聽日就係我 proposal defense, 開頭要講十分鐘介紹自己個 proposal, 之後答 20-30 分鐘問題. 以下就係我打算要講o既說話:
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. In my dissertation, I'm trying to investigate the effects, if any, of the destruction of the 2nd temple on how the Jews imagined and described heaven. I suppose I don't need to repeat what I've said in my proposal, so in the following 10 minutes or so, I plan to give you a more personal account of how I came to this research topic, and why I think it is worthwhile to work on it as a dissertation.
How did I come to be interested in this topic? If you remember, about 2 years ago, we had a famous scholar named Eliot Wolfson on campus; he gave a special presentation on Jewish mysticism and showed some fancy-looking pictures of ancient manuscripts. But unfortunately, just like a selected few of the faculty members who are willing to admit and many graduate students who cannot help but confess, I did not understand his lecture at all. However, as diligent and enthusiastic a student I am, in preparation for the lecture, I read a number of his studies, which I somehow understood, and actually found intriguing at times. In some of those, Wolfson discussed the connections between heaven and temple in Jewish conceptions, that Jews believed that the temple on earth was built on the model of a heavenly prototype, and they imagined heaven in temple images. Being a knowledgeable graduate student of McMaster University who's done his comps and all that, I've heard of this idea many times before, but I have to say that it was on that occasion that I began wondering, since heaven and temple are connected conceptually, what would the destruction of the 2nd temple do to Jewish perceptions of heaven? Was there a shift after 70 CE?
At first, I thought to myself, the answer should be rather straight forward, because it just seems natural that the trauma of losing the temple would make quite an impact on perceptions of heaven, considering that the Jews traditionally imagined heaven as a temple. But then I saw an interesting idea that changed my mind in a recent article of David Suter, in which he points out that the authors and readers of the Second Temple apocalyptic literature believe that God can be found only in heaven, but not in the disqualified temple on earth, because many Jews considered themselves living in a state of a continuous exile in the absence of the temple even after they had physically returned from the exile. It was after reading this that I came to realize that the situation is a lot more complicated than I initially thought. I mean, I'm not too sure about the idea of an ongoing exile, but I think one aspect of this theory has some truth to it: that is, there was a relatively widespread dissatisfaction against the temple, that some Jews saw the temple or its priesthood as disqualified, they're not functioning the way they should. The community that copied and preserved the dead sea scrolls are an example of this, they're pious Jews, they're living a religious life, they're very keen observers of the torah, but they were doing so without the second temple, and they were quite OK with that. In other words, there might be a discrepancy between historical reality and the Jews' perception of the reality. In history, we know that the Jews lost their temple in 70 CE; but in the mind of some Jews, they had lost the temple way before its physical destruction. The starting point of the trauma of losing the temple is not necessarily the day after the temple's destruction; it could be much earlier. This observation, I think, turns this seemingly straightforward inquiry into an interesting puzzle that intrigues me.
Why do I think that this is an important topic to work on? In Judaism, there is an idea of sacred space. Some places are more important, more holy than others. And the most important of such sacred space are the temple which is God's dwelling on earth, and heaven which is God's permanent residence above the earth. A study that will enrich our knowledge of the development of the Jews' perception of these special places, that sounds pretty important to me.
Is my study of this important topic going to be important as well? Am I doing anything new that still needs to be done? Among other things, I think one significance of my dissertation is that I'll focus on comparing second temple literature with post-70 writings that date to before the 2nd century CE, instead of the Hekhalot literature that date to a much much later period like Elior did in her famous book The 3 Temples. And I think that is an important task. Just for example, let's say I want to find out the impact of the 9/11 attacks on movie making. The best way to do it is to compare movies that were made before 2001 with those that were made in the years or decades immediately following the event. I would not compare movies that were made before the event with those that are made half a millennium afterwards. I mean, I don't deny the value of doing that, but it seems quite clear to me that the materials that are closest in time to the pivotal event are the most important evidence for this kind of inquiry. That's what I'm doing, and to my surprise, that really hasn't been done adequately enough in the past as far as I know.
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Saturday, 20 September 2008
歧視女性的基督教會?
我從來都不自居為女權主義者, 但係有時太過份o既歧視行為, 真係要忍唔住放出嚟俾人見識一下, 有幾過份. 我之前都講過好多次, 都係嗰句, d 人成日話自己o既決定係'合乎聖經原則', 不過其實係倒轉先真: 自己早有定論, 然後選擇性地搵 d 似乎係支持自己論點o既經文出嚟. 假借聖經o既名義嚟壓迫他人.
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Cover with women pastors pulled from shelves
By ERRIN HAINES Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated Press
Sept. 19, 2008, 2:36PM
ATLANTA — The five women on the cover are dressed in black and smiling — not an uncommon strategy for selling magazines.
But these cover girls are women of the cloth, featured in Gospel Today magazine's latest issue, which the Southern Baptist Convention has pulled from the shelves at its bookstores, though the magazine is available for sale upon request.
