You can read about Kugel as a desert or you can read a little about James Kugel's new book. I prefer the desert.
I don't mean to pick on this guy, but I thought I'd try to find out what he's selling in more detail. Going by his "Appendix 1: Apologetics and Biblical Criticism Lite”, he doesn't offer much in the way of scholarship. I grabbed a portion from that appendix wherein he discusses Isaiah's Servant Song prophecies. This is 'scholarship lite' folks. I'll defend that comment below. In the meantime please read what Kugel says...
From a relatively early time, some researchers suggested that the Deutero-Isaiah’s references to the suffering “servant of the Lord” cannot reasonably be taken as prophecies about Jesus (even though they are explained as such in the Gospels). But this was a hard pill for many Christian commentators to swallow. So, while not arguing the Jesus connection directly, many sought to assert that these passage were somehow special, different from the rest of the book of Isaiah. Christened the “Servant Songs” (though truly, there was nothing songlike about them!), they were alleged to have been composed quite separately from their surrounding texts:[14]
The[se] songs represent a special strand within the book of Deutero-Isaiah, and therefore they did not come into being at the same time as their contexts. Nevertheless, they owe their origin to Deutero-Isaiah.[15]
They are marked out not only by a special theme, independent from that of the rest of the work, but also but the fact that they have evidently been interpolated in their present context, from which they can be removed without any resultant damage or interruption.[16]
The text itself offers no real support for such assertions, and most scholars have now come to reject them.[17] Understandably, however, it is still hard for some to let go completely. Thus, even while denying any specific connection to Jesus, commentators have continued to see the “servant of the Lord” as a messianic figure[18] – though again, the text offers no support for this – or at least to evoke the suffering of Jesus and his crucifixion in the process of commenting on Isa. 52:13-53:12.[19] As the very last of apologetic options, the identity of the “servant of the Lord” is alleged to be one of Scripture’s great mysteries:
The reason I say this is 'scholarship lite' is that I expect a lot more from a Harvard Hebrew professor. Kugel leads the reader to think that the Messianic interpretation of Isaiah's suffering servant prophecy (52 & 53) is a Christian invention. I'd expect a Hebrew scholar to acknowledge the rabbinic writings on this matter and deal with them. The Babylonian Talmud tells us that rabbis interpreted these passages as being about the Messiah. There is no excuse for a biblically literate Jew to say it is a mystery, particularly one who promotes himself as a Hebrew scholar. I find the man to be a liar on this point.
Permit me to share two snippets from rabbinic sources below. Bear in mind that these are translations from Hebrew sources, and they are widely available.
The first:
Rab said: The world was created only on David's account (for Psalms). Samuel said: On Moses account (for Torah); R. Johanan said: For the sake of the Messiah. What is his [the Messiah's] name? -- The School of R. Shila said: His name is Shiloh, for it is written, until Shiloh come (Gen_49:10). The School of R. Yannai said: His name is Yinnon, for it is written, His name shall endure for ever (Psa_72:17): e'er the sun was, his name is Yinnon. The School of R. Haninah maintained: His name is Haninah, as it is written, Where I will not give you Haninah (Jer_16:13). Others say: His name is Menahem the son of Hezekiah, for it is written, Because Menahem ['the comforter'], that would relieve my soul, is far (Lam_1:16). The Rabbis said: His name is 'the leper scholar,' as it is written, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God, and afflicted (Isa_53:4). -- [Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b (Rodkinson; Sanhedrin, ch 11, p 311)]
Epstein , Rabbi Dr. I. (Ed.) - Babylonian Talmud, (The Soncino Press, London, 1934)
Rodkinson, Rabbi Michael L. - New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, (Boston New Talmud Publishing Co., Boston, 1903)
The second:
The fourteenth verse in the second chapter of Ruth is thus explained. 'Come thou hither' is the prediction of Messiah's kingdom. 'Dip the morsel in the vinegar,' (Rth_2:14) foretells the agony through which Messiah will pass, as it is written in Isaiah (cap. 51), 'He was wounded for our sins, He was bruised for our transgressions.' 'And she set herself beside the reapers' predicts the temporary departure of Messiah's kingdom. 'And he reached her a parched corn' means the restoration of His kingdom.--Midrash Ruth 5.
Rapaport, Samuel - Tales And Maxims From The Midrash, (George Routledge & Sons Limited, London, 1907), p. 44
Friends, why doesn't Kugel deal with all of the Hebrew sources?
Funny note on the second quote, Samuel Rapaport complained about Christians finding support in the rabbinic writings. He wrote about this in his introduction to Tales And Maxims From The Midrash. He didn't give any compelling reason other than to imply that it made it hard for him to respect Christians. I'll leave it to the interested reader to look that up.
One Kugel makes me hungry. The other makes me sick, because his work stinks.
