CFP: Rutgers Rabbinic Conference, 1 December proposal deadline

H-JUDAIC: One month till deadline: CFP for Rutgers Rabbinic Conference 2027 due December 1.

Submission deadline: December 1, 2026

Papers may be on any topic related to classical (Late Antique) rabbinic literature, culture, or history. Papers from adjacent fields that are in dialogue with rabbinics are also welcome.

The 2-day conference will include panels of short papers that will be grouped thematically and include scholars of different ranks. In addition there will be book presentations by authors of new or forthcoming books on rabbinics.

The conference seeks applicants from all academic ranks. Senior scholars, junior and unappointed scholars, and graduate students are all encouraged to submit proposals for short papers and/or for book presentations.

The conference will provide kosher meals, but cannot offer funds for travel or accommodation.

Follow the link for further particulars.

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Burke on Christian Apocrypha at SBL 2026

THE APOCRYPHICTY BLOG: Christian Apocrypha at SBL 2026 (Tony Burke).

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Review of Ewan, Fountain of Living Water

SYRIAC WATCH: Book review: Fountain of Living Water: Poetry, prayers, and hymns of the mystics of the Early Church of the East, edited and translated by Robert Ewan. Here is a rich tradition of the Eastern Church, says John Binns (Church Times).

There are 31 writers whose work is included. Most come from the “golden age” of Syrian literature from the fourth to sixth centuries, beginning with the hymn-writer Ephrem the Syrian, and then on to others who followed him; and there is one modern poet included. There are patriarchs, bishops, abbots of monasteries, ascetics, and teachers in the schools. There are short biographies of each writer, which introduce the poems and also the life of the Church. ...

Fountain of Living Water: Poetry, prayers, and hymns of the mystics of the Early Church of the East
Robert Ewan, editor and translator
Gracewing £12.99
(978-1-78182-201-2)
Church Times Bookshop £11.69

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The Bible of Edessa: Ezekiel (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Bible of Edessa: Ezekiel

Series:
The Bible of Edessa: An Annotated Translation of the Syriac Peshitta, Volume: 2

Editors / Translators: Jerome A. Lund, Godwin Mushayabasa, and Herculaas F. van Rooy

Authoritative, Based on the Best Syriac Text, and Fully Annotated

This extensively annotated translation offers an accessible introduction to the Peshitta of Ezekiel. It evaluates variant readings and explains the preferred text, enabling students and scholars to engage confidently with the Syriac Bible. Notes on the relationship between the Syriac and Hebrew texts support research on Ezekiel’s textual history and its ancient translations. Members of the Syriac/Assyrian churches will value its use of the oldest and most reliable manuscripts, as presented in the Leiden–Amsterdam Peshitta edition, together with references to Syriac interpreters. The Bible of Edessa is authorized by the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT) and published by the Amsterdam Peshitta Institute.

Copyright Year: 2027

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-77012-6
Publication: 29 Sep 2026
EUR €153.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-72252-1
Publication: 29 Oct 2026
EUR €153.00

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Milco (ed), Beall Festschrift (Gorgias)

NEW BOOK FROM GORGIAS PRESS:

“TEACHER, MOTHER, GIVER OF ALL GOOD ADVICE”
Essays in Memory of Judith Beall

Edited by Katherine E. Milco

Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-5032-4
Formats *
Hardback (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-5032-4
eBook PDF (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-5033-1 on Gorgias Mobile App (Glassboxx)

Publication Status: In Print
Series: Perspectives on Philosophy and Religious Thought23
Publication Date: Sep 15,2026
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 7 x 10
Page Count: 225
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-5032-4

Price: $95.00 (USD)
Your price: $57.00 (USD)

OVERVIEW

This volume commemorates the life and work of Dr. Judith Beall (1945-2025), a popular professor and the Director of the Religious Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, with contributions from scholars in the disciplines of theology, history, classics, science, and literature. The essays reflect the major themes of her research and teaching, such as the interpretation of history as a praeparatio evangelica, the recovery of ancient Jewish and early Christian texts, the role of ressourcement in the self-understanding of the Church, and the relationship between suffering and sanctity.