The group says women pastors go against its beliefs, according to its interpretation of the New Testament. The magazine was taken off stands in more than 100 Lifeway Christian Bookstores across the country, including six in metro Atlanta.
Published for nearly 20 years, Gospel Today is the largest and most widely distributed urban Christian publication in the country, with a circulation of 240,000. The magazine's publisher, Teresa Hairston, said she was just reporting on a trend, not trying to promote women pastors.
"They basically treated it like pornography and put it behind the counter," she said. "Unless a person goes into the store and asks for it, they won't see it displayed."
Nationally, the Southern Baptists have adopted statements discouraging women from being pastors, but their 42,000 U.S. churches are independent and a few have selected women to lead their congregations. The faith was organized in 1845 in Augusta, Ga.
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死海古卷@多倫多
非常期待.
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Dead Sea Scrolls to be showcased at ROM next year
Posted: September 18, 2008, 10:08 PM by Barry Hertz
Arts
By Natalie Alcoba, National Post
The biggest international exhibition yet of the Dead Sea Scrolls will be showcased at the Royal Ontario Museum next year.
Billed by some as Toronto’s largest ancient historical “blockbuster” since the Art Gallery of Ontario’s King Tut show in 1979, the scrolls are scheduled to be at the ROM next summer until December. Not every piece will be on display, but organizers say it will be the largest collection outside of Israel’s borders.
Similar, smaller exhibits in other cities have attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers in the past — the ROM show is expected to be even more popular.
The scrolls were discovered in 11 caves along the shores of the Dead Sea starting in 1947 and consist of more than 900 manuscripts, largely fragmented, written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. They date back to 250 BC.
“Most people would say they are the most important document having to do not just with Jewish history, but the origins of Christianity,” said Alex Gropper, director of the University of Toronto’s Canadian Institute for Mediterranean Studies. “They’ve revolutionized our knowledge of this important period.”
Mr. Gropper helped bring the exhibition to Toronto. He is on the board of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the custodian of the scrolls. Marilynne Freidman, a spokeswoman for the ROM, said the museum would be releasing details about the exhibit next week, at an official launch.
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Dead Sea Scrolls to be showcased at ROM next year
Posted: September 18, 2008, 10:08 PM by Barry Hertz
Arts
By Natalie Alcoba, National Post
The biggest international exhibition yet of the Dead Sea Scrolls will be showcased at the Royal Ontario Museum next year.
Billed by some as Toronto’s largest ancient historical “blockbuster” since the Art Gallery of Ontario’s King Tut show in 1979, the scrolls are scheduled to be at the ROM next summer until December. Not every piece will be on display, but organizers say it will be the largest collection outside of Israel’s borders.
Similar, smaller exhibits in other cities have attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers in the past — the ROM show is expected to be even more popular.
The scrolls were discovered in 11 caves along the shores of the Dead Sea starting in 1947 and consist of more than 900 manuscripts, largely fragmented, written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. They date back to 250 BC.
“Most people would say they are the most important document having to do not just with Jewish history, but the origins of Christianity,” said Alex Gropper, director of the University of Toronto’s Canadian Institute for Mediterranean Studies. “They’ve revolutionized our knowledge of this important period.”
Mr. Gropper helped bring the exhibition to Toronto. He is on the board of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the custodian of the scrolls. Marilynne Freidman, a spokeswoman for the ROM, said the museum would be releasing details about the exhibit next week, at an official launch.
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Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
英雄救美之計
最近因為黃毓民關係, 係我第一次咁關注選舉經過同結果, 真係非常有趣, 睇到好多我之前冇留意過o既嘢. 最過癮者, 莫過於有日喺 youtube 見到梁燕城為梁美芬站台拉票:
http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=ImySlFq9280
http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=68SroaEMfTQ
對梁燕城, 雖然佢成日講埋 d 佢唔識o既嘢 (如考古, 聖經) 但係又講錯晒, 唔識又扮博學, 但係對佢冇乜厭惡感, 但係今次佢幫梁美芬拉票, 就真係令人心生厭惡, 又話佢係"鄰家女孩", 又話佢有"獨立思想", 真係唔知佢係有心講大話定係咁天真咁傻. 其實唔止佢, 仲有好多其他基督教大佬, 如李炳光, 陳世強, 陳樹安, 呂宇俊. 當中最出位者, 則當屬蘇穎智牧師, 佢喺主日崇拜聚會中要求會友為梁美芬代禱, 疑似為佢拉票. 而家梁美芬選上, 香港基督教會都幫佢唔少, 否則未必可以勝過毛孟靜.
