The Sacrifice of Isaac Is a Topos That Has Occupied Theologians
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
© 2014 Sylvia Lissner Irwin ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN GERMAN AND YIDDISH WORKS By SYLVIA LISSNER IRWIN A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in German written under the direction of Marlene Ciklamini and approved by ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ New Brunswick, N.J. May, 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Sacrifice of Isaac In Medieval and Early Modern German and Yiddish Works By Sylvia Lissner Irwin Dissertation Director: Marlene Ciklamini In my dissertation I investigate the Biblical story of the Sacrifice of Isaac as portrayed by six authors, writing in the German or Yiddish vernacular. These vernacular texts include two medieval German plays, Der Sündenfall by Arnold Immessen, and the Heidelberger Passionsspiel; two plays by the Reformation author, Hans Sachs, Tragedia mit neun Person zu agirn. Die Opferung Isaac. Hat 3 actus and his Tragedia. Der Abraham, Lott sampt der opfferung Isaac, hat 21 person und 7 actus, and Sachs's Meistersang, Der ertz-Patriarch Abraham mit der opferung Isaac, ein figur Jesu Christi; the Reformation play Drey liebliche nützliche Historien der dreier Erzveter und Patriarchen Abrahams, Isaacs und Jacobs, aus dem Ersten buch Mosi, in Deudsche reim verfasset durch Joachimum Greff von Zwickaw, zu spielen und zu lessen tröstlich. Wittemberg 1540 by Joachim Greff; and two Yiddish texts of the Early Modern period, Shira fun Yitzkhak and Akêdass Yizhak. In addition to a literary analysis of these works, I examine the Christian texts' use of religious and literary typology, as well as their respective inclusion of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish exegesis in their depiction of the Sacrifice of ii Isaac. My analysis of the German-language texts also addresses two visual works, the Verdun Altar and the Biblia pauperum, to illustrate the depiction of this Biblical theme in visual art. These works chosen evidence the rise of new forms of popular religion, characterized by their choice of vernacular language, new means of addressing religious ideas to the public, new authority figures (authors, not clergy), and the role of print culture. My examination of these literary works demonstrates how sectarian theology informed their writing, including whether - and if so how - these texts offered religious polemics. I argue that, in addition to their didactic and entertaining nature, the Jewish and Protestant works promulgated their own religious values in part by responding to competing religious traditions. By contrast, the pre-Reformation Catholic texts examined do not exhibit such a multiplicity of intent, functioning predominantly as didactic works and offered no such polemic. iii DEDICATION First and foremost, I want to thank Marlene Ciklamini. It is my privilege to have taken my first German course as a Douglass College freshman with Marlene, and to now write my dissertation with her as my primary adviser. Marlene has not only been a scholastic mentor, but a guide through life, for my academic career and my friendship with her have spanned more than four decades. This dissertation is the fulfillment of a passion nurtured by Marlene, who was always there for me, ready to listen, help, encourage, and point the way. I would like to thank my parents, Ruth and Ernest Lissner, of blessed memory, for imbuing me with a sense of the rich heritage that they came from, and for emphasizing the importance of academic achievement. Of course, behind every woman, there stands her family. To my husband, Ray Burke, and my son, Dan Irwin, go my thanks for not only bearing with my studies, but for encouraging them. As I reflect on my life and my career at Rutgers University, I realize how fortunate I am to be able to realize two such diverse career paths, maintaining a full-time dental practice while obtaining a PhD in German. The opportunity to return to academe and fulfill my dream is a rare one. I would like to thank Rutgers University, the faculty of the German Department, and the other members of my committee, Jeffrey Shandler, Michael Levine, and Nicholas Rennie for this privilege, and for their support and faith in me. Special thanks go iv to the staff of the Rutgers University Library for all of their assistance and efforts in obtaining the myriad of books and articles needed for my research. v Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................... ii Dedication ................................................................................................... iv Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Typology as a Method of Religious Interpretation .................... 31 Chapter 2: Typology in Literature and Art .................................................. 53 Chapter 3: Pre-Reformation German Catholic Treatments of the Sacrifice of Isaac ........................................................... 102 Chapter 4: Martin Luther and the German Protestant Treatments of the Sacrifice of Isaac ........................................................... 135 Chapter 5: Two Yiddish Treatments of the Sacrifice of Isaac .................... 251 Chapter 6: Conclusion .............................................................................. 316 Bibliography ................................................................................................ 319 vi 1 Introduction A crucible is for silver and a furnace for gold, but the Lord tests hearts. (Proverbs 17:3) Genesis 22:1-19, the Sacrifice of Isaac, is a subject that has engaged theologians, philosophers, psychologists, writers, and artists from Biblical times until the present. I will focus on six vernacular authors who treat the Sacrifice of Isaac narrative in Yiddish, Low German, and High German literature from the fifteenth through sixteenth centuries. My aim is twofold: First, I will investigate the manner in which sectarian theology - Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish - as represented by the selected authors, informed their treatments. The works chosen evidence the rise of new forms of popular religion, marked as such by their choice of vernacular language, new means of addressing religious ideas to the public, new authority figures (authors, not clergy), and the role of print culture.1 Second, I will examine the use or non-use of these texts as polemical 1 The term 'popular religion' is subject to many definitions. Robert Scribner, Popular Culture and Popular Movements in Reformation Germany (London: Hambledon Press, 1987) 17-18. Scribner suggests four definitions: "It [popular religion] is often defined through the use of polar opposites, in terms such as 'official' and 'popular' religion. The former is institutional religion, the latter that which deviates from institutional norms. Another definition invokes an opposition between theory and practice. Here 'popular religion' is the practical religion embodying the religious views of the ordinary churchgoer. Its polar opposite is 'philosophical religion', the religion of an intellectual elite whose understanding of religion is shaped by theory and / or scholarship. A third definition is social historical. 'Popular religion' is that of the broad mass of the population, compared to that of the upper strata of society, usually those who participate in 'learned culture'. A fourth view shares something of all of these there, but comes with a derogatory value judgment, seeing 'popular religion' as an inferior and distorted version of a 'higher' or 'superior' religion." For the purposes of this dissertation, Scribner's third (social historical) definition is the most applicable. 2 devices. I argue that, in addition to their didactic and entertaining nature, the Jewish and Protestant works examined promulgated religious values and responded to competing religious traditions. In comparison, the pre-Reformation Catholic texts examined do not exhibit such a multiplicity of intent, functioning predominantly as didactic works. The six authors examined all preserved the basic Biblical narrative, but each viewed the events of Genesis 22:1-19 as part of the continuum of their own rich religious lore. The pre-Reformation Catholic texts are plays that hold closely to the Biblical text with little addition. The function of the Sacrifice of Isaac in these plays is pre-dominantly a typologic (prefigurative) one. The Reformation plays do not hold as closely to the Bible itself, adding additional characters and changing the typologic emphasis of the Sacrifice of Isaac to a more tropologic (moral) one, although not totally abandoning the typologic interpretation. The Yiddish treatments are in poetic and prose form, reflecting the late development of plays in Jewish culture. These texts evidence the extensive addition of material taken from midrash2. This dissertation addresses the particular interests of a number of subject areas. I will thus examine the concept of typology so central to the Catholic 2 Gary Porton,"Defining Midrash" The Study of Ancient Judaism, vol. 1, ed. Jacob Neusner (New York: Ktav Publishing, Inc. 1981) 62. The use of the term midrash in this dissertation is in accordance with Gary Porton's often cited definition of midrash as "a type of literature, oral or written,