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| 0690-2289-01 | From Prophecy to Interpretation: Habakkuk in Qumran | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| FACULTY OF HUMANITIES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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University credit hours: 2.0
Course description
From Prophecy to Interpretation: Habakkuk in Qumran
Habakkuk is one of the Minor Prophets, and the small portion that survived of his oeuvre is now part of the book of Twelve. Still, his prophecy, originally produced at the end of the seventh century BCE, became the focus of special interest for apocalyptic circles during the first century BCE, as witnessed by the Pesher Habakkuk scroll, found at Qumran (1QpHab); this work is the oldest known example for a continuous commentary of any biblical book from antiquity. The course will be dedicated to an attempt to understand Habakkuk’s prophecy in its historical context, at the end of the First Temple period, by using a range of analytical tools drawn from the realm of philology and literary-historical research. We will then attempt to trace the ways in which this book was read and reinterpreted in Qumran, at the end of the Second Temple period. We will also experiment in preparing a modern commentary that aims at rendering the ancient Pesher accessible to contemporary audience.
Habakkuk is one of the Minor Prophets, and the small portion that survived of his oeuvre is now part of the book of Twelve. Still, his prophecy, originally produced at the end of the seventh century BCE, became the focus of special interest for apocalyptic circles during the first century BCE, as witnessed by the Pesher Habakkuk scroll, found at Qumran (1QpHab); this work is the oldest known example for a continuous commentary of any biblical book from antiquity. The course will be dedicated to an attempt to understand Habakkuk’s prophecy in its historical context, at the end of the First Temple period, by using a range of analytical tools drawn from the realm of philology and literary-historical research. We will then attempt to trace the ways in which this book was read and reinterpreted in Qumran, at the end of the Second Temple period. We will also experiment in preparing a modern commentary that aims at rendering the ancient Pesher accessible to contemporary audience.