Schott, Zechariah 9:14

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER: Schott, Martin. Sacharja 9–14
Eine kompositionsgeschichtliche Analyse. [Zechariah 9:14: A Composition Historical Analysis] Series: Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 521.

99,95 € / $114.99 / £91.00*
Hardcover
Publication Date: December 2019
ISBN 978-3-11-066584-0

Aims and Scope
The final chapter of the Book of Zechariah (Zech 9:14) has long been marginalized as an originally separate appendage to the Book of Zechariah. This study subjects the text for the first time to a detailed examination from the perspective of editorial history, considering its place as a composition between Zechariah 1:8 and the Book of Malachi at the end of the Books of Twelve.

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Hoffmann, Exodus

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Exodus
Border Crossings in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Texts and Images

Ed. by Hoffmann, Annette

Series: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – Tension, Transmission, Transformation 11

86,95 € / $99.99 / £79.00*

eBook (PDF)
Publication Date: January 2020
Copyright year: 2020
ISBN 978-3-11-061854-9

Aims and Scope
The scientific debates on border crossings and cultural exchange between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have much increased over the last decades. Within this context, however, little attention has been given to the biblical Exodus, which not only plays a pivotal role in the Abrahamic religions, but also is a master narrative of a border crossing in itself. Sea and desert are spaces of liminality and transit in more than just a geographical sense. Their passage includes a transition to freedom and initiation into a new divine community, an encounter with God and an entry into the Age of law. The volume gathers twelve articles written by leading specialists in Jewish and Islamic Studies, Theology and Literature, Art and Film history, dedicated to the transitional aspects within the Exodus narrative. Bringing these studies together, the volume takes a double approach, one that is both comparative and intercultural. How do Jewish, Christian and Islamic texts and images read and retell the various border crossings in the Exodus story, and on what levels do they interrelate? By raising these questions the volume aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of contact points between the various traditions.

Hi everyone! I have been really busy with essay marking. But I hope to pick up the blogging pace soon.

Be well!

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van Oort, Mani and Augustine

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Mani and Augustine

Collected Essays on Mani, Manichaeism and Augustine

Series: Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, Volume: 97

Author: Johannes van Oort

Mani and Augustine: collected essays on Mani, Manichaeism and Augustine gathers in one volume contributions on Manichaean scholarship made by the internationally renowned scholar Johannes van Oort. The first part of the book focuses on the Babylonian prophet Mani (216-277) who styled himself an ‘apostle of Jesus Christ’, on Jewish elements in Manichaeism and on ‘human semen eucharist’, eschatology and imagery of Christ as ‘God’s Right Hand’. The second part of the book concentrates on the question to what extent the former ‘auditor’ Augustine became acquainted with Mani’s gnostic world religion and his canonical writings, and explores to what extent Manichaeism had a lasting impact on the most influential church father of the West.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €149.00 / $179.00

E-Book
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-41759-5
Publication Date: 10 Feb 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-41695-6
Publication Date: 06 Feb 2020

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Diesel still hopes to direct Hannibal trilogy

PUNIC WATCH: Vin Diesel Says Spielberg Told Him It’s a ‘Crime of Cinema’ If He Doesn’t Direct More (Zack Sharf, Yahoo Indiewire).

One directorial passion project for Diesel over the years has been to helm a film about Hannibal Barca, the military general from Carthage who fought the Romans during the Second Punic War around 200 BC.

Diesel says of never directing the epic, “I haven’t done it yet. As much as I am grateful for the accomplishments, there are moments when I go ‘God, you promised the universe, very specifically, the Hannibal Barca trilogy, and you haven’t delivered it. You travelled all over the world.'”

It looks as though the project will remain on hold for now, but I hope he does complete it someday.

Background here and links.

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Israel's museums going virtual

EXHIBITIONS: Israel’s museums go online for immersive experience amid pandemic. Virtual guided tours of new exhibits and fun activities for visitors of all ages to be available (Jessica Steinberg, Times of Israel).

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

Review of Joel Marcus Festschrift

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | The Ways That Often Parted (Laura Robinson).

Lori Baron, Jill Hicks-Keeton, and Matthew Thiessen, eds. The Ways That Often Parted: Essays in Honor of Joel Marcus. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2018.

Excerpt:

This collection of essays reflects a core assumption that Marcus shares with his scholarly contemporaries: the parting between Christianity and Judaism did not happen at one definite moment, but occurred in different places and at different times in different communities. While The Ways that Often Parted contains diverse and varied contributions, the authors’ sustained engagement with Marcus’s scholarship lends the work a distinct coherence.

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

Duggan et al. (eds.), Cosmos and Creation

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Cosmos and Creation
Second Temple Perspectives.

Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook 2019.

Ed. by Duggan, Michael W. / Egger-Wenzel, Renate / Reif, Stefan C.

99,95 € / $114.99 / £91.00*
Hardcover
Publication Date: February 2020
ISBN 978-3-11-067696-9.

