: The Ground of hope in the Book of Job.

Course Requirements

1) There will be a Midterm Exam worth 25% of your course grade, tentatively scheduled for March 11th. 

2) Every student will be required to briefly summarize one of the essays of secondary literature in class. You might consider making a brief handout with summary bullet points. This summary should take about 4-5 minutes or in any case not longer than 8 minutes. This will be worth 5% of your final grade.

3) Every student will write a 750-word book review of Gerald Janzen’s short book on Job At the Scent of Water. This review will be due in class Monday February 18th thus insuring all students will have read the book in time. You should consider looking at various biblical journals to see how scholars write book reviews that both summarize and critique whole books in a concise fashion. For example you might look at recent issues of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly or Interpretation to see their reviews. This will be worth 10% of your course grade.

4) Every student will write a summary/reaction paper to the public lecture by Anne W. Stewart that will occur on Wednesday March 13th at 4:30PM.  This will be worth 5% of your course grade and is due either before you leave for Spring Break or Monday March 25th when you return.

3) You will be required to write one shorter research/interpretive paper approximately 8 pages double-spaced (2000 words). If you write an interpretive paper you will take a specific passage or even a single verse in a biblical or apocryphal wisdom book and research how the various commentaries (using at least 3 differing RECENT critical commentators) wrestle with the issues raised by your particular passage. Questions of date, setting, authorship, language, and interpretation will be addressed. If you choose to research a wisdom related concept or historical issue you will collect at minimum 4 differing secondary articles on the topic that you fully understand and put these into dialogue with each other as you pursue your topic. Your paper should contain a final bibliography along with real footnotes that include page numbers. Whenever possible you should be using legitimate scholarly resources that were published within the previous 50 years All paper topics must be cleared with me in advance! This paper will be worth 20% of your final course grade and is due on Monday April 15th by noon via email. 
 
4) There will be a Final Examination worth approximately 25% of your course grade. 

5) Class Attendance and Participation will be worth approximately 10% of your course grade.  If you skip more than 3 classes I will drop your grade by 1/3rd of a letter grade for each absence above 3.  As part of your participation I will also expect every student to hone in 1-2 passages in the text under discussion each day that intrigue or confuse them or are worthy of deeper discussion. If students fail to do this I reserve the right to begin collecting these as a daily assignment.

6) In order to do well at any of the above requirements it is imperative that you do all of the readings required for each class.  If you are pressed for time before a particular session make sure to do at least the primary readings.  (I mean those that are selected from the Bible).  But you must eventually complete all the secondary readings in order to do decently on the exams.

Course Outline

Friday January 25th-Intro to the course

Jan. 28th -Intro to Israelite Wisdom and its Egyptian and Babylonian antecedents

Assignments:

1) Read “The Instructions of Ptahhotep,” pages 61-80 in Ancient Egyptian Literature volume 1 at the front of the HANDOUT. As you read be prepared to bring in at least one proverb from this or the other ancient Near Eastern texts that you want to discuss further in class.

2) Read “Instructions addressed to King Merikare,” pages 97-109 in Ancient Egyptian Literature volume 1 at the front of the HANDOUT.

3) Read “The Words of Ahikar” pages 427-430 in Ancient Near Eastern Texts at the front of the HANDOUT.

4) Read Crenshaw OTW, 1-39 and 251-72.

 

January 30th February 4th, 6th and 11th –The Book of Proverbs

Assignments:

1) Read Proverbs 10-31 in Alter’s translation or in both Alter and the NRSV and bring in a list of at least 4 proverbs that intrigued or confused you to discuss in class.

2) Read OTW, 41-96.

3) Read the Instructions of Amenophis pages 146-163 in Ancient Egyptian Literature volume 2, HANDOUT.

4) Read John J. Collins, “The Biblical Precedent for Natural Theology,” Encounters with Biblical Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005), 91-104, notes on 209-214. HANDOUT

5) Read Proverbs 1-9 in Alter’s translation or in both Alter and the NRSV.

6) Read Michael Fox, “Ethics and Wisdom in the book of Proverbs,” Hebrew Studies, 48 2007, p 75-88. ATLAS PDF

8) Read Katherine Dell, “Proverbs 1-9: issues of social and theological context,” Interpretation, 63 no 3 Jl 2009, p 229-240. ATLAS PDF

 

Feb 13th, 18th and Friday the 22nd– Job

Assignments:
1) Read Job in Alter’s translation or in both Alter and the NRSV. Again, as you read collect any passages that you feel deserve special attention in class.

2) Read Crenshaw OTW, 97-126.

3) Read “Ludlul Bel Nemeki,” and “the Babylonian Theodicy” pages 596-604 in Ancient Near Eastern Texts, HANDOUT.

4) Read The Brothers Karamazov  by Fyodor Dostoevsky, (Toronto:  Bantam, 1981), pp. 284-296. HANDOUT

5) Read Carol Newsom, “The Book of Job as a Polyphonic Text,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 97 (2002): 87-108. ATLAS PDF

6) Read J. Gerald Janzen, At the Scent of Water: The Ground of hope in the Book of Job. Read 1-86 for the first session and over the following weekend read from 87-111.

 

Feb 25th and 27th  --Qohelet

 

Assignments:
1) Read Ecclesiastes/Qohelet in Alter and also in the NRSV and pick out at least one passage that intrigues or disturbs you.

2) Read Crenshaw OTW, 127-53.

