The Wisdom of Torah: Epistemology in Deuteronomy and the Wisdom Literature

Transcription

1 Ryan O Dowd The Wisdom of Torah: Epistemology in Deuteronomy and the Wisdom Literature Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

2 Table of Contents Preface... ix Chapter 1: Introduction: The Epistemology of Religion Methodological Considerations A History of Ideas in Epistemology and Religion Hermeneutical Concerns The Epistemologies within Wisdom and Law Conclusion Chapter 2: Mythos, Cosmos and Episteme: Mythical and Cosmic Origins to Hebraic Knowledge Introduction Cosmos and Knowledge: Genesis Primordial and Patriarchal Connections Knowledge in Exodus Deuteronomy in the Pentateuch Conclusion Chapter 3: From Deuteronomy to Horeb: Actualising Israel s History Deuteronomy Introduction From Horeb: Moses Words and God s Promises (Deuteronomy 1 3) Primordial and Patriarchal Themes in Deuteronomy Rhetorical Wordplay in Deuteronomy Moses Words at Moab about Yahweh s Words at Horeb (Deut 4 11) Deut 4: Transition from Past to Present and Future Time, History and Actualisation Deuteronomic Wordplay and the Role of this Book... 34

3 vi Table of Contents Theophany, History and the Universal Aims of the Torah Introduction to Teaching Functions in the Community Oral and Written Worlds: Memory and the Great Commandment Speech and Writing in the Great Commandment Remember and Do Not Forget: Wordplay and Actualisation in Deuteronomy Conclusion Chapter 4: Ideology and Epistemology in the Deuteronomic Laws Deuteronomy Introduction Ideology and Epistemology The Enlightenment and the Turn to Sociological and Ideological Study The Hermeneutics of Tradition Ideology in the Old Testament Ideology and Deuteronomy Unity and Continuity in Deuteronomy Time and Place in Israel s Theological Worldview Hermeneutics and Prophecy Authority and Prophecy The Hermeneutical Tradition of Prophecy The King as Deuteronomy s Arch-Interpreter of Torah Ideology Critique in Israel s Kingship Law The Ambiguity of Kingship in Deuteronomy The King as Arch-Torah Reader Yahweh s Authority and the Distribution of Israel s Offices Conclusion Chapter 5: Re-Actualisation in Future Covenants Deuteronomy Introduction The Words and the Book: The Metamorphoses of Moses Words Rhetoric and Artistry in Deuteronomy s Use of Orality and Literacy Covenant Ratification at Shechem: Deuteronomy

4 Table of Contents vii The Covenant and the Book at Moab: Deuteronomy Moses Writes the Torah-Book: Deuteronomy Witnesses and Epistemological Virtue in Deuteronomy The Morality of Israel s Knowledge in Deuteronomy Human Responsibility and Divine Intervention in Deuteronomy The Song as a Witness to Morally Culpable Knowledge Moral Wisdom in the Created Order Deuteronomy and Beyond: A Book, A People and The Nations The Nations: Moses and his Successors Conclusion Chapter 6: Epistemology in Proverbs Introduction Wisdom Introducing Structure and Theology in Proverbs Proverbs 1 9 and : Proverbs 1:1 7; 31: Woman Wisdom, Creation and the Created Order Wisdom as Woman Wisdom as Expert Witness in Creation Proverbs 8: The World as it Seems : Wisdom in Proverbs Retribution, Mystery and Crisis in Proverbs Proverbs 26: Proverbs Conclusion Chapter 7: Epistemology in Ecclesiastes and Job Introduction Epistemology in the Wisdom Literature Wisdom and the Wisdom Literature Epistemology in Qohelet A New Proposal for Qohelet s Epistemology

5 viii Table of Contents Ecclesiastes 1:12 2: Ecclesiastes 5:1 7 [4:17 5:6] Epistemology in Job Job s Comforters Chapter 28: The Heart of Job s Last Speech The Divine Speeches Conclusion Chapter 8: Conclusion: Wisdom and Torah in Historical Perspective Introduction Summary: The Epistemology of Wisdom and Torah Ontology and the Created Order in Wisdom and Torah Ideology, Worldview and Certainty in Wisdom and Torah The Liminal Rhetoric in Wisdom and Torah The Hermeneutics of Epistemology The Ethics of Understanding Post-Exilic Epistemology The Hebraic Epistemology Today Conclusion Bibliography Index

