Religious Studies 115a

Literature and Religion of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Fall, 2007 M.W.F. 9:00 to 9:50 Webb 1100	Richard D. Hecht, Professor Office: 3076 HSSB Office phone: 893-4552 Office hours: Wednesday, 10:30 to 12:00 or by appointment
Additional syllabuses: http:www.religion.ucsb.edu/syllabuses.html	e-mail: ariel@religion.ucsb.edu

Course Description:

This course is intended as an introduction to the literature and religion of the Hebrew Bible from the perspective of the history of religions. We will attempt to understand the variety of ancient Israelitic religious traditions contained in the text of the Hebrew Bible within their historical contexts. The central theme of our course of study will be the emergence, transformation, and development of the ancient Israelite god. Another way to describe our central theme is that we will attempt to create a history of the god of the Hebrew Bible. Writing the biography of God has over the past 15 years has been a sure-fire formula for a commercially successful book. Two of the most important of these have been Karen Armstrong’s A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993), which provides as the title indicates a history of God from the world of ancient Israel through the entire history of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and Jack Miles’s God: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995) which provides as its title suggests a “biography” of God in the Hebrew Bible. We will read chapters taken from these two volumes and you will quickly see that both attempt to present the history of God as a history of ideas with little attention given to the historical, political, economic and cultural contexts in which these ideas about the divine emerged. We will offer a counter-analysis, arguing that the “biography” of God, as Miles calls it, is really biography of the Israelite central city, Jerusalem. The distinctive idea of God in the Hebrew Bible is directly linked to the fortunes of this single city. As Jerusalem ascends in the political, religious, cultural, and economic life of the Israelites and those around them, so does a very particular idea of the divine. We will be forced to address an increasingly important question: why must the idea of a singular deity be symbolized or materialized in a singular place?

In order to carry out our analysis we must (1) become familiar with the basic structures and patterns of ancient Near Eastern religions and literature; (2) become familiar with the variety of Israelitic religious traditions; (3) utilize the biblical text critically by learning to dissect the text into its various literary strata, attempting to determine the type of community which produced and preserved a given tradition. Only by patiently following such procedures can we hope to understand the varying forms of human expressions contained within the Hebrew Bible.

Required Texts:

1. The primary text for this course is The Harper-Collins Study Bible – New Revised Standard Version with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books Fully Revised and Updated (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006). I have selected and insist that you use this version of the Hebrew Bible for a number of reasons. First, it has first-rate introductions which are short and cover the major issues for each book of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. These introductions are also completely accessible to the non-specialist. Second, its maps and other scholarly tools are excellent. Third, it contains the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books which allow you to use this same Bible in other courses. In short, this is an extraordinary version of the Bible which you can use for a lifetime and in many different contexts.

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2. I have also organized a number of additional readings into a small reader which is available at the Alternative Copy Shop in Isla Vista. These readings contain a number of chapters from the Armstrong and Miles volumes, a collection of mythological and historical texts from the ancient Near Eastern world, and interpretive chapters on the religion and history of Israel. Two copies of the reader will be available in the Reserve Book Room of the Davidson Library on two-hour reserve. All assignments in the reader are marked with (T) in the syllabus.

Course Requirements:

1. Students will be expected to have read the assigned texts in preparation for lecture and class sessions.

2. There will be a mid-term essay examination on Friday, 26 October. The mid-term examination will be worth 30% of the final course grade.

3. You must attend two of the three outside class presentations described below. At the class session immediately following the presentations, each student will turn in a single page comment on three important ideas, elements, or interpretations from each presentation. The comments must be word-processed. No late assignments will be accepted and both assignments must be completed to meet this course requirement. There are no substitutes for this requirement. This element of the course will constitute 10% of the final course grade. Those students who attend all three events and complete three comments will be given 5% extra-credit on the final course grade.

4. The comprehensive final examination is scheduled for Thursday, 13 December from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. The final examination will be worth 60% of the final course grade.

