Nomadic Text

Brennan W. Breed

Description

Winner, 2016 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise

Brennan W. Breed claims that biblical interpretation should focus on the shifting capacities of the text, viewing it as a dynamic process rather than a static product. Rather than seeking to determine the original text and its meaning, Breed proposes that scholars approach the production, transmission, and interpretation of the biblical text as interwoven elements of its overarching reception history. Grounded in the insights of contemporary literary theory, this approach alters the framing questions of interpretation from "What does this text mean?" to "What can this text do?"

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: The Constitutive Divide of Reception History
1. The Miltonesque Concept of the Original Text
2. Living in Pottersville: An Alternate Approach to Textual Criticism
3. Anchor or Spandrel: The Concept of the Original Context
4. On Tigers and Cages: Re-Thinking Context
5. Mapping the Garden of Forking Paths: A Nomadic Reception History
6. Justice, Survival, Presence: Job 19:25-27
7. Trajectories of Job 19:25-27: The Example of Survival
Conclusion: Nomadology and the Future of Biblical Studies
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Biblical Interpretation
• Biblical Criticism
• Philosophie et théologie
• Religión
• Old Testament
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 13 mai 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253012623
• Langue: English

Extrait

NOMADIC TEXT
INDIANA SERIES IN BIBLICAL LITERATURE Herbert marks, editor
NOMADIC TEXT
A Theory of Bibilical Reception History
BRENNAN W. BREED
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington Indianapolis
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press Office of Scholarly Publishing Herman B Wells Library 350 1320 East 10th Street Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
Telephone [phone] Fax [phone]
2014 by Brennan W. Breed All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Breed, Brennan W.
Nomadic text : a theory of biblical reception history / Brennan W. Breed.
pages cm. - (Indiana studies in biblical literature)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-01252-4 (cl : alk. paper) - ISBN 978-0-253-01262-3 (eb) 1. Bible-Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Bible-Hermeneutics. 3. Bible. Job-Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.
BS511.3.B74
2014 220.601-dc23
2013046356
1 2 3 4 5 19 18 17 16 15 14
For Catherine
Spinoza offers philosophers a new model: the body. He proposes to establish the body as a model: We do not know what the body can do This declaration of ignorance is a provocation. We speak of consciousness and its decrees, of the will and its effects, of the thousand ways of moving the body, of dominating the body and the passions-but we do not even know what a body can do. Lacking this knowledge, we engage in idle talk. As Nietzsche will say, we stand amazed before consciousness, but the truly surprising thing is rather the body
-Gilles Deleuze, Spinoza: Practical Philosophy
CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations

