Ben Sira in Conversation with Traditions: A Festschrift for Prof. Núria Calduch-Benages on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday

394 Pages·2022·8.432 MB·English

by  Francis M. Macatangay, Francisco-Javier Ruiz-Ortiz

BenSirainConversationwithTraditions
Deuterocanonical and Cognate
Literature Studies
Edited by
Friedrich V. Reiterer, Beate Ego, Tobias Nicklas,
and Kristin De Troyer
Volume 47
Ben Sira
in Conversation
with Traditions
A Festschrift for Prof. Núria Calduch-Benages
on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday
Edited by
Francis M. Macatangay and Francisco-Javier Ruiz-Ortiz
In Collaboration with Renate Egger-Wenzel
ISBN978-3-11-076197-9
e-ISBN(PDF)978-3-11-076218-1
e-ISBN(EPUB)978-3-11-076222-8
ISSN1865-1666
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2021952271
BibliographicinformationpublishedbytheDeutscheNationalbibliothek
TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutscheNationalbibliografie;
detailedbibliographicdataareavailableontheInternetathttp://dnb.dnb.de.
©2022WalterdeGruyterGmbH,Berlin/Boston
Typesetting:MetaSystemsPublishing&PrintservicesGmbH,Wustermark
Printingandbinding:CPIbooksGmbH,Leck
www.degruyter.com
Prof.NúriaCalduch-Benages,MHSFN

