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HU Credits:
2
Degree/Cycle:
1st degree (Bachelor)
Responsible Department:
comparative religion
Semester:
1st Semester
Teaching Languages:
Hebrew
Campus:
Mt. Scopus
Course/Module Coordinator:
Serge Ruzer
Coordinator Office Hours:
Tuesday, 14:00-15:00
Teaching Staff:
Dr. Serge Ruzer
Course/Module description:
The Seminar will address the variety of responses of Second Temple and early rabbinic Judaism to the biblical figure of Moses and the foundational Exodus story. This will provide a backdrop to evaluation of responses characteristic to nascent Jesus movement and, later, early Church authors. We will discuss the complex interplay between adaptation (and adaptation) of existing patterns of earlier responses and identity-building strategies employed in the context of polemical interactions – first, among different factions within late Second Temple Jewry and, later, between the independent Christian outlook in making and rabbinic Judaism.
Course/Module aims:
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
----recognize the foundational function of the figure of Moses and Exodus from Egypt in the late Second Temple Jewish thought;
-----recognize the centrality of these themes for the identity making processes in various late Second Temple Jewish groups, Jesus followers included;
----recognize the centrality of the figure of Moses and the Exodus motif for the polemical interaction between Jesus followers and broader Judaism;
----discern main strategies employed by each of the sides in that interaction throughout first centuries of the common era.
Attendance requirements(%):
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
Course/Module Content:
1. Introductory session.
Torah and the figure of Moses in Second Temple Jewish thought. The process of canonization of Scripture. Exodus in biblical prophecy.
Moses in Philo's thought.
New revelation in competition with that of Moses: Enoch.
Utopian and restorative messianisms.
What would be the approach of early Christianity?
2.
Hellenistic Judaism.
Discussion of the Letter of Aristeas.
A study by Noah Hacham, "The 'Letter of Aristeas': a New Exodus Story?"
Moses as the bearer of God's logos in Philo.
3.
Apocalyptic writings: Enoch as greater than Moses.
Moses as a kind of Enoch:
Discussion of Andrei Orlov, "In the Mirror of the Divine Face: The Enochic Features of the Exagoge if Ezekiel the Tragedian."
4 Ezra 14: Ezra as greater than Moses?
4.
Moses and Torah in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The study by Daniel R. Schwartz,
"Special People or Special Books?: On Qumran and New Testament Notions of Canon."
Israel in the desert and the Qumranic community of the renewed covenant on its way to Jerusalem.
George J. Brooke,
"Moving Mountains: From Sinai to Jerusalem."
5.
Moses, the giving of the Torah and Exodus from Egypt in the Synoptic narrative.
Jesus interpretation of the Torah.
Jesus vis-à-vis Moses and Elijah.
6.
Moses as the focus of reference in the Gospel of John. Torah and God's logos. The signs and wonders of Exodus and those performed by Jesus.
Discussion of chapters 1, 5 and 6 from
S. Ruzer & Y. Zakovitch, In the Beginning Was the Word: Eight Conversations on the Fourth Gospel (Jerusalem, 2014).
7. Moses and Exodus in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
8. Moses and the revelation of the Torah in Damascus Document, 2 Corinthians and the Letter of Barnabas.
9. Moses in the writings of second- century Christian authors.
10.
Responses in the Mishnah and in the Talmud.
Moses as one without sin. Moses as one greater than Isaac. Moses as greater than angels.
But: the authority of R. Aqiva vs. that of Moses.
11. Moses as the visionary of things heavenly
In Gregorius of Nyssa. The Tabernacle of Moses as the proto-type of the logos in Jesus.
12.
Moses as the father of asceticism in Athanasius and Aphrahat.
13. Students presentations.
14.
Concluding discussion.
Required Reading:
רשימה ביבליוגרפית ראשונית
אפרים א. אורבך, חז"ל: פרקי אמונות ודעות, ירושלים, מאגנס, תשמ"ג.
יאיר זקוביץ וסרג' רוזר, בראשית היה הדבר: שמונה שיחות על הבשורה הרביעית, ירושלים, מאגנס, תשע"ד, עמ' 27¬-43, 93¬-135.
Peder Borgen, "Moses, Jesus, and the Roman Emperor: Observations in Philo's Writings and the Revelation of John," Novum Testamentum 38.2 (1996), pp. 145-159.
David Brakke, Athanasius and Asceticism (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1998).
George J. Brooke, "Moving Mountains: From Sinai to Jerusalem," in George J. Brooke, Hindy Najman and Loren T. Stuckenbruck (eds.), The Significance of Sinai: Traditions about Divine Revelation in Judaism and Christianity (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2008), pp. 73-89
Jose S. Croatto, "Jesus, Prophet like Elijah, and Prophet-Teacher Like Moses in Luke-Acts," Journal of Biblical Literature 124.3 (2005), pp. 451-465.
Noah Hacham, "The 'Letter of Aristeas': a New Exodus Story?" Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period 36.1 (2005), pp. 1-20.
Allan Kensky, "Moses and Jesus: The Birth of the Savior," Judaism 42.1 (1993), pp. 43-49.
Andrei Orlov, "In the Mirror of the Divine Face: The Enochic Features of the Exagoge if Ezekiel the Tragedian," in George J. Brooke, Hindy Najman, and Loren Stuckenbruck (eds.), The Significance of Sinai: Traditions about Divine Revelation in Judaism and Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 2008), pp. 183-199.
Serge Ruzer, Mapping the New Testament: Early Christian Writings as a Witness for Jewish Biblical Exegesis (Leiden: Brill, 2007).
Daniel R. Schwartz, "Special People or Special Books?: On Qumran and New Testament Notions of Canon," in Ruth A. Clements and Daniel R. Schwartz (eds.), Text, Thought, and Practice in Qumran and Early Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 2009), pp. 49-60.
Philip L. Shuler, "Philo's Moses and Matthew's Jesus: A Comparative Study in Ancient Literature," Studia Philonica 2 (1991), pp. 86-103.
Wendy E. Sproston, "Monotheism and the Gospel of John: Jesus, Moses, and the Law," in Loren T. Stuckenbruck and Wendy E.S. North (eds.), Early Jewish and Christian Monotheism (London: Clark, 2004), pp. 155-166.
Additional Reading Material:
Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 20 %
Project work 80 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %
Additional information:
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