Notes on “The Story of the Bible” Class No. 6
Links to Other Classes
Previous Class:
No. 5 — Next Class: No. 7 —
Index
Preliminaries
Luke Timothy Johnson, Emory University, lecturer
Introductory Discussion and Information
Jesse passed out a number of thought-provoking readings
On the Death Penalty: Jeff Jacoby Boston Globe Opinion and Letters to the Editor
Is Killing Ever Right?
Is It Ever Right to Kill?
Lecture 11: Monasteries and Manuscripts
Official outline from The Teaching Company
“Monasteries of either men or women are intentional religious communities that are organized around worship and work and are dedicated to a life of full discipleship.”
- earliest was in the East in the 4th cent.
- intensely ascetical
- sexual abstinence, fasting, even abuse of the body
- featured the hermit, spending time alone in prayer
- this was the cult of the holy man
In the West, following the lead of John Cassian (360-435) and Benedict of Nursia (480-550) the emphasis was coenobitic
- “Cenobitic (or coenobitic) monasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West the community belongs to a religious order, and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of precepts.” [source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenobitic_monasticism]
- Benedict wrote rules for monks
- cenobite = “common life”
- emphasis less on individual than the community
- asceticism wasn’t lack of food, sex, or drink, but was on humility under the rule of an abbot
- living a life of obedience was deemed as imitating the obedience of Christ
From the 5th to 15th cent. monasteries were the most vibrant centers of Christianity
- they led the world
- they saw Constantinian Christianity as mediocre
- “white martyrdom” = deep devotion
Ora et Labora = prayer and work
Social Roles
- schools
- preserved and extended the craft of agricultural
- the monasteries were islands of relative literacy and strict order
- illiteracy in the Dark Ages was the dominant reality
Monasteries became cities and centers of biblical manuscripts
- they often grew in wealth even though they were dedicated to poverty
Among the most prominent were:
- St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai
- Abbey of Cluny
- Monte Cassino, which was destroyed in WWII
Benedictine monks and Cistercians
- attempted follow life as the Biblical saints
- Acts of the Apostles, ch. 2 & 4
- their goals were to get back to simpler times, to live a life of greater dedication
- they regarded that they were living the life of early Christians
Benedict drew everything from Scripture
The meaning of prayer and work was distinct for 2 groups
- choir monks spent greater than 4 hours per day performing Opus Dei = Work of God
- this is not like in The Da Vinci Code movie
- they were ordained as priests
- lay brothers made simple vows
- they spent more hours in work that sustained the monastery
Repetition of Opus Dei organized their day
- there were 8 sections of the day
- Matins (the longest period), Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline
- recitation or singing of the Psalms dominated the prayer
- during Matins they listed to sermons and treatises concerning the Bible
- there was daily celebration of the Eucharist (Mass)
- choir monks also spent at least 2 hours per day in contemplative prayer
- holy reading = Lectio Divina = Scripture or patristic literature
Work demanded the production of a large number of distinct books
- for example, Psalters
- Canticles from the New Testament
- Graduals and Antiphonals that guided the singing of responses
- “Song of Ascents is a title given to fifteen of the Psalms, 120–134 (119–133 in the Septuagint and the Vulgate), each starting with the ascription Shir Hama'aloth (Hebrew: שִׁיר המַעֲלוֹת, meaning "Song of the Ascents"). They are also variously called Gradual Psalms, Songs of Degrees, Songs of Steps or Pilgrim Songs.” [source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_Ascents]
- “An Antiphon (Greek ἀντίφωνον, ἀντί "opposite" and φωνή "voice") is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. Antiphons are Psalm-texted. Their form was favored by St Ambrose and so they feature prominently in Ambrosian chant, but they occur widely in Gregorian chant as well. They may be used during Mass, for the Introit, the Offertory or the Communion. They may also be used in the Liturgy of the Hours, typically for Lauds or Vespers.” [source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiphon]
Work also involved the copying of Biblical manuscripts
- the monasteries were thus the book publishers (manuscript copiers) of the Middle Ages
- the work was carried out in less than comfortable circumstances, such as large variances of heat and cold
- there was also often less than adequate light
- they copied both Greek and Latin manuscripts, even after the invention of printing
They also copied literature, some sacred, some not
Because of all this scribal activity, monasteries were natural repositories for manuscripts
- thus, they became libraries
- they were easily looted, especially during the Protestant Reformation
- the manuscripts were dispersed, but therefore were available in the 19th cent. to scholars
- many ended up in museums
Artistic Expression
Antiphons and Responses
- these were composed by the monks anonymously
- they wove together Biblical texts very cleverly with great ingenuity
- they were elaborated into a form of chant
- deepened in Gregorian chant in the 12th and 13th cent.
- Christus factus est obediaens was a Gregorian chant masterpiece
- “Christ became obedient unto death”
- this is the Gradual that was sung on Holy Thursday
Capital letters became a vehicle of expression of beauty
It is important to avoid or to be careful about evaluating this period
- avoid “Catholic Romanticism”
- there was corruption
- wealth came into play
- monasteries didn’t reform society as a whole
- they tended to be isolated islands of civility and culture
- avoid “Protestant Polemics”
- Martin Luther and Henry VIII saw the monasteries as everything wrong with Medieval Catholicism
- they emphasized the wealth and power and corruption
- some middle ground between those two extremes is appropriate
- monasteries represent among the most intense and intentional expression of Christian life that have ever existed
Discussion
One person said she thought he left too much out, such as
- who was entering the monastery
- what was really going on
Monks invented champaign!
