HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: comparative religion

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Yonatan Moss

Coordinator Email: yonsmoss@gmail.com

Coordinator Office Hours: Mondays 10:30-12:30

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Yonatan Moss

Course/Module description:
This seminar will focus on the one of the best-known and most important texts in Christianity. The Sermon on the Mount in the Matt. 5-7 opens with the famous beatitudes ("Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," etc.) and contains, among other things, the Lord's prayer ("Our father who is in the heavens, sanctified be your name..."). During the first half of the seminar we will carefully read the sermon in Matthew and its parallels in the other gospels; in the second half of the seminar we will read a selection of treatments of the sermon in writings of the church fathers between the second and fourth century. In addition to reading the Greek sources, we will also study a number of issues discussed in scholarship pertaining to the analysis of the sermon and its understanding within its historical context.

Course/Module aims:

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to read the Sermon on the Mount and its New Testament parallels in Greek, to analyze the differences between the versions in light of synoptic research, to situate the sermon within the broader context of the historical Jesus and his first century setting. Students will also be able to analyze the reception of the sermon in east and west in the second through fourth centuries.

Attendance requirements(%):
90

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:

Course/Module Content:
Lesson 1 (23/10/17): Frame: The Mountain and the Plain
Matt. 4.17-25; 5.1-12 Luke 6.12-19
Jindřich Mánek, “On the Mount—On the Plain,” Novum Testamentum 9 (1967), 124-131.
Lesson 2 (30/10/17): The Beatitudes and the Salt of the Earth
Matt. 5.3-16 Luke 6.20-26; 14.26-35; 8.16-18 Mark 4.21-23; 9.49-50
Hermann Lichtenberger, “Makarisms in Matt. 5.3ff. in their Jewish Context,” in Hans-Jürgen Becker and Serge Ruzer, eds., The Sermon on the Mount and its Jewish Setting (Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 60; Paris: J. Gabalda, 2005), 40-56.
Lesson 3 (6/11/17): The Status of the Law and the First Antithesis: Murder
Matt. 5.17-26 Luke 12.57-59; 16.13-17
דוד פלוסר, יהדות ומקורות הנצרות (תל אביב: ספרית פועלים, 1979), 226-234 (ה'תורה' בדרשה על ההר).
Matthew Thiessen, “Abolishers of the law in early Judaism and Matthew 5.17-20,” Biblica 93(2012) 543-556.

Lesson 4 (13.11.17): The Remaining Antitheses: Adultery, Divorce, Oaths, Recompense, Love
Matt. 5.27-48; 19.1-12 Luke 6.27-36; 16.18 Mark 10.1-12
Serge Ruzer, “‘Love your Enemy’ Precept in the Sermon on the Mount in the Context of Early Jewish Exegesis: A New Perspective,” Revue Biblique 111 (2004), 193-208.
Lesson 5 (20.11.17): Inner and outer Righteousness and the Lord’s Prayer
Matt. 6.1-18 Luke 10.38-42; 11.1-4
Brian J. Wright, “Greek Syntax as a Criterion of Authenticity: A New Discussion and Proposal,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly (&eq;CBQ) 74 (2012), 84-100.
Lesson 6 (27.11.17): Treasures, Eyes, Lords and Anxieties
Matt. 6.19-34 Luke 11.34-36; 12.22-34; 16.13-15
Candida R. Moss, “Blurred Vision and Ethical Confusion: The Rhetorical Function of Matthew 6:22-23,” CBQ 73 (2011), 757-776.
Lesson 7 (4.12.17): The Rest of the Sermon
Matt. 7.1-29; 8.1 Luke 6.37-49; 7.1; 4.31; 11.9-13; 13.23-25
Alan Kirk, “‘Love Your Enemies,’ the Golden Rule, and Ancient Reciprocity,” Journal of Biblical Literature 122 (2003), 667-686.
Lesson 8 (11.12.17): Echoes of the Sermon in Early Christian Literature:
Didache 1-6, 8
John W. Welch, “From the Sermon on the Mount to the Didache,” in J.A. Draper and C.N. Jefford, eds., The Didache: A Missing Piece of the Puzzle in Early Christianity (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015), 335-362.

