Comments, additions, suggestions, and corrections are welcome.
Please send them to
Michael Kagan
Le Moyne College Department of Philosophy
Syracuse, NY 13214
Email: KAGAN@maple.lemoyne.edu
These notes should help you track of some of the background material we will be covering during the first three weeks of this course. Those interested in my major sources should see section IX (below) and also investigate Ellis Rivkin's three books, The Shaping of Jewish History, The Hidden Revolution, and What Crucified Jesus.
"Hebrew Theology/ies"
I. The task and workers
A. My background as rabbi/philosopher so they know where
I'm coming from
1. point out that if they want to talk to an
archaeologist there's Father O'Connell; and that
there is the entire religion department;
furthermore, a different Jewish perspective will
likely be found from other Jews (other reform Jews,
as well as Jews from other "denominations" or
philosophical schools of Judaism.
B. My goal today to give you one additional way of
approaching scripture as evidence for certain kinds of
relationships to and concepts of God related to concepts
of authority, revelation, epistemology, and salvation.
--Not to give answers, but to give ways of questioning
and searching that will help you seek your own answers
as you ponder scripture and try to relate it to your own
insights and the teachings of your own traditions.
C. Various points.
1. "Old Testament" does NOT equal Judaism.
2. Hebrew does not equal "Jewish"
3. Title should be Hebrew theologies or varieties of
Hebrew Theology or some such.
4. Judaism is a developmental religion and the Jews
a developmental people. [I am here following ideas of
Rivkin and Whitehead.] So though how we became is
constitutive of who we are, we do not equal one
phase or one school in our history, and at a given
moment one cannot always tell which Judaism will
turn out to be mainstream.
5. I am not an historian, though I've studied some
of this history.
II. Historiography--constructing and reconstructing the past
and philosophical problems and insights involved
A. How we view the past is part of how we view things in
general and the assumptions we bring to bear on it
(e.g., the 1st century Jewish historian Josephus'
minimal interest in early Christianity as opposed to his
great concern with other Jewish philosophical schools
and the Jewish war against Rome).
B. If, e.g., we're orthodox Jews, or fundamentalist
Christians, we will have different concerns and be more
able to see different features in the texts which are
our primary sources for information about our topic
(Hebrew theology/ies). As a matter of fact, depending
who we are, we will even choose different texts, we will
begin with different evidence. E.g., the canons vary,
the midrash might be data for one and not another, the
New Testament data for one group and not another. Where
we seem to have overlapping agreement is that the "Old
Testament" is a legitimate source.
1. Then there is the problem of how we view "Old
Testament" revelation
a) Infallible
b) Dynamic
c) Natural
1. I go for "dynamic"
1. This dynamic view influences the
kind of history I find plausible, i.e.,
is involved with my preference for the
"higher criticism"
III. Seek out our own historical presuppositions lest they
trip us up unduly
A. E.g., "progress" which tells us that more
sophisticated ideas must come later, that later ideas
are more sophisticated, that later forms of religion
more advanced, etc., The reductio of this [if we took
it too seriously] would be, e.g., that Islam is
automatically superior to Christianity since it came
later and incorporates some of its insights.
B. Beware of assumptions
1. about ordering (e.g., that the first book written
first, the last last, etc)
2. the danger of distinguishing concessions from
permissions--e.g.,
a) eating meat
b) divorce
c) polygamy
d) slavery
e) marriage
f) prayer
g) praising God
h) sacrifices----all of which have been seen by
some religionists as concessions, by others as
permissions.
C. Also the fallacies of historical investigation
isolated by Vico: [Use Collingwood's
Idea of History, the section on Vico.
D. Sensitivity to the imposition of concepts thru the
necessary imposition of language and standards: e.g.,
Torah does not equal law. The agenda behind the names
"Old Testament" and New Testament.
1. Seek out those whom the study of the text and the
text seem to support
a) Kings
b) Blacks,
c) Prophets
d) Aaronide priests
e) Levitical priests
f) Scribes
2. Be aware of different cultural paradigms of
heroism (e.g., Abraham who lies to Kings and argues
with God]
IV. Basic questions to be asked while reading scripture and
trying to tease out the "theology"--the "logos of theos" the
perspectives on God.
A. Authority--what/who is the authority here
B. Revelation--what counts as the revelation here, what
is its content
1. Are there stylistic peculiarities to the text
related to possible purposes, sources, etc?
C. Epistemology--how do we know, what is the evidence
D. Relationships--who is in contact with God? What kind
of relationship do they have
E. Salvation--how is salvation attained, for whom,
where, any special intermediaries
V. The text as evidence
A. Note that the Pentateuch taken as Moses' work by all
later forms of Judaism until Reform Judaism
VI. Where to begin for Hebrew theology
A. Not also the absence of philosophical theology of a
certain kind for some kind since God did NOT seem to be
a philosophical problem, but rather a partner in
relationship.
B. With genesis creation stories
C. With the first Hebrews-Abraham & Sarah.
VII. An outline of Hebrew Theologies
A. Creations and covenants (briot and brits)--God as
creator and commander, preserver and destroyer; superior
partner in a contract/and source of timely revelation--
human authority the receiver of God's word.
1. Exile from the garden
2. Cain and Abel
3. Babel
4. Noah--Noahide laws
B. Abraham--the covenant of circumcision--the Bedouin
ideal--God as superior partner in a contract/and source
of timely and some enduring revelation; HUMAN AUTHORITY
ONE PATRIARCH
1. Isaac
2. Jacob
3. Joseph and his brothers
C. Moses and Aaron--the covenant "at Sinai" (/Horeb/and
in the wilderness)--God as superior partner in a
contract/and source of timely and much enduring
revelation and ENDURING LAWS. Depending on the
particular narrative, the human authority is a prophet,
a priest, or a king; or a combination thereof.
1. Egypt and the exodus
2. The different wilderness experiences
a) Deuteronomy and the Levitical priest (altar
rights for Levites)--the finding of the book
taken to be Deuteronomy in 2 Kings 22ff
(621BCE).
b) Exodus & Leviticus and the Aaronide priests
(No altar rights for Levites; THE REBELLION OF
Korach--Numbers 16)
D. JUDGES (E.G., SAMSON, DEBORAH)--A KIND OF PROPHETIC
AUTHORITY
E. MORE PROPHETS (ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, AMOS, MICAH)
F. PRIESTS--THE WISDOM OF BEN SIRA
1. Job
2. Ecclesiastes
3. Maccabees
4. Esther
5. The problem of pseudepigrapha
G. SAGES
VIII. Some questions to ask:
1. What is God like?
2. What is God's role in the account?
3. Who has a special relationship to God
4. Who is in charge of the people and how is this
related to God?
a) How, if at all, is God's authority justified
[related question of why narrative before law]
5. How do they and others know that they and God
have this kind of relationship?
6. Who is entrusted with the religious fate of the
individual?
7. At this stage of Judaism, what is
revelation/Torah?
a) What is its justification
b) Are there stylistic peculiarities to the text
related to possible purposes, sources, etc?
8. At this stage of Judaism, what are the different
forces and schools among the people?
IX. My sources
A. My religion
B. Scripture
C. Rabbinic training
1. Reines
2. Rivkin
3. Petuchowski
D. philosophical training
1. logic
2. philosophy of science
3. philosophy of religion