Ancient Jewish and Christian Novels
T, F
PME
219
smarks@ncf.edu
Office Hours:
Tues
Thurs
and by
appointment
Objectives:
Students of Jewish and Christian Scriptures soon realize that the texts they study emerge from a much more complicated world than present day Judaisms and Christianities tend to present. In this course continuing students will develop their historical understanding of the concerns of earlier movments. On the one hand we know little about the origins, authorship, and use of such “novels” as Judith, Tobit, The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, and Joseph and Aseneth, although such texts betray significant parallels to classical Greek and Latin novels. On the other hand we can name the authors of certain biographic accounts of early martyrs without altogether making sense of the unique combination of memory and imagination that these “biographies” employ. This course challenges us to consider audience, genre and gender, as well as notions of fiction and history. In addition, as we continue to attend to similarities and differences in Jewish and Christian texts (as well as those texts that frustrate attempts to ascribe them to one group rather than another), we take the opportunity to explore the religious identities that these texts present.
Expectations:
Regular attendance is required. In order to facilitate review by both your peers and myself, assignments must be handed in on time. Class participation counts towards your overall evaluation. Your classmates will come to depend on your comments even as you will come to depend on theirs. If you are a person who does not readily talk in public, I encourage you to come see me during my office hours, and we can devise other ways for you to have input into class discussions.
Responsibilities:
1. Academic integrity.
2. Active participation. Since participation depends on regular attendance, more than three absences will be grounds for an unsatisfactory evaluation. Students should arrive on time, with readings in hand, having done relevant readings before class session as well as any informal writing assignments.
3. Two papers. Each student will prepare two written assignments, each involving drafts and revisions (a 5-7 page paper and a final 15-20 page paper).*
*An appropriately formatted hard [paper] copy of formal assignments must be handed in on-time, together with all drafts and doodles. You will be evaluated based on the energy of the original exploration as well as development throughout the revision process.
Required Texts:
Ronald Hock, J. Bradley Chance and Judith Perkins,
Ancient Fiction and Early Christian Narrative (Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1998). [AFECN]
Amy Jill Levine, Women Like This:
New Perspective on Jewish Women in the Greco-Roman World (Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1991). [WTL]
Wayne Meeks, ed., HarperCollins Study Bible
(New York: HarperCollins, 1993). [Bible]**
**You may substitute another modern
translation for the HarperCollins Study Bible (e.g., RSV, NRSV, NJPS,
or NIV). The King James Version
is not acceptable as a primary translation, although you are welcome to use it
as a secondary text.
Additional readings will be available and
electronic reserve
[* = reserve reading]
***Please also check Library Reserve for many additional, related books***
Schedule:
Read: Judith [AJN]
Due:
Short informal response paper
Tues Aug 31 Authorship
Read: Introduction, 3-23 [AJN]
Mary R. Lefkowitz, “Did Ancient Women Write Novels?” [WLT]
Fri Sept 2 Tobit
Read: Tobit [AJN]
B. Bow and G. W. E. Nickelsburg, “Patriarchy w/ a Twist” [WTL]
In class: Hand out First Assignment
Tues Sept 7 Acts of Paul and Thecla
Read:
The Acts of Paul and Thecla ((online or on reserve in Elliott,
The
Apocryphal New Testament or
Schneemelcher, New Testament
Apocrypha, vol 2)
1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy [Bible]
Loveday Alexander, “`Better to Marry than to Burn’” [AFECN]
Fri Sept 10 Acts of Peter
Read: The Acts of Peter
(see above 9/7)
*Judith Perkins, “The Social World of the Acts of Peter” in Tatum
ed., The
Search for the Ancient Novel
Melissa Aubin, “Reversing Romance?” [AFECN]
Tues Sept 14
Chaereas and Callirhoe
Read: *
R. Hock “Why New Testament Scholars Should …” [AFECN]
Fri Sept 17 No Class – Rosh HaShannah
Tues Sept 21
Constructing Women
Read: *Brigitte Egger, “Women and Marriage in the Greek Novels” in Tatum ed.
*Simon Goldhill, “How Like a
Woman” in Foucault’s Virginity
*Kate Cooper, “The Bride that
is no Bride” in The Virgin and the Bride
Due: Draft of Book Review
[Two copies of paper due]
[Exchange papers with peers]
Fri Sept 24 Peer Reviews
Due: PRF for each paper
Read:
Two papers from peers
Week 6
Tues Sept 28 Joseph and Aseneth
Read: “The Marriage and Conversion of Aseneth” [AJN]
Genesis 37-50 [Bible]
*
Joseph, 19-49
Fri Oct 1 Date and Provenance
Read:
*
and “The Provenance of Aseneth Reconsidered,” 286-293 in
When
Aseneth met Joseph
Due: Final Draft of First Assignment
Tues Oct 5
Acts of Andrew /
Read: The Acts of Andrew (see above 9/7)
*Laura S. Nasrallah, “She Became What the Words Signified . . ”
in Bovon
ed. Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
In class: Hand out Final Assignment
Fri Oct 8 Acts of Thomas /Rites
Read: The Acts of Thomas (see above 9/7)
*Caroline Johnson, “Ritual Epicleses in the Greek Acts of Thomas”
in Bovon
ed.
BREAK
Tues Oct 19
Martyrdom
Read: Second Maccabees
Robin Darling Young “The ‘Woman with the Soul…’” [WTL]
Fri Oct 22
Historical Novels
Read *Third
Maccabees
Cousland, J.R.C., “Reversal, recidivism and reward in
3 Maccabees:
structure and purpose” Journal for the Study of
Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period 34 no 1
2003, p 39-51. (Online full text provided by the USF Libraries via
EBSCOhost Electronic Journals Service)
Tues Oct 26 Novels
Read: Daniel [Bible]
Susanna [AJN]
Bel and the Serpent [AJN]
tba
Read: Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas (available online)
The Body and Society
Brent D. Shaw “Judicial Nightmares and Christian Memory”
Journal of Early Christian Studies 11.4 (2003) 533-563 (available
on Project Muse)
Fri Nov 5 Holy Men
Read:
*Life of Antony (Gregg, pages tba)
*Talmudic texts tba
Tues Nov 9 Read: *Peter Brown, The Making of Late Antiquity, pp. 81-101
*Eliezer Diamond, Holy Men and Hunger Artistis, 93-120
Fri Nov 12
Holy Women
Read:
*Life of Macrina
Life of St.
Pelagia the Harlot (available on-line)
*Daughter of Rabbi Akiba (bShabb 156b)
*Bruria (bBer 10a; bPes 62b, Midrash Mishlei Chapter 31)
*tba
Tues Nov 16
Stories and Texts
Read: Christine Thomas “Stories without Texts…” [AFECN]
*Shelly Matthews, “Thinking of
Thecla” in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
Due:
Draft of Research Assignment,
[Two copies of paper due]
[Exchange papers with peers]
Fri Nov 19
No class – Professor Marks at AAR-SBL in
Tues Nov 23 Peer Review
Read: Two papers from peers
Thanksgiving Break
Tues Nov 30 Presentations
Fri Dec 3 Ongoing Questions:
Where we have been – Where we are going
****Final Papers due Tuesday, Dec 7 before