Required Outside Class Presentations:

Sunday, 21 October at 3:00 p.m. Gershom Gorenberg, “The Struggle for the Temple Mount,” Corwin Pavilion, free. Gershom Gorenberg, American-educated journalist who has lived in Jerusalem since 1977, co-authored Shalom, Friend: The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, winner of the National Jewish Book Award, and wrote The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount. According to The New Republic, "Few American journalists understand evangelical theology well enough to explain the Christian Right, few Israeli journalists take messianic Zionism seriously enough to explain the right-wing settlers, and few of either investigate Islam as more than a caricature. Gorenberg has the intellectual depth and journalistic curiosity to do all three, and as a result, his warnings chill the bone." His most recent book, The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967--1977, was hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "Remarkably insightful . . . A groundbreaking revision that deserves to reframe the entire debate." Gorenberg served as an editor and writer for The Jerusalem Report from 1983 until 1990. He was a co-founder, senior editor and columnist for The Jerusalem Report from 1990 until 2006. Currently Gorenberg is a senior correspondent for The American Prospect and a regular contributor to The New Republic and to the Hebrew edition of Ha'aretz. This lecture is sponsored by the Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies University of California, Santa Barbara.

Thursday, 29 November at 4:00 p.m. Jody Myers, “Kabbalah in the Contemporary American Religious Landscape,” McCune Conference Room, 6^th floor of the Humanities and Social Science Building, free.

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Jody Myers is Professor of Jewish Studies and Religious Studies at Cal State Northridge, and the Director of Jewish Studies at CSUN. She is the author of Seeking Zion: Modernity and Messianic Activism in the Writings of Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer (2003) and Kabbalah and Spiritual Quest: The Kabbalah Center in America (2007). This lecture is sponsored by the Jewish Studies Initiative, the Jewish Studies Research Focus Group of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, and the Department of Religious Studies.

Sunday, 9 December at 3:00 p.m. Michael Oren, “Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East,” Victoria Hall, 33 West Victoria Street, Santa Barbara, free. Michael Oren, American-Israeli scholar, historian, and author, is well known for his best-selling and highly acclaimed books on Middle Eastern history. Born an American citizen, his many publications include the best-selling Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East, which was listed as a New York Times bestseller and won the National Jewish Book Award and the Los Angeles Times History Book of the Year Award. He is also the author Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East; 1776 to the Present which quickly became a New York Times bestseller. Oren is a Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem and a contributing editor to The New Republic. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard University and Yale University. This lecture is sponsored by by the Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies University of California, Santa Barbara. The lecture notes for this presentation may be turned in with your final examination.

Note on use of e-mail: Electronic messages to me should be restricted to the following areas. First, if you have an emergency which requires you to miss a class, you should send me an e-mail message. Second, you may contact me through e-mail with regard to questions from your reading or lecture materials, but my answers in this context will necessarily be relatively short and schematic. Third, I do not accept written work via the e-mail. You must be in class on the days where you are required to turn in your written work. Fourth, and most importantly, I will not respond to questions about grades on the mid-term, the writing assignment, or the final examination through e-mail. Your work is far too important to be reduced to the brief nature of electronic communications. These questions should be discussed in my office hours or in scheduled appointments.

Note on plagiarism: The faculty in Religious Studies believes plagiarism to be one of the most serious infractions of student conduct within the learning community. All faculty members of the department have agreed that we will pursue disciplinary actions in all cases of plagiarism and that we will ask the Dean of Students and the Dean of Undergraduate Studies not only to suspend the offending student from the university but also prohibit the student from taking any further courses in Religious Studies. Make certain in your paper and in the examinations that you attribute all materials cited directly or indirectly, verbatim or paraphrased in your essays.

Lecture Topics and Assignments:

September 27-October 3 -- Introduction to the Study of the Hebrew Bible.

Assignment: Review the syllabus and browse through the HarperCollins Bible. Read HarperCollins Bible, pp., xvii-xl; Lane, “Scripture Rescripted in a new version, the Bible goes P.C.” (T).

October 5-8 -- Basic Patterns of Ancient Near Eastern Religion: Mesopotamia.

Assignment: Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia, pp. xvi-153 and 228-277, "The Creation Epic or the Enuma Elish" and "The Epic of Gilgamesh" (T); Jacobsen, “The Second Millennium Metaphors. ‘And Death the Journey’s End’: The Gilgamesh Epic” (T).

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October 10-12 -- Basic Patterns of Ancient Near Eastern Religion: Egypt and Canaan.

Assignment: "The Memphite Theology of Creation" and "Poems about Baal and Anath" (T).

