David Daube
David Daube Freiburg, Germany | |
---|---|
Died | 24 February 1999 | (aged 90)
Title | Professor-in-Residence at UC-Berkeley's law school |
Spouse(s) | Herta Babette (Affseesser) Helen Smelser (Margolis) |
Children | 3 |
Academic background | |
Education | Berthold-Gymnasium, Freiburg University of Freiburg University of Göttingen University of Cambridge |
Influences | Otto Lenel |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Ancient and Biblical Law |
Institutions | University of Oxford University of California, Berkeley |
Influenced | E. P. Sanders[1] |
David Daube
Life
He was the son of Jacob Daube, of
In 1970, at the height of his career, he left his fellowship at
Daube's teachers include
Studies in Biblical Law
The first chapter of Daube's first major book, Studies in Biblical Law, titled "Law in the Narratives," phrased in polite language, nonetheless starts with a revolutionary claim: all scholars since
But, adds Daube, this application of the comparative method is not enough. Because "the Bible is an anthology compiled by priests and prophets, who were neither competent nor even desirous to formulate an accurate exposition of Hebrew law," one must first find out something about the true Hebrew law, separating it "from the dress in which priests and prophets have handed it down to us, like assembling a jigsaw puzzle from scattered fragments." The result of such an inquiry would likely show that the religious character of the law was not originally in it, but due to the theological tendencies of the authors of the Bible. Why, he concludes, should one assume the law sprang from religion rather than religion from the law? This question marks an important step: Biblical legal scholarship is not to be confined to pious exegesis of a text whose sacred character always makes its status primary.
Rather, Biblical law is a field of legal study, of rational inquiry, like any other field of legal study, and must be approached with the same analytical tools and methods. Moreover, this sacred text is not the authoritative statement of Hebrew law, for priestly transmission has distorted the law, the law that had an independent existence in the Israelite state. That law must be recovered from the Biblical narratives by careful juristic analysis.
Daube begins with examples of how that recovery ought to take place. He first looks at the narrative of Joseph and his brothers, showing how it can be understood in the context of principles of the law of custodianship, which provide the implicit legal categories utilized by the text and determine the contours of the action it recounts. And off he goes, inaugurating fifty years of path-breaking scholarship.
Work
Daube made seminal contributions to three fields—Biblical and Talmudic law; New Testament studies; and Roman law. Calum Carmichael, professor of comparative literature at Cornell and Daube's literary executor, describes his memoir of Daube—Ideas and the Man: Remembering David Daube—as "an attempt to convey the spirit of enlightenment that David Daube exuded in all his work and conversation. Outstanding law professor, classical scholar par excellence, ecumenical religious thinker, leading Talmudic scholar, skilled linguist, great humanist of the law, a brilliant literary critic, the foremost Roman lawyer of his day."[9]
According to Carmichael, on account of Daube's knowledge of Aramaic and the Talmud, Daube was invited to attend the New Testament seminar run by
W. D. Davies focused on this in his tribute to his teacher on his death: "It is the complexity in David that made him so magical. It is not surprising then that it was this most Jewish of scholars, who taught us that Christianity, is a New Testament Judaism—a strikingly pregnant phrase that he invented and which sums up best perhaps his legacy and the near revolution that he introduced into New Testament studies."[7] In 1962–1964, Daube gave the Gifford Lectures on Natural Theology.[11]
Students
In addition to Carmichael and the late W.D. Davies, Daube's students include the late C.K. Barrett, Durham (UK);
Pedagogy
Bernard Jackson testifies: "For two years, I submitted material on a weekly or fortnightly basis. As was his normal pattern with research students, [Daube] would invite me for lunch at All Souls, then spend most of the rest of the afternoon analysing and criticising my work line by line. No more intense or productive supervision could be imagined. I owe everything I may have done subsequently to this foundation. Alan Watson has recorded his enduring sense of fear of disappointing Daube in approaching these sessions. My own recollection is that of the feeling with which I always emerged. However devastating the criticism may have been – and never without justification – Daube always concluded with sincere and persuasive words of encouragement, which made me ready, even eager, to commence the next cycle of destruction.
