Theology 6314, The Law of Moses

St. Mary’s University
Fall 2025
Dr. Todd Hanneken

Jump to August 21, 28, September 4, 11, 18, 25, October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, November 6, 13, 20, December 4

August 21, Introductions and Start Decalogue (Exodus 20:1–18 and Deuteronomy 5)

• Syllabus (HTML)
• The Decalogue in Exodus and Deuteronomy (PDF)
• Notes on issues in the interpretation of the Decalogue (HTML)
• Sources on transgenerational punishment in chronologial sequence (PDF)
• Background: Diversity of Christian Approaches to the Old Testament as Scripture (HTML)

August 28, The Decalogue and Its Status in Interpretation

• Background: Three Categories of Interpretation (HTML)
• Reading guide (HTML)
• Collins, “The Revelation at Sinai”
• Blenkinsopp, “Ordering Life by Law,” pp. 84–89; and “Decalogue,” pp. 102–106
• Kugel, “At Mt. Sinai [part 1],” pp. 373–395 (634-652)
• Vermes, “The Decalogue and the Minim” (1968) pp. 232–240 (PDF)
• Select New Testament passages on the Law (PDF)
• Optional: Philo of Alexandria, excerpts from On the Decalogue (PDF)

September 4, The Covenant Code, Hammurabi

• Background: Chronological Overview (HTML)
• Reading guide (HTML)
• Collins, “Near Eastern Context”
• Blenkinsopp, “Law in Early Israel,” pp. 90–93; and “Covenant Code,” pp. 94–102
• Exodus 20:19—23:33
• Roth, “Hammurabi,” pp. 76–140
• Notes on the goring ox (HTML)

September 11, The Covenant Code, Life, Personal Status and Slavery

• Background: Major Historical-Critical Methods (HTML)
• Reading guide (HTML)
• Greenberg, “Some Postulates of Biblical Criminal Law” (1960) pp. 25–41 (PDF)
• Westbrook, “Personal Status [in the Ancient Near East]” (2003) pp. 35–44 (PDF)
• Frymer-Kensky, “Personal Status [in Israel]” (2003) pp. 999–1007 (PDF)
• Matthews, “The Anthropology of Slavery in the Covenant Code” (1994) pp. 119–135 (PDF)
• Kugel, “At Mt. Sinai [part 2],” pp. 395–414 (652-669)
• Optional: Greenberg on Kaufmann (PDF)

September 18, Deuteronomy

• Background: Documentary Hypothesis of the Pentateuch (HTML)
• Reading guide (HTML)
• Deuteronomy 12–26
• 2 Kings 22–23
• Collins, Chapter 8, “Deuteronomy”
• Collins, end of Chapter 14, “The End of the Kingdom of Israel,” and “Judah in the Assyrian Crisis”
• Blenkinsopp, “Deuteronomy,” pp. 107–119
• Levinson, “The First Constitution” Cardozo Law Review 27 (2006) pp. 1853–1888 (PDF)

September 25, Deuteronomy, Family and Inheritance Law

• Background: Continue Documentary Hypothesis (HTML)
• Reading guide (HTML)
• LH 137–140 and 148–149; Deuteronomy 22–25; Malachi 2:13–16; Matthew 19:1–12 (divorce)
• Numbers 27:1–11; 36 (inheritance)
• Numbers 30 (vows)
• Westbrook, “Family Law [in the Ancient Near East]” and “Property [in the Ancient Near East]” (2003) pp. 44–62 (PDF)
• Frymer-Kensky, “Family Law [in Israel]” and “Property [in Israel]” (2003) pp. 1007–1019 (PDF)
• LH 131–132 and Numbers 5 (suspicion of adultery)
• Matthews, “Honor and Shame in Gender-Related Legal Situations in the Hebrew Bible” (1998) pp. 97–112 (PDF)

October 2, Deuteronomy, Premodern and Feminist Interpretation

• Reading guide (HTML)
• Schneiders, “The Bible and Feminism: Biblical Theology” (1993) pp. 31–57 (PDF)
• Laws Addressing the Rape of an Unbetrothed Girl (in the reading guide)
• Genesis 34
• Kugel 233–244
• Jubilees 30 (PDF)
• Optional: Frymer-Kensky, “Virginity in the Bible” (1998) pp. 79–96 (PDF)

