Religion and Female Body in Ancient East Mediterranean (2012), conference
Religion and Female Body in Ancient East Mediterranean (2012) is a conference in the series of International Conference on the Deuterocanonical Books, chaired by Géza G. Xeravits.
History
The conference is organised by the Department of Bible, Sapientia College of Theology, Budapest (Hungary), in 29-31 May, 2012..
Official Program
Benjamin G. Wright: The Female Body in Early Judaism: Constructing Women and Men -- Réka Esztári & Ádám Vér: Prophetesses and Female Ecstatics in Assyria -- Miklós Kőszeghy: Der vorexilische (?) Frauenkörper in der Welt des Alten Testament -- Stefan Schorch: "A Garden Locked is My Sister, My Bride:" The Relation between Theology and Anthropology according to Song of Songs -- Thomas Hieke: Menstruation and Impurity. Regular Abstention from the Cult According to Leviticus 15:19-24 and Some Examples for the Reception of the Biblical Text in Early Judaism -- Friedrich V. Reiterer: Wisdom Personified -- Ibolya Balla: "Pillars of Gold on a Silver Base:" Female Beauty as the Cause of Anxiety and Praise in the Book of Ben Sira -- Karin Schöpflin: Women’s Roles in the Narrative and Theology of the Book of Tobit -- József Zsengellér: Judith as a Female David. Beauty and Body in Religious Context -- Gábor Buzási: Eros and Allegory in Hellenistic Judaism and Late Antique Paganism -- Hanna Stenström: Female Imagery in Revelation -- Korinna Zamfir: The Hiddenness of Female Body — 1Timothy -- György Geréby: Gender and Childbearing in the Protevangelium Jacobi -- Csaba Ötvös: The Likeness and the Body. The Concepts of the First Woman in the Gnostic Tractates from Nag Hammadi -- Gáspár Parlagi: The City without(?) Women—Approaches to the Female in Early Monastic Literature
Abstract of the Lectures
- Ibolya Balla (Reformed Theological Academy; Pápa, Hungary): "Pillars of Gold on a Silver Base:" Female Beauty as the Cause of Anxiety and Praise in the Book of Ben Sira.
Ben Sira has a variety of comments concerning the physical appearance of women. On the one hand female beauty is praised and valued so greatly that the splendour of a woman is even compared to the beauty of the sacred objects of the Temple, whose rites the author very highly regards. On the other, it can be the source of anxiety and danger that—through extramarital sexual relationships—may lead not only to disgrace, but also to the breaking of familial boundaries and potentially to the breaking of God’s law. In addition to investigating both positive and negative comments pertaining to female attractiveness and female body, the paper demonstrates the importance and necessity of viewing such comments in their respective contexts.
- Gábor Buzási (Eötvös Loránd University; Budapest, Hungary): Eros and Allegory in Hellenistic Judaism and Late Antique Paganism
True Love in Plato is inspired by a Beauty transcending the senses and capable of giving far more pleasure than the body. This idea had a lasting impact on ascetic movements of all denominations from Antiquity onward. In the first part of my paper I will examine the Hellenistic Jewish reception of Platonic Eros through Philo’s allegorical commentaries on Genesis as well as through the pseudepigraphic story of Joseph and his Egyptian wife Aseneth. In the second part I will turn to the allegorical reading of the myth of Attis and Cybele by Emperor Julian the Apostate. I am especially interested in the relation between the non-physical interpretation of Love and the non-literal interpretation of Scripture and other authoritative narratives in Late Antiquity.