"He was a warm, wise and generous mentor, whose support went far beyond doctoral supervision and subsequent academic advancement. He did not distance himself from the personal lives of his pupils, both in joy and sorrow. He spoke at [my wedding], but what stands out in my mind is not merely the studied flattery of his speech, but the manner in which he spoke informally to members of our respective families, without a hint of condescension but rather with genuine interest and human feeling."[12]
Education
- Berthold-Gymnasium, Freiburg
- Universities of Freiburg and Göttingen (Dr jur 1932)
- PhD University of Cambridge 1935
Career
- 1938–46 Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (Honorary fellow, 1974)
- 1946–51 Lecturer in Law, University of Cambridge
- 1951–55 Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Aberdeen
- 1955–70 Regius Professor of Civil Law (Oxford), and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford; Emeritus Fellow, 1980
- 1970–99 Emeritus Professor of Law, Oxford
- 1970–81 Professor-in-Residence and Director of the Robbins Hebraic and Roman Law Collections, Boalt Hall (School of Law), University of California, Berkeley
- 1995–99 Emeritus Professor of Law, Berkeley
Other posts and honours
- 1953–1999 Member, Academic Board, Institute of Jewish Affairs
- 1957 Fellow of the British Academy
- 1957-8 President: Société d'Histoire des Droits de l'Antiquité
- 1961 Founder-President, B'nai B'rith Oxford Lodge
- 1964 Honorary D. Litt., University of Leicester
- 1970 Honorary Member, Royal Irish Academy
- 1971 DHL: Hebrew Union College
- 1973 Honorary Fellow, Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies
- 1979 Fellow: American Academy for Jewish Research
- 1983-5 President: Jewish Law Association
Publications
Books
- Daube, David (1944). Studies in Biblical Law. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. OCLC 780837218.
- ——— (1949). Rabbinic Methods of Interpretation and Hellenistic Rhetoric. Hebrew Union College Annual. Vol. 22. Cincinnati, OH: Hebrew Union College. OCLC 935807811.
- ——— (1956). The Defence of Superior Orders in Roman Law. Regius Chair Inaugural Lecture, 1955. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 9374302.
- ——— (1956). The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism. Jewish people: history, religion, literature.; Jordan lectures in comparative religion. Vol. 2. New York: Arno Press. OCLC 642864456.
- ——— (1956). Forms of Roman Legislation. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 497369.
- ——— (1960). Sin, Ignorance and Forgiveness in the Bible. London: Liberal Jewish Synagogue. ISBN 9780598660787.
- ——— (1963). The Exodus Pattern in the Bible. All Souls Studies. Vol. 2. London: Faber and Faber. OCLC 327982.
- ——— (1964). Suddenness and Awe in Scripture: Robert Waley Cohen Memorial Lecture, 1963. Council of Christians and Jews. OCLC 1063922449.
- ——— (1964). The Sudden in the Scriptures. Leiden: E.J. Brill. OCLC 350719.
- ——— (1965). Collaboration with Tyranny in Rabbinic Law. Newcastle upon Tyne University Publications; Riddell memorial lectures, 37th series. London & New York: Oxford University Press. OCLC 978197.
- ——— (1966). He That Cometh. St. Pauls Lecture. Vol. 5. London: London Diocesan Council for Christian-Jewish Understanding.
- ——— (1968). The Significance of the Afikoman. London: Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues.
- ——— (1969). Roman Law: Linguistic, Social, and Philosophical Aspects. J. H. Gray Lectures, 1966-7. Edinburgh & Chicago, IL: Edinburgh University Press & Aldine Pub. Co. OCLC 22054.
- ——— (1971). Legal Problems in Medical Advance. Lionel Cohen Lectures, Universiṭah ha-ʻIvrit bi-Yerushalayim. Vol. 16. Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
- ——— (1972). Civil Disobedience in Antiquity. Messenger Lectures on the Evolution of Civilization, Cornell University, 1971. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. – based on his Messenger Lectures at Cornell[13])
- ——— (1973). Ancient Hebrew fables: the inaugural lecture of the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies, delivered in Corpus Christi College, 17 May 1973. [Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. OCLC 18585426.
- ——— (1975). Wine in the Bible. St. Paul's lecture. Vol. 13. Oxford: Church Army Press. OCLC 13949609.
- ——— (1976). Medical and Genetic Ethics: three historical vignettes. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies. OCLC 2800604.
- ——— (1977). Duty of Procreation. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers. OCLC 748935571.
