Second Temple Authority Structure

Authority, borrowed or earned, is a currency of influence, the power to provoke cognitive shifts or physical action. Darrow, the I in Pierce Brown’s dystopian tale of stratified culture and revolt, recognizes he borrows authority from Mustang, the leader of House Minerva, but in this recognition comes his submission. To borrow authority from another person is to submit to that person’s authority; consequently, stray from borrowed authority, and authorization no longer exists. This model, called a Complex Authority Structure, begins with a primary person of authority allowing a second person to borrow that authority. In turn, the borrower then holds that authority over a third party.

This model is important to studying authority in Second

Temple Judaism, as no authority grounded in the Hellenistic period existed for Second Temple authors. Thus, those authors had to borrow authority from earlier Hebraic material, movements, or external authorities. Following that idea to its logical conclusion, identifying possible sources for apocalyptic literature lay in identifying the texts from which Second Temple authors drew authoritative topoi or narratives from which the topoi were possibly formulated. Thus, the basic research question in this work is, how do authoritative topoi in Second Temple apocalyptic literature compare to similar authorities (or references to authority) in other literature? The answer to that question is the foundation for understanding how second Temple authors established authority in apocalyptic literature; but by what process is this question answered?
Expanding on the Basic Research Question
The basic research question at the core of this study is that of sources.

Traditionally, this question is some form of, “from which culture, cultures, or Hebraic movements did Second Temple apocalyptic authors borrow concepts, ideas, and imagery for their material?” The answer to that question is then posited as the source for Second Temple apocalyptic material. The problem, however, is this question invites correlation fallacies; older literature correlating with apocalyptic literature are assumed to be sources. To avoid that fallacy, the work herein incorporates comparative literary studies, but such comparisons are focused solely on lines of authority in Second Temple apocalyptic material and its possible source in the Tanakh or literature from the external ancient world (EAW). To be considered a source, however, the authority in the Tanakh or EAW literary passage must be in a parent-child relationship (as defined in the glossary) with the same topos in Second Temple literature. How, then, is this study

accomplished?
Synopsis of the Study
The following is an overview of the study, which is presented in substance in chapter 1. In the first part of this synopsis is the development of the study itself. The second part contains the steps taken in the study.
Development of the Study
This study began with a brief review of Apocalypticism that revealed an a priori belief brought into this work: prophecy was the progenitor of Apocalypticism.

As result of this understanding, a review of Second Temple history grounded the study in the historical and cultural milieu in which the authors wrote. Once completed, the following step was a literary review that resulted in two main observations: (1) an a priori acceptance of sources was introduced into Apocalyptic studies through the History of Religions school, best exemplified in the Babel-Bible controversy beginning in 1903; (2) apocalyptic studies concerning sources used comparative studies concerning the text itself, not on uses of authority that evidence a parent-child relationship. The result of the Second Temple historical and review of scholarship was a methodology derived from postmodern historiography. The first key element of this method affecting this study was the realization that true scientific objectivity is not possible in subjective studies such as literary comparison. As such, “loops” or temporary returns to earlier parts of a step were introduced to the process in order to control for human error and bias (as explained below). The second key element of this method affecting this study was a text-first approach that recognized no a priori acceptance of sources between Second Temple apocalyptic literature and Tanakh or EAW

