Rachel Slutsky, “Discerning the Deity’s Will in Second Temple Literature,” March 4 at 6 PM EST, register at: http://tiny.utk.edu/slutsky27

Rachel Slutsky, Ph.D., is the Monsignor John Oesterreicher Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and Jewish-Christian Relations in Antiquity at Seton Hall University. Slutsky's work explores the ways in which ancient and modern discourses employ Jewish law to cultivate communal self-understanding in juxtaposition to other Jews and the non-Jewish world more broadly. She has forthcoming articles on related topics in both the Review of Rabbinic Judaism and Jewish Studies Quarterly, and she is currently working on her first monograph. She completed her doctorate in ancient Judaism at Harvard University in May 2022, where she held the Isadore Twersky Fellowship (2021-2022) and served as the assistant director of undergraduate studies in the Committee on the Study of Religion (2020-2021).

This talk focuses on the texts of Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel. One notable commonality between them is prophecy’s virtual absence. This is curious in light of prophecy’s utility, specifically, as an epistemological tool to convey knowledge about the Deity and the Deity’s will. How did these three texts deal with the epistemological vacuum left in prophecy’s absence? Certain common beliefs and practices emerge in these texts regarding means of determining the divine will: first, a belief in Torah and its pedagogues to guide the people toward right action and therefore away from punishment; second, a belief in individual prayer as the way to interact directly with God and possibly persuade the divine mind to act within the world; third, a Heilsgeschichte affirming that God continues to be a God of salvation; and fourth, a theology of punishment which does not require consultation with a prophet.