Rethinking ‘Authority’ in Late Antiquity The historian’s task involves unmasking the systems of power that underlie our sources. A historian must not only analyze the content and context of ancient sources, but also the structures of power, authority, and political contingency that account for their transmission, preservation, and survival. But as a tool for interpreting antiquity, “authority” has a history of its own. As authority gained pride of place in the historiographical order of knowledge, other types of contingency have faded into the background. This book’s introduction traces the genesis and growth of the category, describing the lacuna that scholars seek to fill by framing texts through its lens. The subsequent chapters comprise case studies from late ancient Christian and Jewish sources, asking what lies “beyond authority” as a primary tool of analysis. Each uncovers facets of textual and social history that have been obscured by overreliance on authority as historical explanation. While chapters focus on late ancient topics, the methodological intervention speaks to the discipline of history as a whole. Scholars of classical antiquity and the early medieval world will find immediately analogous cases and applications. Furthermore, the critique of the place of authority as used by historians will find wider resonance across the academic study of history. A. J. Berkovitz is Assistant Professor of Liturgy, Worship, and Ritual at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, USA. His forthcoming book focuses on the reception and practice of the Psalms in Late Antiquity, and explores issues related to book history and the Jewish-Christian encounter. Mark Letteney is a PhD candidate in Princeton’s Department of Religion, USA. His dissertation considers the effects of Christian governance on scholarly practices in the late fourth and fifth centuries. He is also an archaeologist, co-directing the Solomon’s Pools Archaeological Project in Palestine. Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies TransAntiquity Cross-Dressing and Transgender Dynamics in the Ancient Workd Edited by Domitilla Campanile, Filippo Carlà-Uhink, and Margherita Facella Aeschylus and War Comparative Perspectives on ‘Seven Against Thebes’ Edited by Isabelle Torrance The Etruscans and the History of Dentistry The Golden Smile through the Ages Marshall J. Becker and Jean MacIntosh Turfa Masculinity and Dress in Roman Antiquity Kelly Olson Juvenal’s Global Awareness Circulation, Connectivity, and Empire Osman Umurhan The Greek and Roman Trophy From Battlefield Marker to Icon of Power Lauren Kinnee Rethinking ‘Authority’ in Late Antiquity Authorship, Law, and Transmission in Jewish and Christian Tradition Edited by A.J. Berkovitz and Mark Letteney Thinking the Greeks A Volume in Honour of James M. Redfield Edited by Bruce M. King and Lillian Doherty www.routledge.com/classicalstudies/series/RMCS “This book delves into two of the most crucial themes in contemporary critical theory: authority and transmission. The essays cover a wide vari- ety of themes in Jewish and Christian textual history, but share one mis- sion: to revisit, question and complicate the common (mis)conception that subjugates transmission to authority, and sees the latter as the key to the former. This superb collection is essential reading for anyone grappling with questions of literary transmission, authority in literature, and the complicated connections between them.” – Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Rethinking ‘Authority’ in Late Antiquity Authorship, Law, and Transmission in Jewish and Christian Tradition Edited by A.J. Berkovitz and Mark Letteney First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 selection and editorial matter, A.J. Berkovitz and Mark Letteney; individual chapters, the contributors The right of A.J. Berkovitz and Mark Letteney to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-48022-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-351-06342-5 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of contributors xi Acknowledgements xiii 1 Authority in contemporary historiography 1 A. J. BERKOVITZ AND MARK LETTENEY The problem 1 History beyond authority 2 Authorship and authority 3 Authority and the law 5 Transmission beyond authority 8 Conclusion 12 2 Reading beyond authority 17 HINDY NAJMAN The authority paradigm in Seconding Sinai 17 Philology beyond authority: the case of Homer 19 Vitality of traditions beyond old and new philology 22 The vitality of Scripture: reading with and beyond authority 24 PART I Authorship and authority 31 3 Authenticity and authority: the case for dismantling a dubious correlation 33 MARK LETTENEY “Acta conciliorum non leguntur.” 34 Reading councils 34 Reading acta 35 viii Contents The unreliability of proceedings 36 The chorus at Chalcedon 37 The hand of the editor 39 The unreliability of proceedings 40 Resistive readings and an institutionalized suspicion of documents 41 Another layer of reading: Chalcedon at Constantinople 43 Christos epistolographos 44 A dissenting opinion 47 Conclusion 48 4 Beyond attribution and authority: the case of Psalms in rabbinic hermeneutics 57 A. J. BERKOVITZ Identity of author: Asaph as case-study 59 Compositional circumstances of Psalmist 62 Authorship and historical anchoring 66 Conclusion 69 5 Correcting the gospel: putting the titles of the gospels in historical context 78 MATTHEW D. C. LARSEN Didymus Chalkenturus and the personal and city editions of The Iliad 80 Galen and the correcting literary activities of Mnemon of Side 84 2 Maccabees 2:13 and Nehemiah’s records 85 Gospel texts and the Kat’ Andra formula 86 Irenaeus and “gospel authorship” 89 Conclusion 94 PART II Authority and the law 105 6 Glimpses from the margins: re-telling late ancient history at the edges of the law 107 MARIA E. DOERFLER The apostolic past in the Didascalia Apostolorum 108 Glimpses of Late Antiquity in the canonical writings of ‘Abdīshō’ bar Brīkhā 111 History from the margins of the law in Syriac Christian writings 113 Contents ix 7 C oncealing the law: the limits of legal promulgation among the rabbis of Babylonia 123 JONATHAN A. POMERANZ Rabbinic teaching to non-rabbis: the absence of civil law 124 Exclusive legal knowledge and the advantages of sages in court 125 Concealing the law and judicial discretion 129 Textual authority without textual transmission 130 Legal flexibility: an ancient Near Eastern tradition 131 Conclusion 133 PART III Authority and transmission 137 8 Truth and doubt in manuscript discovery narratives 139 EVA MROCZEK Find stories as authority 139 Find stories beyond authority 142 9 The orthodox transmission of heresy 161 WINRICH LÖHR Irenaeus of Lyon, Against the Heresies 161 Tertullian, Against the Valentinians 163 Hippolytus of Rome, Refutation of All Heresies 165 A provisional conclusion 166 Pirating heretical texts in the defense of orthodoxy: Epiphanius of Salamis and Augustine 167 Epiphanius, Aetius, and dueling editions 167 Augustine as editor of Pelagius 169 Conclusion 170 10 Consuming texts: women as recipients and transmitters of ancient texts 178 SARIT KATTAN GRIBETZ Rabbinic texts and traditions 182 The soṭah ritual, the transmission of Torah, and the consumption of biblical texts 182 The transmission of the soṭah text by a woman 183 Food consumption and female transmission of rabbinic knowledge 184