The Dangerous Stupidity of the Unambiguous

The Book of Proverbs (Mishlei) is a collection of wisdom-sayings which are formulated in many cases as stereotypes of ‘good and bad’, ‘wise and stupid’. For today’s readership this seems to be too simplistic and superficial for our experience of life. However, this need not lead to the conclusion that the text is outdated, because the stereotypes serve as a framework within which each has to locate him- or herself – always knowing that perceiving oneself as wise might be the most stupid opinion of all.

Learning to Pray by Singing

Gregorian chants are mostly based on Old Testament texts, predominantly from the Psalms. Decisive for their interpretation in the light of the New Testament are texts of the Church Fathers (Augustine, Gregory the Great, etc.). The texts often do not follow their canonical order in the Bible, but were primarily compiled on the basis of broader associations. Hence, it is not uncommon for new content references to emerge that are committed to a Christian perspective, emotionally and theologically very bold. This article describes an imaginary ‘Gregorian Composition Workshop’: the individual ‘chambers’ include compiling texts, the choice of a suitable mode and melody, as well as the most refined rhythmic differentiations. The final piece, through its unique quality as the ‘sounding word of Holy Scripture’ permits an intensive view of the spirituality of the ninth and tenth centuries, and a realistic understanding of the Psalms as the basis of Christian existence.

Editorial

2018 saw the fiftieth anniversary of the spontaneous founding of an interfaith initiative involving Jews and Christians in the unlikely location of Germany. Anneliese Debray, who was the director of a Catholic women’s adult education centre in Bendorf, near Koblenz, had the imagination and courage to set about creating programmes for encounter and reconciliation in the post-war world. The centre, the Hedwig Dransfeld Haus, became a meeting place for French and German and Polish and German families; for physically and mentally handicapped people together with ‘normal’ people; for the challenging task of ecumenical encounters between Catholic and Protestant Christians; for dialogue between Christians and Muslims; and eventually between Israeli and German young people. In that latter context the editor of this journal found himself visiting the centre and then, with two fellow rabbinic students at Leo Baeck College, attending an annual Catholic Bible study conference that summer. Our presence, our willingness to be there, and the rarity of such an opportunity for the participants, led to the desire to repeat the experiment the following year. Through incremental changes, the International Jewish-Christian Bible Week became an annual reality. After the death of Anneliese Debray, who had struggled for years to keep the Haus financially afloat, it went into bankruptcy. Nevertheless, what had been built had enough recognition and influence that it led to an invitation from Dr Uta Zwingenberger, who was responsible for Bible education in the Diocese of Osnabrück, to re-establish the Week in a new home, another Catholic adult education centre, Haus Ohrbeck, in the area of Osnabrück. There it continues to grow and flourish, hosting up to 130 people each year. Part of the impact, which makes it different from other more formal interfaith encounters, is the participation of families, with special programmes for children, so that the entire atmosphere is one of a normal human community.

Mishlei/Proverbs

A fresh look at the book of Proverbs (Mishlei) questions its criticism as misogynistic, and explores scholarly evidence of women’s varied functions in biblical society, including teaching and transmitting wisdom, particularly of the pragmatic kind lauded in Proverbs. The structure of the book is examined, noting how the introductory section (chapters 1–9), with its praise of Lady Wisdom, mirrors the concluding section (chapters 30–31), which features a wise queen’s counsel to her son and the eshet chayil, or ‘woman of worth’. An examination of references to fathers and mothers, and to both male and female figures of wisdom and folly, suggests that many of the proverbs of the main, earliest section (chapters 10–29) may be examples of women’s wisdom. Finally, the image of weaving – a central feature of women’s wisdom in the ancient Near East – is used to suggest a new understanding of this intricate and elaborate book.

What Did We Hear at Sinai?

This article examines key texts on the experience of the giving of the Ten Commandments from the Bible, through rabbinic tradition, medieval commentators and two Hasidic masters.

Psalms of Ascent

This article uses Hermann Gunkel’s form-critical approach in studying the fifteen short ‘Psalms of Ascent’ (Psalms 120–134). Jewish tradition as well as subsequent scholarship associates these Psalms with the Biblical Pilgrim festivals in Jerusalem, sung by the pilgrims on their way but later incorporated into cultic rites within the Temple. Gunkel’s analysis identifies templates which serve as frameworks for both simple and complex artistic variations. Using the form-critical approach descriptively rather than prescriptively, the article uses the identification of formal elements primarily as a tool for understanding the language, themes, message and mood of these Psalm texts. A study of King Solomon’s dedicatory prayer (1 Kings 8 and 2 Chronicles 6) in conjunction with Psalm 132 indicates a new locus of performance in a ritual in modern synagogue liturgy.

Jonah Unbound

The Hebrew Bible is a compilation of literary ‘fictions’ and poetry that evoke ‘the truth of the human condition’ (Elena Ferrante). This article retells the story of the Book of Jonah from the first-person perspective of ‘Jonah’. The fictional narrative is rooted in the language and themes of the original biblical text. Jonah is still angry with God’s forgiveness of the Ninevites, and readers’ complicity in the always-recurring flight from taking responsibility to act against evil in the world. As Jonah tells his story, he regresses into a manic state that parallels chapter 2 of the biblical book. The narrative moves into reflections about humanity’s lack of compassion for the natural world, and Jonah’s fears about the forthcoming ‘ecocide’ of the planet.

The Threefold Cord of Ecclesiastes

This lecture explores the book of Ecclesiastes as a kind of exemplar of the proverbial saying in 4:12 that ‘a threefold cord is not quickly broken’. The first strand of the book – a ‘black thread’ – is the thesis in Kohelet’s teaching, that all human endeavour amounts to nothing but transience and insubstantiality. The second strand – a ‘white thread’ – is the antithesis in Kohelet’s teaching, that value can be discovered in eating, drinking, and finding enjoyment in one’s toil. And the third strand – a ‘golden thread’ – is the synthesis in the book, that one should walk a middle way, recognising the manifold vanities of life on the one hand and the value of the simple pleasures of life on the other, and striving to be neither too wicked and foolish nor too righteous and wise for one’s own good.

Epilogues

The annual International Jewish-Christian Bible Week runs from a Sunday to a Sunday, allowing for the celebration of the Jewish Shabbat and the Christian Sunday by attending one another’s religious services. During the five years covered in this issue, it has been the author’s privilege to offer the sermon on the Saturday morning during the Jewish service. This enables him to explore new perceptions of the texts we have been studying that have arisen during the Week, but also to reflect on broader issues that might have arisen in the multiple interactions – interfaith, intercultural and interpersonal – that have taken place during the Week. Given the occasional negative associations that accompany the word ‘sermon’, I have preferred to use the term ‘epilogues’ to characterise these responses to the texts and experiences of the Week. The term also covers a more imaginative reflection on the Book of Proverbs (Hebrew: mishlei) that we have been studying – a visit to the City of Mishlei.