E. W. Heaton
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198263623
- eISBN:
- 9780191601156
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198263627.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The books of the Old Testament are often thought of as being remote and ‘primitive’. In fact, they were written by thoroughly learned men, educated in the traditional schools of ancient Israel. This ...
More
The books of the Old Testament are often thought of as being remote and ‘primitive’. In fact, they were written by thoroughly learned men, educated in the traditional schools of ancient Israel. This book presents a fresh and enlivening case for the strong influence that this schooling must have had on the writers of the stories, poetry and proverbs of the Bible. The eight Bampton Lectures that form the first eight chapters of this book were delivered in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford, UK. The topics covered are: the evidence for schools in ancient Israel; comparisons between Egyptian and Israeli school-books and literature; ‘wisdom’ and school traditions in the Old Testament books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes; the school tradition in the literary style of the teachings of the prophets and teachers; the narrative skills of the Jerusalem school tradition in the stories of the Old Testament; doubt and pessimism as expressed in Job and Ecclesiastes; and various aspects of belief and behaviour in the Old Testament, as reflected in the school tradition. The last chapter is a summing-up. The book is of interest to students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) or religious studies, both in Judaism and Christianity.Less
The books of the Old Testament are often thought of as being remote and ‘primitive’. In fact, they were written by thoroughly learned men, educated in the traditional schools of ancient Israel. This book presents a fresh and enlivening case for the strong influence that this schooling must have had on the writers of the stories, poetry and proverbs of the Bible. The eight Bampton Lectures that form the first eight chapters of this book were delivered in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford, UK. The topics covered are: the evidence for schools in ancient Israel; comparisons between Egyptian and Israeli school-books and literature; ‘wisdom’ and school traditions in the Old Testament books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes; the school tradition in the literary style of the teachings of the prophets and teachers; the narrative skills of the Jerusalem school tradition in the stories of the Old Testament; doubt and pessimism as expressed in Job and Ecclesiastes; and various aspects of belief and behaviour in the Old Testament, as reflected in the school tradition. The last chapter is a summing-up. The book is of interest to students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) or religious studies, both in Judaism and Christianity.
E. W. Heaton
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198263623
- eISBN:
- 9780191601156
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198263627.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The first part of this chapter introduces the possibility that the writers of the Old Testament came from an Israeli school tradition – as opposed to being a group of ‘wise men’ with a ‘wisdom ...
More
The first part of this chapter introduces the possibility that the writers of the Old Testament came from an Israeli school tradition – as opposed to being a group of ‘wise men’ with a ‘wisdom tradition’, or even from a ‘Wisdom Movement’. The idea is often doubted on the grounds that there is no unambiguous reference to a school in Israel until Ben Sira’s ‘house of instruction’, which flourished in Jerusalem in the early years of the second century bc, and is mentioned in Ecclesiastes. The working hypothesis of this book is that it ought not to be difficult to identify a core of Old Testament writings, which, by their subject matter, literary form and delight in language, reveal what their authors encountered at school, and can be reviewed in the expectation that features in them that are often overlooked will become apparent, and give an awareness of the impressive continuity of Israel’s school tradition. The school tradition will be found to have distinctive features: it is distinct from popular religion and the view of divine–human relations embodied in the cult; it is engaged in the teaching of a moral and reasonable faith; it provides a clue to the activity in Israel of a less parochial type of theologian; it also helps to explain the obscure transmission of Israel’s literature through the centuries, and illuminates the way in which received tradition was reshaped and reinterpreted by a succession of scholarly editors. The last part of the chapter starts the exploration of the school tradition with an examination of Ben Sira’s school in Jerusalem.Less
The first part of this chapter introduces the possibility that the writers of the Old Testament came from an Israeli school tradition – as opposed to being a group of ‘wise men’ with a ‘wisdom tradition’, or even from a ‘Wisdom Movement’. The idea is often doubted on the grounds that there is no unambiguous reference to a school in Israel until Ben Sira’s ‘house of instruction’, which flourished in Jerusalem in the early years of the second century bc, and is mentioned in Ecclesiastes. The working hypothesis of this book is that it ought not to be difficult to identify a core of Old Testament writings, which, by their subject matter, literary form and delight in language, reveal what their authors encountered at school, and can be reviewed in the expectation that features in them that are often overlooked will become apparent, and give an awareness of the impressive continuity of Israel’s school tradition. The school tradition will be found to have distinctive features: it is distinct from popular religion and the view of divine–human relations embodied in the cult; it is engaged in the teaching of a moral and reasonable faith; it provides a clue to the activity in Israel of a less parochial type of theologian; it also helps to explain the obscure transmission of Israel’s literature through the centuries, and illuminates the way in which received tradition was reshaped and reinterpreted by a succession of scholarly editors. The last part of the chapter starts the exploration of the school tradition with an examination of Ben Sira’s school in Jerusalem.