6 CHAPTER ONE Introduction The Epistemology of Religion Faith Seeking Understanding Anselm Thus, I was unable to choose someone whose views seemed to me to be preferable to those of others, and I found myself forced to take on the task of guiding myself. 1 René Descartes It was upon this threshold that the strange figure of knowledge called man first appeared [...] In attempting to uncover the deepest strata of Western culture, I am restoring its rifts, its instability, its flaws; and it is the same ground that is once more stirring under our feet. 2 Michel Foucault Our table has been set by our ancestors: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Descartes, Kant and countless others. From Hebraic and medieval knowledge set within the context of faith, and Enlightenment knowledge of rational certainty, to postmodern skepticism and doubt of knowledge altogether, epistemology has been on a journey through human history. The purpose of this study is to chart this path with the particular focus of a phenomenology of ancient Hebrew religion. In a narrative style, we will ask questions about the possibility and nature of knowledge of God and his world within this religious tradition and its worldview. But how is this done in our own day? In light of the political, social, global and ethical nature of pluralisms, rapid change and conflict in our world today, a phenomenology of religion is complex and heavily charged. But for this reason it also deeply urgent. If we approach our study carefully, we can minimize the charge and attend more helpfully to matters that bear upon the urgent. We set out, then, with an attitude which combines rigor and humility, and passionate conviction plus a sedulous respect for the convictions of others. 3 1 Discourse on Method and Related Writings (London/New York: Penguin Books, 2003), M. Foucault, The Order of Things (New York: Vintage Books, 1994), xxiv. 3 D.F. Wallace on the democratic spirit in Tense Present: Democracy, English, and the Wars Over Usage, Harpers (April 2001) 39 58, on pp

7 2 Introduction: The Epistemology of Religion Perhaps nowhere is it more appropriate to engage these religious and philosophical questions than through the luminous history of Hebrew wisdom and law. These two textual traditions have long been associated with what it means for humans to know: they form the core of Israel s ancient sense of theology, cosmology and self-understanding; they dominate the writings in the Second Temple period; and they are the primary foundation for the books of the Christian New Testament and countless critical writings of the medieval era. In our own day they stand both as an antiquated source against which new modern models of knowing are imagined and more recently in postmodern accounts as a source for critiquing modernity. Our study is, therefore, a conversation between ancient Hebrew religious writings and the vast history of commentary on those texts since that time. 1. Methodological Considerations Because this study draws upon such a diverse history and wide range of disciplines, several issues must be clarified up front. To begin, this study is primarily a study of the epistemology of religion how people go about knowing God and the world. 4 So, while questions of historical, social, psychological, political and aesthetic perspectives will always be in play, we will make our decisive statements about the epistemological issues before us, often leaving other questions open or unanswered. Such a trajectory is best followed if we first set out our taxonomy through a brief history of epistemology and then proceed to state the hermeneutical assumptions that will guide us between this history and the biblical texts in question. 1.1 A History of Ideas in Epistemology and Religion We begin with a brief introduction to the broad contours of epistemology over the course of human history. This is essential, as we will argue, because of the common tendency for interpreters to project modern ideas of knowing back into ancient cultures. Such projections lead to poor and often mistaken assumptions about the values, beliefs, and motivations behind the writing of these ancient texts and thus, as Stephen Toulmin suggests, to see too much of oneself in the historiographical mirror that reflects the ancient culture. 5 Toulmin rightly guides the historian s attention not just to the 4 The philosophical discipline of epistemology can, of course, be described in much greater detail: modes of knowing, belief, faith, certainty, justification etc. See D. Hamlyn, History of Epistemology, in Paul Edwards (ed.), Encyclopedia of Philosophy 3 (8 Volumes; New York/London: Macmillan, 1967) S. Toulmin, Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1990), 22.