Lecture 12: Interpretation within Judaism
Official outline from The Teaching Company
Jewish interpretation of the Bible through the Medieval period was shaped by the conditions of diaspora existence within a Christian world, but not entirely
Jews existed between two aggressive movements: Christianity and Islam
- conditions were better under Islam
- Moslems respected Jews as “people of the book”
In Christian Europe,
- Jews were not allowed to own land, which was the basis for real wealth and political power in the feudal era
- they were not allowed to participate in economic or political life
- they were excluded from participation in the social world
- they were regarded as Christian heresy
From 1st Crusade in 1095, Jews lived in danger of active persecution
- many modes of oppression existed during the Middle Ages
- they were invited to participate in stated debates whose purpose was to show the superiority of Christianity
- there were burnings of Talmuds
- in Venice, they invented the ghetto, restricting living area
Jews therefore formed strong community bonds
- remember that the destruction of the Temple destroyed the sacrificial system
The Oral Torah = interpretation in the light of changing circumstances
- the Talmud of Babylon and of the Land of Israel were results
Christian interpretation is supersessionist
- Jews were rejecters of God’s plan and
Nizzahon Vetus = Old Book of Polemic
- Jewish counter to Christian interpretations
There were some positive exchanges between Jewish and Christian scholars
- School of Saint Victor in Paris
Tensions in Jewish life
- 1st movement: a “back to the Bible” movement
- Karaism 8th cent. by Anan ben David
- it rejected the Talmudic tradition as too far removed from the teachings of Moses
- 2nd movement: reduce religion to philosophy
- 3rd movement: slight of literal sense of Scripture in favor of mysticism
Social issues
- Jewish community revolved around synagogue
- Seder Rav Amran Gaon
- how to organize Jewish worship
- describes traditional form of work
- ha shaharith = morning - was most elaborate
- mincha = afternoon
- maarive = evening
Morning service structure
- starts with blessing of God
- followed by singing of songs
- followed by kaddish
- berakoth = benedictions
- creation
- gift of Torah
- followed by the sh’ma = central proclamation of faith
- emphasized God’s faithfulness
- followed by tefilla
- followed by individual petitions = tahanum
- after all this, readings of Torah, then haftorah, then preaching
- sermon = haggadah = interpretation for the present
- bring the text of Scripture to the lives of the worshippers
Noon and Evening were shorter versions of the Morning service
Synagogue
- housed Torahs
- beth ha midrash = house of study
- halakhic midrash vs. haggadic midrash
- how to behave vs. interpretation of God’s law
- geniza = synagogue chamber
- other writings
- this is where the Damascus Document was found
- “The Damascus Document (the Cairo Damascus document, CD) or Damascus Rule is one of the most interesting texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls because it is the only Qumran work that was known before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is a composite text edited together from different sections of a larger source, and scholars have attempted to place the different sections in a chronological order to generate a more complete work of the original using evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls.” [source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus_Document]
Biblical interpretation in the Medieval period based itself in the close reading of the Hebrew text
- every part was considered
- took place within the Talmudic framework
- peshat = literal sense
- darash = how it might be applied today
- Yalkut Shimoni interprets Psalm 12
- things had multiple meanings
Saadia Gaon (880-942)
- he emphasized the need for lexical and grammatical knowledge of Hebrew
- he translated the Bible into Arabic
- he emphasized the theological and moral sense of Torah, that is, the darash
Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi)
- he emphasized the literal sense, that is, the peshat
- this enabled him to counter Medieval Christian claims that pointed to Christianity as superior
- he demonstrated that the Talmudic tradition was sound
- the richness of his interpretation make him an authority even today
- his grandson used same approach
Other interpreters did likewise
- Abraham Ibn Ezra
- David Kimhi
Moses ben Maimon
- sekhel = philosophical reading of the Bible
- Rabbi Levi ben Gershon (Ralbag) did likewise (1288-1344)
3rd approach
- deeper, mystical sense of Scripture
- sod = secret or mystery
- mekavah = heavenly throne chariot
- Sefer ha-Bahir = 12th cent. book on mysticism
- sefirot = radiances = God distributed in radiations or emanations
13th cent. Zohar or The Book of Splendor
- distributed by Moses by Shemtof de Leon
- this was the foundational text of kabbalah
- it read Torah in mystical terms
- it saw tikkun ha-olam (mending of the world) not only in doing works of justice (the Talmudic tradition), “but also in the mending of God through the prayer life and the mysticism of the adept”
Discussion
Further discussion of Jewish practices
- comparison of similarities to and differences from other religious practices
Reference to Netflix series about ultra-Orthodox Judaism
- “One of Us”
- https://www.netflix.com/title/80118101
- “In the wake of trauma and abuse, three Hasidic Jews face ostracism, anxiety and danger as they attempt to leave their ultra-Orthodox community.”