December 7, 2005

A few minor errors have turned up in Religious Studies 380 that require amendments. The corrections are given below.

Unit 1

In Unit 1, in the third paragraph on page 27 of the Study Guide, Genesis 20 should read Genesis 21 in both instances.

“Source critics note several things about this story. First, it is not likely that the story of the expulsion of Ishmael is really intended to portray Hagar carrying her 13- or 14-year old son on her shoulder along with her provisions and then later easily casting the hapless teenager under a bush. Genesis 21 seems to suggest that Ishmael was a small child when his half-brother was born; the age for Abraham given in Genesis 16 clearly indicates that Ishmael would have been in his early teens. This disparity suggests that we are dealing with texts originally taken from different sources that dealt with similar subjects such as the stories of great ancestors. Second, the narrator of the story in Genesis 16 consistently uses the name “the Lord” (actually, the Hebrew name Yahweh) to refer to God. The narrator of Genesis 21 consistently uses the word “God” (Hebrew ’elohim) to refer to God.”

Unit 2

Study Questions 3 and 6 on page 56 of Unit 2 in the Study Guide cannot be satisfactorily answered without the following supplementary information.

Study Question 3 asks you to provide a timeline. The information you need to answer that question is in the Harper Collins Study Bible. See “Timeline” under Contents.

For Study Question 6, the following sketches the most important information. You may use other sources to respond to this question.

1. Tribal Israel. Early Israelite thought is henotheistic and tribally-based.
2. United Monarchy. In around 1000 BCE, the monarchy is launched and with it comes a centralization of religious thought and practice, highlighting the importance of the temple cult in Jerusalem. The emphasis here is on Yahweh as the national deity of Israel and on the king as the reigning “son” of Yahweh.
3. Israel and Judah. In around 930, the United Kingdom splits into a northern kingdom (Israel/Samaria) and a southern kingdom (Judah). Each of these kingdoms claims to be a legitimate heir to the traditions of Israel. This is a period of very diverse religious practice and experimentation.
4. Judah Alone. In 722 the northern kingdom is conquered and destroyed, leaving Judah alone to carry on the traditions of Israel. Some northern traditions are adopted by the south, but the emphasis is on centralization, especially with the reign of Josiah in 640–609. Though there is an emphasis on worshiping Yahweh alone, we cannot yet describe the religion of Israel as monotheistic.
5. The Exile. In 597 and again in 586, the Babylonians conquer Jerusalem and the period of the exile begins. In the Exile, monotheism becomes systematically articulated and widely accepted, replacing henotheism. For the first time, the intellectual traditions of Israel are forced to develop in a foreign land. They are modified in Babylon and would later be imposed, in their modified form, on those who remained in Judah during the Exile.
6. The Persian Period. In 539 the Exile ends and the movement to re-establish Judah in the land begins. With this movement to re-establish Judah, and particularly Jerusalem, we see the emergence of a strong emphasis on Torah study, covenant renewal, and gathering of people into something like a synagogue. The temple in Jerusalem is rebuilt. We can now speak of Judaism for the first time, instead of Israelite religion. Deuteronomistic thought gains a lot of ground during this period.
7. The Hellenistic Period. Beginning with Alexander’s conquests in 332–331, this period continues the traditions of the Persian period, though the foreign cultural influence is now Greek rather than Persian. In the 160s, the pressure exerted on Judaism during the reign of Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) provokes an armed rebellion and the last work of the Hebrew Bible, the book of Daniel. This is the period of the flourishing of apocalypticism.