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Reassessing the Genres of the Hodayot Reassessing the Genres of the Hodayot (Thanksgiving Psalms from Qumran)

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Reassessing the Genres of the Hodayot Reassessing the Genres of the Hodayot (Thanksgiving Psalms from Qumran) REASSESSING THE GENRES OF THE HODAYOT REASSESSING THE GENRES OF THE HODAYOT (THANKSGIVING PSALMS FROM QUMRAN) By MICHAEL B. JOHNSON, B.A., M.Div., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University © Copyright by Michael B. Johnson, July 2019 McMaster University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2019) Hamilton, Ontario (Religious Studies) TITLE: Reassessing the Genres of the Hodayot (Thanksgiving Psalms from Qumran) AUTHOR: Michael B. Johnson, B.A. (Huntington University), M.Div. (Candler School of Theology, Emory University), M.A. (Trinity Western University) SUPERVISOR: Eileen M. Schuller NUMBER OF PAGES: xvi, 314 ii LAY ABSTRACT In this thesis I study the Thanksgiving Psalms from Qumran (1QHodayota), a collection of Jewish psalms from the Dead Sea Scrolls. The collection is typically divided into two categories: the “Teacher Hymns” written by a leader of a sect, and the “Community Hymns” that are associated with his followers. Scholars agree that these categories are inadequate, but no alternatives have been offered. I propose to use a more flexible approach that can classify all of the psalms by genre. The psalms are classified on a spectrum between two modes of praise by their objectives and strategies of persuasion. I argue that the psalms participate in two interlocking genres (the eschatological psalms of thanksgiving and the psalms of hymnic confession) and that all the psalms enable the speaker (the Maskil/Instructor) to achieve the two objectives of praising God and instructing his audience how to do the same. iii ABSTRACT The psalms of the Hodayot tradition (the Thanksgiving Psalms from Qumran) have been customarily divided into two categories: the “Teacher Hymns” written by a leader of the sect at Qumran, and the “Community Hymns” associated with the ordinary members of the sect. These categories are considered problematic because of well-recognized problems pertaining to authorship and to the poor fit of many of the psalms in the categories. I propose a new set of categories for the Hodayot that classify the psalms on the basis of genre. It is my contention that genre offers a better frame of reference because it defines the psalms against the backdrop of the genres of early Jewish psalms and not solely in terms of the sectarian community. To propose new generic categories, I employ John Swales’s rhetorical moves analysis to classify the psalms on the basis of how their formal structures (what he calls “rhetorical moves”) work together to achieve common rhetorical objectives. Swales defines a composition’s genre primarily by its rhetorical objectives rather than a definitional checklist of features. I use rhetorical moves analysis to describe where the Hodayot psalms fall along the spectrum of descriptive and declarative praise in Claus Westermann’s schema for the genres of the biblical psalms. I conclude that there are two interlocking generic categories in the Hodayot: eschatological psalms of thanksgiving and psalms of hymnic confession. These generic categories have overlapping rhetorical strategies consisting of rhetorical moves that work closely iv together to achieve the primary communicative purpose of praising God descriptively and declaratively. In this respect, they serve the Maskil’s secondary rhetorical objective of instructing the audience in the sectarian discourses of praise and supplication, making the Hodayot tradition a part of the Maskil’s programme of instructing sectarians and evaluating their insight into the divine plan. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS If the Hodayot is a collection of psalms for the Maskil/Instructor to use when instructing “the simple” (1QHa 5:12–13), then Eileen Schuller and Carol Newsom are my Maskilim. In an extended sense, the process of developing this thesis began with the publication of DJD 40 in 2009 (Hartmut Stegemann and Eileen M. Schuller, trans. Carol A. Newsom, 2009). Carol suggested the Hodayot as a topic for a research paper when I was taking her course on apocalyptic literature at the Candler School of Theology in 2009. DJD 40 had just been published, and there was no better time to start exploring research questions than the much anticipated publication of the large 1QHodayota manuscript in the Discoveries of the Judaean Desert series. Carol’s recommendation started what has been a challenging and enriching journey of “discovering” the Dead Sea Scrolls for myself. My reading of the Hodayot is shaped in countless ways by Carol’s innovative work at the intersection of genre theory, rhetorical criticism, and the Hodayot. Additionally, I would not be where I am today without her sage advice that has helped me navigate academia over the past