梁美芬係乜人呢? 佢雖然以獨立參選人身份參選, 但係人人都知佢係共產黨無間道. 首先, 佢支持廿三條:
===============================
2007年5月11日。
【明報專訊】策發會委員老鼠芬、鄭赤焱和鄭國漢，昨日在策發會工作坊上建議，若不想下屆特首選舉提名門檻過高和有篩選機制，當局應盡快為《基本法》23條立法，並把條例內分裂國家、竊取國家機密等罪行，列入《行政長官選舉條例》，令干犯有關罪行者不能參選特首。
===============================
一個有正常獨立思想機能o既人又點會主動要求廿三條立法? 搵鬼信咩? 仲有, 喺選舉期間, 就俾人踢爆佢同共產黨選舉機器民建聯配票, 有晒證據, 俾人搵到工聯會 (亦係親共產黨) 內部信件, 其中1.69 萬份叫會員投俾梁美芬, 另外2.3 萬份就叫會員投俾民建聯.
到選舉當日, 由民建聯一早就收檔, 停止拉票, 原因當然係因為已經夠票當選; 而同時梁美芬就有成千人幫佢拉票, 明顯係民建聯幫晒手分票俾佢, 大家齊齊入立法會, 而結果亦係成功收場, 大團圓結局.
我真係唔明, 點解香港教會要支持一個支持廿三條o既人? 教會係咪 buy 廿三條先? 尋晚聽譚志強節目, 佢話曾經有教會領袖喺大陸出事, 不過梁美芬出手搞掂, 成功救人, 所以同教會關係密切云云. 假如屬實, 咁大佬呀, 呢條係 TVB 用到爛o既英雄救美之計嚟啫!!! 搵人搞你o個個又係佢, 英勇救你o個個又係佢, 咁白痴o既招數都睇唔出? 唉, 真係唔知佢地搞邊科.
http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=ImySlFq9280
http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=68SroaEMfTQ
對梁燕城, 雖然佢成日講埋 d 佢唔識o既嘢 (如考古, 聖經) 但係又講錯晒, 唔識又扮博學, 但係對佢冇乜厭惡感, 但係今次佢幫梁美芬拉票, 就真係令人心生厭惡, 又話佢係"鄰家女孩", 又話佢有"獨立思想", 真係唔知佢係有心講大話定係咁天真咁傻. 其實唔止佢, 仲有好多其他基督教大佬, 如李炳光, 陳世強, 陳樹安, 呂宇俊. 當中最出位者, 則當屬蘇穎智牧師, 佢喺主日崇拜聚會中要求會友為梁美芬代禱, 疑似為佢拉票. 而家梁美芬選上, 香港基督教會都幫佢唔少, 否則未必可以勝過毛孟靜.
梁美芬係乜人呢? 佢雖然以獨立參選人身份參選, 但係人人都知佢係共產黨無間道. 首先, 佢支持廿三條:
===============================
2007年5月11日。
【明報專訊】策發會委員老鼠芬、鄭赤焱和鄭國漢，昨日在策發會工作坊上建議，若不想下屆特首選舉提名門檻過高和有篩選機制，當局應盡快為《基本法》23條立法，並把條例內分裂國家、竊取國家機密等罪行，列入《行政長官選舉條例》，令干犯有關罪行者不能參選特首。
===============================
一個有正常獨立思想機能o既人又點會主動要求廿三條立法? 搵鬼信咩? 仲有, 喺選舉期間, 就俾人踢爆佢同共產黨選舉機器民建聯配票, 有晒證據, 俾人搵到工聯會 (亦係親共產黨) 內部信件, 其中1.69 萬份叫會員投俾梁美芬, 另外2.3 萬份就叫會員投俾民建聯.
到選舉當日, 由民建聯一早就收檔, 停止拉票, 原因當然係因為已經夠票當選; 而同時梁美芬就有成千人幫佢拉票, 明顯係民建聯幫晒手分票俾佢, 大家齊齊入立法會, 而結果亦係成功收場, 大團圓結局.
我真係唔明, 點解香港教會要支持一個支持廿三條o既人? 教會係咪 buy 廿三條先? 尋晚聽譚志強節目, 佢話曾經有教會領袖喺大陸出事, 不過梁美芬出手搞掂, 成功救人, 所以同教會關係密切云云. 假如屬實, 咁大佬呀, 呢條係 TVB 用到爛o既英雄救美之計嚟啫!!! 搵人搞你o個個又係佢, 英勇救你o個個又係佢, 咁白痴o既招數都睇唔出? 唉, 真係唔知佢地搞邊科.
Thesis proposal
搞咁耐, 終於到今日要交 thesis proposal, 剛好七頁紙, 講多一句都o吾得. 我其中一個 advisor 話: This is not a strong statement. 不過佢都比我兩個星期後去 defend. 有興趣o既朋友不妨睇下, 比下意見, 問下問題, 對我練習 oral defense 會有幫助. 不過o係呢度減晒 d footnotes.
