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Courses Taught INTELLECTUAL HERITAGE (at Temple
University) Delphi- A Focal Point for IH 51 Texts Subject Study Aids: Aeschylus' Libation Bearers Study Guide Sophocles' Oedipus and the Sphinx Lecture Dr. J's Illustrated Pericles' Funeral Oration Dr. J's Illustrated Pericles and America Dr. J's Illustrated Pericles and Philadelphia Dr. J's Illustrated Aeschylus' Oresteia Dr. J's Curse of the House of Atreus Outline Dr. J's Background Lecture on Greek Philosophy Dr. J's Apology Study Questions Dr. J's Illustrated Plato's Apology Socrates and the Apology Lecture Epic Qualities of the Sundiata Lecture RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS OF CLASSICAL GREECE Courses Proposed Religious Foundations of Greek Culture The Intersection of Myth and History The Ancient Greek Cultural Nexus- Art, Archaeology, Literature and Topography |
From 1996-2001 I taught in the Intellectual Heritage Program at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This page is part of my teaching materials for Intellectual Heritage 51, a course covering literature and ideas from Sappho through Shakespeare... TO Dr. Siegel's IH STUDENTS: Here are some notes you may find helpful, especially when it comes to the definition of certain terms. These notes are wholly my summaries of The Concise Guide to Judaism: History, Practice, Faith, by Rabbi Roy A. Rosenberg. I recommend this text to anyone interested in getting a basic background, but I urge you to consider other texts as well in your quest to learn about Judaism and its sacred history and texts. There is much more to this book, too - so go out and get a copy! in times before monotheism – each nation had its own god who they believed would lead them into battle, toward success, and bestow with fertility. The Hebrew god revealed himself to them in Egypt and saved them from slavery – put them on the right track toward becoming a great nation. NOTES ON CHAPTER ONE: ANCIENT ISRAEL Hebrew means "migrant" – it appears in Egyptian and Akkadian texts
as habiru or apiru Moses reveals the true name of God to Israel (all of the following names apply): Details of the Covenant: Judges: early years in Canaan (not judges, but charismatic leaders) v the
Philistines (sea people) 721 BC: end of Kingdom of Israel (Assyrian conquest) – become the ten lost tribes of Israel – Judah OK 621 BC: major religious reform in Kingdom of Judah, King Josiah finds sacred text
(probably what we call Deuteronomy): new rules: sacrifice only in Temple in Jerusalem. New
priestly class called kohen, all previous priests brought to Jerusalem to be in
subordinate role (called levi). Even today, a Jew is either a kohen, a levi,
or a regular Jew, yisrael ("Israelite"). 586 BC: Babylon destroys Jerusalem, Temple, upper class exiled; end to the rule of the Dynasty of David BABYLONIAN EXILE 538 BC: King Cyrus of Persia overthrows Babylonian Empire and allows Jews to return to Jerusalem. Prophets: allowed Judaism to survive the exile – without these prophetic teachings (from the era of Kings), the Jews would have adopted the religion of the Babylonians and Judaism would have been lost. Amos – first prophet whose words are preserved in a Biblical Book - in 750
BC he said that Assyria would devastate the land (it did in 721 BC)
450 BC: first significant group of Jews to resettle Jerusalem – led by Ezra
– forbid intermarriage CHAPTER TWO: THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES Hebrew Scriptures: three parts
TORAH: "teaching" or "law" or "Five Books of Moses"
or "Pentateuch" Genesis: creation, genealogies of patriarchs before and after Flood, the Flood, journey
to Egypt Orthodox Jews: Torah was divinely revealed just as it is 1. J – from Judah, time of Solomon, God is "The Lord" PROPHETS: canonized shortly after 450 BC – all texts are deemed to have been written by people endowed with the "spirit of prophecy." Joshua: conquest of Canaan under leadership of Joshua, successor to Moses
WRITINGS: spread out over a long period of time, collected as late as 1e
AD. All the Writings are traditionally said to have been written by people endowed with
the spirit of prophecy (hence very old), but these works are less sacred than the books
included in the Prophets. Prophets wrote under direct inspiration of God (dreams, trance),
the books in the Writings are supposed to be the work of prophets writing in a more normal