3) Read Michael Fox, “The meaning of HEBEL for Qohelet,” Journal of Biblical Literature, 105 no 3 S 1986, p 409-427. ATLAS PDF

4) Read Douglas B. Miller, “What the Preacher Forgot: The Rhetoric of Ecclesiastes,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 62 no 2 Ap 2000, p 215-235. ATLAS PDF

 

(LIBRARY TOUR—Time Permitting on either March 1st, 8th)

 

March 4th and 6th Esther

 

Assignments:
1) Read Esther. Read Exodus 17:8-16; Numbers 24:20; Deut. 25:17-19; 1 Samuel 9:1-2, 1 Sam 15.

2) Read Jon D. Levenson, “Scroll of Esther in Ecumenical Perspective,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 13 no 3 Sum 1976, p 440-452.  ATLAS PDF

3) Shmaryahu Talmon, “Wisdom in the Book of Esther,” Vetus Testamentum 13 (1963): 419-55. ATLAS PDF

4)) Read James Crenshaw, “Method in Determining Wisdom Influence upon ‘Historical Literature,’” Journal of Biblical Literature 88 (1969): 129-42. ATLAS PDF

 

March 11th -- Midterm Exam

 
March 13th -- Song of Songs

Assignments:
1) Read the Song of Songs. Which passages confuse or intrigue you? Is the book a unity or a series of discrete units?

2) Read Egyptian Love Poetry excerpts pages 182-193 in Volume 2 of Ancient Egyptian Literature volume 2 by Miriam Lichteim, HANDOUT.

3) Read David M Carr, “Gender and the shaping of desire in the Song of Songs and its interpretation,” Journal of Biblical Literature, 119 no 2 Sum 2000, p 233-248. ATLAS PDF

 

March 25th Wisdom in the Psalms

 

Assignments:

1) Read Psalms 1, 8, 19, 34, 37, 39, 49, 73, 92, 94,104, 119.

2) Read OTW 187-194.

 

 

Friday March 29th, April 1st and April 3rd -- Ben Sira

 

Assignments:

1) Read all of Ben Sira, also called Sirach or Ecclesiaticus (i.e., Prologue-chapter 51)

2) Pick out 2 passages that you find troubling or bothersome to discuss in class!

3) Read OTW 155-180.

4) Read David DeSilva, “The Wisdom of Ben Sira: Honor, Shame, and the Maintenance of the Values of a Minority Culture,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 58 no 3 Jl 1996, p 433-455. ATLAS PDF

5) Read James Crenshaw, “ The Problem of Theodicy in Sirach: On Human Bondage,” Journal of Biblical Literature 94 (1975): 47-64. ATLAS PDF

 

April 8th and part of April 10th--Wisdom of Solomon

Assignments:

1) Read all of the Wisdom of Solomon. Pick out at least one passage that intrigues or disturbs you for class discussion.

2) Read OTW 181-87.

3) Read  Shannon Burkes, “Wisdom and apocalypticism in the Wisdom of Solomon,” Harvard Theological Review, 95 no 1 Jan 2002, p 21-44. ATLAS PDF

 

Part of April 10th and April 17th Tobit

 

Assignments:

1) Read all of Tobit.

2) Read Micah Kiel, “Tobit’s Theological Blindness,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 73 no 2 Ap 2011, p 281-298. ATLAS PDF

 

 

Friday April 19th and 22nd -- Daniel

Assignments:

1) Read Daniel 1-12 and Susanna in the Apocrypha (on the 19th focus will be on 1-6 and Susanna, and on 7-12 on the 22nd).

2) Read John J. Collins, “Daniel and His Social World,” Interpretation, 39 no 2 Ap 1985, p 131-143. ATLAS PDF

3) Read W.  L. Humphreys, “A Life-Style for the Disapora: A Study of the Tales of Daniel and Esther,”Journal of Biblical Literature92 (1973): 211-223.  ATLAS PDF

 

 

April 29th Fragments of Wisdom elsewhere in the Apocrypha, Pirkei Avot and Theological reflections on the Wisdom Corpus

Assignments:

1) Read 1 Esdras 3:1-5:3 and Baruch 3:9-4:4.

2) Read OTW 175-77, 184-204.

3) Read Ethics of the Fathers, trans. Philip Birnbaum, (Hebrew Publishing Company, 1949), pages, 2, 4, 6, 10, 18, and 24. HANDOUT

 

May 1st -- catch up, review for final exam, end of year social

 

 

 

Timeline of Important Dates in the Biblical Period

1800 B.C.E. = Abraham

1280 B.C.E. = The Exodus from Egypt

1240 B.C.E. = The Conquest of Canaan

1020 B.C.E. = King Saul, Israel's first monarch.

1000 B.C.E. = King David

960 B.C.E. = King Solomon, the one who built the Jerusalem Temple.

922 B.C.E. = The United Kingdom split into the North (Israel or Ephraim) and the South (Judah).

722 B.C.E. = The Northern Kingdom (Israel) fell when it was conquered by Assyria.

587 B.C.E. = The Southern Kingdom (Judah) fell when it was conquered be Babylonia.

538 B.C.E. = The Edict of Cyrus allowed the first exiles to return and rebuild the temple. This was the beginning of the 2nd temple period.

333 B.C.E. = Alexander the Great conquered the Persian empire and took all its holdings including what was once the territory of biblical Israel.

323 B.C.E. = Alexander the Great died and several generals fought over his kingdom. Two major victors emerged. Ptolemy ruled over Egypt, North Africa, and sometimes Palestine. Seleucus ruled over Persia, Syria, Asia Minor, and sometimes Palestine.

165 B.C.E. = The Maccabees

63 B.C.E. = Pompey, a Roman general, took Jerusalem.

2-6? B.C.E. = Jesus was born

70 C.E. = The Second Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Romans.

 

200 C.E. = The Mishnah was compiled by Yehuda HaNasi (Judah the Prince)