Jewish Perceptions of Heaven and the Destruction of the Second Temple
Research Question
Through a literary and historical-critical inquiry into depictions of heaven in early Jewish literature, the proposed dissertation investigates whether the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. significantly affected Jewish representations of heaven. If so, how? If not, why? If not shortly after the catastrophe, when? Could a major shift in Jewish representations of heaven have occurred during the Second Temple period, whether due to reflection on the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. and/or due to widespread dissatisfaction with the purity and priesthood of the Second Temple? In the process of addressing these questions, this dissertation will contribute to research on early Jewish attitudes towards the Temple, the history of reflections on heaven, and the effects of the destruction of the Second Temple on early Judaism.
Contexts of the Research Question
The word "heaven(s)" occurs over 400 times in the Hebrew Bible. The heavenly realm is imagined as a place somewhere high above the earth (Isa 55.9; Ps 139.8), reserved for God and spiritual beings (Job 1; 1 Kgs 22) , but it is never described in specific terms in pre-exilic and exilic literature. Some early biblical materials hint at the possibility that a few people gained glimpses of heaven. For instance, in 1 Kgs 22.19–22, Micaiah claims that he "saw YHWH" in heaven, and in Gen 5.22–24, Enoch is said to "have walked" with God and to have been "taken" from earth, presumably to heaven. These traditions, however, offer very few details regarding heaven itself. The first elaborate depictions of heaven appear in the centuries after the Babylonian destruction of the First Temple, Exile, and Return. For instance, a third-century B.C.E. apocalypse, the Book of the Watchers, describes in detail what Enoch sees in heaven (1 En. 14). In writings from between the third century B.C.E. and second century C.E., we find more detailed descriptions of heaven (e.g., 1 En. 71), of a heavenly Jerusalem/Temple (e.g., 2 Bar 4), and of the activities carried out therein (e.g., Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice).
Especially relevant to my inquiry is the notion that the ancient Israelites pictured heaven as akin to the Temple and/or traced the origin of the earthly Temple back to a heavenly prototype, much like their ancient Near Eastern neighbors. For example, in Exodus, Moses is said to have built the tabernacle based on a "pattern" that God made him "see" on a mountain higher than the cloud (Exod 24.18; 25.9, 40), thus suggesting that a proto-Tabernacle/Temple exists in heaven. Similarly, in Ps 11.4, the two places are paralleled: it is claimed that God can be found in the "holy Temple" and "heaven." In Isa 6, it is in the Temple that God and the heavenly creatures revealed themselves to Isaiah the prophet. The connection between heaven and Temple is explored more intensely in writings from the Second Temple period and onward. Some writings depict a heavenly liturgy with angels performing priestly tasks (e.g., 1 En. 39.13; Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice), while others explicitly identify heaven as the "holy of holies" or the "Temple" (e.g., T.Levi 3.4, 5.1; Ap.Zeph A).
In light of this temple-heaven association, scholars have found it rewarding to learn about Jewish perceptions of the Temple through their depictions of heaven, and vice versa. For example, several studies have shown that the depiction of a heavenly temple in the Book of the Watchers reflects a polemic against the Jerusalem Temple. Studies of Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice have similarly suggested that depiction of a celestial worship signal a dim view of the Temple as the Songs promote a legitimate cultic life to replace what the Temple has to offer. Second Baruch also depicts a heavenly temple that far surpasses the earthly one in every aspect (ch. 4), so a Temple on earth is no longer needed.
For the close association between heaven and Temple in early Jewish tradition, it stands to reason that a devastating event like the destruction of the Second Temple might have influenced how Jews imagined and described heaven. This has been suggested, most recently and extensively, by Elior. She compares the views of heaven in Second Temple and Hekhalot literature, and argues that although they share a similar interest in heavenly matters and exhibit some remarkable continuities in their depictions of heaven, the two sets of texts are inherently different: whereas the interest in heaven in Hekhalot literature was inspired by the trauma of the loss of the Temple, the same cannot be said for Second Temple texts because the Temple was still standing at the time of their composition.
At first sight, Elior's interpretation seems to make good sense. Closer analysis of the Second Temple Jewish materials, however, shows that the situation is more complicated. Recent research has demonstrated that some Jews in the Second Temple period saw the Temple and/or its priesthood as failing to function properly. If so, the Second Temple’s destruction might not have led to as dramatic a shift of perceptions of heaven as Elior proposes, because for some Jews of the Second Temple period, the Temple was already effectively absent, long before its destruction by the Romans. Recently, for instance, Suter has argued that Second Temple literature reflects a similar sense of the loss of the Temple as would Hekhalot literature. This view can find support in, for example, the Epistle of Enoch, which divides the course of history into ten weeks and places the Babylonian Exile within the sixth (1 En. 93.8). This second-century B.C.E. text, however, never mentions a return from the Exile nor the rebuilding of the Temple. Some scholars take this silence as evidence for the author's scorn for the Second Temple, which is here dismissed entirely.
Did the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. and its physical absence thereafter significantly alter how Jews imagined and depicted heaven? Or did early Jewish perceptions of heaven change relatively little, due to widespread dissatisfaction with the Second Temple and its priesthood? Had some Jews already adjusted to the trauma of living a religious life without a functioning Temple? At present, these questions remain unresolved, and it is the aim of the proposed research to try to answer them.