Monday, November 12 – Veterans’ Day Holiday.

October 15-19 -- Source and Tradition Criticism of the Hebrew Bible.

Assignment: Armstrong, “In the Beginning…” and “One God” (T).

* Gorenberg lecture, Sunday, 21 October.

October 22-29 -- The History of God and the History of Jerusalem.

Assignment: The Book of Judges; I-II Samuel; I-II Kings; I-II Chronicles; from the Book of Psalms read the following: Hymns (Psalms 8, 29, 103, and 136; Royal Psalms (Psalms 2, 18, 20, 21, 72, 101, 110, 132, 144:1-11), Individual Complaint (Psalms 6,22, 88); Communal Complaint (Psalms 74 and 79), and Individual Thanksgiving (Psalms 30 and 32). The Song of Songs. Smith, “Religious Parties among the Israelites before 587” (T) and Behat, “The First Temple Period 1000 BCE – 586 BCE”(T).

* Mid-term examination on Friday, 26 October.

October 31– November 7 -- How did the Israelites construct their past?

Assignment: The “J” and “E” Narratives of Genesis (see below); Exodus 1-24 and 32-34; “The Amarna Letters” (T); Miles, “The Image and the Original,” “Can God’s Life be written?” “Creator/Destroyer,” and “Liberator” (T); Fohrer, “Yahwism in the Period of the Monarchy” (T).

November 9-12 – Early Prophetic Traditions

Assignment: The Books of Amos and Hosea.

November 14-21 -- The Last Years of the Monarchy.

Assignment: Isaiah 1-11, 28-32, and 40-55; Jeremiah; Lamentations 1-5; Deuteronomy; II Kings 22-23; “The Code of Hammurabi” (T); Donner, “The Separate States of Israel and Judah” (T); Oded, “Judah and the Exile” (T).

November 26-December 3 -- The Priestly Polity.

Assignment: Ezra and Nehemiah; Isaiah 56-66; Ezekiel 1-24; the “P” Narrative (see selections below); Leviticus 1-10; Ruth; Esther; Daniel; Malachi; Smith, “Nehemiah” (T); Smith, “To Put in Place” (T).

* Jody Myers’ lecture, Thursday, November 29

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December 5-7 -- Summary and Conclusion.

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The "J" Narrative in Genesis.

I. The Primordial History

The Garden of Eden ReligiouCain and Abel Cain and his descendents Marriage of the Sons of God The Flood (J and P) Noah's favor with Yahweh Entry into the Ark The flood comes The waters abate Conclusion Noah's cultivation of the vine Noah's descendents The Tower of Babel

Gen. 2:4 (from "in the day")-3:24 4:1-16 4:17-26 6:1-4 5:29; 6:5-8 7:1-5, 7, 8-10 7:13, 17 (from "and the waters"), 22-23 8:2 (from "the rain" to "continually"), 6-12, 13 (from "Noah") 8:20-22 9:18-27 10:8-19, 21, 24-30 11:1-9

II. The History of the Patriarchs

The ancestry of Abram The promise made with Abram Abram's visit to Egypt Abram and Lot separate Yahweh's covenant with Abraham Birth of Ishmael Yahweh at Mamre Abraham's intercession for Sodom Destruction of Sodom Birth of Moab and Ammon Birth of Isaac (fragmentary) Line of Nahor A wife for Isaac The sons of Abraham's concubine

11:28-30 12:1-4 (to "with him"), 6-9 12:10-13:2 13:3-5, 7-10, 13-18 Ch. 15 (omit vss. 1-2, 5, 13-16) 16:1-14 (omit vs. 3) 18:1-16 18:17-33 19:1-28 19:30-38 21:20-24 22:20-24 Ch. 24 25:1-16

III. The "J" Epic in Genesis

The birth of Esau and Jacob Jacob steals the birthright Isaac's travels Jacob steals the blessing Jacob's dream at Bethel

25:21-26 (to "called Jacob") 25:27-34 26:1-33 27:1-45 28:10-22 (fragments of "E" in vss. 12, 17-18, 20-22)

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A. The JACOB-LABAN CYCLE

Jacob meets Rachel Jacob wed Leah and Rachel Birth of Jacob's children Jacob outwits Laban Jacob's flight from Haran Jacob prepares to meet Esau Jacob wrestles with an Angel Reunion with Esau The attack on Shechem Reuben's incest