8 Methodological Considerations 3 ancient world under study, but to our own historiographical mirror, on guard for distortions which obscure our perceptions about knowledge. 6 Thus following Ricoeur s monumental study, The Symbolism of Evil, we should start our project with the recognition that we are asking Hellenic, western questions of the ancient Near Eastern, Hebraic world. The conversation will by nature always be provisional and open to further interpretation and revision. Following the historical review here, the next section will revisit these concerns and propose a hermeneutic for meeting the challenges inherent to our study. Our review charts a chronological path, beginning with ancient Hebrew thought. While the specific details of Hebraic epistemology are yet to be explored in subsequent chapters, we should still make note of the overall context of ancient Israel which set it apart amidst the history of ideas which follows. Most notably, Hebrew religion, like ANE religion in general, is not theoretical in its approach to life and worldview. Rather, ancient Hebrew thought communicates through a holistic approach to life: ethics, history and worship are grounded in a mythical, narrative framework. 7 Israel s selfunderstanding and ethics thus grow out of her participation in a created world and her status in a covenant relationship with the creator God. Even in the wisdom literature, where evidence of the covenants and salvation history is non-existent, or implicit at best, we still find a strong sense that ethics and knowledge are grounded in the cosmic order of Yahweh s creation. Knowledge, therefore, is intrinsically participatory, or a product of discovering God and his world by living in it. To know is to live in ethical conformity with God s ordered reality, 8 not to escape from it into objective analysis. It is only in late wisdom literature that we find the slightest of allusions to Greek knowledge in an abstract sense. For this reason, it is important to mark the major shift in epistemology from ancient Near Eastern myths and holisms to the more familiar Greek way of theoretical and abstract thought. Plato s idealist philosophy, arguably the foremost in the Greek world, established a divide between the material world of human life and the rational world of Ideas (or Forms). 6 Or, to restate Heisenberg s observation, the observer always influences or interferes with the object under study. My point is not to eliminate perspectives in search of some kind of objectivity, for I do not believe that can be done, but rather to raise our awareness of perspectives to the level of our awareness of observation itself. 7 See M. Buber, People Today and the Jewish Bible: From a Lecture Series, in M. Buber/F. Rosenzweig (ed.), Scripture and Translation (Bloomington: Indiana University, 1994) 4 21, on pp where he locates the Hebraic sense of reality in a distinctively holistic worldview; creation, revelation, story, and encounter with the divine are all integrated. Cf. Ricoeur s discussion on ancient myth in The Symbolism of Evil (Boston: Beacon, 1967), Ricoeur, Symbolism of Evil, 130 1, locates the Jewish sense of imagination within ethics, or the written and oral Torah. See chapters two and eight below.

9 4 Introduction: The Epistemology of Religion Knowledge is found only in the latter. Thus human participation for Plato is not in the material world, but rather something done rationally and ontologically. 9 Ethics too are separated from the material ontology of mythical human origins, and relegated instead to the ontology of nous of abstract reason and contemplation of the Ideas. Plato s dialogues favor reason, evidence and objectivity over mythos, faith, and revelation. 10 Aristotle s more realist epistemology is a notable exception to the dominant idealism in Greek philosophy. Aristotle does not abandon Plato s assumption that all knowledge is related to universals, but his primary concern is to locate human knowledge in the immanent (practical) aspects of the real, natural world. 11 In this way, the senses and reason lead us to knowledge; Plato s strong, transcendental separation of the material world from the Ideas is abandoned in favor of an immanentism. 12 Because he aligns knowledge with our experience of nature, Aristotle is also inclined to associate ethics with knowledge (an interesting parallel with the Hebraic tradition). He discusses the Intellectual Virtues at length where knowledge is an aspect not just of reasoning, but of wisdom and phronesis of discernment in the timely and particular. 13 Plato s academy is typically regarded as the stronger historical force. It was clearly adopted within Jewish and Christian theology for several centuries after his death, most notably by Augustine. Platonic ontology and theory also dominates Medieval scholasticism as well as setting the foundation for the Enlightenment return to reason, science, and astronomy three centuries later. At the very least we have several significant turning points in history which are grounded in the onto-theological model of reason in Platonic philosophy. During these eras, the ambiguities and poetics of myth, the ethics of religion, and cosmic symbolism are replaced with being and the what is? of Hellenic rationalism.yet because of these major foci of Platonic renewal in the West, many assume that the intervening Medieval era was also guided by Platonism or neo-platonism. One possible reason for this opinion is the fact that most Medieval history has been written in the wake of Modernity, which itself renewed the Greek emphasis on reason and its ontological and epistemological dualisms. Nevertheless, there is also a less appreciated, or at least a less acknowledged stream of 9 See R. Kearney, The Wake of Imagination (New York: Routledge, 1988), Plato, The Republic (New York/London: Penguin Books, 2003), Books II and X. Cf. also R. Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View (New York: Ballantine Books, 1991), C. Taylor, Aristotle s Epistemology, in S. Everson (ed.), Epistemology (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1990) , provides a careful analysis of Aristotle s theoretical and practical concerns with knowledge. 12 Tarnas, Passion, Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics (New York: Penguin Books, 2004), VI.v,vii.

