Distribution Agreement in Presenting This Thesis Or Dissertation As A
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Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis or dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, including display on the world wide web. I understand that I may select some access restrictions as part of the online submission of this thesis or dissertation. I retain all ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. Signature: _______________________ __________ Michael J. Chan Date The City on a Hill: A Tradition-Historical Study of the Wealth of Nations Tradition By Michael J. Chan M.A. Biblical Studies, Luther Seminary, 2008 B.A., Pacific Lutheran University, 2005 Graduate Division of Religion Hebrew Bible ______________________________________ Brent A. Strawn, Ph.D. Advisor ______________________________________ Joel M. LeMon, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________________ Martti Nissinen, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________________ Jacob L. Wright, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________________ Lisa A. Tedesco, Ph.D. Dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies _________________ Date The City on a Hill: A Tradition-Historical Study of the Wealth of Nations Tradition By Michael J. Chan M.A. Biblical Studies, Luther Seminary, 2008 B.A., Pacific Lutheran University, 2005 An abstract of A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studieds of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 2013. Abstract The City on a Hill: A Tradition-Historical Study of the Wealth of Nations Tradition By Michael J. Chan Scholars doing tradition-historical work tend to view texts as the primary repositories of tradition. The unfortunate consequence of this modus operandi is that art-historical sources are typically overlooked in tradition-historical studies. Given the historic divide in academia between scholars of literature and scholars of art, the limiting of tradition to verbal media by biblical scholars is unsurprising. Recent efforts to integrate these two disparate fields, however, have cleared a methodlogical space in which one can reevaluate whether ―tradition‖ is better understood as something other than just a verbal phenomenon. I suggest tradition is more fruitfully understood as a multi-medial category. Texts, in other words, are not the sole proprietors of tradition. In order to demonstrate the viability of this proposed revision to tradition history, this dissertation undertakes a tradition historical study of, what I call, the Wealth of Nations Tradition (WNT). The WNT is a trinodal constellation, in which (1) foreign nations bring their (2) wealth to a (3) royal figure as an act of homage, honor, and submission. This tradition occurs in the following texts: 1 Kgs 10:1-10, 13, 15//2 Chr 9:1-9, 12, 14; 1 Kgs 10:23-25//2 Chr 9:22- 24; Pss 68:19, 30-32; 72:10-11; 76:12; 96:7-8//1 Chr 16:28-29; Isa 18:7; 45:14; 60:4-17; 61:5-6; 66:12; Zeph 3:10; 2 Chr 32:23. Each text is studied from the perspective of its compositional history, contents, genre, and social setting. These data are then silhouetted against the broader background of the visual and literary record of the WNT in the ancient Near East. In the final chapter, a synthetic ―biography‖ of the biblical WNT is sketched. Significant continuities and differences are highlighted, as is the tradition‘s development over time. The City on a Hill: A Tradition-Historical Study of the Wealth of Nations Tradition By Michael J. Chan M.A. Biblical Studies, Luther Seminary, 2008 B.A., Pacific Lutheran University, 2005 Advisor: Brent A. Strawn, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Religion, 2013. Acknowledgements In a now-famous letter, Mark Twain wrote, ―It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a telephone or any other important thing—and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others.