Anticipated Contributions of the Research
The proposed dissertation will be the first book-length investigation on the question of the impact of the destruction of the Second Temple on Jewish perceptions of heaven. This topic has been touched on in a number of recent studies, such as the books of Elior, Himmelfarb, and Wright. These books, however, raise this issue in the course of investigating other related issues, rather than focusing on the question of how the Second Temple’s destruction might have affected Jewish images of heaven. Considering the wealth of relevant textual evidence, spanning centuries, a dissertation-length study is timely and warranted.
Such a study will also require me to reconsider the notion of Temple-imagery in specific descriptions of heaven. I agree with the prevailing opinion that Second Temple Jews often imagined and described heaven in terms of the Temple. In my view, however, some of the arguments commonly invoked in favor of this viewpoint are problematic. For example, it is argued that heaven in 1 En. 14 is depicted on the model of the Temple because both constructions exhibit a tripartite structure. But the Temple was not the only building in antiquity that is known to contain multiple large courts. Another popular line of argumentation identifies angels in heaven with priests on earth, because angels are said to intercede for sinful humans (e.g., 1 En. 15.2), sing praise to God (e.g., Ap.Zeph 3.3–4), and worship as a group (e.g., 1 En. 39.12–14). But these are not exclusively priestly traits. To identify angels with priests simply on the basis of such flimsy connections is therefore not convincing. I am not alone in seeing this problem, as Fletcher-Louis has recently challenged the theory that the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice presupposes a heavenly Temple. Although his innovative interpretation has not been widely accepted, it has led a number of scholars to rethink and refine their views of the Songs. His advice not to assume a heavenly Temple in Jewish texts is well taken. In this light, I think it is now an apt time to reassess our views of the notion of a heavenly Temple in Jewish writings. It is necessary to anchor an important conclusion (i.e., that Jews described heaven in Temple imagery) on solid arguments. Only then can we fully appreciate how Jews highlighted the temple-heaven connection in their literary representations of heaven.
In addition, this dissertation will consider materials that Elior overlooked. It was not Elior’s intention to provide a comprehensive treatment of images of heaven in early Jewish literature; her aim, rather, was to compare views on heaven before and after 70 C.E., with an eye to later developments in Jewish mysticism. As a result, however, Elior skips over some important and relevant source materials. For instance, in her The Three Temples, she compares views of heaven and Temple in the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Jewish literature, and the Hekhalot literature. Yet she mostly neglects sources, such as 2 Enoch, 2 Baruch, 4 Ezra, 3 Baruch, Apocalypse of Abraham, and Apocalypse of Zephaniah, that date from the time between the Temple's destruction and the Rabbinic literature. To compare views of heaven before and after 70 C.E., in my view, writings from the first two centuries of the Common Era provide a better comparison with Second Temple literature than do late antique and early medieval sources like the Hekhalot literature.
The motif of angelification might further exemplify the significance of post-70 accounts of heaven. In post-70 Jewish literature, in particular, there appears to be an increased emphasis on the transformation of humankind into an angelic existence in heaven. Some pre-70 writings call Israel the “holy ones” of God (e.g., Dan 7.18–24), and “companions of the host of heaven” (e.g. 1 En. 104.6). Yet it is in post-70 texts that we find the most elaborate details of human angelification in heaven: individuals are said to be given permission to put on a special garment of priestly angels and to join them in a liturgy in heaven (e.g., Ap.Abra 13.15; 17.1–6; Ap.Zeph 3.3–4). Could this increase of interest in angelification be an attempt to cope with the absence of the Temple, to counter the sentiment of isolation between human on earth and God in heaven? Only a detailed exegetical investigation and careful comparison of the aforementioned literature can adequately address this question.
Primary Texts
The primary data for my research are Jewish writings penned during the time when the Second Temple was standing and in the two centuries immediately following its destruction. I will focus on texts that contain detailed information about heaven and/or activities carried out in heaven. Pre-70 sources will include the Book of the Watchers (1 En. 12–16), the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, the Aramaic Levi Document (4.1–5), the Self-Glorification Hymn, and the Similitudes (1 En. 39¬–71). Post-70 sources will include 4 Ezra (9.26–10.59), 2 Baruch (ch. 4), 3 Baruch (chs. 2–16), 2 Enoch (chs. 3–37), Apocalypse of Abraham (chs. 15–20), and Apocalypse of Zephaniah (A; chs. 3–12). I will also consider some texts of disputed provenance (i.e., Jewish or Christian?) and/or date (i.e., before or after 70 C.E.?), such as Testament of Abraham (chs. 11–14; 20.12–15) and the Testament of Levi (3.4–5.2). Also worth noting is a group of texts that describe an ideal and/or eschatological Temple which is not in heaven (e.g., New Jerusalem; Temple Scroll); although these texts provide limited direct information regarding heaven, they are a source of inspiration for texts that do describe heaven in detail. This list of sources is preliminary, and I remain open to include other important sources of data as I further my research.