manner: APOCRYPHA ("hidden away in Greek): books not included in canonization of Torah Septuagint: first translation of Hebrew Bible, into Greek ("seventy" because it was work of 70 scholars) for the benefit of large Jewish population of Alexandria, who spoke Greek Septuagint dates before 250 BC…no ANCIENT Jewish manuscripts of it exist – only Christian copies. The Greek version utilized by the Christian Church mixes the books that constitute the Writings in the Hebrew Scriptures with the Apocrypha – books that do not even exist in the Hebrew canon – and inserts them into the books that in the Hebrew version constitute the Prophets. Thus, in the Greek version, some of the prophetic books close the Old Testament, leading the reader into the specifically Christian Scriptures (NT), which in Christian doctrine fulfills the prophecies contained in the OT. Order is thus important. Translation history: ancient Jewish translations of the Hebrew Scriptures were done in Aramaic, the ordinary language of discourse (a Semitic language akin to Hebrew) in Palestine from 1e BC and in Babylonia for centuries before that. Many are not translations, but paraphrases. Targum: Aramiac version of the Hebrew Bible THE JEWISH SECTS:much information from the historian Josephus Saducees: named after Saduk, Solomon’s high priest. Essenes: also believed in primacy of descendants of Sadok, but rejected the priests themselves as impure. about 4000 Essenes in communities celibate and monastic in organization. adopted the children of others and raised them according to their beliefs. joiners renounced property and chose ascetic lifestyle, farmed and dressed in white Dead Sea Scrolls from Essene community in Qumran Belief that whatever men choose to do, it is the will of God that they do it. immortality of souls (souls in life dragged down by the bonds of flesh – liberated in death) reputation as accurate foretellers of future and masters of the art of healing refused to take oaths – were renowned for their honesty water as means of purification (baptism) they anticipated a great war between "sons of light" and "sons of darkness", followed by a new Temple End of Days would bring The Messiah of Israel from the line of David and the Messiah of Aaron as a priestly ruler. Christians: followers of Jesus of Nazareth (called Nazarens in Jewish texts) Jesus preached the imminent coming of the Kingdom of God, when the present order of existence would end and a new heaven and a new earth would appear. All wickedness would be destroyed, the dead resurrected for judgement, the righteous living forever in God’s kingdom.Audience: primarily the poor, the disenfranchised – the wealthy would have to give all to the poor to gain entry to the Kingdom of Heaven. Shared much with Essenes: disdain for wealth, prohibition of divorce, prohibition of oaths, disdain for petitional prayer (God doesn’t need to be reminded of details - he wants prayers of general thanksgiving…). Jesus probably regarded himself as – and was looked upon by his followers during his lifetime – as the Prophet of the Kingdom. At his death his followers came to believe that he had fulfilled the destiny of the Messiah of the line of David and styled in "the Christ", the "anointed One" (Greek equivalent of Messiah). Those who believed that he had risen from the dead also expected his return from heaven as the ruler of the new age, the Priestly Messiah of the Essenes. Christianity ceased to be a Jewish sect when the early Church, at the urging of Paul, opened its ranks to non-Jews without requiring them to accept the ritual prescriptions of the Torah (primarily circumcision, observance of the Sabbath, dietary restrictions). The church was then no longer governed by Jewish law, nor did it have a primarily Jewish constituency. Why Didn’t the Jewish People See Jesus as the Messiah? Jesus didn’t proclaim himself to be the Messiah. Only after his death (Corinthians 15:3) was he proclaimed to be such, and that he had died in fulfillment of Scripture. Jews of Jesus’ time – for the most part - expected a messianic king who would initiate a mighty Kingdom of Israel to whom Rome and Persia and the other principalities of the day would pay tribute to. They did not expect the coming of a king who would never reign, who would instead be put to death. Pharisees (possibly "separatists"): Talmud: The Palestinian or Jerusalem Talmud ("learning") is the further discussions (post 220 AD) on the laws of the Mishna, complete with the Mishna itself.
copyright
2001 Janice
Siegel,
All Rights Reserved
date this page was edited last:
10/25/2005 |
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