Tuesday September 25th Religion of Israel Religion of the Bible The Bible is not Israel What have we learned Why study women Women in biblical tradition history cult law Religion of Israel Women as example Midterm review Friday 10 19 11 00 AM 0102 KEY Exam available online noon Friday to midnight Monday The documentary hypothesis as a specific model is the hypothesis for the composition of the Torah 1 The Bible is Not Israel What have we learned a No code encapsulates practice b Bible is a library to a book c d Biblical authors have an agenda not a bad thing accounting for why things Ideas develop over time as does the book have gone wrong what should be in the future important for Chrisitans and Jews alike i Covenant Israel as a people have a relationship with their god ONE GOD ii God of Israel alone iii Purging of foreign cults iv SO Biblical religion is not Israel 2 Why study women In ritual law special focus on priests and sacrificial practice a Not the major political figures secondary focus of law vastly under represented in sources So why study them i Political history helps to clarify the kind of political organizations at ii Social or cultural history any serious history of peole has to take into account all of the population b Thinking about women helps us see the gaps between Bible and work Israel authors i Marriage fertility birth early childhood of little interest to the Bible s ii Even within the Bible you can see the gap between received official tradition and actual practice focusing on women can give us insight into the gap between what is actually going on and what is the written tradition 3 Nidich Portrayals of Women a Thinks as a folklorist b Behind the stories told by men and for men there may be aspects of women s lives i Ritual ii Social roles wise woman prophet 4 Women in biblical tradition a History i Occasionally significant players 1 Deborah Miriam other prohetesses 2 Athaliah gueen in Judah sole ruler ii Usually appear in specific roles 1 Mother of judge samson Samuel 2 Queen mother i Sacrifice after birth ii Where appear in the specifically cultic role sexual and prohibited Sacred prostitues iii Some have argued queen mother has a cultic role in worship of b Cult Asher a c Law i Purity menstruation birth ii Sexual activity of wives daughters iii Vows of wives daughters husbands or fathers can nullify vows iv Limited inheritance keeping property within the patriline what do you do when there are no male offspring but there are daughters how to keep property within the patriline 5 Religion of Israel Women as example a More complicated history of monotheism Wisdomas personified companion to God b Attention to domestic practice and fertility human and also agricultural i Marriage ii Reproduction at birth iii Competition over rites precedence of wives wives sons