Ahearne-Kroll, Aseneth of Egypt

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS:

Aseneth of Egypt: The Composition of a Jewish Narrative
Patricia D. Ahearne-Kroll

ISBN 9781628372830
Status Available
Price: $42.00
Binding Paperback
Publication Date October 2020
Pages 302

An exploration of Aseneth’s beginnings

In Aseneth of Egypt: The Composition of a Jewish Narrative, Patricia D. Ahearne-Kroll challenges reliance on reconstructed texts in previous scholarship on the book of Joseph and Aseneth. After outlining the problems with previous prototypes of the Hellenistic narrative, she proposes a way to talk about the story in its initial setting without ignoring the manuscript evidence. Her thorough analysis of the evidence reveals how Joseph and Aseneth reflects the literary impulse of Greek-speaking Jewish writers to redescribe their identity in Egypt and Judean connections to the land of Egypt, while incorporating Ptolemaic strategies of legitimation of power. In the end, Ahearne-Kroll concludes that the base storyline preserved in all the copies of this story demonstrates that it was written for Jewish communities living in Hellenistic Egypt.

Features:

• A focus on Hellenistic stories of heroic ancestors
• A discussion of the possible lives of Jews in Hellenistic Egypt drawn from the narrative of Aseneth
• An examination of the complexities involved in dating the composition of literary texts

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Renberg, Where Dreams May Come

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Where Dreams May Come (2 vol. set)

Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World

Series: Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, Volume: 184
Author: Gil Renberg

Where Dreams May Come was the winner of the 2018 Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit, awarded by the Society for Classical Studies.

In this book, Gil H. Renberg examines the ancient religious phenomenon of “incubation", the ritual of sleeping at a divinity’s sanctuary in order to obtain a prophetic or therapeutic dream. Most prominently associated with the Panhellenic healing god Asklepios, incubation was also practiced at the cult sites of numerous other divinities throughout the Greek world, but it is first known from ancient Near Eastern sources and was established in Pharaonic Egypt by the time of the Macedonian conquest; later, Christian worship came to include similar practices. Renberg’s exhaustive study represents the first attempt to collect and analyze the evidence for incubation from Sumerian to Byzantine and Merovingian times, thus making an important contribution to religious history.

This set consists of two books.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €115.00 / $139.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-33023-8
Publication Date: 01 Jun 2017

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-29976-4
Publication Date: 21 Jun 2017

Paperback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-43668-8
Publication Date: 10 Sep 2020

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OTC at Phoenix Seminary

THE ETC BLOG: Come Study OT Textual Criticism in the Desert (Peter Gurry). Congratulations to Dr. Peter J. Gentry and to Phoenix Seminary.

In case you are wondering, I am blogging as usual. There have been fewer posts because things have been unusually quiet.

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Kusio, The Antichrist Tradition in Antiquity

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Mateusz Kusio. The Antichrist Tradition in Antiquity. Antimessianism in Second Temple and Early Christian Literature. 2020. XIII, 292 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 532. 84,00 € including VAT. sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-159346-8.

Published in English.
Mateusz Kusio traces and investigates the references to the Antichrist across ancient Jewish and Christian literature. Beginning with a reception-historical study of a number of eschatological and oracular texts in the Hebrew Bible, he goes on to discuss texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the New Testament, biblical pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha, and Patristic writings. The study reveals an anti-messianic tradition involving a variety of eschatological antagonists in conflict with diverse messianic actors that stretches across both Jewish and Christian corpora and revolves around a set of similar motifs, ideas, and core Biblical texts.

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Ancient Apollo seal found in Jerusalem

ARTIFACT: 2,000-year-old gem seal depicting Greek god Apollo found under City of David. Although Apollo is an Olympian deity of the Greek and Roman cultures, it is highly probable that the person wearing the ring with Apollo’s portrait was a Jew (Hannah Brown, Jerusalem Post). Cross-file under ancient bling.

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Which is the first sister-wife-fib story?

PROF. CHRISTOPH LEVIN: Abraham and Sarah in Egypt: A Story Composed to Prefigure the Exodus (TheTorah.com).

The sister-wife story of Abraham and Sarah in Egypt reworks the sister-wife story of Isaac and Rebekah in Gerar. The passage is an intertextual bricolage, composed to have Abraham, the paradigmatic “first Israelite,” personally experience the nation's core redemptive event.

