Paula Fredriksen. When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation. Yale University Press, 2018.
Paula Fredriksen’s newest book attempts a difficult feat: to understand the first generation of Jesus followers, despite having to do so with an eclectic smattering of passionately biased evidence that also happens to have been cherished as sacred text by almost two thousand years of interpreters. ...
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Textual and Literary Criticism of the Books of Kings
Collected Essays
Series: Vetus Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 185
Editors: Andrés Piquer Otero and Pablo A. Torijano Morales
Author: Julio Trebolle Barrera
This volume contains a collection of the author’s life-long study (along with some new research written specifically for this book) of the text of 1-2 Kings, some of them translated into English for the first time. Julio Trebolle’s career has focused on the history of these biblical books from the triple angle of a combined textual, literary and source-compositional criticism. His usage of the Septuagint and its secondary versions like the Old Latin as a basis for the reconstruction of the history of the text is an invaluable contribution to the panorama of textual pluralism in the Bible during the Second Temple period which has emerged after the discoveries of the Dead Sea.
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E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-42601-6
Publication Date: 08 Jun 2020
Hardback
Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-38831-4
Publication Date: 22 Jul 2020
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Teaching Classical Languages (ISSN 2160-2220) is the only peer-reviewed electronic journal dedicated to the teaching and learning of Latin and ancient Greek. ...
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Johann Maier (†)
Hebräisch-aramäisches Glossar zum jüdischen Recht in der Antike
Hebrew-Aramaic Glossary of Ancient Jewish Law
Mit einer Einführung in das jüdische Recht der Antike und einem Quellenüberblick
De Gruyter | 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110650327
From £36.50
FORMATS
Paperback
ISBN: 978-3-11-064985-7
Published: 21 Oct 2019
ISBN: 978-3-11-065032-7
Published: 21 Oct 2019
EPUB
ISBN: 978-3-11-065010-5
Published: 21 Oct 2019
OVERVIEW
The Glossary presents documentation for the specialized Hebrew and Aramaic vocabulary of Biblical Jewish law, from Biblical sources through the completion of the Babylonian Talmud, thus furnishing new options for comparative ancient legal history. A detailed introduction into ancient Jewish law is included.
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1 Enoch as Christian ScriptureThis is timely to mention alongside this week's Enoch Seminar 2020.
A Study in the Reception and Appropriation of 1 Enoch in Jude and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahǝdo Canon
BY Bruk Ayele Asale
FOREWORD BY Loren T. Stuckenbruck
Imprint: Pickwick Publications
Category: Biblical Studies
PAPERBACK
ISBN: 9781532691157
Pages: 170
Publication Date: 6/5/2020
Retail Price: $22.00
Web Price: $17.60
eBOOK
ISBN: 9781532691157
Format: epub
Publication Date: 6/5/2020
Retail Price: $22.00
Web Price: $17.60
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About
Since its publication in English translation in 1821, the book of Enoch has enjoyed immense popularity in Western culture as a variety of religious groups, interested historians, and academics have sought to illuminate the Jewish context of Christian beginnings two thousand years ago. Taking the quotation of 1 Enoch in Jude 14 as its point of departure, the present study explores the significance of Enochic tradition within the context of Christian tradition in the Horn of Africa, where it continues to play a vital role in shaping the diverse yet interrelated self-understanding of Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant churches. As discussions on the importance of 1 Enoch from antiquity to the present take on new dimensions among increasingly global and diverse voices, 1 Enoch as Christian Scripture offers a rare orientation into a rich culture in which the reception of the book is “at home” as a living tradition more than anywhere else in the world today. The present work argues that serious attention to 1 Enoch holds forth an opportunity for church traditions in Ethiopia—and, indeed, around the world—to embrace some of their indigenous roots and has the capacity to breathe life into time-worn expressions of faith.
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Thanks James!The mood of the room among the Gnosticism scholars seemed to be that, yes, demiurgic Gnosticism was a Christian innovation. That was reassuring.
I have a couple of thoughts I have already shared with James about his fascinating paper.
