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Class Prep
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Apocalypse: Rebirthing the World
 If the Babylonian exile gave birth to the Priestly reconstruction of the social world and earlier cultural codes, its aftermath would produce a far more complex synthesis in apocalyptic literature. Beginning around the year 200 BCE, as pressure to assimilate to Greek culture began to accelerate, some Jews resisted by asserting the ultimate victory of their God and their cultural system. One form of this resistance was the apocalyptic genre of literature, which blended earlier Jewish prophecy with Babylonian and Persian codes and conventions in a somewhat ironic hybrid.-
- Apocalyptic literature is not heavily represented in Tanakh, where its only exemplar is the Book of Daniel in the Ketuvim (wisdom writings), However, it will make a stronger mark on a Jewish sect that would soon arise—the group that followed Jesus as its moshiah or christos. So our goals today are to appreciate the historical circumstances of Daniel and their relation to the themes of the book, but also to grasp the apocalyptic genre clearly so that we can return to it after the exam.
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- Here are the questions to prepare:
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- Define "apocalyptic" and list some of the characteristic features of this literary genre (The Meaning of the Bible pp. 251-257). In particular, note features that differentiate apocalyptic from earlier forms of prophecy.
- Choose either the folktale chapter of Daniel 2 or the more explicitly apocalyptic vision of Daniel 7, and identify the apocalyptic features you find in the NRSV (using the list you developed above). Then see if you notice any changes in the "telling" of these stories in The Action Bible.
- How does the apocalyptic myth of liberation in a book like Daniel (The Meaning of the Bible pp. 249-257) reinterpret or reconstruct the Exodus story of liberation (The Meaning of the Bible pp. 239-248)?
- Define "messiah" and discuss some of the figures imagined as messiahs in the post-exilic period (see The Meaning of the Bible pp. 249-250 and 255-257).
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- Assigned Readings
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- Primary: Daniel (Action Bible 470-488; read the NRSV version of Daniel 2 and 7 closely)
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- Secondary: Knight & Levine, The Meaning of the Bible chapter 8 pp. 231-232, 239-257; online class prep
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- Slides for Lecture
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- Today's Authors
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Douglas Knight is the Drucilla Moore Buffington Professor of Hebrew Bible Emeritus and retired Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderilt University Divinity School in Tenessee. |
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Amy-Jill Levine is the University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Profesor of New Testament Studies, and Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderilt University Divinity School in Tenessee. She is a specialist in the Christian Gospel of Matthew and in feminist studies, and is an Orthodox Jew. She will also be our guide through the parables of Jesus when we turn to the New Testament. |
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Sergio Cariello is a Brazilian-American comic book artist. He's published with major comic book publishers such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics, and recently has been penciling and inking "The Lone Ranger" for Dynamite Entertainment" and the "Son of Samson" series for Christian publisher Zondervan. |
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- Further Reading
- For a complete bibliography of the genre, see the bibliography for my course, Apocalypse Now.
Here is a bibliography of apocalyptic films.
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- Collins, John J. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature, 2nd ed., The Biblical Resource Series. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1998; original, 1984.
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- --------. The Scepter and the Star: The Messiahsof the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature, Anchor Bible Reference Library. New York: Doubleday, 1995.
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- Murphy, Frederick J. Apocalypticism in the Bible and Its World: A Comprehensive Introduction. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2012.
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- Reddish, Mitchell G. Apocalyptic Literature: A Reader. Peabody, Massachusetts: Henrickson, 2015; original, 1998. Our library has the original 1998 issue.
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- Links
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- Acknowledgements
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- Image adapted from Sergio Cariello, illustrator, The Action Bible: God’s Redemptive Story (Colorado Springs, Colorado: David C Cook, 2010) 743.
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