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Geljon & Vos (eds.), Rituals in Early Christianity

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Rituals in Early Christianity

New Perspectives on Tradition and Transformation

Series: Vigiliae Christianae, Supplements, Volume: 164
Volume Editors: Albert Geljon and Nienke Vos

Based on the paradigmatic shift in both liturgical and ritual studies, this multidisciplinary volume presents a collection of case studies on rituals in the early Christian world. After a methodological discussion of the new paradigm, it shows how emblematic Christian rituals were influenced by their Greco-Roman and Jewish contexts, undergoing multiple transformations, while themselves affecting developments both within and outside Christianity. Notably, parallel traditions in Judaism and Islam are included in the discussion, highlighting the importance of ongoing reception history. Focusing on the dynamic character of rituals, the new perspectives on ritual traditions pursued here relate to the expanding source material, both textual and material, as well as the development of recent interdisciplinary approaches, including the cognitive science of religion.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €125.00 / $151.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-44172-9
Publication Date: 12 Oct 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-44097-5
Publication Date: 15 Oct 2020

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A layered sanctuary in the Golan Heights

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Byzantine Church Built over Greek Temple Discovered on Golan Heights (David Israel, The Jewish Press).

A church from the Byzantine period dating to around 400 CE was discovered in the Banias Springs Nature Reserve (a.k.a. Nahal Hermon Nature Reserve). The archeological excavations were conducted under the leadership of the Archeology Division of the Nature and Parks Authority under the direction of Prof. Adi Erlich and Ron Lavie of the Zinman Institute of Archeology at the University of Haifa.

[...]

The church was built over a temple to the Greek god Pan. For the discovery of another Pan sanctuary, see here.

There seems to be a lot of archaeology in the Golan at present.

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AJR reviews Enoch from Antiquity to the Middle Ages (Reeves & Reed)

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | Enoch From Antiquity to the Middle Ages (Josiah Bisbee).

John C. Reeves and Annette Yoshiko Reed. Enoch from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Volume 1, Sources from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Oxford, 2018.

[...]

Volume 1 certainly fulfills the goal of providing a convenient source that compiles Enochic references across religious traditions throughout the centuries, making accessible a treasure trove of sources for scholars and paving the way for future research in a variety of fields. The result of such a work ultimately puts forth a case for pursuing similar studies across traditions. ...

Earlier PaleoJudaica posts on the book are here, here, here, and here.

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Himbaza (ed.), The Text of Leviticus

THE AWOL BLOG: The Text of Leviticus: Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium of the Dominique Barthélémy Institute, held in Fribourg (October 2015). Notice of a New Book, Open Access, from Peeters Press.

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

What do Hebrew "watermelon," "pagan priest" and "park" have in common?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Loanwords in Biblical Hebrew (Philip D. Stern).

Related posts are here and here.

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Late-antique boundary stone excavated in Golan Heights

ARTIFACT: 1,700-year-old border marker unearthed in the Golan Heights. Ancient town boundary marker discovered near Israeli army base in the Golan Heights (Arutz Sheva).

At the site of the excavation, directed by Dina Avshalom-Gorni and Yardenna Alexandre of the Israel Antiquities Authority, with the participation of pre-military academy (mechinot) students from Maayan Baruch and Kela Alon, as well as volunteers from the community, a boundary stone inscribed in Greek was unexpectedly uncovered.

The stone was uncovered in secondary use to cover a tomb.

The decipherment of the inscription by Israel Antiquities Authority, Dr. Danny Syon, together with Prof. Haim Ben-David from the Kinneret Academic College, aroused great excitement.According to researchers, "The inscription, which mentions the name "Kfar Nafah," (Nafah village) was inscribed on a boundary stone."

The site is still called "Nafah" today.

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

Review of Kaye, Time in the Babylonian Talmud

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | Time in the Babylonian Talmud (Catherine Bonesho).

Excerpt:

Lynn Kaye. Time in the Babylonian Talmud: Natural and Imagined Times in Jewish Law and Narrative. Cambridge Press, 2018.

Lynn Kaye in her thorough examination of time in rabbinic literature argues that the rabbis of the Babylonian Talmud (BT) imagined time as flexible, with temporal concepts like simultaneity, fixity, and retroactivity informing their laws and narratives. Time in the Babylonian Talmud is one of the more recent contributions to what Kaye and Sarit Kattan Gribetz have recently called the “temporal turn” in the study of ancient Judaism. ...

Cross-file under Recent Book.

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Cinematic scriptural pseudepigrapha

THAT'S NOT IN THE BIBLE: FAKE BIBLE VERSES USED IN MOVIES (Jenna Inouye, Grunge). There are a lot of these! Mostly they are more or less creative misquotes. One or two aren't there at all.

Cross-file under Cinema.

