Michael Zank, STM PhD,
Associate Professor of Religion
147 Bay State Road, Room 506, Boston MA 02215,
Tel: (617)353-4434 Email: mzank@bu.edu
Office hours (Spring 2005) Wednesday 10-12 and by appt.

From Philo to Freud, the richly varied afterlife of the biblical Moses figure and story of monotheism's Egyptian origins, considered as an abiding preoccupation of Western religions, theology, literary and visual art, and secular thought. (See HERE for a downloadable poster).

Jan Assmann, Moses the Egyptian (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998)

S. David Sperling, The Original Torah (Albany/NY: NYU Press, 2003)

Bluma Goldstein, Reinscribing Moses (Cambridge, Mass.: HU Press, 1992)

Sigmund Freud, Moses and Monotheism (Vintage Books, 1967)

Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Freud's Moses (New Haven: Yale U Press, 1991)

The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford University Press)

All other readings will be on reserve at Mugar Library or available on courseinfo.bu.edu.

The Ten Commandments  (Paramount Pictures, 1956) Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. This 1956 remake of his epic THE TEN COMMANDMENTS was filmed in Egypt and the Sinai with one of the biggest sets ever constructed for a motion picture. This version tells the story of the life of Moses (Charlton Heston), once favored in the Pharaoh's (Yul Brynner) household, who turned his back on a privileged life to lead his people to freedom.

The Prince of Egypt (DreamWorks, 1998) Produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg, directed by Simon Wells and Steve Hickner (Animation).

Both films will be on reserve at the Geddes Language Center. Please leave yourself ample time for the viewing of these two feature length films. Group screenings can be organized if so desired but, in any case, the films must be viewed before the scheduled discussion. You should be able to speak to the following issues:

• Does the film attempt to achieve historical verisimilitude, how is this achieved, and what role does this play in creating a plausible story?
• Are the characters flat or complex, what is the role of speeches, dialogues, monologues, body language? Is Moses like or unlike Pharaoh or other characters? How is his dual identity (Hebrew, Egyptian) made evident?
• What are the stylistic effects of music, cinematography and set design?
• How does the film deal with miracles, divine figures, divine intentions, and other matters? Are they naturally and psychologically plausible or do they stipulate supernatural interventions?
• What is the overall message/set of values/purpose/appeal of the film? How does it reflect the time at, and the audience, for which it was made?
• How does the film succeed in making the Moses story a plausible and comprehensibly unified plot (what does the script emphasize, what does it skip, where does it invent things)?
• What is the conflict that sets, and keeps, the plot in motion and how is it resolved?

Paper I: Bible and Scholarship What are the major elements, aspects, and problems of the Moses story in the Pentateuch, as reflected in modern biblical scholarship? 4pp. Due beginning of third week. (20%)

Paper II: Moses in the classical interpretive traditions Describe how the biblical figure of Moses is transformed in at least three of the following interpretive traditions: Philo and Hellenism, Samaritan tradition, rabbinic Judaism, non-rabbinic second temple Judaism, early Christianity, Islam). 6 pp. Due at the beginning of week six.  (20%)

Paper III: Modern Moses Explain the modern interest in Moses, focusing on one of the following areas: enlightenment, pantheism, political theology, Jewish identity. 6pp. Due at the beginning of week eleven. (20%)

Paper IV: Write on one of the following topics:

Moses in Modern Literature (Mann, Hurston, Asch).

Moses in Film (DeMilles, Katzenberg)

Moses in Art History (medieval, Renaissance, modern).

The Moses sujet in Music (Schoenberg and his predecessors).

6pp. Due at the beginning of week fourteen. (20%)

Paper V: Freud's Moses/Assmann's Moses Explain Freud's view of Moses, articulate Yerushalmi's critique, and engage Assmann's thesis of Mosaism as a counter-religion. 6 pp. Due at the end of term. (20%)

Attendance and active participation are essential. Readings must be completed ahead of time. The BU Code of Academic Conduct applies. (See http://www.cs.bu.edu/ugradprogram/conduct.html).

