Ancient Fiction: The Matrix of Early Christian And Jewish Narrative

390 Pages·2005·5.35 MB·English

by  et al Jo-Ann A. Brant (Editor)

ANCIENT FICTION
Symposium Series
Christopher R. Matthews,
Editor
Number 32
ANCIENT FICTION
The Matrix of Early Christian and Jewish Narrative
ANCIENT FICTION
The Matrix of Early Christian
and Jewish Narrative
Edited by
Jo-Ann A. Brant, Charles W. Hedrick, and Chris Shea
Society of Biblical Literature
Atlanta
ANCIENT FICTION
The Matrix of Early Christian
and Jewish Narrative
Copyright © 2005 by the Society of Biblical Literature
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
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be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, Society of Biblical Literature,
825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA.
Cover photo of the leaf of Papyrus 46 containing 2 Cor. 11:33–12:9 courtesy of the Papyrol-
ogy Collection, Graduate Library, University of Michigan.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ancient fiction : the matrix of early Christian and Jewish narrative / edited by Jo-Ann A.
Brant, Charles W. Hedrick, and Chris Shea.
p. cm. — (Society of Biblical Literature symposium series ; no. 32)
ISBN-13: 978-1-58983-166-7 (paper binding : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-58983-166-7 (paper binding : alk. paper)
1. Narration in the Bible—Comparative studies. 2. Greek literature, Hellenistic—His-
tory and criticism. 3. Greek literature, Hellenistic—Jewish authors—History and criticism.
4.Bible. N.T.—Criticism, Narrative. I. Brant, Jo-Ann A., 1956– II. Hedrick, Charles W.
III. Shea, Chris, 1949– IV. Series: Symposium series (Society of Biblical Literature) ; no. 32.
BS521.7.A53 2005
220.6'6—dc22 2005013285
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, recycled paper
conforming to ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994
standards for paper permanence.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements........................................................................................vii
Abbreviations....................................................................................................ix
Preface
Gareth Schmeling..............................................................................xv
Introduction
Richard I. Pervo..................................................................................1
PART1: ANCIENTGRECO-ROMANNARRATIVE
The Educational Curriculum in Chariton’s Callirhoe
Ronald F. Hock............................................................................................15
Imitating Imitation: Vergil, Homer, and Acts 10:1–11:18
Chris Shea....................................................................................................37
Die Entführung in das Serail: Aspasia: A Female Aesop?
Richard I. Pervo..........................................................................................61
Novel and Mystery: Discourse, Myth, and Society
Gerhard van den Heever ............................................................................89
PART2: JEWISHNARRATIVE
Midrash as Fiction and Midrash as History: What Did the
Rabbis Mean?
Chaim Milikowsky....................................................................................117
Mimesis and Dramatic Art in Ezekiel the Tragedians’ Exagoge
Jo-Ann A. Brant........................................................................................129
Daniel 1–6: A Biblical Story-Collection
Tawny L. Holm ........................................................................................149
3Maccabees: An Anti-Dionysian Polemic
Noah Hacham............................................................................................167
vi contents
Third Maccabees: Historical Fictions and the Shaping
of Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Period
Sara R. Johnson ........................................................................................185
Humor and Paradox in the Characterization of Abraham
in the Testament of Abraham
Jared W. Ludlow........................................................................................199
PART3: EARLYCHRISTIANNARRATIVE
Resurrection and Social Perspectives in the Apocryphal
Acts of Peterand Acts of John
Judith B. Perkins ......................................................................................217
The Breasts of Hecuba and Those of the Daughters of Jerusalem
Luke’s Transvaluation of a Famous Iliadic Scene
Dennis R. MacDonald..............................................................................239
The Choral Crowds in the Tragedy according to St. Matthew
J. R. C. Cousland ......................................................................................255
The Summaries of Acts 2, 4, and 5 and Utopian Literary
Traditions
Rubén Rene Dupertuis..............................................................................275
ABiography of a Motif: The Empty Tomb in the Gospels, the
Greek Novels, and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Andy Reimer ............................................................................................297
Bibliography
Editions and Translations of Ancient Literature ..............................317
Secondary Scholarship ..........................................................................319
Contributors....................................................................................................345
Index of Ancient Sources..............................................................................347
Index of Modern Authors............................................................................362
Index of Subjects............................................................................................367
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The editors of this volume wish to thank Gareth Schmeling and
Richard I. Pervo for providing an inviting preface and introduction to
this volume. In addition, while preparing the introduction, Richard read
all of the essays and then offered many helpful suggestions. We also
acknowledge three Goshen College students, Anita J. Hooley, Hannah M.
Eash, and especially Laurel J. Yoder, for taking on the tedious tasks of
preparing the lists of abbreviations and bibliographies.
We also wish to express our gratitude to Christopher R. Matthews,
our editor at the Society of Biblical Studies, who encouraged us to assem-
ble this collection and who serves as editor of the SBL Symposium Series.
We also thank Bob Buller and Leigh Anderson for their assistance with
the publication of this volume.
-vii-

ABBREVIATIONS
Secondary Sources
AB Anchor Bible
AEL Ancient Egyptian Literature. Miriam Lichtheim. 3 vols.
Berkeley and Los Angeles:University of California
Press, 1971–1980.
AGJU Arbeiten fur die Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des
Urchristentums
AJP American Journal of Philology
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte
und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung.Edited
by Hildegard Temporini and Wolfgang Haase. Berlin:
de Gruyter, 1972–.
APOT The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament.
Edited by Robert H. Charles. 2 vols. Oxford:Claren-
don, 1913.
ASP American Studies in Papyrology
AThRSS Anglican Theological Review Supplement Series
BCSR Bulletin of the Council on the Study of Religion
BDAG Bauer, Walter, Frederick W. Danker, William F. Arndt,
and F. Wilbur Gingrich. Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed.
Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Bib Biblica
BN Biblische Notizen
BSAA Bulletin de la Société archéologique d’Alexandrie
BZ Biblische Zeitschrift
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wis-
senschaft
BZNW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wis-
senschaft
CAGN Collected Ancient Greek Novels. Edited by Bryan P.
Reardon. Berkeley and Los Angeles:University of Cal-
ifornia Press, 1989.
-ix-
x abbreviations
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series
CEA Cahiers d’Etudes Anciennes
CDTS Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies
ChrEg Chronique d’Egypte
CNI Carsten Niebuhr Institute
CPJ Corpus papyrorum judaicorum
CQ Classical Quaterly
CW Classical World
DSD Dead Sea Discoveries
ETL Ephemerides theologicae lovanienses
EPRO Etudes Preliminaries Aux Religions Orientales Dans
L’empire Romain
FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und
Neuen Testaments
HAW Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft
HTR Harvard Theological Review
HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual
JAAR Journal of the American Academy of Religion
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies
JJP Journal of Juristic Papyrology
JJS Journal of Jewish Studies
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JR Journal of Religion
JRS Journal of Roman Studies
JQR Jewish Quarterly Review
JSHRZ Jüdische Schriften aus hellenistisch-romischer Zeit
JSNT Journal for Study of the New Testament
JSNTSup Journal for Study of the New Testament Supplement
Series
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement
Series
JSP Journal for the Study of Pseudepigrapha
JSPSup Journal for the Study of Pseudepigrapha Supplement
Series
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
LCL Loeb Classical Library
LSJ Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, and Henry Stuart
Jones, AGreek-English Lexicon.9th ed. with revised sup-
plement. Oxford:Clarendon, 1996.
Neot Neotestamentica
NIGTC New International Greek Testament Commentary