- Réka Esztári and Ádám Vér (Eötvös Loránd University; Budapest, Hungary): The Role of Prophetesses and Female Ecstatics in the Neo-Assyrian Decision-making Procedure
By the time of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the role of prophetesses and female ecstatics looked back a thousand years old tradition in the ancient Near East. Reports about their prophecies could detected as early as the beginning of the second millennium B. C. (in letters from Mari, XIX–XVIII. c. B. C.). According our sources, the functions of prophets and diviners were always closely connected to the political spheres. On the bases of cuneiform sources, we try to analyse the role of prophetesses and female ecstatics (ass. raggintu and mahhūtu)in the political decision-making system of the Neo-Assyrian (in the VIIth century B. C.) court and their special relationships with the Temples of Ishtar in Nineveh and Arbela. The first part of this paper focuses on the official role of the mentioned prophetesses: the ideas and rules applied to and making them members of a religious community, the institutional framework of the temple of Ishtar. This community comprises of cross-dressers or transvestites, male and female cultic entertainers, and ("sacred") prostitutes. Setting out their proper place within it, it is also possible to determine some general characteristics of this special cultic micro-cosmos – as a whole. After that, we are to proceed with the investigation of the concepts and functions associated with them in a wider field, counting them as members of the proper Neo-Assyrian social matrix. Furthermore, we have to analyse and determine their connections with the Assyrian royal court. As their prophecies, referring to diverse state matters, are essentially ideological and political tools in the hands of the state authority, their function makes them part of another special community: the inner circle of professional diviners, so to speak scholars of the royal court. In the second part of the paper we try to examine the political decision-making systems of the Neo-Assyrian court and the place of prophetesses and other diviners within this structure. As almost everywhere in the ancient world, a political decision was preceded by numbers of divination procedures in Assyria as well (hepatoscopy, auguration, astral omens, etc.). During the reign of Esarhaddon (680–669 B. C.) we could identify a royal will to collect all the scholars and diviners of the empire to the Assyrian metropolises, or at least to exercise imperial control over the work of these experts. Rich sources for this process are the letters of Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal with the scholars and diviners of the Assyrian royal court—and with those officials who were to control their work and knowledge. For the goodwill of the empire diviners and the direct mediums of the divine will worked in parallel in Nineveh—in a concentration had never seen before. In some cases, we can detect the clear attempts of the scholars in the Assyrian royal court to verify an information came from one kind of divinational process with another kind of oracular or divinational process. Finally, we'll put this latter hypothesis to the test, and reinvestigate the famous case of the "false prophecy" or "competition of prophecies" from Harran, which occurred in the course of Esarhaddon's reign and went about the close end of the Sargonide dynasty.
- György Geréby (Central European University, Budapest, Hungary): Gender and Childbearing in the Protevangelium Jacobi
Formerly in a series of articles I tried to show that the Protevangelium Jacobi (dated to the end of the second century) is a piece of "narrative theology" which despite its surface structure (a "pious tale") has a deeper reading where the stories and images can be deciphered as containing a kind of proto-orthodox theological doctrine. The Protevangelium is directed against certain alternative contemporary schools of theology. The key is provided by its liminal formulations, formulations that are meant to exclude existing rival alternatives. One of its liminal features is the stress on the equality of the sexes, and the positive view on child-bearing. Joachim and Anna, man and woman play an equal role in the unfolding story of the preparation of the birth of the Christ, and child-bearing is described in unquestionably positive terms. I will first point out the elements of liminality, and then I will try to show against whom are the liminal elements directed. The rival theological schools in this case are certain trends in “Gnosticism” that are emphatically against the role of the female and consider child-bearing as metaphysically wrong.
- Thomas Hieke (Johannes Gutenberg University; Mainz, Germany): Menstruation and Impurity. Regular Abstention from the Cult According to Leviticus 15:19–24 and Some Examples for the Reception of the Biblical Text in Early Judaism
From the Bible onward one finds various regulations about women, their bodily conditions as the regular shedding of the uterine lining, and their religious activity (or religiously motivated restrictions from certain actions). The focus of this paper lies on the biblical instructions in Leviticus 15:19–24 and their reception in Early Judaism. These prescriptions mostly refer to male conceptualizations of the female body in Antiquity: The texts were written by men about women and their expected behavior regarding menstruation; women, on the other hand, obviously accepted these regulations, acted according to them and passed them on to the next generation. The male concepts consider women during their menses as unable to participate in the cult. The woman’s status during this period is called "impure," and she conveys this status to objects beneath her and to people who touch her or the objects. What exactly do the biblical instructions regulate and what was the impact for everyday life? How was this topic received and treated in later texts? After some remarks about the overall structure of Leviticus 15 and a short note about the origin of the text, the paper will present an exegesis of Leviticus 15:19–24 and some examples for the reception of this biblical passage in Early Judaism.
