2016 - 2017

0690-1222-01
  Companion Exercise in Medieval and Renaissance Exegesis- Kings 1                                     
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
Nir SivanRosenberg - Jewish Studies208Wed1800-2000 Sem  1
 
 
University credit hours:  2.0

Course description
The Books of Kings were written out of a clear concept of exile and destruction. As a part of this process, various different materials were reworked to serve a uniform theological message. In this course we shall focus on close reading a variety of medieval and renaissance exegetes on Kings 1, including: Rashi, Joseph Kara, an anonymous student of Isaiah di Trani, Joseph Kaspi, Gersonides, Radak, Avraham ben Shlomo the Yemenite, Isaac Abravanel and even David Altschuler.
Among the texts we shall examine: the securing of the throne (1Ki 1-2), Solomon and the queen of Sheba (1Ki 10), the division of the “united kingdom” (1Ki 11-13) and the Elijah cycle and other stories contained therein (1Ki 17-2Ki 1).
We shall read and work on a comparative variety of commentaries, emphasizing practice and attainment of a multitude of tools in aid of reading systematic medieval and renaissance exegesis:
a. We shall follow the ways in which the exegetes’ awareness of biblical means of representation and literary techniques aided them in understanding the connection between form and substance in innovative bold new ways.
b. We will conduct a thorough comparison of the interpretations with Midrash literature (both classical and late).
C. We will analyze the exegetes’ “introductions” to their commentaries and implementations of methodical remarks in light of the historical significance of monarchy, the rise of new literary genres and changes in the concepts of man and history in Europe and beyond.
Among the questions we shall ask when dealing directly with the exegetic texts: how did they cope with the tension between the uniform theological message of the book and the myriad materials in it; how did they understand the meaning of the individual story and the book at large; what is the relationship between bible and commentary (actualization, refocusing, counterplot, etc.’ …).
Final assignment: a term paper.

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