Continuing Seminar
Biblical Intertextuality: Its Methodology, History, and Implementation

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SUN MON TUE    CONTINUING SEMINARS   SCHEDULE

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Description

As the study of biblical intertextuality has become increasingly important, this continuing seminar is designed to present CBA Members with the opportunity to explore this emergent interpretive trend. To do so, three major areas of emphasis are foregrounded: the scholarly history of this subfield, its distinct and varied methodologies, and the specifics of its implementation. While criticism has tended to separate inner-biblical allusions into Hebrew Bible and New Testament cases, the approach followed here seeks to put the allusive purposes of the two Testaments in dialogue so that the insights of each can help inform the broader conversation concerning the biblical authors’ referential designs.

In this initial meeting, Eric X. Jarrard (Wellesley College) will begin the seminar by exploring the methodological parameters of biblical intertextuality and the significance of the terminology frequently used. To further this theoretical accent, Joachim Krause (Bochum University) will then discuss a potential framework for considering the strategies that the Hebrew Bible authors may have used to mark specific allusions. After these opening notes, Allison Hurst (Northwestern University) will investigate the intertextual resonances of the laws regulating the treatment of the gēr in ancient Israelite society, and Nicholas Schaser (McMaster College) will conclude the seminar by reading Acts 15 in light of LXX 2 Chronicles 10-11. 

Seminar Leaders in 2024

• Gabriel F. Hornung, Trinity College, Hartford
• Eric X. Jarrard, Wellesley College

Program Details for 2024

Focus: TBA

• Presenters:

• • Eric X. Jarrard, Wellesley College
    “What’s in a Name? Methodological Considerations for Inner-Scriptural Allusion”
    
    Abstract
    This paper offers an examination of the state of the field and a proposed methodology of intertextual work. By evaluating some of the existing attempts to move the field of scriptural allusion toward consistent methodologies and terminologies, this overview will provide a foundation upon which the remainder of this continuing seminar can be constructed. The goal is to contribute to that move away from what J. Z. Smith called “magic” connection—that je ne sais quoi instinct of relationship—as much as possible, and toward a science, or at least an explicit methodology, of how two biblical texts can be understood as related to one another.
    
    
  • Joachim Krause, Ruhr University Bochum
    “Marking Textual References: Reviewing the Theoretical Framework”
    

Abstract
When citing other texts or alluding to them, authors deliberately opt to rely on the readiness and ability of their readers to cooperate in the production of meaning. Hence, it is only natural to reckon with the possibility that a given author would mark citations and allusions in such a way as to enable readers to realize the intended references more easily. While such marking is well-investigated in comparative literature, this phenomenon has remained largely unexplored in the Hebrew Bible. To help address this gap, I propose a theoretical framework for further exploring the potential of investigating the marking of textual references in the Hebrew Bible.

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• Presenter: 

• • Allison Hurst, Northwestern University
    “Loving the Gēr: An Intertextual Assessment”

Abstract
More than any other legal collection, the Holiness Code portrays a concern for the gēr (“sojourner,” “resident”). While these laws are founded on the instruction for the Israelite to love the gēr as himself since the Israelites were gērîm in Egypt (Lev 19:34), the exact background for this motive clause remains elusive given that Exodus 1 never describes the Israelite nation as having the status of gērîm in Egypt. Since this leaves open the possibility that the Holiness Code is alluding to a different experience, I explore two interpretations of the biblical laws regarding gērîm in the Holiness Code through the intertexts of Genesis 47, on the one hand, and the book of Exodus, on the other, to argue that the reader can arrive at two distinct interpretations of the command.

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• • Nicholas Schaser, Macalester College
    “An Unbearable Law? The Yoke of Rehoboam and the Burden of Human Demands in Acts 15”

    Abstract
    When Peter mentions the “yoke” (zugōs) that “neither we nor our ancestors could bear” (Acts 15:10), most commentators associate it with the Torah. However, the notion of an unbearable Mosaic Law contradicts Luke’s presentation of Jews maintaining legal observance without difficulty. This paper turns to 2 Chronicles 10-11 LXX, in which Rehoboam imposes an authoritarian “yoke” (zugōs) upon Israel that is unrelated to the Torah, to offer an alternative understanding of the yoke, not as a reference to heavenly commandments, but as the imposition of human demands; namely, the “command” from some in the church that Gentiles “must” keep the Law to be “saved” (Acts 15:1, 5).

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