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Uusimäki, Women, Travel and Transformation from the Bible to Bar-Kokhba (Routledge)

NEW BOOK FROM ROUTLEDGE:

Women, Travel and Transformation from the Bible to Bar-Kokhba
By Elisa Uusimäki
Copyright 2027

Open Access content is available for this title

Hardback
£137.59

ISBN 9781041139744
350 Pages
Published September 18, 2026 by Routledge

Description

This book provides a novel, cultural-historical perspective on travel in the ancient world by exploring a wide range of women’s (in)voluntary journeys and relocations, such as can be derived from passing references, short sections, and extended narratives found in the early Jewish corpora that remain to us.

The book delivers a more nuanced notion of the past by challenging and demonstrating the need to move beyond the binary idea of “female stayers” and “male movers.” In doing so, it foregrounds a previously overlooked aspect of travel history: female mobility, its many facets and inherent complexity as a sociocultural phenomenon, and its multiple transformational effects. The selected sources include a large body of literary texts from the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo of Alexandria, Flavius Josephus, and the New Testament, together with some documentary sources indicating the existence of certain types of travel up until the early second century ce. They reveal a variety of mobile girls and women, such as brides, businesswomen, captives, diplomats, diviners, economic and forced migrants, knowledge-seekers, midwives, musicians, nurses, pilgrims, refugees, sages, (semi)nomads, slaves, tourists, and war leaders.

Women, Travel and Transformation from the Bible to Bar-Kokhba is of interest to students and scholars working on travel history, early Jewish literature, and women in antiquity, as well as those in biblical studies, religious studies, ancient history, and classics.

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On the Arch of Titus

ANCIENT ICONOGRAPHIC PROPAGANDA ARCHITECTURE: Arch of Titus: The monument that celebrated Jerusalem’s fall but became a Jewish emblem. Rome’s most famous ruins hold a Jewish story that many visitors, Jews included, never hear (Asaf Peled, Pittsburg Jewish Chronicle).

A nice tourism overview.

There are many PaleoJudaica posts on the Arch of Titus. For some of them, see here, here, and here, and follow the links

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Biblical Job in Early Christianity and Beyond (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Biblical Job in Early Christianity and Beyond

Series:
Vigiliae Christianae, Supplements, Volume: 193

Volume Editors: Nienke M. Vos, Paula Rose, and Albert C. Geljon

This volume focuses on close readings of the biblical book of Job and its reception in early Christianity. It offers thought-provoking research: from the Bible in Hebrew and Greek to Job’s impact on Christian traditions in East and West, on Judaism and Islam. The sources include the fascinating Coptic Testament of Job as well as texts in Greek, Syriac, Armenian, and Latin. Intriguing and complex material is presented, such as a mēmrā by Narsai, a homily by Basil of Seleucia (first edition), midrashim, and Islamic storytelling. Thus, Job emerges as an engaging and multifaceted figure of imaginative and religious reflections.

Copyright Year: 2027

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-77192-5
Publication: 22 Sep 2026
EUR €164.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-77191-8
Publication: 22 Oct 2026
EUR €164.00

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Shih-En Kuo, The Golden Calf Narrative in the Book of the Twelve (Gorgias)

NEW BOOK FROM GORGIAS PRESS:

THE GOLDEN CALF NARRATIVE IN THE BOOK OF THE TWELVE
Inner-Biblical Allusions to Exodus 34:6–7

By Shih-En Kuo

Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-5020-1
Formats *
Hardback (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-5020-1
eBook PDF (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-5021-8 on Gorgias Mobile App (Glassboxx)

Publication Status: In Print
Series: Bulletin for Biblical Research Dissertation Series 4
Publication Date: Sep 29,2026
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Page Count: 385
Languages: Englishv ISBN: 978-1-4632-5020-1
Price: $95.00 (USD)
Your price: $57.00 (USD)

OVERVIEW

A simple question repeatedly emerges when reading the Book of the Twelve as a collection: Why do echoes of the Golden Calf Narrative (Exod 32–34), especially the Attribute Formula (Exod 34:6–7), surface at multiple points across these prophetic writings, and what do those echoes accomplish for their readers? Biblical research on the Twelve has offered a range of accounts for its coherence, while scholarship on inner-biblical allusion has continued to refine how textual reuse should be identified and evaluated. This study brings these conversations into direct contact by tracing its resonances across the Twelve and asking how they contribute to the collection’s literary and theological unity.