- Miklós Kőszeghy (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Piliscsaba): Pre-Exilic Female Bodies
The purpose of the lecture is twofold: on the one hand, it aims to provide a short overview of the way the Old Testament regards the female body; on the other hand, it deals with problems concerning the pre-exilic depiction of the same theme. The latter part consists of the presentation of recent research results on Asherah-plaques and pillared figurines.
- Csaba Ötvös (Eötvös Loránd University; Budapest, Hungary): The Likeness and the Body. The Concepts of the First Woman in the Gnostic Tractates from Nag Hammadi
According to the Genesis’ account "so the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the male he made into a woman and brought her to the man" (Gen 2:21–22). These biblical verses could explain the origin, role and place of the first woman in the biblical traditions and played prominent role also for the ancient authors in the first Christian centuries. The primary sources of the ancient Gnostic mythological theologies seem to provide different concepts of the first woman however all descriptions were associated in a more and less clearly way with a common source, the biblical passages. In the developed systems the biblical verses appeared in a new, mythological dress that involves such theological insights concerning on Eve’s figure that generated polemical echoes in the contemporary traditions. This planned investigation focuses on a small but central part of this mythological imagery, namely the concepts of Eve’s origin in the garden of paradise. At first I schematize the narratives of the primary sources to illustrate how the authors adopted the biblical sources and create these texts. This part provides the map of the maze through which the mythological perspectives and their symbolic language can be interpreted on the one hand and the writers’ theological points of views become more explicit on the other. The second part makes an attempt to exemplify through one motif of the Writing without Title (NHC II,5) not only Eve’s prominent role—that she plays as instructor, emissary or even a saviour figure in this tractate—but also a controversial issue in the writings of the contemporary Christian Fathers.
- Gáspár Parlagi (Károli Gáspár Reformed University; Budapest, Hungary): The City without(?) Women. Approaches to the Female in Early Monastic Literature
According to the Vita Antonii—the most important literary source on early monasticism—during the first half of the 4th century, the Egyptian "desert was colonised by monks" (Vita Antonii 14) to give the impression of a heavenly city. As a famous apopthegm of abba Sisoes put it, this was the only ideal place to live an ascetic life because "there are no women" (AP Sisoes3) there. However, the reality was somewhat more complex than it would seem at first glance in the mirror of the effort of that father to avoid females. As a matter of fact, it was quite impossible to ignore them: women appeared from time to time in the desert (whether they were simple visitors or persons dedicated to ascetic life), it was necessary to meet them in the cities in the course of the economic relations, and last but not least, there were the memories of females carried by the monks even to the wasteland (which often manifested in sexual temptations). There was a need to establish a more or less consequent standpoint about these situations practically and somehow about the general role of women theoretically as well. In my paper I survey the most important sources about women in early monastic literature. Through the analysis of these texts I would like to present the approaches of the first representatives of monastic life to women (as real, human persons) and to the female body (which for them paradoxically mostly became a subtle instrument of demonic temptations). With the help of some external examples I would also like to show that the standpoint of the desert fathers (often qualified prejudicial and full of preconceptions) was usually more practical and often surprisingly much more tolerant of flesh and blood women than the depreciative point of view of other theologians living in the world.
- Friedrich V. Reiterer (Salzburg University; Salzburg, Austria): Wisdom Personified
How does the wisdom show itself in the late Old Testament literature? Can one speak of a personified wisdom? And if you cannot speak of a personified wisdom, what arguments can we find in the text, which speak against it? If one can speak of a personified wisdom, which are the arguments for and what can we say about the personification of wisdom? To answer these questions, some references are discussed how the wisdom is presented. I assume that Prov 1–9 is a relatively young text, so you can start to investigate with passages of Prov 1–9 (Sirach and Sapientia follow as a next step). We study in detail, especially Prov 1:20–33, Prov 8:1–36 and Prov 9:1–9. To answer the question posed above, criteria are collected based on the poetic representation and terminology.