29:1-14 29:15-30 29: 31-30:24 (J/E) 30:25-43 31:1-55 (J/E, omit vs. 18 from "he had acquired") 32:3-12 (vss. 13-31 are probable "E") 32:22-32 33:1-17 Ch. 34 35:21-22 (to "hear of it")

B. The JOSEPH SAGA

Joseph is sold into Egypt Judah and Tamar Joseph's temptation The brothers' second visit Joseph tests his brothers The brothers rocognize Joseph Jacob's family settles in Egypt Jacob's family is a blessing to Egypt Jacob approaches death Jacob's deathbed blessing Jacob's burial

37 ("E" material in vss. 21-24, 28-36) 38 39 43 (vss. 14, 23 from "E") 44 (omit vss. 1-2 as glosses) 45 (J/E) 46:1-5 (J/E), 28-34 47:1-5 (to "to Joseph"), 6 (from "let them dwell"), 13-26, 29-31 47:29-31 48:1-2, 8-22 (J/E) 50:1-11, 14

Selections from the "E" Tradition.

Gen. 20:1-18; 35:1-20; 40:1-23; 41:1-5

Ex. 1:15-2:14; 17:3-18:27 (omit 17:7); 19:3-23:33 (omit 19:20-25); 32:1-33:11 (omit 32:9-14)

Deut. 31:14-33

Selections from the "P" Tradition.

Gen. 1:1-2:4; 9:1-17; 17; 23

Ex. 6; 25-31; 35-40

Lev. 1-8; 17-26

Num. 1-10

Deut. 32:48-52

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A Chronology of Ancient Israel in the Second and First Millennia B.C.E.

c. 1800-1550 -- Period of the Patriarchs

c. 1250 -- Exodus from Egypt under Moses; conquest of Canaan under Joshua

c. 1150-1050 -- Period of the Judges

c. 1050 -- Samuel

THE UNITED MONARCHY

David, c. 1013-973

Solomon, c. 973-922

Division of the kingdom at the death

of Solomon, c. 922

JUDAH (South) Davidic Dynasty

ISRAEL (North)

Rehoboam, c. 922-915 Abijah, c. 915-913 Asa, c. 913-873	Jeroboam I, c. 922 Nadab, c. 901-900 Baasha, c. 900-877 Elah, c. 877-876 Zimri, c. 876 (7 days)
Jehoshapat, c. 873-849 Jehoram, c. 849-842 Ahaziah, c. 842	Omri Dynasty Omri, c. 876-869 Ahab, c. 869-850 Elijah (850) Ahaziah, c. 850-849 Jehoram, c. 849-842
Athaliah, c. 842-837 Joash, c. 837-800 Amaziah, c. 800-783 Uzziah, c. 783-742	Jehu Dynasty Jehu, c. 842-815 Joahaz, c. 815-801 Jehoash, c. 801-786 Jeroboam II, c. 786-746 Amos (750) Hosea (745)
Isaiah (742-700) Jotham, c. 742-35 Jehoahaz (Ahaz), c.735-715 Micah (before 722 to c. 701) Hezekiah, c. 715-687 Manasseh, c. 687-642 Amon, c. 642-640 Josiah, c. 628-609	Zechariah (6 months) c. 746-45 Shallum (1 month) c. 745 Menahem, c. 745-738 Pekahiah, c. 738-737 Pekah, c. 737-732 FALL OF SAMARIA (722-721)

Zephaniah (c. 628-622)

Josiah's Reform

Jeremiah (c. 626-587?)

Jehoahaz II (3 months) 609

Jehoiakim, c. 609-598

Habakkuk (c. 605) Nebuchadnezzar (605-562)

Jehoiachim (3 months) 598-597

FIRST DEPORTATION TO BABYLONIA (597)

Zedekiah 597-587

FALL OF JERUSALEM AND SECOND DEPORTATION (587)

BABYLONIAN EXILE (587/86-538)

Ezekiel (c. 593-573)

Second Isaiah (c. 540)

EDICT OF CYRUS (538)

RESTORATION OF JUDAH

REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE (520-515)

Haggai

Zachariah

Malachi (c. 500-450)