Raithel, "Auge um Auge…" ("An Eye for an Eye..." (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

»Auge um Auge…«

Eine Rezeptionsgeschichte der biblischen Talionsformel im Antiken Judentum

Series:
Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, Volume: 124

Author: Jan Raithel

Kaum ein biblisches Zitat ist so bekannt – und zugleich so missverstanden – wie »Auge um Auge, Zahn um Zahn…«. Vor allem aufgrund der Auslegungsgeschichte ihrer Rezeption im Matthäusevangelium wurde die Talionsformel zur Chiffre für Vergeltung. Diese Studie zeigt jedoch, dass die Formel weder in der Hebräischen Bibel noch im antik-jüdischen Diskurs auf diese Weise eingesetzt wurde. In den Schriften vom Toten Meer, bei Philo von Alexandrien, Flavius Josephus und in tannaitischer Literatur erscheint sie vielmehr in rechtlichen Debatten über angemessene Sanktionen und Verfahrensnormen. Das matthäische Zitat fällt allein durch die sonst nicht belegte paränetische Auslegung der talio aus dem Rahmen.

Few biblical quotations are as familiar – and as misunderstood – as “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth…”. Owing largely to the history of interpretation of its reception in the Gospel of Matthew, the talionic formula became a shorthand for retribution. This study demonstrates, however, that neither the Hebrew Bible nor Ancient Jewish discourse employed the formula as a code for retribution. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo of Alexandria, Flavius Josephus, and Tannaitic literature, it functions within legal debates on appropriate sanctions and procedural norms. Matthew’s use is distinctive only in genre, offering a parenetic interpretation of the talio.

Copyright Year: 2026

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-74763-0
Publication: 23 Jun 2026
EUR €159.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-74761-6
Publication: 16 Jul 2026
EUR €159.00

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Stefanut, The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:

Romulus D. Stefanut

The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life

A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa

2026. 235 pages.
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe (WUNT II) 659

€79.00
including VAT

sewn paper
available
978-3-16-157048-3

Also Available As: eBook PDF

Summary

In this study, Romulus D. Stefanut offers a contextual reading of Philo's De vita contemplativa, exploring its background, genre, composition, and function beyond the so-called »apologetic and historical works« of Philo. Often, scholars have lost the hermeneutical focus of the treatise itself and have concentrated their attention solely on the historical existence of the Mareotic community described in the treatise, advancing arguments related to its historicity or lack thereof. The author therefore suggests that the purpose of De vita contemplativa is meant to offer the best Jewish Alexandrine expression of a way of life, well-known from ancient Greek philosophy as the theoretical or contemplative life. It is composed in relation rather than opposition to the lost first half of the treatise, dedicated to the practical life of the Essenes. Simultaneously, there might be a friendly polemic between Philo's description of the Therapeutae versus the Essenes.

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Does the "Pilate" ring mention Pilate after all?

PESKY PONTIUS PILATE RING PHILOLOGY: What’s in an ‘O’? New UCLA research may unlock mystery of ring tied to Pontius Pilate. Drawing clues from the ring’s inscription, UCLA professor Catherine Bonesho rebuts previous scholarship about the 2,000-year-old relic (Sean Brenner, UCLA Newsroom).

Key takeaways

• One letter changes the story. UCLA professor Catherine Bonesho, in studying an ancient ring thought to be tied to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who figures prominently in the story of Jesus, has proposed a new theory about the ring’s inscription.
• Who was the owner? Bonesho’s research suggests the ring was likely worn by a lower-status Judean worker carrying out administrative business connected to Pilate.
• A window into ancient Judea. The findings offers new clues about who actually performed the everyday work of Roman rule in Judea.

I don't know if she's right, but her interpretation is plausible.

The underlying technical PEQ article is open access. But the press release also covers her argument in informative detail.

The Pilate Ring: A Reconsideration

Catherine E. Bonesho
Published online: 30 Jul 2026
Cite this article https://doi.org/10.1080/00310328.2026.2695544

ABSTRACT

A copper alloy ring from Herodium was published by Amorai-Stark et al. (Citation2018), who read the ring’s inscription of ‘ΠΙΛΑΤΟ’ as a possible reference to Pontius Pilate. The ring’s low quality, imagery and the spelling of the inscription have raised many questions: does ‘ΠΙΛΑΤΟ’ actually refer to Pilate himself (Eck and Ecker Citation2023), who wore the ring (Graves Citation2019) and where was it made. Building on evidence of language learning in the Roman provinces, I argue that ‘ΠΙΛΑΤΟ’ with its omicron spelling is best understood as the Latin dative form ‘PILATO’ transliterated into Greek, meaning ‘for / belonging to Pilate’. Informed by the roles of local elites and enslaved workers in Roman Judea, this study posits that local elite(s) commissioned the ring for an enslaved worker to use at Herodium for various tasks related to Pilate’s administration. This reconstruction plausibly accounts for the ring’s features and has the potential to illuminate the quotidian administration of Roman Judea.