Flow of information and easy access are important in order to make this class a full success. I tend to check my email during the day on classes when I am on campus (esp. teaching days) and generally early in the morning (between 6 and 7:30) on weekdays (evenings are unpractical for off-campus access since the servers are often busy). I also frequently post updated information on a course-related site maintained at http://courseinfo.bu.edu. You should check announcements on courseinfo at least once a week or when prompted by email to the class.

Exodus 1-34, Book of Numbers, Deuteronomy 31-34.

Benjamin Uffenheimer, Early Prophecy in Israel, Chapter Two: Moses (pp. 89-205). Sperling, The Original Torah, pp. 1-60 and pp. 121-34.

Philo, Vita Mosis (selections)

Burton L. Mack, "Moses on the Mountain Top: A Philonic View" in The School of Moses. Studies in Philo and Hellenistic Religion in Memory of Horst R. Moehring, ed. John P. Kenney (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995), pp. 16-28.

Wayne Meeks, The Prophet-King. Moses Traditions and the Johannine Christology, ch. III "Moses in Non-Rabbinic Jewish Sources" [on Philo, Josephus, pseudepigraphic, apocalyptic, and Qumran lit.), pp. 100-175.

Meeks (op. cit.) ch. IV "Moses as Prophet and King in the Rabbinic Haggada", pp. 176-215. Meeks, op.cit., ch. V "Moses as King and Prophet in Samaritan Literature" pp. 216-257

Further recommended reading on Samaritan tradition: Alan David Crown, The Samaritans Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), c1989)

The Gospel According to Matthew, The Gospel According to John (recommended edition: New Annotated Oxford Bible with NRSV), St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians ch. 2:15-6:10, Meeks ch VII "Mosaic Traditions in the Fourth Gospel" (pp. 286-319)

G. Weil, The Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud, or Biblical Legends of the Mussulmans (New York, 1846), pp. 114-170 (Further recommended reading: Wilhelm Rudolph, Die Abhängigkeit des Qorans von Judentum und Christentum. Stuttgart, W. Kohlhammer, 1922. Hendrik M. Vroom, Jerald D. Gort (ed.), Holy Scriptures in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: hermeneutics, values and society. Amsterdam/Atlanta, GA: Rodopi, 1997.)

Ruth Mellinkoff, The Horned Moses in Medieval Art and Thought (Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: UCal Press, 1970)

Jan Assmann, Moses the Egyptian, ch. 3 (pp. 55-79)

Moses Maimonides, selections from The Guide of the Perplexed

Assmann, Moses the Egyptian, ch. 3, pp. 80-90

Spinoza, selections from A Theological Political Treatise

William Warburton, The Divine Legation of Moses demonstrated on the Principles of a Religious Deist (London 1742), Book Four Part Four (on hieroglyphics), Jan Assmann, Moses the Egyptian, Ch. 4: "The Moses Discourse in the Eighteenth Century"

Michael Stanislawski, Zionism and the Fin de Siécle. Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism from Nordau to Jabotinsky (UCal Press, 2001), 98-115 ("From Jugendstil to 'Judenstil': Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism in the Work of Ephraim Moses Lilien"), Bluma Goldstein, Reinscribing Moses: Heine, Kafka, Freud, and Schoenberg in a European Wilderness, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992, chapters 1,2,3, and 5.

Sigmund Freud, Moses and Monotheism, Goldstein, Reinscribing Moses, ch. 4 (on Freud), Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Freud's Moses: Judaism Terminable and Interminable, Jan Assmann, Moses the Egyptian, ch. 5 (pp. 144-167).

Thomas Mann, The Tables of the Law (New York, A.A. Knopf, 1945), Zora Neal Hurston, Moses, Man of the Mountain (Philadelphia, New York [etc.],  J. B. Lippincott Company, c1939), Sholem Asch, Moses, translated by Maurice Samuel (New York: Putnam, 1951)

Cecil B. Demilles' "The Ten Commandments" (1956), Prince of Egypt (1998, Dir. Simon Wells, Steve Hickner), Henry S. Noerdlinger, Moses and Egypt. The Documentation to the Motion Picture The Ten Commandments Los Angeles: UCal Press, 1956; various reviews of Prince of Egypt (search on-line)

Jan Assmann, Moses the Egyptian, ch. 1-2 (1-54), ch. 6-7 (pp. 168-218)