decade. To an even greater extent, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Eileen Schuller, who has patiently and expertly guided (and sometimes triaged) me through the research and writing process. If Carol planted the “seed” of my interest in the Hodayot, it was Eileen who cultivated it, and there has been much weeding, trimming, and watering to be done. It has been a great vi privilege to work under a supervisor of her calibre. This thesis would not have been possible without her efforts to publish all of the Hodayot manuscripts as expeditiously as she did. In addition to the publication of the editions, her careful and measured research on early Jewish psalms has provided a steady foundation for my work. I would also like to express my gratitude to the members of my committee, Dan Machiela and Hanna Tervanotko. I deeply appreciate the many hours of labour that they invested into this process and into my development as a scholar and a teacher. The PhD programme would have been immeasurably more difficult without my fellow graduate students in the Department of Religious Studies, past and present. I owe so much to the those who went ahead of me. I am particularly grateful to Miriam DeCock, Jordan Ryan, Andrew Knight-Messenger, Nick Meyer, and Jonathan Bernier because they were so generous in sharing their hard-earned wisdom and continue to do so. I am also indebted to those who have worked or collaborated with me in various capacities during my time in the program, especially John VanMaaren, Rob Jones, Katharine Fitzgerald, and Channah Fonseca-Quezada. I am proud of what we were able to accomplish over the years through teaching, TA work, and special programs in the department. I also would like to thank the Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship at McMaster University for supporting my research. I have especially appreciated the mentorship of Andrea vii Zeffiro and Dale Askey, who helped me lay the groundwork for my next project and develop the skills to execute it. To the graduate residents at the Sherman Centre: thank you for making my time at McMaster a delight. It has been a joy to collaborate and to learn from you. I am also grateful to the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, the Canadian Friends of the École Biblique, and the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research for supporting my research trips to Jerusalem over the course of my programme. These trips have been the highlight of my graduate career. I owe a special word of thanks to my family, especially my mother, Mary, who is always available to listen, even though some of the academic topics of conversation might have been a little dry over the years. I cannot emphasize enough how much my wife, Emily, has been a great source of joy and support throughout the entire process. I hope I can repay the sacrifices you have made as I finished this thesis. Thank you for your patience and your love. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS REASSESSING THE GENRES OF THE HODAYOT (THANKSGIVING PSALMS FROM QUMRAN) Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1. Introduction 1 2. The Publication and Reconstruction of the Hodayot Manuscripts 5 3. Background of the Teacher Hymn-Community Hymn Schema (1948–1966) 7 1. Eleazar Sukenik (1948-53) 7 2. Svend Holm-Nielsen (1960) 10 3. Günter Morawe (1961) 16 4. The Emergence of the Teacher Hymn-Community Hymn Schema (1962–1966) 22 1. Gert Jeremias (1963) 23 2. Jürgen Becker (1964) 28 3. Heinz-Wolfgang Kuhn (1966) 31 5. Reception of the Teacher Hymn-Community Hymn Schema (1967–2015) 36 1. Sarah Tanzer (1986) 36 2. Émile Puech (1988) 43 3. Michael Douglas (1998) 46 4. Carol Newsom (2004) 51 5. Angela Kim Harkins (2010 to 2018) 56 6. Trine Hasselbalch (2015) 60 6. Studies on Selections of Hodayot Psalms 63 1. Bonnie Kittel (1981) 64 2. Julie Hughes (2006) 65 3. Katri Antin (2019) 67 7. Overview 69 Chapter 2. Theory and Method 72 1. Introduction 72 2. Claus Westermann’s Schema 73 3. Modern Genre Theory 84 4. Modern Genre Theory and Westermann’s Schema 88 ix 1. Theoretical Foundations of Swales’s Concept of Genre 90 2. Key Concepts in Genre Theory (Swales, Bazerman, and Devitt) 96 5. Rhetorical Moves Analysis 103 6. Approach 108 Chapter 3. Survey of Rhetorical Moves in the Hodayot 110 1. Paratextual Elements 112 1. Superscriptions 112 2. Rhetorical Moves at the Beginning of Psalms 119 Introductory Formula 119 אודכה אדוני כי .1 Introductory Formula 129 ברוך אתה אדוני .2 Introduction 137 ואני משכיל .3 Excursus: The Delimitation of the Psalms in the Hodayot Tradition 3. Rhetorical Moves in the Body of Hodayot Psalms 141 1. Accounts of Distress 141 2. Accounts of Provisional Assistance 152 3. Accounts of Eschatological Deliverance 163 4. Meditations 168 5. Confessions of Knowledge 178 6. Hypophora Sections 182 7. Resolutions 191 8. Petitions 195 Subsection Formula 201 ברוך אתה אדוני .9 10. Exhortations 204 11. Hymnic Sections 210 12. The Speaker’s Recollections 215 4.
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