literature.
Process of the Study
The process contained three main steps. Each of those steps, however, are divided into several parts. The first step concerns identification of authoritative topoi, and the second, a culling of topoi for a more in-depth study. Steps one, two, and three are the preliminary research of this study, and are presented in chapter ####. The fourth step, and the one that makes up the bulk of this dissertation, is an assessment of the results of the preliminary research and is presented in chapters ####. It should be noted again that each step concerns literary comparison only as it pertains to authoritative topoi. The process of these comparisons begins with a focus on the passage itself, labeled “Text” in the subheadings of the following chapters, then moves context (“Context” in the following chapters), and finally, a comparison between texts, or “Cross Text.”
Step 1:
Text—Identifying Authoritative Topoi
The first step was divided into four parts (steps 1a-d) and one loop. In step 1a, the work concerned identifying passages in Second Temple apocalyptic literature that contained possible authoritative topoi. Each occurrence was labeled as a type of topoi. In step 1b, possible Tanakh sources for the topos type were listed. Step 1c was a search through EAW literature. In it, a list of EAW passages that contained possible topoi was created. A loop was introduced after step 1c where step 1a was again explored with a focus on topoi identified in steps 1b and 1c. Its inclusion was to control for bias stemming from familiarity with Tanakh material compared to EAW material, but it was not considered part of any cross-text work as there no comparison of actual texts occurred. Instead, only the most general possibilities of similar authorities were considered. This loop resulted in adding several apocalyptic texts as passages holding possible authoritative topoi as well as a few new topoi. In step 1d, the new list of topoi stemming from the loop was compared and simplified. Several topoi were also culled.
Step 2:
Context—Striking Passages and
Delineating Authoritative Topoi
This step holds #### parts. The first part (step 2a) was a closer search of the context of possible topoi in both EAW and Second Temple apocalyptic material. In it, several passages were struck as the context determined no authoritative topoi existed. In step 2b, the remaining topoi from step 1 were assessed and delineated. In step 2c, several more topoi were struck based relationships identified through step 2b. Step 2d was the final delineation of topoi of authority to be included in the study.
Step 3:
Cross Text—Quantification
Step three was the quantification of material to determine the strongest possibility of relationships between Second Temple apocalyptic and EAW or Tanakh literature. This step began with a loop to step 1c and the search of EAW material (step 1c), but based on the results of step 2d. The step 2d results allowed for a precise keyword search of EAW material. As such, an additional one thousand-plus texts were included in the search. The resulting list of passages were examined (step 2a) and then included in step 3a.
Step 3a concerned a comparison between Second Temple material and a passage from AEW and Tanakh literature focused on the context of the passages. In this step, the Second Temple apocalyptic material for each topos type was subdivided by subtype. In step 3b, the focus was a comparison of the word picture or literary structures in each of the passages. The last comparative category occurred in step 3c, which was the strength of the appeal to authority in the Second Temple apocalyptic material. In steps 3a-c, a score was given to each comparison. Step 3d involved totaling the scores to identify the passages most likely to be in a parent-child relationship with Second Temple apocalyptic literature. Finally, in step 3e, scores were produced for each authoritative topos type and its subtypes. The results of step 3 were four topoi types that looked, prima facie, to be derived from EAW literature; four topoi types that looked, prima facie, to be derived equally from EAW literature or the Tanakh; and a single topos type that, prima facie, to be derived from the Tanakh.
Step 4:
A Focused Return to Text,
Context, and Cross Text
Step 4 concerned conclusions whether sources explored in the earlier texts were in true parent-child relationships with Second Temple apocalyptic material. This step was repeated ten times, once for each possible authoritative topos type. Step 4a was a return to “Text.” It began with a presentation of a topos type, its use as an authority, and where it was used in Second Temple apocalyptic literature. The subtypes and passages included in step 4a were selected based on the quantification scores of each subtype in step 3. This method resulted in using subtypes for three of the four topoi in chapter ####, the exception being Divinely Ordained Journeys. If subtypes were not available, the passages holding the highest average of Totals 1 and 2 (derived in step 3d) represented the topos type. Step 4b concerned the context of the individual passages or the larger context of the topos type in Second Temple apocalyptic literature, or if necessary, both. In step 4c, the focused shifted to modern scholarship that informed the study of textual question, elements of currently debated issues in academic literature, or other relevant information. Step 4d was a return to cross text. In it, the highest scoring EAW texts were again examined and compared, with attention paid to word pictures and context. In step 4e, the cross-text approach was repeated with Tanakh material, including any possible associations with one of the three Hebraic movements to which scholarship often attributes apocalyptic roots. Finally, step 4f was the evaluation of the research. Did the topos come from ANE sources, Tanakh sources, or both? Was there a relationship between the authoritative topos type in Second Temple apocalyptic literature, and the ANE or Tanakh material? If so, what kind of relationship was it? While these evaluations began in step 4d, they were concluded here before presenting the next topos type.
In the following chapters, Chapter 1 is the report of the development of the study, which includes the literature review resulting in two key observations, the brief history of the Second Temple period, and the development of the methodology. Chapter 2 contains steps 1-3. This chapter is short as it is a report on the preliminary work in identifying, delineating, quantifying, and culling the material and topos types in this study. Chapters 3-5 are comprised of the nine repetitions of step four, which is the investigation into the topos types most likely to indicate a parent-child relationship between an EAW or Tanakh passage and one found in Second Temple apocalyptic literature