Recasting Moses: The Memory of Moses in Biographical and Autobiographical Narratives in Ancient Judaism and 4th-Century Christianity

Description

The political and social changes that occurred with the transformation of the Roman Empire into a Roman Christian Empire and with the bishops’ new social position as imperial bishops called for new literary representations of the ideal Christian leader. In this struggle, the figure of Moses turned up as a suitable figure intimately connected with questions of authority and power and, related to this, with the risk of dissension and discord. While the portrait of Moses as a political figure was hardly applicable in Christian discourses of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, it became the centre of interest during the 4th century. This new emphasis was, however, no more new than that it actually revived traditions of 1st-century Jewish biographical and autobiographical narratives. Cover Acknowledgements Table of contents 1. Introduction 1.1. A culture of imitation 1.2. Biographical narratives 1.3. Moses as a figure of memory in 1st-century Judaism and 4th-century Christianity 1.4. Collective memory 1.5. Social identity and master commemorative narrative 1.6. Cultural memory and intertextuality 1.7. Outline of chapters Part I 2. The Greek Moses: The Biblical figure of Moses in the Septuagint 2.1. Introduction 2.2. General principles of translation 2.3. Moses in translation: Characteristics of the Septuagint Moses narratives and their impact on the portrait of the figure of Moses 2.3.1. Moses in translation 2.3.1.1. Jewishness 2.3.1.2. A non-divine Moses 2.3.1.3. The character of Moses 2.3.1.4. Brotherhood 2.3.1.5. The characteristics of the Septuagint figure of Moses 2.3.2. God in translation 2.3.2.1. The notion of “seeing God” 2.3.2.2. Meeting God and the question of an anti-anthropomorphic tendency 2.3.2.3. God’s name and the monotheistic concern 2.4. Conclusion: The figure of Moses in light of the Septuagint portrait of God Part II 3. An imagined Jewish community: Philo’s De Vita Mosis 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Previous research on the literary character of De Vita Mosis as a βίος 3.3. The first digression (Mos. 1.18–33): A cultural Exodus 3.3.1. At the king’s court: Jewish vs. Egyptian culture 3.3.2. Moses’ education and the “theft of philosophy” argument 3.3.3. “Moses went out to his brothers” (Exod 2:11) 3.4. Moses the shepherd: On allegorical interpretation and the division of the De Vita Mosis 3.5. A political Exodus: On citizenship in Philo’s Alexandria 3.6. The second digression (Mos. 1.148–162): Translating Greek culture into Judaism 3.6.1. Moses as a philosopher-king 3.6.2. Moses as cosmopolitan 3.7. A spiritual Exodus: The goal of Moses’ ἀποικία 3.8. Conclusion: The vision of Philo’s imagined community 4. The memory of Moses in Paul’s autobiographical references: The figures of Moses in the letters of Paul 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Moses and the Corinthian correspondence 4.2.1. Previous research on Paul’s use of the figure of Moses in the Corinthian correspondence 4.2.2. “Written down for our instruction” (1 Corinthians 10:11) 4.2.2.1. Introduction to 1 Corinthians 4.2.2.2. The context: 1 Corinthians 8:1–11:1 4.2.2.3. Situational similarity 4.2.2.4. The Corinthian community and Israel: 1 Corinthians 10:1–11 4.2.2.5. Conclusion 4.2.3. “Not like Moses” (2 Corinthians 3:13) 4.2.3.1. Introduction to 2 Corinthians 2:14–7:4 4.2.3.2. The question of Paul’s sufficiency 4.2.3.3. The comparison with Moses 4.2.3.4. Conclusion 4.3. “For the sake of my own people” (Romans 9:3) 4.3.1. Previous research on Paul’s use of the figure of Moses in the letter to the Romans 4.3.2. Introduction to Romans 9–11 4.3.3. Moses and Paul on the restoration of Israel 4.3.4. Moses and the righteousness from faith 4.3.5. Excursus: The figure of Moses in Galatians 4.3.6. The use of DeuteronomyLXX 32 in Romans 9–11 4.3.7. Conclusion 4.4. Conclusion: “Not like Moses” or “like Moses”? Paul miscellaneous uses of the figure of Moses 5. Generalship in the midst of seditions: The relationship between the figure of Moses in the Jewish Antiquities and Josephus’ own selfportraits in his autobiographical writings 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Previous research on parallels between the Biblical figures in the Jewish Antiquities and Josephus’ self-portraits 5.3. Introduction to the Jewish Antiquities 5.4. Becoming a Hebrew general 5.4.1. The Egyptian general 5.4.2. Moses and Hebrew factionalism 5.5. The self-portraits 5.5.1. Josephus as a general in the Jewish War 5.5.2. Recapitulating the self-portrait: Josephus as a general in the Life 5.6. Conclusion: Josephus as a member of the Jewish commemorative narratives Part III 6. Constructing a Christian dynasty: The figure of Moses in Eusebius’ Vita Constantini 6.1. Introduction 6.2. Previous research on Eusebius’ use of the figure of Moses in the Vita Constantini 6.3. The aim and structure of the Vita Constantini 6.4. The figure of Moses in Constantine’s own political propaganda 6.5. Playing Constantine’s game 6.5.1. The origin of the Moses parallel in the Historia Ecclesiastica 6.5.2. Encomiastic features in the Moses parallels in the Vita Constantini 6.6. Constructing a Christian dynasty 6.7. Conclusion: The New Moses 7. Remembering Basil: The rhetorical use of the figure of Moses in the two Gregories’ encomium on Basil and in Gregory of Nazianzus’ other orations and autobiographical poems 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Previous research on the use of Moses in the encomia on Basil 7.3. The two Gregories’ use of the encomium genre in their orations on Basil 7.4. The figure of Moses in Gregory of Nyssa’s encomium on Basil 7.4.1. Basil among the Biblical figures 7.4.2. The Moses σύγκρισις 7.4.3. The exhortation to μίμησις 7.4.4. Commemorating Basil as a “possible self” for the community 7.5. The figure of Moses in Gregory of Nazianzus’ encomium on Basil 7.5.1. Moses and Aaron 7.6. The figure of Moses in Gregory of Nazianzus’other orations and in his autobiographical poems 7.6.1. “Only one like Moses can bear the glory of God” (or. 2.92) 7.6.2. Penetrating the cloud 7.6.3. Speaking alone with the alone 7.6.4. The figure of Moses and Gregory senior 7.7. Conclusion: The figure of Moses and Christian identity 8. Conclusion 8.1. The appearance of the political Moses in the Christian biographical tradition 8.2. The revival of the memories of Moses between unity and factionalism 9. Summary 10. Bibliography 10.1. Ancient sources: Texts, editions, translations 10.2. Secondary literature consulted 11. Appendix