First, I think it is entirely plausible that the Mandaeans preserve some much older polytheistic material, especially names, in their literature. You provide good evidence for that. You mention the Elephantine Judean community. If you haven't yet, you should also look at the Demotic-Aramaic Papyrus Amherst 63, which also may be from Elephantine. Some of the Israelite/Canaanite material in it might arguably be transitional in the direction of the Mandaean material.
Second, I have not found any arguments for a pre- (or non-) Christian Jewish Gnosticism in antiquity persuasive. The development of Gnosticism seems much easier to me once you add Pauline theology (notably its demotion of Jewish law) into the mix of Judaism and Platonism. And, tellingly, as far as I have been able to find, none of the surviving Gnostic texts deal with the halakhic and national/ethnic issues that the demiurgic myth would inevitably have raised. (I have adapted this comment from the first blog post linked below. The other two links develop the argument in greater detail.)
https://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2015/02/anxious-gnosticism.html
http://paleojudaica.blogspot.co.uk/2003_07_20_archive.html#105889150630213378
http://paleojudaica.blogspot.co.uk/2011_09_04_archive.html#8673893715236393124
I am glad to have the chance to draw this point to the attention of specialists in Gnosticism. I don't think any argument for pre-/non-Christian Jewish Gnosticism can hold up without addressing it.
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John: The Mundane Gospel and its Archaeology-Related Features
However, in addition to its theological features, the Fourth Gospel is also the most mundane of the gospels. John has more empirical (sensorily attributed) references, topographical details, and archaeologically attested features than all the other gospels combined—canonical and otherwise. This is an empirical fact, which creates upheaval among scholarly theories regarding John’s character, origin, and implications, as it must also be seen as the Mundane Gospel.
See Also: “On Biblical Forgeries and Imagined Communities—A Critical Analysis of Recent Criticism."
By Paul N. Anderson
Professor of Biblical and Quaker Studies
George Fox University
July 2020
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ENOCH SEMINAR 2020This needs a more detailed exposition with footnotes, but it presents my basic argument. I posted some early thoughts on Beelzebul (Beelzeboul) here. For many other posts on the diabolical one in his various guises, see here and links.
Response to Gabriele Boccaccini, “Same Problems, Different Remedies: The Parables of Enoch and the Synoptics on Evil.”
Panel: How is the problem of evil and its origin addressed in the Parables of Enoch and the Synoptics?
Thank you, Professor Boccaccini, the organizers, and the presenters, for all your hard work preparing and carrying out this remarkable, fully-remote, Enoch Seminar. This is truly a ground-breaking event. I am very happy to be part of it.
First let me say that I agree overall with Gabriele’s conclusions. The Synoptic Gospels and the Parables of Enoch share a virtually identical doctrine of evil. Their interest is in the eschatology of evil rather than its protology. The solutions to the problem of evil are quite different. Both project the judgment of sinners to the eschaton, but only the Synoptics place repentance and redemption in the present.
I would nuance Gabriele’s discussion at a few points. The Parables are very interested in both good and evil angels, but only mention demons once in 69:12. The Synoptics show less interest in angels, and only mention evil angels once, in Matt 25:41. They are more interested in demons, specifically, the activity of demons during the time of Jesus. This focus is likely due to the tradition that exorcism of demons was a major feature of Jesus’ ministry.
The Synoptics show little interest in demonic origins. But one unique element of their demonology may involve primeval matters, if not exactly protology. This is worth exploring. The Synoptic passage about Jesus and Beelzebul (Mark 3:19b-30//Matt 12:22-37 (cf. 10:25)//Luke 11:14-23, 12:10) brings in a demonic figure who does not appear in the Parables. Beelzebul is a Greek transliteration of a Northwest Semitic phrase that means "Prince Baal." It appears as zbl bʻl in Ugaritic and is apparently behind the divine name baʻal-zebub, the god of Ekron, in the MT of 2 Kgs 1:2-3, 6, 16. The latter means "Lord of the flies," but this is probably a deliberate disrespectful corruption of Baal's title.
Evidently the name survived uncorrupted in some circles in Jesus' time. (Symmachus reads it correctly as baʻal-zebul in the Greek translation of 2 Kings 1.) The name had become applied to the chief evil spirit, the prince of demons or Satan. As far as I can ascertain, the use of the term as the title of an evil spirit is limited in antiquity to the Synoptic Gospels and literature dependent on them.