Method of Approach
The proposed dissertation will be based on literary analysis of the source materials with a historical-critical approach. My analysis will be oriented towards trying to uncover the meaning of a text in its original context, that is, what it meant when it was composed and/or redacted. For each of the texts under investigation, I will try to answer four questions: (1) How does it depict heaven? (2) How does it depict the earthly Temple and/or the priesthood? (3) How does it describe the connection between heaven and the Temple? (4) How might its author(s)/redactor(s)’ view of the Temple influence the text’s description of heaven?
By noting the dominant concerns reflected and expressed in the texts, I will also try to gain a glimpse at the problems and crises that their authors/redactors and readers faced in the context of their specific social settings. My main concern, however, is with broader trends across different social groups and movements. I will thus compare pre-70 C.E. depictions of heaven with those from thereafter, so as to highlight the continuities and differences in order to determine the possible effects of the Second Temple’s destruction on Jewish perceptions of heaven. Since the Temple’s destruction is not the only possible explanation for the differences, it will be important to pursue an in-depth exegetical investigation of each relevant passage in context. Since my focus is on tracing the main shifts in Jewish images of heaven, this project is also one of intellectual history and aims to contribute to our broader understanding of the history of ideas about heaven.
Procedure
The dissertation will contain an introduction, four chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction will define important terms, explain research questions, discuss my approach, and survey the relevant past scholarship. The first chapter will survey descriptions of heaven in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern traditions, thus laying the groundwork for my analysis of Jewish literature between the third century B.C.E. and second century C.E. The second chapter will focus on perceptions of heaven in Second Temple literature, to observe how heaven is depicted after such significant events as the First Temple's destruction, the rebuilding of the Temple, or the rise of the Hasmonean priests. The third chapter will consider post-70 writings, with the aim of identifying the continuities and differences compared with depictions of heaven before the Second Temple's destruction. The fourth will focus on texts of disputed provenance or date of composition; though this last group of texts will not be used as primary evidence, they may contain information regarding early Jewish views of heaven that can supplement the results of the preceding chapters. The conclusion, at last, will summarize and synthesize what my research can and/or cannot establish.
Jewish Perceptions of Heaven and the Destruction of the Second Temple
Research Question
Through a literary and historical-critical inquiry into depictions of heaven in early Jewish literature, the proposed dissertation investigates whether the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. significantly affected Jewish representations of heaven. If so, how? If not, why? If not shortly after the catastrophe, when? Could a major shift in Jewish representations of heaven have occurred during the Second Temple period, whether due to reflection on the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. and/or due to widespread dissatisfaction with the purity and priesthood of the Second Temple? In the process of addressing these questions, this dissertation will contribute to research on early Jewish attitudes towards the Temple, the history of reflections on heaven, and the effects of the destruction of the Second Temple on early Judaism.
Contexts of the Research Question
The word "heaven(s)" occurs over 400 times in the Hebrew Bible. The heavenly realm is imagined as a place somewhere high above the earth (Isa 55.9; Ps 139.8), reserved for God and spiritual beings (Job 1; 1 Kgs 22) , but it is never described in specific terms in pre-exilic and exilic literature. Some early biblical materials hint at the possibility that a few people gained glimpses of heaven. For instance, in 1 Kgs 22.19–22, Micaiah claims that he "saw YHWH" in heaven, and in Gen 5.22–24, Enoch is said to "have walked" with God and to have been "taken" from earth, presumably to heaven. These traditions, however, offer very few details regarding heaven itself. The first elaborate depictions of heaven appear in the centuries after the Babylonian destruction of the First Temple, Exile, and Return. For instance, a third-century B.C.E. apocalypse, the Book of the Watchers, describes in detail what Enoch sees in heaven (1 En. 14). In writings from between the third century B.C.E. and second century C.E., we find more detailed descriptions of heaven (e.g., 1 En. 71), of a heavenly Jerusalem/Temple (e.g., 2 Bar 4), and of the activities carried out therein (e.g., Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice).
Especially relevant to my inquiry is the notion that the ancient Israelites pictured heaven as akin to the Temple and/or traced the origin of the earthly Temple back to a heavenly prototype, much like their ancient Near Eastern neighbors. For example, in Exodus, Moses is said to have built the tabernacle based on a "pattern" that God made him "see" on a mountain higher than the cloud (Exod 24.18; 25.9, 40), thus suggesting that a proto-Tabernacle/Temple exists in heaven. Similarly, in Ps 11.4, the two places are paralleled: it is claimed that God can be found in the "holy Temple" and "heaven." In Isa 6, it is in the Temple that God and the heavenly creatures revealed themselves to Isaiah the prophet. The connection between heaven and Temple is explored more intensely in writings from the Second Temple period and onward. Some writings depict a heavenly liturgy with angels performing priestly tasks (e.g., 1 En. 39.13; Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice), while others explicitly identify heaven as the "holy of holies" or the "Temple" (e.g., T.Levi 3.4, 5.1; Ap.Zeph A).
