Speaking as the Other: Late Ancient Jewish and Christian Multivocal Texts and the Creation of Religious Legitimacy by Michail Kitsos A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Near Eastern Studies) in the University of Michigan 2020 Doctoral Committee: Professor Ellen Muehlberger, Co-Chair Associate Professor Rachel Rafael Neis, Co-Chair Dr. Ra῾anan S. Boustan, Princeton University Associate Professor Jay Crisostomo Dr. Andrew S. Jacobs, Harvard Divinity School Associate Professor Ryan Szpiech Michail Kitsos mkitsos@umich.edu ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0992-2752 © Michail Kitsos 2020 Τὸ δὲ ζητούμενον ἁλωτὸν, ἐκφεύγει δὲ τἀμελούμενον... ii Acknowledgements I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my co-advisors and mentors, Professor Ellen Muehlberger and Professor Rachel Rafael Neis whose support and contribution were instrumental for me to complete this dissertation. They guided me and taught me throughout this academic journey with generosity and selflessness, and with their feedback and stature, they set up for me an example of what it means to be an academic and on how to strive to improve academically. Their advice during these years added up to an invaluable treasure for me. I thank them from the bottom of my heart for playing an instrumental role in my graduate studies, in my academic forging, and in my dissertation. I also want to express my warmest gratitude to the rest of my dissertation committee, Professor Ra῾anan S. Boustan, Professor Jay Crisostomo, Professor Andrew S. Jacobs, and Professor Ryan W. Szpiech, whose academic excellence, compassion, and guidance enriched my academic life during the composition of my dissertation and whose help often extended beyond their call of duty as committee members. From my previous academic education in Greece, I would like to thank Professor Dionysios Benetos, my now closest friend from my native country, who transmitted to me his love for philology and the search of meanings in the ancient words, and for his belief in me. I am indebted to him for all his guidance. I would also like to extend my gratefulness to particular people who in one way or another had a specific contribution in my academic life. Dr. Deborah Forger, my close friend who supported me intellectually and spiritually during all the stages of my dissertation writing. Professor Micah Auerback for listening to me and for being a great sounding board. In particular, iii Mrs. Pecky Witonsky and her husband Mr. Karl Witonsky whose support and love were immeasurable and whose confidence in me gave me courage in difficult moments away from home. Also, Mrs. Selene Negrette, Mrs. Meghan Hough, and Mrs. Wendy Burr who helped and supported me in many ways. Additionally, the various committee members at the Department of Middle East Studies and the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan who so graciously approved grants during my graduate studies to support my academic training and to allow me to participate in conferences where I presented my work. And now that my journey to “Ithaca” reached its end, I feel deeply the need to dedicate this project to three persons. My father, Chrēstos Kitsos, of blessed memory, who taught me that dignity is above all, and who never stopped living up to his ideals. My mother, vasilikē Kitsou, a true Spartan woman, who bestowed upon me the duty to never give up, setting up herself first as a model to me. And my partner, Mathew Stange, who has witnessed my hills and valleys during this academic journey, who has joined me in endless intellectual conversations on my project that enlightened my thinking, and whose unconditional love and patience kept me going in the most challenging moments. To all the aforementioned people I say, Εὐχαριστῶ, πάντων ἔνεκεν. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 The Adversus Iudaeos Dialogues in Late Antiquity ....................................................................1 Rabbinic Multivocal Narratives and “Others” ...........................................................................13 Foil Characters and Narratives in Late Antique Dialogues .......................................................25 Historical Context and Methodology .........................................................................................28 Outline of Chapters ....................................................................................................................41 Chapter 2: Christian Authorial Dialectical Claims of a Religious Legitimacy: Christian Dialectical Discussions on Icons and Idols in the Adversus Iudaeos Dialogues ...........................46 Introduction: Ethopoieia and Foiling in the Adversus Iudaeos Dialogues ................................46 Materializing the Contact with the Divine .................................................................................49 Sacred Objects and Divine Remembrance .................................................................................57 Discussions on Holy Persons, Pictorial Representation of Angels, and the veneration of Relics ...................................................................................................................................................69 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................76 Chapter 3: Foiling the “Other” in Rabbinic Multivocal Narratives on Idols .................................77 Introduction: Foils to the Rabbis ...............................................................................................77 The Idolater Foil to the Rabbis: Pervasiveness of Idolatry and Rabbinic Perplexment ............83 The Gentile Foil to the Rabbis: Living in an Idolatrous World but not Being Part of It ...........89 The Rabbinic Foil: Foiling from Inside to Siding with the Preferred Stance ............................98 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................105 Chapter 4: Imagining the “Jew” as the Foil against their Own Kin in Dialectical Discussions on (the Divinity of) Christ in Adversus Iudaeos Dialogues ..............................................................108 Introduction: “Jews” as Foils to “Christians” and the Israelite Prophets ................................108 The Birth of Christ/the Messiah from a Virgin ........................................................................114 The Christ/Messiah as the Son of God ....................................................................................136 (One) God(s), the Father and the Son, Involved in the Creation .............................................149 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................165 v Chapter 5: Rabbinic Dialectical Narratives as Foils to “Other” Stories ......................................168 Introduction: Foil Dialectical Narratives .................................................................................168 Foil Dialectical Narratives: Contrasting Attitudes to “Other” Irrational Stories .....................178 Dialectical Narratives as Foils to “Other” Narratives to Express Different Opinions .............196 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................204 Chapter 6: Conclusion ..................................................................................................................206 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................215 vi ABstract This dissertation considers Adversus Iudaeos dialogues and rabbinic multivocal narratives side by side and investigates how and why the anonymous authors of these texts deployed “other” characters and “other” narratives, constructing around them a plot of realistically portrayed encounters. Scholars of late antique Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism have examined separately these works that portray two or more interlocutors discussing with each other on topics that concerned their authors. Their scholarship has interpreted the function of these compositions, seeing them as ways of providing self-definition or opinion making (in the case of Adversus Iudaeos dialogues), or as demonstrating internalization of and anxiety over others’ criticisms, or as parodies (in the case of selected rabbinic multivocal narratives). These two kinds of texts, however, have not often been studied in tandem, nor has the purposeful deployment of “other” interlocutors or “other” narratives in them. Specifically, this study examines the reasons for the deployment of contrasting characters and narratives in texts where interlocutors discuss topics of belief and practice with each other. From the corpus of the Christian Adversus Iudaeos dialogues, this study analyzes excerpts written in Greek, Syriac, and Latin between the early fifth to the tenth