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Conversion to Israel's 'Living God' PDF

280 Pages·2014·1.4 MB·English
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Rewritten Gentiles: Conversion to Israel’s ‘Living God’ and Jewish Identity in Antiquity by Jill Hicks-Keeton Graduate Program in Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Joel Marcus, Supervisor ___________________________ Randall Chesnutt ___________________________ Mark Goodacre ___________________________ Anathea Portier-Young Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 v ABSTRACT Rewritten Gentiles: Conversion to Israel’s ‘Living God’ and Jewish Identity in Antiquity by Jill Hicks-Keeton Graduate Program in Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Joel Marcus, Supervisor ___________________________ Randall Chesnutt ___________________________ Mark Goodacre ___________________________ Anathea Portier-Young An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 v Copyright by Jill Suzanne Hicks-Keeton 2014 Abstract This dissertation examines the ideological developments and strategies of boundary formation which accompanied the sociological novelty of gentiles’ becoming Jews in the Second Temple period. I argue that the phenomenon of gentile conversion influenced ancient Jews to re-conceive their God as they devised new ways to articulate the now-permeable boundary between Jew and “other,” between insiders and outsiders. Shaye Cohen has shown that this boundary became porous as the word “Jew” took on religious and political meanings in addition to its ethnic connotations. A gentile could therefore become a Jew. I focus on an ancient Jewish author who thought that gentiles not only could become Jews, but that they should: that of Joseph of Aseneth. Significant modifications of biblical traditions about God, Israel, and “the other” were necessary in order to justify, on ideological grounds, the possibility of gentile access to Jewish identity and the Jewish community. One such rewritten tradition is the relationship of both Jew and gentile to the “living God,” a common epithet in Israel’s scriptures. Numerous Jewish authors from the Second Temple period, among whom I include the apostle Paul, deployed this biblical epithet in various ways in order to construct or contest boundaries between gentiles and the God of Israel. Whereas previous scholars have approached this divine title exclusively as a theological category, I read it also as a literary device with discursive power which helps these authors regulate gentile access to Israel’s God and, iv in most cases, to Jewish identity. Joseph and Aseneth develops an innovative theology of Israel’s “living God” which renders this narrative exceptionally optimistic about the possibilities of gentile conversion and incorporation into Israel. Aseneth’s tale uses this epithet in conjunction with other instances of “life” language not only to express confidence in gentiles’ capability to convert, but also to construct a theological articulation of God in relationship to repentant gentiles which allows for and anticipates such conversion. A comparison of the narrative’s “living God” terminology to that of the book of Jubilees and the apostle Paul sets into relief the radical definition of Jewishness which Joseph and Aseneth constructs – a definition in which religious practice eclipses ancestry and under which boundaries between Jew and “other” are permeable. v Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. viii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1. The Living God and Dead Gentiles: Boundary-Drawing in Israel’s Scriptures ............. 15 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 15 The Living God in Previous Scholarship .......................................................................... 16 The Living God in Deuteronomy ....................................................................................... 24 The Living God in Joshua .................................................................................................... 31 The Living God in 1 Samuel/Reigns .................................................................................. 40 The Living God in 2 Kings/4 Reigns .................................................................................. 50 Synthesis and Conclusions .................................................................................................. 58 2. Executing Boundaries: Life, Death, and ‘The Living God’ in Hellenistic Judaism ........ 60 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 60 The Living God in Esther OG ............................................................................................. 61 The Living God in 3 Maccabees.......................................................................................... 72 The Living God in Daniel OG ............................................................................................. 80 The Living God in Daniel TH ............................................................................................. 90 Synthesis and Conclusions: ‘The Living God’ in Hellenistic Judaism ........................ 101 3. Rewritten Gentiles: Israel’s ‘Living God’ in Joseph and Aseneth ..................................... 107 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 107 The Text of Joseph and Aseneth ........................................................................................... 108 vi The Living God in Joseph and Aseneth .............................................................................. 111 God as Creator of Life in Joseph and Aseneth ................................................................... 117 New Life, New Family: Aseneth’s Transformed Kinship Ties .................................... 142 New Life, New Name: Aseneth’s Transformed Identity .............................................. 146 The Living God in Distinctive Expressions of Joseph and Aseneth ................................ 147 Life and Death in Part Two of Joseph and Aseneth .......................................................... 