Preface
ItAllBeganatSoesterbergin1996
InAppreciationofNúriaCalduch-Benages
LookingatanoldphotographofthefamousBenSirascholarswhowereinvited
by Pancratius C. Beentjes to Soesterberg on 28–31 July 1996 to mark the hun-
dredthanniversaryoftherediscoveryoftheHebrewmanuscriptsofBenSira,I
see Núria standing there in the middle of the first row. I remember very well
alltheimportantspecialistsofthisbookofwisdomliteraturecomingtogether:
Pancratius Beentjes, Christopher Begg, Alexander A. Di Lella, Maurice Gilbert,
Johannes Marböck, Antonino Minissale, Stefan C. Reif, Friedrich V. Reiterer,
BenjaminWright…andwe,theyounggeneration.
NúriabeganherstudiesatBarcelonaUniversity(Bellaterra).Thankstoher
parents’supportandencouragement,shestudiedphilosophy,German,andEng-
lishphilology,finishingherbachelor’sdegreeinherhometownbeforeshewent
toRometobecomeatheologian.Firstcameanotherbachelor’sdegreeatthePon-
tificalUrbanUniversity.In1991,afterherlicensedegreeatthePontificalBiblical
Institute,NúriawasappointedassistantprofessoratthePontificalGregorianUni-
versity.Shecompletedherdoctoratein1995withthethesisEnelcrisoldelaprue-
ba.EstudioexegéticodeSir2,1–181atthesameInstituteunderthesupervisionof
MauriceGilbertandwaspromptlyappointedassociateprofessorattheGregorian
University.
NúriawasnotentirelyclearwhyshereceivedaninvitationtotheBenSira
conferenceinSoesterbergbutoneafternoonthetelephonesuddenlyrang,and
it was Pancratius Beentjes calling to invite her to that Ben Sira Conference in
theNetherlands.
Ofcourse,EnglishhadtobethelanguageofthatmeetingbutNúria’sthesis
hadbeenwritteninSpanish.Núriahasagreatloveandanenormoustalentfor
languagesandhad,inadditiontohermothertonguesofCatalan,Spanish,and
French,alsostudiedGerman,Russian,Greek,Hebrew,Italian,Latin,Swahili,and
Vietnamese.However,shewasnotyetfluentenoughinEnglishtotranslatewith
easeanexcerptofherthesis.Shethereforeaskedafellowstudent,JanLiesen,a
laterISDCLmemberandnowbishopofBreda,forhisassistance.Thesnagwas
thatheexpectedittobeatranslationintoEnglishfromItalian,notfromSpanish.
Afteranintensivecollaboration,arathernervousyoungNúriaattendedthecon-
ferenceandpresentedherpaperbrilliantly.This“goldenopportunity,”asNúria
1 NúriaCalduch-Benages, Enel crisolde laprueba.Estudio exegéticode Sir2,1–18, ABE32,
Estella:VerboDivino,1997.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110762181-201
viii Preface
toldmemuchlater,hadoccurredbecauseaprofessorhaddeclinedtoparticipate,
andshehadbeeninvitedtofillinatthelastminute.
ThatconferenceinSoesterbergwasinmanyrespectsalsothestartingpoint
of our plans at Salzburg University to promote a more intensive study of the
deuterocanonical books.Friedrich Reiterer hadalready started witha Ben Sira
researchproject.In2002,heinitiatedameetinginSalzburg,invitingPancrati-
us,Núria,andJeremyCorleytoplanfurthersteps.SoitwasthatNúriabecame
oneofthefoundingmembersoftheInternationalSocietyfortheStudyofDeu-
terocanonical and Cognate Literature (ISDCL) and at the inaugural meeting in
2003 was also elected as a member of the advisory board. At this juncture, we
also created two new series at the publishing house, Walter de Gruyter. Núria
was invited to become co-editor of the series Deuterocanonical and Cognate
Literature Yearbook (DCLY) to ensure, together with her colleagues, the high-
qualitypublicationofthepapersreadatourinternationalconferences.In2013,
shewasdulyelectedvice-presidentandholdsthispositiontothepresent.
Meanwhile,NúriabuilthercareerinRome;shebecameBookReviewEditor
of the journal Biblica and later also a member of the editorial boards of the
journalsEstudiosBíblicos,Gregorianum,Storiadelledonne,VetusTestamentum,
anditsSupplementseries.
In2003,shereceivedanappointmentasextraordinaryprofessorattheGrego-
rianUniversityandbecamefullprofessorsevenyearslater.In2006,Núriaalso
becameanadvisoroftheCardinalBeaCentreatthesameinstitution.Since2016,
sheservesasanInvitedProfessoratthePontificalBiblicalInstitute.From2014to
2019,shewasappointedamemberofthePontificalBiblicalCommission,aposi-
tionthatwaslaterreneweduntil2025;sheservesnowasitssecretary.In2016,
NúriajoinedthePapalCommissionfortheStudyoftheDiaconateofWomen.
ThesemanydistinguishedandimportantassignmentsdidnotpreventNúria
frompublishingregularlyinthefieldofwisdomliterature.BenSiraisherfavored
bookinwhichherscholarlyexpertiseisinternationallyacknowledgedandwill
hopefullybecrownedwiththeconclusionofacommentaryafterherretirement.
Sheisalsointerestedinbiblicalanthropologyandfeministhermeneutics.
Núria’s colleagues hold her in high esteem and her students love her. The
editors and contributors of this Festschrift wish Núria strength and health for
many more years of productive scholarship and join with the sage in stating,
“Praisewillcomeforthfromthemouthofthewiseandbyherwillproverbsbe
studied”(Sir15:10).Wemayappropriatelyconcludebyrepeatingthepraiseof-
fered by Núria’s Doktorvater: “That lady is fascinating, joyful, dynamic, enter-
prisingandahardworker.”
RenateEgger-Wenzel December27th,2021
PresidentoftheISDCL
Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
SelectBibliography 7
Contributors 13
Part I: Ben Sira in Conversation with the Torah
JohnJ.Collins
TheCreationofHumanityinHebrewWisdomLiteratureoftheSecond
CenturyBCE 19
Jean-LouisSka
Torah,Paideia,andSophiainBenSira 35
PancratiusC.Beentjes
BenSira’sPortrayalofAaronandPhinehas(Sir45:6–25):AnInteraction
betweenTraditionandInnovation 51
BenjaminG.WrightIII
“DoNotDefraudtheLifeofthePoor”:NotesontheGreek
ofSir4:1–10 65
Part II: Ben Sira in Conversation with the Prophets
JeremyCorley
BenSiraandEzekiel 81
BradleyC.Gregory
“BreadtotheHungryandClothestotheNaked”:AHistoryofaProphetic-
SapientialMotiffromTobittotheSyriacofBenSira 95
x Contents
PawełPaszko
TheMetaphorofaWomanGivingBirth:TheBookofBenSiraintheLight
ofPropheticLiterature 109
IbolyaBalla
BanquetofLifeinBenSiraandHosea:IntertextualLinks
betweenSir24:12–23andHos14:5–10 123
Part III: Ben Sira in Conversation with Wisdom Traditions
TovaForti
“Yet,NoOneRememberedthatPoorMan”:QohelethandBenSira
ontheWisdomofthePoor 149
SergioRotaspertiandF.JavierRuiz-Ortiz
LivingwithWildAnimals:AStudyoftheImageryinSir25:15–16 165
FriedrichV.Reiterer
OntheGiftsoftheLordinBenSira 177
DinhAnhNhueNguyen
FamilyEthosandWiseBehaviorinProverbs,Sirach,andVietnamese
FolkSayings 191
Part IV: Ben Sira in Coversation with Some of the Literature
of the Second Temple
FrancisM.MacatangayandEmilioLópezNavas
JerusalemintheBooksofTobitandBenSira 217
MichaelW.Duggan
WisdominDisguiseandtheHeroismofWidows:BenSiraandJudean
Traditions(Sir4:1–19) 235
BarbaraSchmitz
PathDependenceandInstitutionalChange:ThePortrayalofAlcimus
andJonathanasHighPriestsin1Maccabees 249