Lesson 9 (18.12.17): Reception of the Lord’s Prayer in the Third Century: Comparing East and West

Origen, On the Lord’s Prayer 18-19

Lesson 10 (25.12.17): No Class (Christmas)

Lesson 11 (1.1.18):

Origen, On the Lord’s Prayer 21-22

Junghoó Kwon, “Cyprian, Origen and the Lord’s Prayer: Theological Diversities between Latin West and Greek East in the Third Century,” Asia Journal of Theology 26 (2012), 56-87.
Lesson 12 (8.1.18):
Origen, On the Lord’s Prayer 27
Lesson 13 (15.1.18): Results of the Fourth Century Revolution as Reflected in Gregory of Nyssa’s Homilies on the Beatitudes
Gregory of Nyssa, Homilies on the Beatitudes 1 (partial)
Lesson 14 (22.1.18):
Gregory of Nyssa, Homilies on the Beatitudes 6 (partial)
G.E. Gould, “Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa on the Beatitudes,” Studia Patristica 22 (1989), 14-22.

Required Reading:
Lesson 1 (23/10/17): Frame: The Mountain and the Plain
Matt. 4.17-25; 5.1-12 Luke 6.12-19
Jindřich Mánek, “On the Mount—On the Plain,” Novum Testamentum 9 (1967), 124-131.
Lesson 2 (30/10/17): The Beatitudes and the Salt of the Earth
Matt. 5.3-16 Luke 6.20-26; 14.26-35; 8.16-18 Mark 4.21-23; 9.49-50
Hermann Lichtenberger, “Makarisms in Matt. 5.3ff. in their Jewish Context,” in Hans-Jürgen Becker and Serge Ruzer, eds., The Sermon on the Mount and its Jewish Setting (Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 60; Paris: J. Gabalda, 2005), 40-56.
Lesson 3 (6/11/17): The Status of the Law and the First Antithesis: Murder
Matt. 5.17-26 Luke 12.57-59; 16.13-17
דוד פלוסר, יהדות ומקורות הנצרות (תל אביב: ספרית פועלים, 1979), 226-234 (ה'תורה' בדרשה על ההר).
Matthew Thiessen, “Abolishers of the law in early Judaism and Matthew 5.17-20,” Biblica 93(2012) 543-556.

Lesson 4 (13.11.17): The Remaining Antitheses: Adultery, Divorce, Oaths, Recompense, Love
Matt. 5.27-48; 19.1-12 Luke 6.27-36; 16.18 Mark 10.1-12
Serge Ruzer, “‘Love your Enemy’ Precept in the Sermon on the Mount in the Context of Early Jewish Exegesis: A New Perspective,” Revue Biblique 111 (2004), 193-208.
Lesson 5 (20.11.17): Inner and outer Righteousness and the Lord’s Prayer
Matt. 6.1-18 Luke 10.38-42; 11.1-4
Brian J. Wright, “Greek Syntax as a Criterion of Authenticity: A New Discussion and Proposal,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly (&eq;CBQ) 74 (2012), 84-100.
Lesson 6 (27.11.17): Treasures, Eyes, Lords and Anxieties
Matt. 6.19-34 Luke 11.34-36; 12.22-34; 16.13-15
Candida R. Moss, “Blurred Vision and Ethical Confusion: The Rhetorical Function of Matthew 6:22-23,” CBQ 73 (2011), 757-776.
Lesson 7 (4.12.17): The Rest of the Sermon
Matt. 7.1-29; 8.1 Luke 6.37-49; 7.1; 4.31; 11.9-13; 13.23-25
Alan Kirk, “‘Love Your Enemies,’ the Golden Rule, and Ancient Reciprocity,” Journal of Biblical Literature 122 (2003), 667-686.
Lesson 8 (11.12.17): Echoes of the Sermon in Early Christian Literature:
Didache 1-6, 8
John W. Welch, “From the Sermon on the Mount to the Didache,” in J.A. Draper and C.N. Jefford, eds., The Didache: A Missing Piece of the Puzzle in Early Christianity (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015), 335-362.

Lesson 9 (18.12.17): Reception of the Lord’s Prayer in the Third Century: Comparing East and West

Origen, On the Lord’s Prayer 18-19

Lesson 10 (25.12.17): No Class (Christmas)

Lesson 11 (1.1.18):

Origen, On the Lord’s Prayer 21-22

Junghoó Kwon, “Cyprian, Origen and the Lord’s Prayer: Theological Diversities between Latin West and Greek East in the Third Century,” Asia Journal of Theology 26 (2012), 56-87.
Lesson 12 (8.1.18):
Origen, On the Lord’s Prayer 27
Lesson 13 (15.1.18): Results of the Fourth Century Revolution as Reflected in Gregory of Nyssa’s Homilies on the Beatitudes
Gregory of Nyssa, Homilies on the Beatitudes 1 (partial)
Lesson 14 (22.1.18):
Gregory of Nyssa, Homilies on the Beatitudes 6 (partial)
G.E. Gould, “Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa on the Beatitudes,” Studia Patristica 22 (1989), 14-22.

Additional Reading Material:

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 25 %
Project work 75 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information:
Knowledge of Ancient Greek required.