PaleoJudica posts on the "Pilate" Ring are here, here, here, and here. We last saw it argued in 2023 that its inscription should be read as bearing two names, not one, but without any confidence about which two names.

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Hopkins &. Fassberg (eds.), A Handbook of Neo-Aramaic (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

A Handbook of Neo-Aramaic

Series: Brill's Handbooks in Linguistics, Volume: 6

Editors: Simon Hopkins and Steven E. Fassberg

The Handbook of Neo-Aramaic aims to provide an introduction to, and details of the complex world of Neo-Aramaic. This large family of endangered Neo-Semitic languages is (or until recently was spoken by Jewish, Christian and Mandaean minorities in parts of the Middle East. Most members of these communities now live in various diasporas.
Following a series of general chapters dealing with historical background, classification, salient linguistic features, Neo-Semitic context, contact languages (Kurdish, etc.), manuscripts and printed texts, Neo-Aramaic in the media etc., the book presents grammatical sketches of 15 different Neo-Aramaic dialects (some never described before), followed by a series of maps, illustrations, and a bibliography.
The book hopes to provide material of interest both to the beginner and the more advanced specialist.

Contributors are: Werner Arnold, Roberta Borghero, Michael L. Chyet, Eleanor Coghill, Alinda Damsma, Steven E. Fassberg, Samuel Ethan Fox, Charles G. Häberl, Simon Hopkins, Otto Jastrow, Olga Kapeliuk, Geoffrey Khan, Nineb Lamassu, Alexey Lyavdansky, Alessandro Mengozzi, Matthew Morgenstern, Hezy Mutzafi, Yona Sabar, Shabo Talay, Aziz Tezel, and Michael Waltisberg.

Copyright Year: 2026

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-72512-6
Publication: 20 Jul 2026
EUR €269.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-72511-9
Publication: 06 Aug 2026
EUR €269.00

HT Drew Longacre at the OTTC Blog.

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Review of Redfield, Plato's Seventh Letter

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Plato’s Seventh Letter.

James M. Redfield, Plato's Seventh Letter. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2026. Pp. 128. ISBN 9781647922566.

Review by
Colin C. Smith, Creighton University. colinsmith2@creighton.edu

... The Seventh Letter is the longest and most significant of the 13 letters attributed to Plato in Thrasyllus’ canon. In it, an author writing in Plato’s voice tells the tale of his (?) ill-fated trips to Syracuse in Sicily during the rulerships of Dionysius the Elder and Younger in cooperation with the politician Dion, indirectly leading to Dion’s execution. Spanning just under 30 Stephanus pages, the dense narrative touches on key themes like Plato’s biography, connections between philosophy and political rule, the problem of faction, some complexities of moral psychology, the nature of the virtuous life, and technical ways in which a philosophical education grants non-propositional insight into truth that seem crucial for understanding the esoteric aspects of Platonic philosophy. ...

Not PaleoJudaica's usual fare, but of background interest for the recently recovered biography of Plato at Herculaneum, which I noted here (cf. here, here, and here).

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How did Prof. Emanuel Tov change his mind?

SYMPOSIUM: I CHANGED MY MIND: Revised Editions: What Right Do I Have to Try and Convince You Again? (Prof. Emanuel Tov, TheTorah.com).

On a more emotional level, I was also apprehensive about having misled a generation of readers with views that I expressed authoritatively but no longer subscribe to. With every publication of a revised edition of my work, I sensed a feeling of satisfaction. But this was mixed with some feelings of guilt that I had provided readers of previous editions with incorrect or incomplete data, or tried to convince them of perspectives that I had now abandoned.

For more on the series, see here.

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Journal of Greco-Roman Judaism and Christianity (JGRChJ).

THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Journal: Journal of Greco-Roman Judaism and Christianity (JGRChJ).

I'm glad to see that JGRChJ is still active. Mentioned previously here and here.

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Kanarek on Beyond Brutality

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Reclaiming Female Presence in Bavli Sotah (Jane Kanarek).

It may seem paradoxical to talk about noticing female presence in a tractate titled after a category of woman: the sotah, a woman accused of having sex with a man other than her husband. Yet this theoretical assumption of women's presence, combined with my decision to study the entire tractate rather than only the sections concerning the sotah ritual, proved surprisingly productive. It enabled me to notice and theorize female presence and absence; to see how the sotah and the sotah ritual help conceptualize Bavli Sotah as a literary whole; and to acknowledge the brutality and care that pervade the tractate.

I noted the publication of Beyond Brutality here.

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The Yeshua Scroll in the Green Jar??

MODERN CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA WATCH: A new modern apocryphon – Scott Wolter and the “Yeshua Scroll in the Green Jar” (Roger Pearse).

Sounds fake to me. People never get tired of finding new biblical apocrypha. Of course Roger and I can be corrected any time if an actual ancient Yeshua Scroll in the Green Jar is produced and authenticated by specialist experts in the ancient languages etc.