- Karin Schöpflin (Göttingen University; Göttingen, Germany): Women’s Roles in the Narrative and Theology of the Book of Tobit
Three women are involved in the narrative of the Book of Tobit, a fourth one is mentioned. The paper will show how these females are characterized and what parts they play within the story. Then their roles in the theology of the book will be examined.
- Hanna Stenström (Uppsala University; Uppsala, Sweden): Female Imagery in the Book of Revelation
The female images—Babylon the Prostitute, Jerusalem the Bride, the Woman Clothed with the Sun—in the Book of Revelation are the most prominent female images in the New Testament. Therefore, gender criticism is a useful tool for analyzing this text, as has been shown in works by scholars as Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Tina Pippin, Jorunn Okland and others. In this lecture, I show how female and sexual imagery, as well as purity language, are used in Revelation to create a symbolic universe and thereby also in forming Christian identity and praxis.
- Benjamin G. Wright and Suzanne M. Edwards (Lehigh University): "She Undid Him with the Beauty of Her Face" (Jdt 16.6): Reading Women's Bodies in Early Jewish Literature
While much has been written on women’s social roles and sexuality in ancient Judaism (especially in rabbinic literature) and in Early Christianity, scholars have paid comparatively little attention to the contested, anxious representation of women’s bodies in Early Jewish literature. This paper examines how narrative, sapiential, and prescriptive texts imagine and manage the interpretive problems associated with women’s bodies. In three narrative texts—Judith, the Genesis Apocryphon, and Aseneth—women’s bodies destabilize the men who must read them, because the beautiful, glittering surfaces of women’s bodies can mask hidden sin or virtue. Judith’s encounter with Holofernes illustrates the problem well. At every step, Holofernes’ desire for Judith causes him to misread her, and he eventually loses his head as a result. In contrast, a reader of the text can apprehend the duplicity of Judith’s appearance and speech to understand her as a heroine, not a harlot. In these narratives, reading female bodies rightly becomes a test of masculine virtue. In light of these narrative texts, we turn to several legal and wisdom texts—in particular the Damascus Document, the Temple Scroll, 4Q184, and the Wisdom of Ben Sira—in order to uncover how these different genres confront the problem of reading female bodies. Associated with hidden depths of wickedness and virtue, women’s bodies provide insight into masculine interpretive desires and the structure of feminine agency in early Jewish literature.
- Korinna Zamfir (Babeş-Bolyai University; Cluj/Kolozsvár, Romania): The Hiddenness of the Female Body and Voice. A Contextual Reading of 1 Tim 2,9–15
1 Tim 2,9–15 may seem to be composed of bits of unrelated exhortations addressed to women. They are demanded to avoid ostentatious adornment and to prefer instead typical female virtues. They are than silenced and prohibited to teach, they are prevented to exert authority and are demanded to be submitted. Subsequently the author turns to motherhood, the specific way through which women may reach salvation, and ends with another enumeration of virtues. Notwithstanding the variety of themes, a number of connecting elements may be distinguished. One of these is the topos of female inconspicuousness, implicit in three aspects of the exhortation. (1) The restrictions concerning beautification express a widespread ancient moral-philosophical topos: women are to avoid ostentatious adornment that would attract the male gaze, and they should remain thereby inconspicuous. (2) The virtues that women should embrace instead—modesty, temperance/chastity—intimately connected to the restrictions imposed on adornment here and in numerous ancient sources, effect women’s inconspicuousness and unassertiveness. They reflect an honour and shame mentality, aimed at keeping women in the private sphere. (3) Silence is frequently associated with the hiddennes of the body: just as an entirely covering dress hides her body, so silence conceals her thoughts, her wishes, eventually her personality. In this paper I shall look at these exhortations, focusing on the topos of female hiddenness in ancient playwrights and moral-philosophers.