Aims and Scope
This volume contains essays by some of the leading scholars in the study of the Jewish religious ideas in the Second Temple period, that led up to the development of early forms of Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. Close attention is paid to the cosmological ideas to be found in the Ancient Near East and in the Hebrew Bible and to the manner in which the translators of the Hebrew Bible into Greek reflected the creativity with which Judaism engaged Hellenistic ideas about the cosmos and the creation. The concepts of heaven and divine power, human mortality, the forces of nature, combat myths, and the philosophy of wisdom, as they occur in 2 Maccabees, Ben Sira, Wisdom of Solomon and Tobit, are carefully analysed and compared with Greek and Roman world-views. There are also critical examinations of Dead Sea scroll texts, early Jewish prayers and Hebrew liturgical poetry and how they these adopt, adapt and alter earlier ideas. The editors have included appreciations of two major figures who played important roles in the study of the Second Temple period and in the history and development of the ISDCL, namely, Otto Kaiser and Alexander Di Lella, who died recently and are greatly missed by those in the field.

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

Resources for remote teaching and conference presentation

H-NET: Two New Resources for Scholars Affected by the Coronavirus (Jesse Draper).

If you work for an academic institution, you no doubt have access to resources for online teaching and remote conference presentations. But it can't hurt to note the aggregate posts at this link too.

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

Chief Rabbis declare Western Wall closed

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Israel’s chief rabbis call on Jews to avoid visiting the Western Wall. As virus spreads, Jewish law requires total adherence to all instructions of health officials, Rabbis Lau and Yosef declare in edicts to the faithful (Times of Israel). HT Todd Bolen at the Bible Places Blog.

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

Liebermann on Collective Identity and the Body in the Book of Ezekiel

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dissertation Spotlight | On Bread, Books, and Bodies in Ezekiel.

Rosanne R. Liebermann, “Hearts of Flesh: Collective Identity and the Body in the Book of Ezekiel” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, 2019).

Excerpt:

My dissertation shows how Ezekiel’s references to body modifications and practices reflect the author’s ideology of collective identity for the Judeans in Babylonia. More importantly, these references reveal how he expected his group to embody that identity in material and practical ways.

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

Detecting refugees from the Great Revolt of 70 CE.

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Judean Refugees in Galilee? Oil Lamps Shedding Light on an Ancient Migration (Jonathan Laden). This essay summarizes an article by James Riley Strange in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. The article itself is behind the subscription wall.

For a research project on tracing the survivors of the eruption of Vesuvius a few years later, see here and here.

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All of the MOTB's DSS fragments are fake

ALL 16 OF THEM: 'Dead Sea Scrolls' at the Museum of the Bible are all forgeries. Months of testing confirm earlier suspicions that the fragments were made in modern times. What happens next? (National Geographic). They are written on ancient (sandal??) leather, but the writing was added in modern times.

This is a long and wide-ranging article, with lots of background information on the story. Worth reading in full.

For PaleoJudaica posts on the discovery that five of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments belonging to the Museum of the Bible were fake, start here and follow the links. And for the "post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll-like fragments" in general, see here and here and links.

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

Apocalyptic archaeological repentence

ANCIENT ARTIFACT: Inspired by Coronavirus Doom, Repentant Thief Returns Ancient Missile to State Agency (David Israel, The Jewish Press).

15 years after he had taken a ballista stone without permission from the archaeological site of the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David, an anonymous man decided last weekend to return the 2,000-year old find to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

He did it, he said, in light of the coronavirus crisis, and his feeling that “the end of the world is nigh.”

[...]

Hopefully that was hyperbole, but I'm glad he did the right thing.

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Geiger, Die Handschriften aus der Judäischen Wüste

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER: Geiger, Gregor. Die Handschriften aus der Judäischen Wüste Die Texte außerhalb Qumrans Einführung und deutsche Übersetzung. [The Manuscripts from the Judaean Desert – The Texts from Outside Qumran: An Introduction and German Translation]. Series: Fontes et Subsidia ad Bibliam pertinentes 9. 139,95 € / $160.99 / £127.00*. Hardcover Publication Date: January 2020. ISBN 978-3-11-063612-3

Aims and Scope
The manuscripts from the Judaean desert are an important source for understanding the late Biblical period. This volume includes for the first time a German translation of all of the non-Biblical texts not originating from Qumran. Unlike the Qumran texts, they were not written by a religious sect, but are by and large texts about everyday life. The texts are accompanied by a detailed introduction.

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Bowen and Rochberg (eds.), Hellenistic Astronomy

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Hellenistic Astronomy

The Science in Its Contexts

Series:Brill's Companions to Classical Studies

Editors: Alan C. Bowen and Francesca Rochberg

In Hellenistic Astronomy: The Science in Its Contexts, new essays by renowned scholars address questions about what the ancient science of the heavens was in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean worlds, and the numerous contexts in which it was pursued. Together, these essays will enable readers not only to understand the technical accomplishments of this ancient science but also to appreciate their historical significance by locating the questions, challenges, and issues inspiring them in their political, medical, philosophical, literary, and religious contexts.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €197.00 / $236.00

E-Book
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-40056-6
Publication Date: 17 Feb 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-24336-1
Publication Date: 20 Feb 2020

Not surprisingly, this quite comprehensive volume includes essays on astronomical matters in ancient Jewish literature, early Christian literature, Mandean (Mandaean) literature, and Hermetic literature.

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