October 9 Holiness Code

• Reading guide (HTML)
• Collins, “The Nature of the Pentateuchal Narrative” and “The Priestly Theology”
• Blenkinsopp, “The Priestly History,” and “Cultic and Ritual Laws,” pp. 120–133
• Leviticus 17–26, “The Holiness Code”
• Milgrom, Leviticus 17–22: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. New York: Doubleday (2000) excerpts on Holiness, Ethics, and Land, pp. 1397–1405, 1711–1726. (PDF)

October 16, Holiness Code, Conflict Resolution

• Reading guide (HTML)
• Leviticus 19:16–18
• Proverbs 9:7–8
• Sirach 19:5–16
• Sectarian rules from the Dead Sea Scrolls (PDF)
• Matthew 7:1–5
• Matthew 18, especially 18:15–17
• The Didache (PDF)
• Kugel, “Worship in the Wilderness [part 2],” pp. 451–460
• Roth, “Mesopotamian Legal Traditions and the Laws of Hammurabi” Chicago Kent Law Review 71 (1995) pp. 13–39 (PDF)
• Optional: The Damascus Document (from the sectarian literature associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls) (HTML)
• Primary sources handout (HTML)

October 23, The Priestly Source, Purity and Social Order in Daily Life

• Reading guide (HTML)
• Leviticus 10–16 (HTML)
• Kugel, “Worship in the Wilderness [part 1],” pp. 441–451
• Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. New York: Praeger (1966) pp. 41–57 (PDF)
• Klawans, Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press (2000) pp. v–ix, 21–42 (PDF)
• Milgrom, Leviticus 1–16: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. The Anchor Bible 3. New York: Doubleday (1991) pp. 42–51 (PDF)
• Optional: Milgrom, “Israel’s Sanctuary: The Priestly ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’” Revue Biblique 83 (1976) pp. 390–399 (PDF)

October 30, The Priestly Source, Hierocracy

• Reading guide (HTML)
• Exodus 32 (HTML)
• Numbers 16 (HTML)
• Numbers 18 (HTML)
• Numbers 25 (HTML)
• Ezekiel 44:10–16 (HTML)
• Kugel, “The Golden Calf” (pp. 417–437)
• Optional: Cody, A History of the Old Testament Priesthood. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute (1969) pp. 146–174 (PDF)
• Optional: Blenkinsopp, “The Judaean Priesthood during the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Periods: A Hypothetical Reconstruction” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 60 (1998) pp. 25–43 (PDF)

November 6, Narrative as Law, National Identity

• Reading guide (HTML)
• Collins chapter 4, “The Patriarchs” (Recommended: chapter 5, “The Exodus from Egypt”)
• Genesis 12–23
• Kugel “Abraham Journeys from Chaldea,” pp. 133–148; “The Trials of Abraham,” pp. 165–178.
• Hanneken, “Jubilees: Introduction” (2018) pp. 1–5 (PDF)
• Jubilees 11:11—12:27; 17:15—18:19, and skim through the rest of the Abraham cycle, Jubilees 11–23 (PDF)
• Optional: Dershowitz, “Abraham Commits Attempted Murder—and Is Praised,” in The Genesis of Justice: Ten Stories of Biblical Injustice that Led to the Ten Commandments and Modern Law. New York: Warner Books (2000) pp. 103–131 (PDF)

November 13, Narrative as Law, Fraud and International Relations

• Reading guide (HTML)
• Genesis 25:19—35:29
• Kugel, “Jacob and Esau,” pp. 199–214
• Jubilees 35:9—38:14 (PDF)
• Barmash, “The Narrative Quandary: Cases of Law in Literature” Vetus Testamentum 54 (2004) pp. 1–16 (PDF)
• Optional: Dershowitz, “Jacob Deceives—and Gets Deceived,” (2000) pp. 132–146 (PDF)

November 20, Narrative as Law, The Meaning of Life (Primordial Etiology)

• Reading guide (HTML)
• Genesis 1:1—4:1
• Collins, “The Primeval History”
• Plato, excerpt from Symposium, translated by William S. Cobb (1993) (PDF)
• Kugel, “Adam and Eve,” pp. 67–82 (also 85–87 on the conception of Cain)
• Jubilees 1:1—4:1 with comparison and notes in Hanneken, “Jubilees: Reader” pp. 7–16 (PDF)
• Augustine, excerpts from City of God (PDF)
• Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (1978) pp. 94–102 (PDF)

December 4, Final Exam