The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity

382 Pages·2021·1.772 MB·English

by  James Aitken, Hector M. Patmore, Ishay Rosen-Zvi

TheEvilInclinationinEarlyJudaismandChristianity
OneofthecentralconceptsinrabbinicJudaismisthenotionoftheEvil
Inclination,whichappearstoberelatedtosimilarconceptsinancient
Christianityandthewiderlateantiqueworld.Thepreciseoriginsand
understandingoftheidea,however,areunknown.Thisvolumetraces
thedevelopmentofthisconcepthistoricallyinJudaismandassessesits
impactonemergingChristianthoughtconcerningtheoriginsofsin.The
chapters, which cover a wide range of sources including the Bible,
the Ancient Versions, Qumran, Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha, the
Targums, and rabbinic and patristic literature, advance our
understanding of the intellectual exchange between Jews and
Christians in classical Antiquity, as well as the intercultural exchange
between these communities and the societies in which they were
situated.
James Aitken is Reader in Hebrew and Early Jewish Studies at the
FacultyofDivinity,UniversityofCambridge.PublicationsincludeNo
StoneUnturned:GreekInscriptionsandSeptuagintVocabulary(2014)
andTheT&TClarkCompaniontotheSeptuagint(2015).
Hector Michael Patmore is Associate Professor in the Faculty of
Theology and Religious Studies at the KU Leuven. His research
focuses on the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible and the
development of Jewish beliefs in Antiquity. Publications include
Adam,Satan,andthe KingofTyreand TheTransmission ofTargum
JonathanintheWest.
Ishay Rosen-Zvi is Professor in the Department of Jewish Philosophy
andTalmudatTelAvivUniversity.Ascholarofrabbinicliterature,he
was elected to the Israel Young Academy of Sciences in 2013. He is
author of several books, most recently, Goy: Israel’s Multiple Others
andtheBirthoftheGentile.