In light of this temple-heaven association, scholars have found it rewarding to learn about Jewish perceptions of the Temple through their depictions of heaven, and vice versa. For example, several studies have shown that the depiction of a heavenly temple in the Book of the Watchers reflects a polemic against the Jerusalem Temple. Studies of Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice have similarly suggested that depiction of a celestial worship signal a dim view of the Temple as the Songs promote a legitimate cultic life to replace what the Temple has to offer. Second Baruch also depicts a heavenly temple that far surpasses the earthly one in every aspect (ch. 4), so a Temple on earth is no longer needed.
For the close association between heaven and Temple in early Jewish tradition, it stands to reason that a devastating event like the destruction of the Second Temple might have influenced how Jews imagined and described heaven. This has been suggested, most recently and extensively, by Elior. She compares the views of heaven in Second Temple and Hekhalot literature, and argues that although they share a similar interest in heavenly matters and exhibit some remarkable continuities in their depictions of heaven, the two sets of texts are inherently different: whereas the interest in heaven in Hekhalot literature was inspired by the trauma of the loss of the Temple, the same cannot be said for Second Temple texts because the Temple was still standing at the time of their composition.
At first sight, Elior's interpretation seems to make good sense. Closer analysis of the Second Temple Jewish materials, however, shows that the situation is more complicated. Recent research has demonstrated that some Jews in the Second Temple period saw the Temple and/or its priesthood as failing to function properly. If so, the Second Temple’s destruction might not have led to as dramatic a shift of perceptions of heaven as Elior proposes, because for some Jews of the Second Temple period, the Temple was already effectively absent, long before its destruction by the Romans. Recently, for instance, Suter has argued that Second Temple literature reflects a similar sense of the loss of the Temple as would Hekhalot literature. This view can find support in, for example, the Epistle of Enoch, which divides the course of history into ten weeks and places the Babylonian Exile within the sixth (1 En. 93.8). This second-century B.C.E. text, however, never mentions a return from the Exile nor the rebuilding of the Temple. Some scholars take this silence as evidence for the author's scorn for the Second Temple, which is here dismissed entirely.
Did the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. and its physical absence thereafter significantly alter how Jews imagined and depicted heaven? Or did early Jewish perceptions of heaven change relatively little, due to widespread dissatisfaction with the Second Temple and its priesthood? Had some Jews already adjusted to the trauma of living a religious life without a functioning Temple? At present, these questions remain unresolved, and it is the aim of the proposed research to try to answer them.
Anticipated Contributions of the Research
The proposed dissertation will be the first book-length investigation on the question of the impact of the destruction of the Second Temple on Jewish perceptions of heaven. This topic has been touched on in a number of recent studies, such as the books of Elior, Himmelfarb, and Wright. These books, however, raise this issue in the course of investigating other related issues, rather than focusing on the question of how the Second Temple’s destruction might have affected Jewish images of heaven. Considering the wealth of relevant textual evidence, spanning centuries, a dissertation-length study is timely and warranted.
Such a study will also require me to reconsider the notion of Temple-imagery in specific descriptions of heaven. I agree with the prevailing opinion that Second Temple Jews often imagined and described heaven in terms of the Temple. In my view, however, some of the arguments commonly invoked in favor of this viewpoint are problematic. For example, it is argued that heaven in 1 En. 14 is depicted on the model of the Temple because both constructions exhibit a tripartite structure. But the Temple was not the only building in antiquity that is known to contain multiple large courts. Another popular line of argumentation identifies angels in heaven with priests on earth, because angels are said to intercede for sinful humans (e.g., 1 En. 15.2), sing praise to God (e.g., Ap.Zeph 3.3–4), and worship as a group (e.g., 1 En. 39.12–14). But these are not exclusively priestly traits. To identify angels with priests simply on the basis of such flimsy connections is therefore not convincing. I am not alone in seeing this problem, as Fletcher-Louis has recently challenged the theory that the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice presupposes a heavenly Temple. Although his innovative interpretation has not been widely accepted, it has led a number of scholars to rethink and refine their views of the Songs. His advice not to assume a heavenly Temple in Jewish texts is well taken. In this light, I think it is now an apt time to reassess our views of the notion of a heavenly Temple in Jewish writings. It is necessary to anchor an important conclusion (i.e., that Jews described heaven in Temple imagery) on solid arguments. Only then can we fully appreciate how Jews highlighted the temple-heaven connection in their literary representations of heaven.
