Alan Lenzi just shared the delightful news that a projected volume of Akkadian prayers annotated by him, with comparative suggestions, has been accepted for publication.
The
thought of the volume took me back to my days as a student at the Pope’s Bible
College, aka, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, in which I hit upon a volume in
Italian by Giorgio Castellino entitled (I translate): Individual Lamentations
and Hymns in Babylonia and Israel Compared, from the point of view of Content
and Form. An ancient forerunner, if you will, of Alan’s project. At the
time, it was a great pleasure to spend a few hours with Castellino’s volume. There
is a story attached to the monograph, inasmuch as it is, in essence, the
dissertation Castellino defended in May 1938 [note date!] in the presence
of Pope Pius XI. It really is fun to think of the Pope at the defense of a
thesis filled with biblical and assyriological minutiae.
The story is worth retelling. With few exceptions, Assyriologists, not to mention students of the Hebrew Bible, know nothing of the episode. It is the kind of story one wishes would find its way into introductions to the Hebrew Bible, dry as dust, often, because they treat the history of the discipline without reference to its embedment in history broadly understood. After the jump, a story you will enjoy hearing, if you enjoy a great story.
A translation of an excerpt of a
lecture given by Giacomo Martina on the occasion of the 90th anniversary
of the Pontifical Biblical Institute (in 1999). (This year, we celebrate its
100th anniversary.) I trust that readers will savor the register and
diction of the whole, which I have tried to preserve in translation.
The interest with which Pius XI followed the work of the Biblicum transpires
from a singular episode. In April-May 1938 his resistance to Nazism came to clear
expression in his invitation in April of that year to all the Catholic universities
to refute the key racist principles of Nazi ideology, and his departure from
Rome to Castel Gandolfo on the occasion of Hitler’s arrival in the Italian
capital for an official visit. After having deplored, in a speech at
Castelgandolfo, the ostentatious reception given in Rome to a cross that was
not that of Christ, at the end of May the Pope, just after Hitler’s visit to
Rome concluded, chose to be present, in his summer residence, at the discussion
of the thesis prepared for the Biblicum by the Salesian Giorgio Castellino, on
the Psalms: Le lamentazioni individuali e gli inni in Babilonia e in Israele
raffrontati, riguardo alla forma e al contenuto [Individual Lamentations
and Hymns in Babylonia and Israel Compared, from the point of view of Content and
Form]. It was the first time (but not the the last) that a thesis of the Biblicum
was discussed in the presence of the Pontifex.
The thesis, directed by father Vaccari, and critically examined by
fathers Bea, Pohl, Dyson, Semkowski, and Merk, was approved with a good grade,
though it did not receive the highest possible grade. But the content of the
dissertation and the political context made the occasion particularly
interesting, and invested the ceremony with a certain significance: from the
realm of pure, abstract science one passed to science close to the concrete
reality of the moment, not without political implications. The author of the
dissertation, who died a decade ago after a fine career in state universities, nominated,
furthermore, member of the Biblical Commission during Vatican II, handily refuted
a thesis dear to a part of German scholarship, which viewed the Psalms, not as
original poetry, held up and inspired by a high supernatural religiosity, but as
a mere imitation of Babylonian literature and poetry, according to the
efficacious but anti-scientific motto: Bibel und Babel. Pius XI responded
with satisfaction, expressed with visible emotion his sincere appreciation for
the Biblicum, and advised that professors of Scripture at the seminaries
have at least the licentiate in Scripture.18
“Say the Biblicum,” the Pope added, “and you say it all, insofar
as it treats the holy book that bears and preserves the word of God . . . The Biblicum
is a precious Institute.” The Pope continued with allusions to events of that
month, in Rome. “The Lord willed it that the Pope saw from afar and close at hand many sad things. But the Holy Father must still say that God is
good, because He allows him to enjoy many good and beautiful things [an
allusion to the thesis defense], such that his trust in God and his perfect
peace and tranquility are truly full and absolute.”
18 See Osservatore
Romano, May 21 1938. The Vatican newspaper showcased the discussion of the
thesis, with a headline and an ample article that filled several
columns. The thesis was published with the same title in Turin in 1940, with a
single introductory allusion to its genesis: “the printing of the present work,
discussed as a finishing thesis in Holy Scripture in the presence of His
Holiness Pius XI in May 1938 …” The author avoids every apologetic intent, and
only in conclusion devotes attention to a comparison between the Babylonian poetry
and that of the Bible, admitting an indirect influence at most, and underlining
the fundamental difference between Israelite monotheism and Babylonian
polytheism.
From “A novanti’anni dalla fondazione del
Pontifio Istituto Biblico,” by Giacomo Martino, online here. Published
offline, with appendices, in Archivum Historiae Pontificiae 37 (1999) 129-160.
John, actually, I am only editing the volume and contributing 5 or 6 prayers. The other two dozen will come from other scholars.
Thanks for highlighting the dissertation from 1938.
Posted by: Alan Lenzi | April 30, 2009 at 05:13 PM
Alan, I look forward to the volume with sincere interest.
Posted by: JohnFH | April 30, 2009 at 05:29 PM
Blogs are so interactive where we get lots o informative on any topics nice job keep it up !!
Posted by: UK dissertations | June 20, 2009 at 05:24 AM