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Malta's catacombs are now a European Heritage Site

FUNERARY EPIGRAPHY: Malta’s Ancient Catacombs Become Country’s First European Heritage Site (Iuliia Tore, RusTourismNews).

St Paul’s Catacombs in Rabat have become the first site in Malta to receive the European Heritage Label, recognising an ancient underground burial complex where Jewish, pagan and Christian communities left evidence of their shared history over more than a thousand years.

The recognition, awarded earlier in 2026, places the catacombs among European landmarks selected for their contribution to the continent’s history and cultural identity. Heritage Malta celebrated the distinction in October with guided tours, Roman funeral re-enactments and educational activities, while announcing plans to improve the visitor experience.

Dating from at least the fourth or third century BC, the catacombs contain more than 30 underground burial areas spanning the Punic, Roman and Byzantine periods. Their unusual combination of religious traditions makes the complex one of the Mediterranean’s most significant early burial sites.

[...]

This is very good news. For PaleoJudaica posts on the catacombs of Malta, start here and follow the links.

Incidentally, I was in Malta last summer and I have photos of the Jewish inscriptions in the Rabat catacombs.

And, yes, I also did locate that supposedly Iron Age, supposedly Jewish or Phoenician inscription at the Neolithic Ġgantija temple complex in Gozo. It really is there and it really is an obvious forgery. I have photos of it too.

I will share some photos of both sites with you when I get a chance. Maybe not soon. I am very busy and will be for some time.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Did God judge Sodom justly?

PROF. GÁBOR BALÁS: Sodom’s Collective Punishment—Shall the Judge of All the Earth Not Do Justice? (TheTorah.com).

Abraham challenges God’s plan to destroy Sodom with two distinct arguments: the innocent must not suffer alongside the guilty, and a righteous minority should suffice to spare an entire city. Why does Abraham stop at ten innocents? Can collective punishment ever be just? The Rabbis sharpen Abraham’s critique of divine justice. Yet the story’s implications extend beyond whether perfect justice is attainable: God chose Abraham to teach his descendants righteousness and justice, even when it means challenging God.

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Reviews of two books on Hellenistic kingship

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Alexander’s successors and the creation of Hellenistic kingship.

Holton, John. Alexander’s successors and the creation of Hellenistic kingship. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2025. Pp. 232. ISBN 9781350399020.

Holton, John. Royal traditions and the consolidation of power by Alexander’s successors. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2025. Pp. 232. ISBN 9781350399112.

Review by Caroline Kreutzer, University of Bamberg. caroline.kreutzer@uni-bamberg.de

In these two monographs, John Holton presents new approaches to the development and consolidation of the Hellenistic monarchies following Alexander the Great. Although the basic ideas of both books are not directly dependent on each other, they can be easily combined and complement each other by offering theory-based studies of the early phase of Hellenistic kingship.

[...]

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On the Sibylline Oracles

THE KIWI HELLENIST BLOG: Sibyls and Sibylline oracles. 3. The Sibylline oracles.

The Sibylline oracles are closer imitations. These are a group of eleven poems and eight fragments, mostly Jewish, with an assortment of Christian additions, in Greek hexameter verse. They range in date from the 2nd century BCE to the 7th century CE. Several of the poems list off dynasties of kings and emperors, framing them as though they’re predictions. In some poems the timeline reaches all the way from the Creation (as in Genesis) up to the end times and the Last Judgement (as in Enoch or Revelation).

I noted the earlier posts in this informative series here (with links to earlier PaleoJudaica posts) and here.

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Biggerstaff, De-Marginalizing Prophetic Suprahuman Knowledge (2022 PhD thesis)

THE AWOL BLOG: De-Marginalizing Prophetic Suprahuman Knowledge.

De-Marginalizing Prophetic Suprahuman Knowledge
Biggerstaff, Michael
Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

... Prior to the nineteenth century, exegetes never understood prophetic claims of suprahuman knowledge as subordinate to issues of social justice and repentance. ...

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Why is ancient Greek pronunciation important?

THE OTTC BLOG: Reconstructed Koine Pronunciation (Drew Longacre).

What does a question of Greek language learning pedagogy have to do with OT textual criticism? More than you might think, actually. ...

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