153 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 155 4. ‘The Living God,’ Jewish Identity, and the Provenance of Joseph and Aseneth ............. 157 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 157 Is Aseneth Jewish or Christian? ........................................................................................ 158 Situating Aseneth: Jewish Identity Negotiation in Greco-Roman Egypt ................... 170 Joseph Outside of Hellenistic Judaism in Egypt ............................................................ 188 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 198 5. Insiders, Outsiders, and ‘Children of the Living God’ in Jubilees and Paul .................. 200 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 200 Jubilees and Aseneth on Israel’s Boundaries ................................................................... 200 Paul and Aseneth on Gentile Incorporation into Israel ................................................ 217 Synthesis and Conclusions ................................................................................................ 239 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 241 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................... 252 Biography ................................................................................................................................... 280 vii List of Tables Table 1: Jos. Asen. Bu/Ph 8:5a Text and Translation ..................................................... 105 Table 2: Jos. Asen. Bu/Ph 8:5b Text and Translation ..................................................... 114 Table 3: Jos. Asen. Bu 2:11/Ph 2:19 Text ....................................................................... 120 Table 4: Jos. Asen. Bu 2:11/Ph 2:19 Translation ............................................................ 121 Table 5: Jos. Asen. Bu 8:3/Ph 8:2 Text and Translation ................................................. 122 Table 6: Jos. Asen. Bu 8:9a/Ph 8:10a Text and Translation ........................................... 123 Table 7: Jos. Asen. Bu 8:9b/Ph 8:10b-11 Text ............................................................... 125 Table 8: Jos. Asen. Bu 8:9b/Ph 8:10b-11 Translation .................................................... 126 Table 9: Jos. Asen. Bu/Ph 9:5 Text and Translation ....................................................... 127 Table 10: Jos. Asen. Bu 12:1-2/Ph 12:2-3 Text and Translation .................................... 129 Table 11: Jos. Asen. Bu 12:2 Text and Translation ........................................................ 131 Table 12: Jos. Asen. Bu 16:14/Ph 16:8 Text ................................................................... 134 Table 13: Jos. Asen. Bu 16:14/Ph 16:8 Translation ........................................................ 134 Table 14: Jos. Asen. Bu 16:16 Text and Translation ...................................................... 135 viii Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful to all of the people who helped make this project possible. My advisor, Joel Marcus, has provided invaluable guidance, relentless support, and detailed feedback at every step. Engaging with him on paper and in person has been one of the great pleasures of writing this dissertation. I still marvel at my good fortune many years ago to have taken Joel’s Pseudepigrapha class, in which I originally conceived this project, and at my great luck to have developed it under his supervision. It is difficult to express the depth of my admiration for him as a scholar, a teacher, and a person. I am likewise thankful to the other members of my committee. Randy Chesnutt, whose scholarly work on Joseph and Aseneth I hold in highest esteem, was extremely generous to agree to take part. He sent careful comments on each chapter all the way from California, and the dissertation is better for it. I have also benefited greatly from the incisive feedback of Mark Goodacre, whose combination of creativity, rigor, and enthusiasm I so often envy. I am grateful to Thea Portier-Young not only for her guidance on this project and feedback on its contents, but also for shaping, and sharpening, my scholarly imagination. She has been a source of inspiration for me for many years. It has been an immense privilege to work with, and learn from, each of these scholars. Friends and colleagues whom I know through the Duke Graduate Program in Religion also offered useful feedback on various sections of the dissertation along the ix way: Hans Arneson, Nathan Eubank, T. J. Lang, and Matt Thiessen. I particularly appreciate Matt’s swift replies to many, many brainstorming emails. Lori Baron and Tommy and Mary Grimm regularly hosted me in their homes when I traveled to Durham. Thank you, dear friends, for the warm bed, cold beer, and rich conversation. My family has supported me and my work in countless ways. I thank my parents, John and Jan Hicks, for first introducing me to biblical literature, for cultivating my curiosity, and for encouraging me always. I have been fortunate to live near my parents-in-law, Dale and Mary Keeton, while completing this project. I am thankful for their companionship (and their chili!), and I appreciate more than I can say the hours upon hours that ‘MeeMee’ spent playing with my son so that I could write. Luke was born while this dissertation was in progress; his arrival brought new joy to my life and renewed motivation to my work. He never once refused to “proof-read” together. Above all, I am grateful to my husband Bart, whose love, encouragement, patience, and support have known no bounds. His daily sacrifices made it possible for me to complete this dissertation. His endurance is nothing short of miraculous. His insight, advice, and wit brought needed levity to this lengthy process and at the same time made me a better, and more imaginative, thinker and writer. Bart, thank you for believing in me, and for everything you have given. x

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.