‖1 For the doctoral student, these words have a special meaning. Advisors, family members, friends, and other loyal companions all contribute in their own way to the creation of dissertations. Two scholars deserve particular praise for their contributions to this project: Dr. Brent A. Strawn and Dr. Martti Nissinen. This dissertation was initially inspired by earlier work done by Dr. Strawn on Isaiah 60 and the Apadana Reliefs at Persepolis.2 With a keen editor‘s eye and profound command of the field, he shepherded this dissertation to its current state. I appreciate both his critical feedback and his mentorship. Although the idea for this dissertation was conceived at Emory University, the bulk of it was written under the watchful eye of Dr. Martti Nissinen (University of Helsinki), who was my gracious host at the University of Helsinki from January 2012-December 2013. The generous grants provided by the University of Helsinki and Emory University allowed me to focus fully on research and writing. The methodological cross-pollization this experience afforded is invaluable and marks this project in many subtle and explicit ways. Other scholars from the University of Helsinki who provided much appreciated help along the way include Anneli Aejmelaeus, Juta Jokiranta, and Juha Pakkala. My other committee members, Drs. Joel M. LeMon and Jacob L. Wright, are also to be thanked, not only for the way they shaped the dissertation but also for their encouragement. Beyond the dissertation project, Dr. Wright has proven to be an invaluable mentor. Ever since I began at Emory, he took it upon himself to encourage me when I needed encouragement and to redirect me when I needed redirection. Some of my most formative experiences at Emory involve co-authoring articles and essays with him. Through these collaborative efforts, Dr. Wright showed me how to wed creativity and scholarly rigor. Finally, I want to thank my wife of 9 years, Katherine Chan, who has been my most important companion throughout graduate school. Day after day, she made our family a haven of grace, strength, and love. 1 Albert Bigelow Paine, ed., Mark Twain‘s Letters (2 vols.; New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1917), 2:731. 2 Brent A. Strawn, ―‗A World under Control‘: Isaiah 60 and the Apadana Reliefs from Persepolis,‖ in Approaching Yehud: New Approaches to the Study of the Persian Period (ed. L. Berquist. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007), 85-116. The City on a Hill: A Tradition-Historical Study of the Wealth of Nations Tradition Contents Part I: Introduction, Method, and Scope 1. Tradition History and Art History: Toward a Synthesis 1.1. Creatio ex Traditio 1.2. Tradition and Society 1.3. Tradition History (Traditionsgeschichte) and Transmission History (Überlieferungsgeschichte) 1.4. Iconography and the Tradition History 1.5. Putting Theory Into Practice: The Wealth of Nations Tradition Part II: The Wealth of Nations Tradition in the HB and the Ancient Near East 2. The Wealth of Nations Tradition in the Hebrew Bible 2.1. Defining the Body of Textual Evidence 2.2. Poetry, Colometry, and Compositional History 2.2.1. Lyric Poetry and Compositional History 2.2.2. Colometry and Poetic Analysis 2.3. A Linguistic, Generic, and Diachronic Profile of the Biblical Texts 2.3.1. 1 Kgs 10:1-10, 13//2 Chr 9:1-9, 12 2.3.1.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.1.2. Compositional History 2.3.2. 1 Kgs 10:15//2 Chr 9:14 2.3.2.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.2.2. Compositional History 2.3.3. 1 Kgs 10:23-25//2 Chr 9:22-24 2.3.3.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.3.2. Compositional History 2.3.4. 2 Chr 32:23 2.3.4.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.4.2. Compositional History 2.3.5. Isa 18:7 2.3.5.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.5.2. Compositional History 2.3.6. Isa 45:14 2.3.6.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.6.2. Compositional History 2.3.7. Isa 60:4-17; 61:5-6 2.3.7.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.7.2. Compositional History 2.3.8. Isa 66:12 2.3.8.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.8.2. Compositional History 2.3.9. Zeph 3:10 2.3.9.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.9.2. Compositional History 2.3.10. Ps 68:19a, 29-32 2.3.10.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.10.2. Compositional History 2.3.11. Ps 72:10-11 2.3.11.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.11.2. Compositional History 2.3.12. Ps 76:12 2.3.12.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.12.2. Compositional History 2.3.13. Ps 96:7-8//1 Chr 16:28-29 2.3.13.1. Contents and Genre 2.3.13.2. Compositional History 2.3.14. 2.4. A Tabular Presentation of all Linguistic, Generic, and Diachronic Evidence from Chapters 3-4 2.4.1. Wealth Bearers 2.4.2. The Terminology of Foreign Wealth 2.4.3. The Terminology of Wealth-Bearing 2.4.4. The Recipients of Foreign Wealth 2.4.5. Genre Distribution 2.4.6.