Readings, Books, and Assignments (under construction 1/15/99) The main book required for the course is Michael V. Fox, Proverbs 1-9 (the Anchor Bible)New York, NY: Random House (?), 2000. It, or selections from it, will be available at the Rosengarten Reserve Room of the Van Pelt Library, the main library on campus. Ask for the book by course number, Religious Studies 113, or instructor's name, Sigrid Peterson. I am currently suggesting purchasing from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble on the web. If you are here during the day, you may order the books from the Pennsylvania Book Center on 34th and Sansom, (215)222-7600.

The second book that should be purchased is also a paperback, Lester L. Grabbe's Wisdom of Solomon, in the series Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997. ISBN 1 85075 762 3. It is a special order item from Amazon.com, which may take some time. I will also ask Penn Book Center to stock them.

The rest of the books are on reserve, and I will assign chapters from them. I will also ask them to order a couple of copies of each for the Penn Book Center, so that you can buy those that look most interesting or useful for your topics.

Recommended Books

The Oxford Annotated Apocrypha (or Bible with Apocrypha)
For further information, see the Amazon.com listing. Oxford Annotated Apocrypha

Only this edition has 3 and 4 Maccabees; the others stop at 2 Maccabees.

Some of the assigned readings for the first background period, listed by author name or short title, are as follows:

HB/OT (Oxford Annotated or NKJV), Job 28.12-28; Proverbs, chapters 1 to 9 and passim (here and there) in Proverbs, chapters 10 to 30.

Apocrypha, Baruch, Introduction and Chapter 3.1 through 4.29.

Apocrypha, Sirach¸Introduction and Chapter 24 and Chapter 26.1-4.

Apocrypha, The Wisdom of Solomon, Introduction.

In the Wake of the Goddesses, "16. Wisdom, the Lover of Man," 179-273.

Crenshaw, "9. Egyptian and Mesopotamian Wisdom Literature," 205-229. Also note his bibliography.

These readings are part of a packet of introductory readings that is available at the Rosengarten Reserve Room on the ground floor of Van Pelt Library. Rosengarten is always open; if you don't want to, or cannot, stay and read while there, xerox machines are available.
The first packet I've made available is represented by the following bibliography.
 


Materials on Reserve for RS113 - Folder A

Ancient Near Eastern Background and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament


 



 
 

 Crenshaw, James L. Old Testament Wisdom: An Introduction, Revised and Enlarged. Louisville, KY: Westminster, John Knox Press, 1998 (205-226

Chapter 9, Egyptian and Mesopotamian Wisdom Literature, 205-226, and (for further research) Crenshaw's Bibliography, 230-239.

Fox, Michael V. "Wisdom in Qoheleth" in In Search of Wisdom: Essays in Momory of John G. Gammie. Ed. by Leo G. Perdue, Bernard Brandon Scott, and William Johnston Wiseman, Louisville, KY: Westminster, John Knox Press, 1990 (107-122).

Frymer-Kensky, Tikva,. In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture, and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth, New York: The Free Press, 1992. Pages 179-183, and notes to those pages, found at 270-272.

Kraft, Robert A. "The Canonical Scriptures ("Bible") in Jewish & Christian Traditions," Chart available at

 
gopher://ccat.sas.upenn.edu:70/00/courses/rels/135/1.5%20Canonical%20scriptures%20of%20Judaism%20%26%20Christianity January 25, 2001.
  For a great deal of background material to the Mediterranean World in the middle of the period we are looking at, see Kraft's collections of online materials for his classes in Early Judaism/Early Christianity at
  this link to his website.

Also see the maps at Kraft's website, here.
 

 Lambert, W. G. Babylonian Wisdom Literature. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbraun's, 1997 (Reprint of 1960 Edition).  
Have asked to have it placed on reserve at Rosengarten.
  The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version, Ed. by Bruce M. Metzger & Roland E. Murphy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991
  Selections: Ezekiel 18 and Proverbs 8. (2 copies)

Job 28, et. al., including the following (1 copy)

Baruch 1.1-4.31

Sirach Prologue and 1.1.-11; 24 and 25

Introductory material to Wisdom of Solomon


Scheindlin, Raymond P., Translator and Editor, The Book of Job. New York, NY: Norton, 1998.

 
Chapter 3, Job Curses; Chapter 28, Search for Wisdom (or wisdom).

See also, in TaNaKh, Chapters 38-39 (God answers Job).
 

 Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament. Edited by Carol Meyers, Toni Craven, and Ross Kraemer. Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin, 2000.  
The following entries
a) by Claudia V. Camp,

"Woman Wisdom: Woman Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible"548-550.

"Woman Wisdom: Woman Wisdom in the Apocryphal/
deuterocanonical Books" 550-552.

b) by Anne McGuire,

"Woman Wisdom: Woman Wisdom in the New Testament" 552-555.

c) by Angela Bauer

"Women in Imagery for Jerusalem, Judah, and Israel in Jeremiah" 555.

d) by Carey A. Moore

"Jerusalem/Zion as Widow and Mother" 530-531.

e) by Carole L. Fontaine

"Lilith" 531.


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Last update by Sigrid Peterson on February 4, 2001