Divine Embodiment in Jewish Antiquity: Rediscovering the Jewishness of John’S Incarnate Christ
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Divine Embodiment in Jewish Antiquity: Rediscovering The Jewishness of John’s Incarnate Christ by Deborah L. Forger A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Near Eastern Studies) in the University of Michigan 2017 Doctoral Committee: Professor Gabriele Boccaccini, Chair Associate Professor Ellen Muehlberger Associate Professor Rachel Neis Professor Ray Van Dam Deborah L. Forger [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1285-7880 © Deborah L. Forger 2017 All Rights Reserved For Danny, Daniel, and Olivia ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis has been a labor of love and it would never have been birthed into existence without the guidance, support, and aid of many people. To my chair, Gabriele Boccaccini, I owe enormous thanks. My transition back into academia after working in parish ministry was more challenging than I had anticipated and he took a real chance on me. His enthusiasm for the Second Temple Period instilled within me an equal fervor for this beautiful area of research and enabled me to fuse my previous training in scriptural exegesis with an equally rigorous attention to the history and culture of this period in Jewish history. His instrumental role in the establishment of the Enoch Seminar and his ongoing vision for its future potential also afforded a young scholar like myself an unparalleled opportunity to engage with leading specialists in our field, often in some of the most pristine locations in Italy. The collaborative atmosphere that these meetings fosters testifies to the ongoing potential of scholarship to bridge the gap between different disciplines and to dismantle divisions that have previously stymied progress in the study of the origins of two major world religions. A deep debt of gratitude is due to my committee members, Ellen Muehlberger, Rachel Neis, and Ray Van Dam. I arrived at Michigan at the same time that Ellen Muehlberger began her tenure in the NES and History departments and I cannot image my course of studies without her presence. Her early belief in me during coursework, gracious offers to translate Greek and Coptic texts together, frequent advice on professional matters, and incisive critiques of multiple drafts of this thesis have made my work much stronger than it otherwise would have been. To iii Rachel Neis I am sincerely thankful for her generous reading of rabbinic texts with me, one-on- one, in her office in my early days at Michigan, her continued offers to read such texts in small groups, her attention to how my work on divine embodiment intersects with scholarly attention to God’s body among both Hebrew Bible and Rabbinics specialists, and for the way in which she has opened my eyes to the fascinating world of the rabbis. I am also indebted to Ray Van Dam for pushing me in the direction of social history, and encouraging me to attend to the specific historical circumstances out of which texts arise. I owe many thanks to Michail Kitsos, Rodney Caruthers, Isaac Oliver, Zason Zurawski, Anne Kreps, Stephanie Bolz, Hannah Roussel, Jason Von Ehrenkrook, Adrianne Spunaugle, Oswald Sobrino, Josh Scott, and Anthony Meyer for journeying various stages of my doctoral experience with me. Michail Kitsos and Rodney Caruthers, in particular, have been an essential source of friendship and support in my later stages of dissertation writing. I also want to thank my writing group partners, Katy Peplin and Alysa Handelsman, who read some of the roughest and earliest instantiations of this work. The Sweetland Dissertation Writing Groups may have brought us together, but a lasting friendship has been the result. Thanks are due to my mentors from earlier stages in my career. From my time at Duke, I want to thank Ellen Davis and Richard Hays, who fostered within me a love of close, critical readings of scripture—both of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament—and who demonstrated how its ongoing interpretation has the ability to transform communities in positive ways even into the present days. From my days at Calvin, I want to thank Kendra Hotz and Christiana DeGroot who first believed not only in my potential to pursue academic research in this area, but also in my ability to secure gainful employment while doing it. iv To my spouse, Danny Forger, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude. He believed in my potential as a scholar long before I envisioned myself in that role and has been a tireless source of encouragement throughout this entire process. Much of the work in this piece, and the requisite knowledge in languages and secondary scholarship behind it, was acquired or produced as we sat together in the evening, each typing out our ideas on our respective academic projects, by the light of the fire blazing in the hearth of our home. A part of me will always look back fondly at these times. I am certain that this dissertation would not have come to fruition without him. My children, who are a constant source of joy, inspiration, and delight in my life, have also been essential to this project’s completion. My three-year old has heard me talk of this dissertation so often that by now he not only prays for its completion over the dinner table most evenings, but also informs us that he is writing his own. Finishing off this thesis with a nursing infant who refused to take a bottle has proved difficult, but as I look at her pristine, angel-like face, fast asleep next to me as I pen these final words, I am so grateful for both of my children’s presence in my life. They have grounded me in ways that nothing else could have done and are a constant reminder that my life is much more than the sum of my scholarship. It is to them, and to my spouse, that I have dedicated this work. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all of the funding sources that proved essential for the completion of this work: the Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship; the Lipscutz, Host, Smith Graduate Fellowship; the Radcliffe-Ramsdell Graduate Fellowship; and the Center for Faith and Scholarship Graduate Student Award. I would also like to thank the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, the Rackham Travel Grant, and the Dorot Foundation for supporting both my study of Modern Hebrew in Israel and portions of v my research for this project. The University of Michigan, Rackham Graduate School, the Near Eastern Studies Department, and the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies are also owed my gratitude for their support throughout my doctoral program. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………………...ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM ................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 1.2 A Brief History of Research .....................................................................................................14 1.3 Methodological Considerations ...............................................................................................36 1.4 Dissertation Outline .................................................................................................................45 CHAPTER TWO: RE-CONCEPTUALIZING ANCIENT JEWISH MONOTHEISM ..... 53 2.1 Introduction to the Debate .......................................................................................................53 2.2 Envisioning a Third View on Ancient Jewish Monotheism ..................................................57 2.3 The Hierarchical Nature of God’s Oneness ...........................................................................64 2.4 The Uncreated God vs. All Other Reality ..............................................................................70 2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................80 CHAPTER THREE: A JEWISH PHILOSOPHER’S RELUCTANT EMBRACE OF DIVINE CORPOREALITY ...................................................................................................... 84 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................84 3.2 How a Spark of God Became Embodied in Humanity ........................................................85 3.3 Philosophy’s Role in the Epistemological Awakening of Humans ......................................95 3.4 The Mystical Ascent of the Patriarchs .................................................................................102 3.5 Moses as Philo’s Ultimate Paradigm ...................................................................................108 3.6 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................116 CHAPTER 4: THE JEWISH HIGH PRIEST AS FORM OF GOD ................................... 120 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................120 4.2 Mapping Greco-Roman Concepts of Divinity onto Judaism .............................................122 4.3 First Case Study: Josephus’ Ant. 11.302–45 ........................................................................128