In addition, this dissertation will consider materials that Elior overlooked. It was not Elior’s intention to provide a comprehensive treatment of images of heaven in early Jewish literature; her aim, rather, was to compare views on heaven before and after 70 C.E., with an eye to later developments in Jewish mysticism. As a result, however, Elior skips over some important and relevant source materials. For instance, in her The Three Temples, she compares views of heaven and Temple in the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Jewish literature, and the Hekhalot literature. Yet she mostly neglects sources, such as 2 Enoch, 2 Baruch, 4 Ezra, 3 Baruch, Apocalypse of Abraham, and Apocalypse of Zephaniah, that date from the time between the Temple's destruction and the Rabbinic literature. To compare views of heaven before and after 70 C.E., in my view, writings from the first two centuries of the Common Era provide a better comparison with Second Temple literature than do late antique and early medieval sources like the Hekhalot literature.
The motif of angelification might further exemplify the significance of post-70 accounts of heaven. In post-70 Jewish literature, in particular, there appears to be an increased emphasis on the transformation of humankind into an angelic existence in heaven. Some pre-70 writings call Israel the “holy ones” of God (e.g., Dan 7.18–24), and “companions of the host of heaven” (e.g. 1 En. 104.6). Yet it is in post-70 texts that we find the most elaborate details of human angelification in heaven: individuals are said to be given permission to put on a special garment of priestly angels and to join them in a liturgy in heaven (e.g., Ap.Abra 13.15; 17.1–6; Ap.Zeph 3.3–4). Could this increase of interest in angelification be an attempt to cope with the absence of the Temple, to counter the sentiment of isolation between human on earth and God in heaven? Only a detailed exegetical investigation and careful comparison of the aforementioned literature can adequately address this question.
Primary Texts
The primary data for my research are Jewish writings penned during the time when the Second Temple was standing and in the two centuries immediately following its destruction. I will focus on texts that contain detailed information about heaven and/or activities carried out in heaven. Pre-70 sources will include the Book of the Watchers (1 En. 12–16), the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, the Aramaic Levi Document (4.1–5), the Self-Glorification Hymn, and the Similitudes (1 En. 39¬–71). Post-70 sources will include 4 Ezra (9.26–10.59), 2 Baruch (ch. 4), 3 Baruch (chs. 2–16), 2 Enoch (chs. 3–37), Apocalypse of Abraham (chs. 15–20), and Apocalypse of Zephaniah (A; chs. 3–12). I will also consider some texts of disputed provenance (i.e., Jewish or Christian?) and/or date (i.e., before or after 70 C.E.?), such as Testament of Abraham (chs. 11–14; 20.12–15) and the Testament of Levi (3.4–5.2). Also worth noting is a group of texts that describe an ideal and/or eschatological Temple which is not in heaven (e.g., New Jerusalem; Temple Scroll); although these texts provide limited direct information regarding heaven, they are a source of inspiration for texts that do describe heaven in detail. This list of sources is preliminary, and I remain open to include other important sources of data as I further my research.
Method of Approach
The proposed dissertation will be based on literary analysis of the source materials with a historical-critical approach. My analysis will be oriented towards trying to uncover the meaning of a text in its original context, that is, what it meant when it was composed and/or redacted. For each of the texts under investigation, I will try to answer four questions: (1) How does it depict heaven? (2) How does it depict the earthly Temple and/or the priesthood? (3) How does it describe the connection between heaven and the Temple? (4) How might its author(s)/redactor(s)’ view of the Temple influence the text’s description of heaven?
By noting the dominant concerns reflected and expressed in the texts, I will also try to gain a glimpse at the problems and crises that their authors/redactors and readers faced in the context of their specific social settings. My main concern, however, is with broader trends across different social groups and movements. I will thus compare pre-70 C.E. depictions of heaven with those from thereafter, so as to highlight the continuities and differences in order to determine the possible effects of the Second Temple’s destruction on Jewish perceptions of heaven. Since the Temple’s destruction is not the only possible explanation for the differences, it will be important to pursue an in-depth exegetical investigation of each relevant passage in context. Since my focus is on tracing the main shifts in Jewish images of heaven, this project is also one of intellectual history and aims to contribute to our broader understanding of the history of ideas about heaven.
Procedure
The dissertation will contain an introduction, four chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction will define important terms, explain research questions, discuss my approach, and survey the relevant past scholarship. The first chapter will survey descriptions of heaven in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern traditions, thus laying the groundwork for my analysis of Jewish literature between the third century B.C.E. and second century C.E. The second chapter will focus on perceptions of heaven in Second Temple literature, to observe how heaven is depicted after such significant events as the First Temple's destruction, the rebuilding of the Temple, or the rise of the Hasmonean priests. The third chapter will consider post-70 writings, with the aim of identifying the continuities and differences compared with depictions of heaven before the Second Temple's destruction. The fourth will focus on texts of disputed provenance or date of composition; though this last group of texts will not be used as primary evidence, they may contain information regarding early Jewish views of heaven that can supplement the results of the preceding chapters. The conclusion, at last, will summarize and synthesize what my research can and/or cannot establish.
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