Introduction: The Constitutive Divide of Reception History

1. The Miltonesque Concept of the Original Text

2. Living in Pottersville: An Alternate Approach to Textual Criticism

3. Anchor or Spandrel: The Concept of the Original Context

4. On Tigers and Cages: Rethinking Context

5. Mapping the Garden of Forking Paths: A Nomadic Reception History

6. Justice, Survival, Presence: Job 19:25-27

7. Trajectories of Job 19:25-27: The Example of Survival

Conclusion: Nomadology and the Future of Biblical Studies

Notes
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing this book has been an equally joyful and terrifying process. At the outset of such a task, it would have been impossible to imagine how much help I would require in order to finish it. Now, looking back on its completion, I am struck by how difficult it is to name all those who have contributed to it along the way. Perhaps, as one does in making a sacrifice to an unknown god, I can say thank you here to all those whom I have forgotten to include. Let me know I forgot to mention you, and I ll offer you a libation sometime.
First and foremost, I extend my heartfelt thanks-and, at the same time, and for many of the same reasons, my sincere apologies-to Catherine. While I was writing this book, Catherine brought home the bacon and brought our children, Frederick and Margaret Ann, into being. And she not only put up with the demands of this project: without her constant encouragement, unflagging optimism, and seemingly endless reserves of patience and energy, this would never have been possible. Catherine, I dedicate this work to you.
I am forever indebted to the constant support of my parents, Mary and Jerome Breed, whose emphasis on education and hard work in my youth-which may not have seemed to take hold at the time-has helped me to achieve my goals. Hopefully, this is proof that old dogs can learn some of those old tricks that you began trying to teach them when they were young pups even if it would have been better to have learned them years ago. Well, at least I got some of them at some point.
I thank all of the formative pedagogues that I have been fortunate enough to encounter over the years, including Beverly Gilbert, the late Stephen Innes, and Richard Drayton. At Princeton Theological Seminary, the hospitality and generosity of Patrick Miller, Dennis Olson, Jacqueline Lapsley, Chip Dobbs-Allsopp, Jeremy Hutton, and Jeremy Schipper gave me the confidence and the skills to aim for excellence in my work. And, above all, to Choon-Leong Seow. I cannot possibly begin to enunciate my gratefulness.
I thank also the many colleagues whose conversations and critiques have contributed to the shape of this book. Most of all, I am grateful for Brent Strawn, David Petersen, John Hayes, Martin Buss, William Gilders, Jacob Wright, and Joel LeMon, who have put much time and effort into sharpening my often blunt thoughts. I am also grateful for Walter Melion, Elizabeth Pastan, Herbert Kessler, and Geoffrey Bennington, who helped me to find my way in the fields of Art History and Literary Theory. Without their help, my work would be quite shallow. Any depth in this book is attributable to their influence.
I owe much to the generosity of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, whose fellowship funded the completion of this manuscript. I hope that my work may contribute to the goal of the Newcombe Fellowship by furthering the study of ethical and religious values.
I am also very grateful to Columbia Theological Seminary, and in particular Steve Hayner and Deborah Mullen, for their hospitality, as they offered me a place in their community to finish this project. I would also like to thank my colleagues, particularly Christine Roy Yoder and Bill Brown, for their warm collegiality and endless reserves of patience.
Of course, this book would not exist were it not for the work of Dee Mortensen, Herbert Marks, and Sarah Jacobi at Indiana University Press. Thank you for your help throughout this process. And to those who have offered their comments and corrections at various points in this manuscript s trajectory, including M. J. Devaney, Scott C. Jones, Mark Brummitt, Matthew Lynch, Josey Snyder, R. C. Griffin, and Aubrey Buster: many thanks for your contributions to both style and content.
Finally, I owe an enormous debt to Carol Newsom, who believed in this project even before I did. Like one presiding over an ancient Near Eastern creation scene, Carol brought form out of a seemingly bottomless sea of scholarly chaos. I began this project with a 157-page chapter sans thesis statement or conclusion. It took some serious chops to know even where to begin with that mess. But her graciousness and wisdom were great enough to overcome even those formidable odds. And then some.
And as a supplemental postscript to the acknowledgments, because as he knows, there is nothing more central than an exception, perhaps no one has helped more, in terms of my intellectual development as well as the writing and editing process of this book, than C. Davis Hankins, whose name occurs now and again throughout it. We wrote together for about a year, cramped in a long, skinny office in the icy bowels of the library, sitting next to each other on the same side of a table. It was like an academic summer camp, complete with camping-quality food, camping-like physical contests, and camping-level banter. I am very glad that I do not have to say nostalgically that I wish those bygone days would return. Instead, I say: it s time to gear up for the next book, Davis. Let s go find us a long table.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AB Anchor Bible BBC Blackwell Bible Commentaries BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium BHS Biblia hebraica stuttgartensia. Edited by Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1983. BHQ Biblia hebraica quinta. Edited by Adrian Schenker et al. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2004-. CIL Corpus inscriptionum latinarum CLE Carmina latina epigraphica CSCO Corpus scriptorum christianorum orientalium. Edited by I. B. Chabot et al. Paris: Reipublicae, 1903-. DJD Discoveries in the Judaean Desert GCS Die griechische christliche Schriftsteller der ersten [drei] Jahrhunderte HUB Hebrew University Bible Project ILCV Inscriptiones latinae christianae veteres. Edited by Ernst Diehl. 2nd ed. Berlin: Weidmann, 1961. JSOT SupJournal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series KTU Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit. Edited by Manfried Dietrich, Oswald Loretz, and Joaqu n Sanmart n. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1976. LXX Septuagint MT Masoretic text NETS New English Translation of the Septuagint NJB New Jerusalem Bible NPNFSS A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series. 14 vols. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Edinburgh: Clark, 1890-1900. NRSV New Revised Standard Version OG Old Greek OHB Oxford Hebrew Bible Project Pesh Syriac Peshitta PG Patrologia graeca. 162 vols. Edited by J.-P. Migne. Paris: Garnier, 1857-86. PL Patrologia latina. 217 vols. Edited by J.-P. Migne. Paris: Garnier, 1844-64. PO Patrologia orientalis. 40 vols. Edited by Fran ois Nau and Ren Graffin. Paris: Librarie de Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1903-. SamPent Samaritan Pentateuch SC Sources chr tiennes. Paris, Cerf: 1943-. STDJ Studies on the Texts of the Judaean Desert VTS Supplements to Vetus Testamentum WBC Word Biblical Comme