92936 - Bible Literature (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

Upon a successful completion of this course, students will achieve basic notions and skills in interpreting Biblical texts as literature, and re-framing their production and fortune as a distinctively historical, philological and literary phenomenon, between authoring and copying, translating and interpreting, from the Ancient Near East down to the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean world and contemporary literature.

Course contents

Righteousness, Suffering, and God: Job's Theodicies in the (Un-)Making.

A text probably composed during the Persian or Hellenistic period (5th-3rd BCE?) and of no explicit attribution, the book of Job focuses on the suffering of the righteous, as far as the latter involves both human and more-than-human characters and co-stars (Job, his family, and his friends, on the one side; the god of Israel, his angelic court, and the 'satan', on the other) and radically questions old theodicies and sapiential concepts of retribution. The course aims firstly at sketching the complex birth process of the book of Job both within the framework of ancient Near East literatures and in relationship with Greek literary production - if there is any to be detected. Case studies of its reception will then be offered, ranging from the first re-writings to contemporary versions and reprises.

More specifically, the course will address the following issues:

1^st part (10hs):

– the state of the art: problems, 'sources', models;

– 'nihilisms' and 'theodicies' in ancient Near East literature as a frame of reference;

– 'theodicies' between Greece and Rome;

2^nd part (10hs):

– historical, philological and literary analysis of Job;

3^rd part (10hs):

– case studies in the reception history of Job.

 

N.B. No previous knowledge of Hebrew phonetics/grammar required. Translations from the Hebrew text will be provided during the course by the teacher.

Readings/Bibliography

a) Translations:

Giobbe, in La Bibbia dei Settanta. III: Libri poetici, a cura di P. Sacchi, Morcelliana 2013, pp. 711-859 (esclusivamente per gli studenti di filologia classica);

Iob, in Biblia Sacra Vulgata, ediderunt R. Weber-R. Gryson, Stuttgart 1969 (quinta ediz. 2007; esclusivamente per gli studenti di filologia classica);

Il libro di Giobbe, versione e commento di G. Ceronetti, Adelphi 1972 (e successive ristampe);

Il libro di Giobbe, a cura di A. Luzzatto, Feltrinelli 2017;

Il libro di Giobbe, a cura di G. Ravasi, BUR 1989;

b) Commentaries:

Il libro di Giobbe, traduzione e commento di G. Ravasi, Borla 1979;

Giobbe. Introduzione, traduzione e commento, a cura di S. Mazzoni, Paoline 2020;

Giobbe. Commentario teologico e letterario, a cura di L.A. Schoekel e J.L. Sicre Díaz, Borla 1985;

c) Studies

1. Integral Readings

P. Boitani, Rifare la Bibbia. Ri-scritture letterarie, Il Mulino 2021;

G. Garbini, Letteratura e politica nell'Israele biblico, Paideia 2010;

R.G. Kratz, Israele storico e biblico. Storia, tradizione, archivi, GBP 2021;

M. Liverani, Oltre la Bibbia. Storia antica di Israele, Laterza 2003;

P. Sacchi, Storia del Secondo Tempio. Israele fra VI sec. a.C. e I sec. d.C., SEI 1994;

M. Satlow, E il Signore parlò a Mosè. Come la Bibbia divenne sacra, Bollati Boringhieri 2017;

F. Stavrakopoulou, Anatomia di Dio, Bollati Boringhieri 2022;

2. Partial Readings

I volti di Giobbe. Percorsi interdisciplinari, a cura di G. Marconi e C. Termini, EDB 2003, three chapters at the student's choice;

K. Berthelot, The Formation of the Hebrew Bible in a Greco-Roman Context in Light of the Evidence from Qumran, in Stones, Tablets, and Scrolls. Periods of the Formation of the Bible, ed. by P. Dubovský and F. Giuntoli, Mohr Siebeck 2020, pp. 395-409;

J.L. Crenshaw, Defending God: Biblical Responses to the Problem of Evil, Oxford University Press 2005, one part at the student's choice;

C. Moro, I sandali di Mosè, Paideia 2011, pp. 23-104;

W.M. Schniedewind, The Finger of the Scribe. How Scribes Learned to Write the Bible, Oxford University Press 2019, pp. 1-22 and 120-147;

Teaching methods

Lectures; analysis of literary texts; use of bibliographic and electronic databases; audio- and video resources.

Assessment methods

Oral exam. Students will have to prove their abilities

• to read and understand Job in Greek or Latin (required exclusively of Classical Philology students) or alternatively in a modern translation (supra, Bibliography under the entry Translations);
• to interpret and profile Job as a cultural, historical and literary artifact, supplementing and integrating class notes with one commentary of their choice from among those enlisted supra in Bibliography under the entry Commentaries;
• to sketch and discuss the material, historical, and cultural processes that lead to the formation of Israel's sacred writings as we know them, in the light of one reading of their choice selected from the list offered supra in Bibliography under the entry Studies, point 1. (Integral Readings);

Additionally, students who cannot attend the lessons will substitute class notes with one volume of their choice from those listed supra in Bibliography under the entry Studies, point 2. (Partial Readings).

Skills will be assessed according to the following guidelines:
- failing grade (< 18): inability to translate short sections from the Greek/Latin text of Job (exclusively required of LM15 students); inability to provide a correct interpretation of the texts discussed during the course or, as for non-attending students, to comment on the critical essays of their choice.
- passing grade (between 18 and 24): elementary ability to translate short sections from the Greek/Latin text of Job (exclusively required of LM15 students); inaccuracy and lack of autonomy in providing a correct interpretation of the texts discussed during the course or, as for non-attending students, in commenting on critical essays of their choice.
- positive grade (between 24 and 30): good comprehension of the grammatical and syntactical structures of the Greek/Latin text of Job (exclusively required of LM15 students); interpretation of the texts discussed during the course is correct, but mostly superficial and not entirely autonomous; as for non-attending students, the critical essays of their choice are cursorily commented upon.
- excellent grade (30L): in-depth knowledge of the grammatical and syntactical structures of the Greek/Latin text of Job (exclusively required of LM15 students); precision and full autonomy in interpreting, contextualizing and critically comparing the texts discussed during the course; as for non-attending students, critical discussion of the essays of their choice is detailed and deep-ranging.

Teaching tools

Computer and projector; bibliographic and electronic databases; fotocopies; texts and segments of texts in PDF format uploaded by the teacher as teaching materials (downloadable from https://iol.unibo.it).

Office hours

See the website of Daniele Tripaldi