10 Methodological Considerations 5 Medieval thought, influenced not so much by Augustine s neo-platonism as by his classical liberalism and indebtedness to Cicero, Homer and Virgil. 14 This poetic (aesthetic), religious and more discursive way of knowing owes its vision to Augustine but also to the four-fold way of interpretation initiated by Origen, Jerome and the Latin Fathers. Thus, Abelard, Boethius, Gregory, Basil, Bede, Bonavanture, Valla and Erasmus are among a long tradition of spiritual philosophy which is far less theoretical and systematic than neo-platonist Christianity. 15 In fact, in the Renaissance and humanist eras at the end of the Medieval period we find a decisive turn away from the rational, onto-theological categories of Medieval neo-platonism and late scholasticism back towards a strong affirmation of the classical love of texts, poetics, aesthetics, realism and limits in human philosophy. 16 Here the non-systematic blend of knowledge with ethics, theology, philosophy and nature is another resurgence of holistic worldviews of the Medieval mystics, theology and the Hebraic religion to which they both are indebted. Furthermore, Thomas Aquinas, despite his strong onto-theological leanings, also revived Aristotelian immanent realism, affirming access to the knowledge of God both in reason and nature. Amid their differences, what Greek, Medieval and ancient Hebraic epistemology have in common is that they all orient the knower to a transcendent other outside of the self. There is, in other words, a divine reality beneath which (or whom) we find ourselves as knowers. This was all to change in Modernity. More than anything else, the Modern era is distinguished by its anthropological turn inwards and scientific move from below to above. RenéDescartes is undoubtedly the most representative and foundational figure of this shift. 17 In the sixteenth century his search for truth and certainty leads him to dismiss poetry, history, story and tradition 18 in favor of the logic of critique and doubt within individual reason. Descartes experience of seemingly irresolvable pluralities in philosophy, science and religion in his day, com- 14 M. McLuhan, The Classical Trivium (Corte Madera, CA: Gingko, 2006), H.D. Lubac, Medieval Exegesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998) and McLuhan, The Trivium (cited above) provide similar accounts of the grammatical-rhetorical traditions which formed the foundations of the liberal arts. R. Kearney s Wake of Imagination, , has an illuminating portrait of the more Platonic categories which, while they often dominate the official church language in Christendom, are matched by the artistic and poetic rhetoric of the popular world and the arts throughout the Medieval era; a Hebraic worldview maintains its influence in the midst of the official rhetoric. 16 According to Toulmin, Human modesty, and not certainty provided their motto for life and doctrine, Cosmopolis, Cf. C. Stephan Evans who points to Descartes acceptance of scientia in the medieval sense and therefore credits John Locke with the most radical form of evidentialist certainty regarding knowledge, The Historical Christ and the Jesus of Faith (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), Descartes, Discourse, 8.

11 Index Genesis 10, 67n , 15, 20, : :1 2:3 13 1:1 2:4a 154 1: : : :4ff 29 1: : : : : : : , , 123n70 2: : : : :8 20, 177 6: :5 15 6: : : :11, : : : : :1 3 16, 27, 39, 163n1, : : n75 15: : : , 111n1 18: , 163n1, : : : : : : : : : : : :14, n75 41: Exodus 10, , 38, , 71 4: :2 18 6:3 17n23 6:7 17n23 7: :17 17n23 8:10 17n23 9:14 17n23 9:16 17n23 10:1 17n : :4 17n23 14:4, : :18 17n :12 50

12 206 Index Exodus (cont) : : : : n n : :6 19, 96, : : : Leviticus 1: :3 151n96 Numbers 100 1: n :6 67n75 14: : :10 151n n130 Deuteronomy , :1 20, 23, 25, 28, 35, 61, 79, 84 1:1 2:3 13 1: : :1 5 23, 29 1:3 29 1:5 20, 27, 35, 61, 84 85, 87, 94 1:5 31: :6 23 1:8 26 1:9 3: : :37 25, :1 47 2:4 3: :7 13 2: : : :5 15 3:6 15 3: :26 25, 30 3:29 106n :1 23, 31, 35, 43, 59 4: : , 53, 60, 86, 91 4:3 93 4:5 8 39, 65, 101, 107, 163n1, 173 4: :7 151n96 4:8 36, :9 32, 94 4:13 36, 47, 84, : : :17 18n27 4: : : : :32 31n25 4: : , 47 4: : :36 42, 46 4: : :1 23 5:1 6:3 44 5: :2 35 5:3 23 5:4 46