The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism
and Christianity
Edited by
JAMES AITKEN
UniversityofCambridge
HECTOR M. PATMORE
KULeuven
ISHAY ROSEN-ZVI
TelAvivUniversity
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LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
names:Patmore,HectorM.,editor.|Aitken,JamesK.(JamesKeltie),1968 editor.|
RosenZvi,Ishay,editor.
title:TheevilinclinationinearlyJudaismandChristianity/editedbyHector
Patmore,JamesAitken,IshayRosenZvi.
description:Cambridge;NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,2021.|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2020028438(print)|lccn2020028439(ebook)|isbn
9781108470827(hardback)|isbn9781108557153(ebook)
subjects:lcsh:Yetzerhara(Judaism)|Goodandevil Religiousaspects Judaism.|
Goodandevil Religiousaspects Christianity.|Sin Christianity Historyof
doctrines Earlychurch,ca.30 600.
classification:lccbj1286.y48e952021(print)|lccbj1286.y48(ebook)|ddc
296.3/6 dc23
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Contents
Acknowledgments pagevii
ListofContributors viii
1 Introduction
J.K.Aitken,H.M.Patmore,andI.Rosen-Zvi 1
2 ReconsideringtheSemanticsofthe“Inclination”(yesẹ r)
inClassicalBiblicalHebrew
NoamMizrahi 13
3 The“Inclination”(yesẹ r)asRenderedintheSeptuagint
JamesK.Aitken 33
4 “FleshlySpirit”and“VesselofFlesh”in4QInstruction
andtheThanksgivingHymns
BenjaminWold 49
5 TheologicalAnthropologyintheEnochicTradition
LorenStuckenbruck 65
6 ThePerilsofPhilosophicalPersuasion:PhiloontheOrigin
ofMoralEvils
SharonWeisser 95
7 TheEvilInclination(yesẹ rha-ra‘)inTannaiticLiterature:
DemonicDesiresandBeyond
IshayRosen-Zvi 115
8 ConflictingIntrapersonalPowersinPaul’sLetters
DanielSchumann 126
9 The“TwoInclinations”andtheDouble-MindedHuman
ConditionintheLetterofJames
GeorgevanKooten 143
v
vi Contents
10 AnEvilInclinationintheEarlyTargumstothePentateuch
andProphets?
HectorM.Patmore 159
11 “Gnostic”TheologiesofEvil
TimothyPettipiece 176
12 TheRabbinic“Inclination”(yesẹ r)andtheChristian
Apocrypha
MonikaPesthy-Simon 186
13 OrigenontheOriginofSin
RiemerRoukema 201
14 AugustineontheDiabolicalSuggestionofSin
SophieLunn-Rockliffe 212
15 Jeromeandthe“Inclination”(yesẹ r):TheEvidence
oftheVulgate
C.T.R.Hayward 232
16 RabbinicInclinationsandMonasticThoughts:Evagrius
Ponticus’DoctrineofReasoning(logismoi)
andItsAntecedents
AugustineCasiday 247
17 “Inclination”(yasṛ ā)intheSyriacTradition
DavidG.K.Taylor 262
18 Evil,Sin,andInclination(yesẹ r)inJewishandChristian
PoeticDisputesbetweentheBodyandSoul
OphirMünz-Manor 280
19 TheWizardofĀ zandtheEvilInclination:TheBabylonian
RabbinicInclination(yesẹ r)inItsZoroastrian
andManicheanContext
YishaiKiel 294
20 TheEvilInclinationintheTargumstotheWritings
LeeorGottlieb 315
References 331
IndexofNames 358
IndexLocorum 360
Acknowledgments
We would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to the
organisations and individuals whose contributions made this volume
possible.Firstandforemost,wearegratefultothecontributorsfortheir
willingnesstoparticipateinthisprojectandtheirpatience asitmadeits
long way to publication. The costs of the original conference and
preparation of the indicies were generously covered by an anonymous
sponsor. In addition, Fitzwilliam College provided us with a congenial
settingandensuredasmoothrunningoftheconference.Wenotetoothe
contributionofLaFondationduJudaïsmeFrançais,whichfundedHector
Patmore’sresearchstayinStrasbourg,duringwhichtimehewasableto
preparehiscontributiontothisproject.Thatthisprojecthasfinallycome
tofruitionintheformofthiseditedvolumeisthankstotheSyndicateof
CambridgeUniversityPressandtotheeditorialandproductionteamsof
the Press, among whom Beatrice Rehl, Eilidh Burrett, Caroline Morley,
Sudarsan Siddarthan, and Mathivathini Mareesan. We note with
particular appreciation the contribution of our copy-editor, Mary
Starkey, who carefully weeded out the last remaining infelicities and
inconsistencies. In addition to the team at Cambridge University Press,
SophiaJohnsonhelpeduspreparetheindices.Toalltheseweextendour
warmestthanks.
vii
Contributors
James Aitken, Reader in Hebrew and Early Jewish Studies, Faculty of
Divinity,UniversityofCambridge.
AugustineCasiday,HonorarySeniorResearchFellow,SchoolofHistory,
Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University and Affiliate Lecturer,
DepartmentofTheology,UniversityofGlasgow.
Leeor Gottlieb, Lecturer, Zalman Shamir Bible Department, Bar-Ilan
University.
RobertHayward,ProfessorofHebrew(retired),DepartmentofTheology
andReligion,UniversityofDurham.
Yishai Kiel, Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.
Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe, Lecturer in Patristics, Faculty of Divinity,
UniversityofCambridge.
Noam Mizrahi, Associate Professor, Department of Bible, Hebrew
UniversityofJerusalem.
Ophir Münz-Manor, Associate Professor of Rabbinic Culture,
DepartmentofHistory,PhilosophyandJudaicStudies,OpenUniversity
ofIsrael.
Hector M. Patmore, Associate Professor in Biblical Studies, Faculty of
TheologyandReligiousStudies,KULeuven.
viii
ListofContributors ix
MonikaPesthy-Simon,IndependentScholarandDoctoroftheHungarian
AcademyofSciences,Budapest.
Timothy Pettipiece, Instructor, College of Humanities, Carleton
University,andDepartmentofClassicsandReligiousStudies,University
ofOttawa.
IshayRosen-Zvi,ProfessorandHeadoftheTalmudandLateAntiquity
Section,DepartmentofJewishPhilosophy,TelAvivUniversity.
Riemer Roukema, Research Professor in Early Christianity, Protestant
TheologicalUniversity,Groningen.
DanielSchumann,MarieSkłodowska-CurieFellow,FacultyofTheology
andReligion,UniversityofOxford.
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, Professor of New Testament, Faculty of
ProtestantTheology,Ludwig-MaximiliansUniversity,Munich.
DavidG.K.Taylor,AssociateProfessorofAramaicandSyriac,Facultyof
OrientalStudies,UniversityofOxford.
George van Kooten, Lady Margaret’s Professor of Divinity, Faculty of
Divinity,UniversityofCambridge.
Sharon Weisser, Senior Lecturer in Ancient Philosophy, Department of
Philosophy,TelAvivUniversity.
Benjamin Wold, Associate Professor of Early Judaism & Christianity,
School of Religion, Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences,
TrinityCollegeDublin,theUniversityofDublin.