Four Questions with Benjamin G. Wright
Benjamin G. Wright, University Distinguished Professor of Religion Studies, studies the origins of Christianity and history of Judaism.
- Why should students in the 21st century study the ancient world?
[Because they] may get some insights into modern people. For example, most people think globalization is a modern phenomenon. But it’s not. In the first century, Jews lived all over the Mediterranean world. Some of them got there as captives of war, some as refugees, some because they were doing business. How did Jews construct identities in these various places? How do you make a home when you’re a war refugee? If that doesn’t have any contemporary relevance, I don’t know what does. What does it mean to be Syrian trying to get to Greece [or] the United States so your children don’t die? Ancient Jews had to deal with questions like these.
- What do students gain by studying the Bible and other ancient texts?
Ancient texts have implications for how we think of the development of religious traditions. I try to give students a sense of the importance of understanding these texts for what they actually say, not necessarily for what students have been taught that they say…I try to [show how] these texts change when we read them individually for their own agendas. A careful reading of ancient texts leads to a greater understanding of how texts get used and interpreted. In my courses, students gain an appreciation of how every text that matters is interpreted in multiple ways. They can then evaluate and critique competing interpretations.
- The Book of Ben Sira is a collection of teachings written more than 2,000 years ago. What is its importance and what are the challenges in studying it?
Ben Sira was written in Hebrew and translated into Greek by someone claiming to be the author’s grandson. In the 1980s, there was a burgeoning interest in how Greek translators translated Hebrew. In the prologue to Ben Sira, the translator says that what is expressed in Hebrew doesn’t have the same rhetorical force when it is expressed in Greek. This is one of the only examples in ancient Judaism of [a translator] who actually talks about translating. A Latin version of Ben Sira was translated from Greek and a Syriac version was translated from the original Hebrew. If you’re going to work on Ben Sira, you really have to know those four languages.
- The original Letter of Aristeas was written by a Jew living in Alexandria, Egypt. How did it come about?
The Letter relates the earliest legend of the translation of the Septuagint. The story goes that Demetrios, head librarian of the Library of Alexandria, is told by Ptolemy II [king of Egypt, 283-246 BCE] to get all the books in the world. Demetrios says, “We don’t have the law of the Jews because it’s written in this weird alphabet. It needs to be translated.” So Ptolemy sends to Jerusalem for 72 translators to translate the Hebrew Torah into Greek. The translators go to Alexandria, do the translation, and Ptolemy sends them home with lots of gifts. I don’t think it’s historical at all. But the original Letter of Aristeas is one of the main sources we have about the Library of Alexandria.
Posted on:
Friday, December 08, 2017
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