Where did the Beelzebul referred to by the scribes originate? A superficially plausible answer might be from the passage in 2 Kings. But the Beelzebub there is the local tutelary deity of the Philistine city Ekron. If he were demoted to demonic status in Jewish tradition, why would he be simultaneously promoted to “prince of the demons?” There is a better explanation.
We know that some of the Canaanite mythology found in the Ugaritic texts survived in the Hebrew literature of the Second Temple period. The premier example is Isaiah 27:1, which quotes nearly verbatim a line about the sea serpent Leviathan found in tablet 4 of the Baal cycle. In addition, Latin and Manichean traditions about the giants imply that the Enochic Book of Giants contained a now lost account of a battle between Leviathan, the archangel Raphael, and one of the giants. And it is likely that the vision in Daniel 7 draws on Baal mythology. If Beelzebul evolved out of Baal mythology, in which Baal functioned as ruler of the gods, his status of ruler of the demons makes sense. This is not a new point, but I wish to take it further here.
The Baal mythology also has intriguing connections with Jesus’ reply to the scribes. Jesus argues that Satan (Beelzebul) cannot survive opposed to himself. It is difficult to untangle mythology from metaphor here, but Jesus associates Beelzebul with both a kingdom and a house, which Jesus likens to a strong man’s house. Anyone who wishes to plunder that house must first bind the strong man. Elsewhere (Matt 10:25) Jesus also complains that some have “called the master of the house Beelzebul.”
The Ugaritic Baal cycle is set in the kingdom of the chief god El and involves territorial disputes between major gods in the pantheon. The Sea god fails in his attempt to subdue Baal and conquer the earth. After their conflict, a house is built for Baal, where he is enthroned and made king of the earth and ruler of the gods. Then Death does battle with Baal, but he too fails to subdue him. Baal retains his house and his rulership of the earth. Is it a coincidence that Jesus refers to Beelzebul’s kingdom, his house, and an effort to subdue him? Or is Jesus playing with surviving elements of Baal mythology? The parallels are at least suggestive.
In short, the Synoptics may preserve a fragment of another mythology of primeval evil, one in which the god Baal, who ruled the earth under the authority of El, was transformed in Jewish tradition into Beelzebul, prince of the demons. Jesus’ comments may imply that Beelzebul’s myth featured a demonic kingdom, his house, and conflict over control of his territory.
The Parables of Enoch show no awareness of the demonic figure Beelzebul and whatever mythology came with him, although the Enochic giants tradition may remember some Baal mythology involving Leviathan. In other words, the watchers myth and the Satan myth may not have been the only paradigms for primeval evil available to these authors.
If the Synoptics do allude to a late reflex of the Baal myth, we can only hope that new texts emerge which tell us more about the adaptation of Canaanite mythology in Second Temple Jewish tradition.
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The Legacy of Soisalon-SoininenI noted the call for papers for the conference that produced this volume here.
Towards a Syntax of Septuagint Greek
Tuukka Kauhanen (Hg.), Hanna Vanonen (Hg.)
De Septuaginta Investigationes (DSI) - Band 013
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Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
Jalkut Schimoni zum ZwölfprophetenbuchThe electronic version of this book is currently open access – available for free. I'm not sure, but that may only last until the end of this month. But for now, for you, special deal!
Yalkut Shimoni on the Twelve Minor Prophets: Translation and Commentary
Übersetzung und Kommentar
in Jalkut Schimoni
Edited by: Farina Marx
De Gruyter | 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110675382
£109.00 Hardcover
FORMATS
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-3-11-067438-5
Published: 08 Jun 2020
ISBN: 978-3-11-067538-2
Published: 08 Jun 2020
EPUB
ISBN: 978-3-11-067540-5
Published: 08 Jun 2020
OVERVIEW
The Yalkut Shimoni is collection of rabbinical commentaries on the Hebrew bible. Research has not yet explained all of the criteria for selecting these commentaries or clarified whether the work was conceived as a comprehensive reference work for exegetic issues, to be combined with the biblical commentary in the Talmud and Midrash, or to reform rabbinical interpretative tradition. This translation is a first step toward resolving these issues.
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