- ——— (1977). Typologie im Werk des Flavius Josephus. Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, 1977-6. München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften. OCLC 645229255.
- ——— (1981). Ancient Jewish Law. Norman and Sadie Lee program in Jewish and western civilization. Leiden: E. J. Brill. OCLC 8650863.
- ——— (1983). Die Geburt der Detektivgeschichte aus dem Geiste der Rhetorik (trans The Birth Of The Detective Story). Konstanz: Universitätsverlag Konstanz. OCLC 17149429.
- ——— (1984). Das Alte Testament im Neuen: Aus jüdischer Sicht. Konstanz: Universitatsverlag Konstanz. ISBN 9783879402571.
- ——— (1984). Sons and Strangers. Boston: University School of Law, Institute of Jewish Law. OCLC 746869837.
- ———; OCLC 731034802.
- ——— (1987). Appeasement or Resistance and other essays on New Testament Judaism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. OCLC 1025287821.
- ——— (2008). OCLC 730520009.
- ——— (2010). OCLC 762577011.
Edited by
- ———; OCLC 376862.
- ———, ed. (1959). Studies in the Roman Law of Sale: Dedicated to the Memory of Francis de Zulueta. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 2889012.
Chapters
- ——— (1953). "Alexandrian Methods of Interpretation and the Rabbis". Festschrift Hans Leward: bei Vollendung des vierzigsten Amtsjahres als ordentlicher Professor im Oktober 1953. Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn. pp. 25–44.
Journal articles
- ——— (1959). "The Earliest Structures of the Gospels". S2CID 170181216.
- ——— (1971). "Dissent in Bible and Talmud". JSTOR 3479603.
Festschriften
- Daube Noster: Essays in Legal History for David Daube, 1974 (ed. Alan Watson)
- Studies in Jewish Legal History: Essays in Honour of David Daube, 1974 (ed. Bernard Jackson)
- Donum Gentilicium: New Testament Studies in Honour of David Daube, 1978 (eds. Ernst Bammel, C.K. Barrett, and W.D. Davies)
- Essays on Law and Religion: The Berkeley and Oxford Symposia in Honour of David Daube, 1993 (ed. Calum M. Carmichael)
Memorial volumes
- Law for All Times: Essays in Memory of David Daube, 2004. ISBN 978-0-9764149-0-2(ed. Ernest Metzger)
- David Daube: A Centenary Celebration, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9566423-0-1(ed. Ernest Metzger)
References
- ^ Sanders, E. P. (2004). "Comparing Judaism and Christianity: An Academic Autobiography" (PDF). p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 17, 2004. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
- ^ Pace, Eric (March 8, 1999). "David Daube, 90, an Authority On Talmudic and Roman Law". The New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
- ^ Rodger, Alan Eric (5 March 1999). "Obituary: Professor David Daube". The Independent. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
- ^ "Independent (London) March 5th 1999". www.law.berkeley.edu.
- ^ Lord (Alan) Rodger, "David Daube (1909–1999)" in Jurists Uprooted (Oxford, 2004), p. 240.
- ^ "New York Times – March 8th 1999". www.law.berkeley.edu.
- ^ a b "David Daube Tribute – W.D. Davies". www.law.berkeley.edu.
- ^ Joachim Lüders and Ariane Wehner, Mittelhessen – eine Heimat für Juden? Das Schicksal der Familie Strauss aus Kirchhain (Central Hesse – a Homeland for Jews? The Fate of the Strauss Family from Kirchhain) 1989
- ISBN 9783465033639.
- ^ "Tony Honore". www.law.berkeley.edu.
- ^ "Gifford Lecture Series – Books". Archived from the original on 2010-04-09. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
- ^ "British Association of Jewish Studies Bulletin". www.law.berkeley.edu.
- ^ "The University Faculty : Cornell University". Archived from the original on 2013-12-19. Retrieved 2013-12-18.
Further reading
- Rodger, Alan (2004). "David Daube (1909–1999)". In ISBN 0-19-927058-9.
- ISBN 3-16-146080-4.
- Stein, Peter (2001). "David Daube (1909-1999), Proceedings of the British Academy, 111" (PDF). The British Academy. pp. 429–444. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- "Daube, David". Who's Who. A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Portraits of David Daube at the National Portrait Gallery, London