13 Index 207 Deuteronomy (cont) 5: : : : : : : , 46, 62, 83 84, 87 88, 90, 168 5: : , 163 5: n81 5: : :25 31n25 5: : : : :31 29, 61 62, :1 31n25, 37 6: :4 9 44, 46, 51, 69, 164, 168 6: :5 47 6:5 9 68n82, 98 6:6 99 6: , 75, :9 84 6: :20 32, 47 6: : : :25 101, , 48, 71, 107, : : :3 47 7: , 49 8: : :3 50 8: : : :1 10: : :6 94 9:10 84, 88, 92, 126 9: : : : : : : :12 31n25 10:12 11: , 51 10: n82 10: : :16 72, 94, 96 10:22 31n25 11: :2 19: : : : , 75, 77, : : : : : :32 12:1 172n , , 61, 82 83, 85, 91, :1 59, 64 12: : : : : : : : : : : : : : :29 13:11 37

14 208 Index Deuteronomy (cont) 12: :32 37, 59, 64, :1 37, 59, 64 13: : : : : : :12 169n27 14: : : : : : : :16 17: :18 17: : : : : : , 73 17: : : : : : :18 77, 82 83, 88 89, 98, : :19 23, 44, 88 17: : , 79 18: : : : : : : : : : : , : : : : : : : : :10 31n25 26: , 82, :1 31n25, : :3 85, 88, : : : :15 28: : : : : : : :69 23, , :1 87, : :2 3 38, 93 29: : :5 18n27 29: : :28 88, 95 29:29 94, , , :1 95, 97 30: :

15 Index 209 Deuteronomy (cont) 30: : :6 72, 96, 99 30: :10 84, 89 30:11 97, 99 30: , 97 30: : :14 29, 98, 106, : : , 99, :19 66, 92, 95, : : :9 36, 84, 98, :9, : :12 86, 88 31: : :19 31n25, 90 31:19, : :23 42, 89 31:24 82, 84 85, 88, : : : :26 36, 90, 92, : :28 79, 92, : , 96, 163, 165, 168, :1 92, : : : : : : , : : : : : : :8, : : : :11 169n27 32: : : : : : :39 31n25, 70 32: : :43 92,107 32:46 86, 88 32:47 29, : : : : : : : : : : : , 109 Joshua 1:8 77 1: :9 79 8: : : Judges 3: Samuel 16:7 48n116 2 Samuel 13: Kings : :13 18n27

16 210 Index Job : :1 2: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : , 154, , 161, , : : : : : : : : : n138 28: : : , 153, 155, , : : : : n138 42: : : Psalms 1 101, 123n70 1: :19 151n96 47: n116, : : n : : :10 151n n1 104: : n96 147: n : :14 151n96 Proverbs , 123, 127, 132, 135, 164, 167, 171, 174 1: : : : :7 114, 117, 120, 126, 128, 174 1:8 47, 116 1:15 150, 169 1: : : :29 114, 117 2: : n137 2: : :5 114, 117 2: : : : :19 169, 174 2: : : , 132, :13 122, 176

17 Index 211 Proverbs (cont) 3: :18 114, 177 3: :19 114, 117, 121, 124, 157 3: , 158n138, 165, 174 3: : : : : : : : , 174 5: : : : : : : , : :13 114, 117 8: :22 124, 180 8: : , 169 8: , 117, 121, 123, 125, 157, 174 8: : :27a 125 8: : : : , 174 8: : :27 114, , , 134n138, 135, : : : :27 114, :33 114, : : :25 132, : : : :23 114, : : : : :4 114, : , : : , : , 136, : , :12 131, 144, : : n131 28: , : : , 115, : : , : :30 114, Ecclesiastes :1 2a 138 1: :2 137n2 1: :12 2:26 143, 147, 149, 152 1:12 12:8 137n2 1:12 14, : :13 142, 144, : :13 2: :13 2: :16 144, 147 1: : : : :9 144, 148

18 212 Index Ecclesiastes (cont) 2: : : : : :24 139, 151, 161 3: : : : : :17 5: :17 5: :17a [5:1a] 150 5:1 7 [4:17 5:6] 149, 152 5:2 [1] 151 5: :17 [18] 139 5: : : : : : : : : :1 12: : :13 138, : , 152 Isaiah 19: : :3 18n27 49:23 18n27 60:16 18n27 Jeremiah 9:23 48n116 10: :8 48n n70 17:10 48n116 31: Ezekiel : : :19 151n96 Daniel Hosea 2:22 18n27 Joel 2:27 18n27 Baruch 3: :9 4: : : : : : : Sirach 1: : n115 8: n115 9: :17 129n : : : : : : : : : : : : : : n115 28:17 129n115 51:26 177

19 Index 213 Wisdom Matthew 22: John 3: Acts 7: : Romans n70 1: : : :4 179n70 10: : : : : : Corinthians Corinthians 3: Colossians 178 1: : : : : : : Hebrews 64 Revelation 123n70 4QDeut q 108