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How did Prof. Tammi J. Schneider change her mind?

SYMPOSIUM: I CHANGED MY MIND: Does the Bible Have Meaning Out of Context? (Prof. Tammi J. Schneider, TheTorah.com).

A colleague of mine, a scholar of English literature who excavated with me for a decade, started applying the phrase “an object out of context has no meaning” to words, texts, and historical moments. For a long time I agreed, but in recent years I have changed my mind, and now prefer a modified form of the dictum: “an object out of context has a different meaning.” This modification may be subtle, but it is actually quite substantial.

For more on the series, see here.

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Using Viscous Remnant Magnetization to detect forged ceramics

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Earth's Magnetic Field Can Help Archaeologists Sniff Out Forged Antiquities (Ariel David, Haaretz).

This Viscous Remnant Magnetization, or VRM, is a bit of a nuisance in most paleomagnetic experiments. Researchers treat it as noise and remove it by heating their sample in order to focus on the main magnetic signature, such as the TRM, Vaknin says. The VRM has been known since the late 19th century and researchers have already tried over the last decades to use it to date geological events, but because the signal is so weak the results are not particularly precise. Still, it is enough to help determine if an artifact is authentic.

"The resolution we require is not very high; we just want to know if an object is ancient or modern," Vaknin says.

So the technology is a blunt instrument. But sometimes you need a hammer, not tweezers.

The UC San Diego press release: Researchers develop method to tell authentic artifacts from fakes. Magnetic method reveals distinct time stamp of clay baking process.

Oddly, the DOI of the underlying article, given in both the press release and the Haaretz article, leads to a dead end. And I can find no sign of the article on the PNAS website. I hope it turns up again.

Meanwhile, this seems like a good time to link to this old post again.

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How did Dr. Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson change his mind?

SYMPOSIUM: I CHANGED MY MIND: When I Stopped Seeing the Bible Only as Good, It Got Better (Dr. Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, TheTorah.com).

At around the middle of rabbinical school, as I dove deeper into Tanakh and rabbinic law, and I had access both to modern academia and to traditional parshanut, I kept finding passages impossible to domesticate. At this point, my original strategy started to fail me and I could no longer ignore those passages, as their flaws and their human cost across the ages became clear to me.

For more on this series, see here.

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Virtus et Humanitas (Waxmann)

THE AWOL BLOG: Virtus et Humanitas: Bridging Virtues and Values of Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian Paideia.

Notice of a New Book published by Waxman Publishers:

Gabriella Gelardini, Kåre S. Fuglseth, Per Jarle Bekken (Hrsg.)

Virtus et Humanitas: Bridging Virtues and Values of Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian Paideia

2026, Religious Diversity and Education in Europe, Band 48, 958 Seiten, broschiert, 99,00 €, ISBN 978-3-8188-0089-5

.doi: https://doi.org/10.31244/9783818850890

Some of the chapters are open access.

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A.-J. Levine elected president of the Catholic Biblical Association

APPOINTMENT: Jewish woman elected president of Catholic Biblical Association of America - interview. She is also the first Jewish scholar to teach the New Testament at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 2019 (Mathilda Heller, Jerusalem Post).

Prof. Amy-Jill Levine, who was elected at the 88th annual meeting and will serve as CBA president for the 2026-2027 year, told The Jerusalem Post that she is “honored by the election, gratified that the work that [she has done for the association has been recognized, and grateful to the members of the association for their welcome and their trust.”

Congratulations to Professor Levine and to the CBA.

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Hendel on cultural memory

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

On Cultural Memory

Cultural memory offers an approach to the Hebrew Bible that examines how representations of the past are shaped, transmitted, and transformed in relation to the communities that remember them. Important antecedents in the work of Wellhausen, Halbwachs, Alt, von Rad, and Childs illustrate how cultural memory can connect literary, historical, socio-political, and religious dimensions of biblical interpretation.

See also Cultural Memory in the Hebrew Bible: Genesis to Kings (Cambridge, 2026).

By Ronald Hendel University of California, Berkeley August 2026

Cross-file under New Book. I'm usually more on top of new books, but the CUP website has been dodgy for a while.

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How did Prof. Sidnie White Crawford change her mind?

SYMPOSIUM: I CHANGED MY MIND: There Were Three Torah Texts—Until We Found the Dead Sea Scrolls (Prof. Sidnie White Crawford, TheTorah.com).

What I found when I looked at the manuscripts from this new perspective was a complex web of relationships, with many streams of textual tradition. Jewish scribes in the Greco-Roman period were not mere copyists, but textual scholars, with the responsibility of passing down the cultural and religious inheritance of ancient Israel as a living tradition, relevant to their contemporary audience.

For more on the series, see here.

Sidnie and I were in the same doctoral program, both working with Frank Moore Cross. We started working on the biblical Scrolls (she, Deuteronomy; I, Genesis and Exodus) at the same time. I had a similar epiphany due to my research.

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