HLT 615 Stoicism
As the most influential philosophy of the Hellenistic and early imperial age, Stoicism constitutes the primary philosophical background to Judaism in the Hellenistic era and Early Christianity. It influenced compositions such as the Wisdom of Solomon and IV Maccabees, as well as the writings of Philo. Stoic influences have also been detected in rabbinic thought, and in the New Testament. The contributions of the Stoics in the areas of grammar and linguistics and literary criticism are also of tremendous importance for the history of Greek and Latin biblical interpretation. The goal of this course will be to provide an overview of Stoicism from Zeno to Posidonius. We shall survey the main topics in Stoicism by using some of the better introductory systematic expositions of that philosophy (e.g., that of G. Reale), and by reading representative Greek Texts. In the final segment of the course we shall embark on a close reading of some important texts, such as Cleanthes' Hymn to Zeus, the description of Moses and Jewish history in Strabo, usually attributed to Posidonius, and Paul's speech on the Areopagus (Acts 17). We shall consider the issue of Stoic influence in rabbinic thought. Open to all students. Greek text.