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Laato (ed.), The Challenge of the Mosaic Torah in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Challenge of the Mosaic Torah in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Series: Studies on the Children of Abraham, Volume: 7
Volume Editor: Antti Laato

The aim of The Challenge of the Mosaic Torah in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is to address the theological issues arising when different ancient religious groups inside three Abrahamic religions attempted to understand or define their opinion on the Mosaic Torah. Twelve articles explore various instances of accepting, modifying, ignoring, criticizing, and vilifying the Mosaic Torah. They demonstrate a range of perspectives of ways in which the Mosaic Torah has formed a challenge. These challenges include Persian religious policy (when the Mosaic Torah was formed), intra-Jewish discussions (e.g. Samaritans), religious practices (the New Testament debates of ritual laws) and interreligious debates on validity of the Torah stipulations (with Christians and Muslims). All the papers were discussed at the international conference, “The Challenge of the Mosaic Torah in Judaism, Christianity and Islam”, organized by Åbo Akademi University and held in Karkku, Finland, 17-18 August, 2017.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €165.00 / $199.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-44199-6
Publication Date: 12 Oct 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-44189-7
Publication Date: 08 Oct 2020

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A Polymath Award for Prof. Oded Rechavi

CONGRATULATIONS TO PROF. RECHAVI AND TO TAU: TAU prof. receives rare, unrestricted grant of $2.5 mil. "The Polymaths Award is different. They tell you: 'Here are the resources. Do something completely new, take risks. Investigate wild ideas'" (Tobias Siegal, Jerusalem Post).

In another study, Rechavi and his team assisted in decoding the Dead Sea Scrolls through the DNA of the parchments on which they were written, shedding more light on the history of the late Second Temple period.

For more on that project, see here.

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Baffling babble at Babel

PROF. EDWARD L. GREENSTEIN: Language Is Baffling - The Story of the Tower of Babel (TheTorah.com).

Genesis 11:1-9 is not only about the downfall of Babylon or the origin of languages. It is a reflection on how languages work differently, on the limitations of one language to convey the sense of another, and the insufficiency inherent in translation.

Also, did you know that there was a Sumerian version of the story of the confusion of tongues?

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Mazur, The Platonizing Sethian Background of Plotinus’s Mysticism

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Platonizing Sethian Background of Plotinus’s Mysticism

Series: Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, Volume: 98
Author: Zeke Mazur

In The Platonizing Sethian Background of Plotinus’s Mysticism, Zeke Mazur offers a radical reconceptualization of Plotinus with reference to Gnostic thought and praxis. A crucial element in the thought of the third-century CE philosopher Plotinus—his conception of mystical union with the One—cannot be understood solely within the conventional history of philosophy, or as the product of a unique, sui generis psychological propensity. This monograph demonstrates that Plotinus tacitly patterned his mystical ascent to the One on a type of visionary ascent ritual that is first attested in Gnostic sources. These sources include the Platonizing Sethian tractates Zostrianos (NHC VIII,1) and Allogenes (NHC XI,3) of which we have Coptic translations from Nag Hammadi and whose Greek Vorlagen were known to have been read in Plotinus’s school.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €129.00 / $155.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-44171-2
Publication Date: 12 Oct 2020

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-44167-5
Publication Date: 15 Oct 2020

For some background on Plotinus and the Gnostics, see here, here, and here.

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Metatron has a journal!

THE AWOL BLOG: Forthcoming Open Access Journal: Metatron: Revealing Ancient Knowledge. Cross-file under Archangel Metatron Watch.

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The source of the Genesis Flood story?

PROF. JOHN DAY: The Mesopotamian Origin of the Biblical Flood Story (TheTorah.com).

In the Gilgamesh epic, Utanapishti tells Gilgamesh the story of the great flood and how he survived it. Scholars have often held that this story lies behind the biblical account of Noah and the flood. However, a good case can be made that an even more ancient tale, the Atrahasis epic, on which the flood story in Gilgamesh draws, is the source of the biblical flood story.

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Alice, Aseneth, and eating

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: SBL 2019 Review Panel | Food and Transformation in Ancient Mediterranean Literature. Dr. Meredith Warren responds to the other papers in this panel on her book. I noted the introductory essay here, the first essay here, the second here, the third here, and the fourth here.

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Israel in Egypt (ed. Salvesen, Pearce, & Frenkel)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period

Series: Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, Volume: 110
Volume Editors: Alison Salvesen, Sarah Pearce, and Miriam Frenkel

In Israel in Egypt scholars in different fields explore what can be known of the experiences of the many and varied Jewish communities in Egypt, from biblical sources to the medieval world. For generations of Jews from antiquity to the medieval period, the land of Egypt represented both a place of danger to their communal religious identity and also a haven with opportunities for prosperity and growth. A volume of collected essays from scholars in fields ranging from biblical studies and classics to papyrology and archaeology, Israel in Egypt explores what can be known of the experiences of the many and varied Jewish communities in Egypt, from biblical sources to the medieval world.

Prices from (excl. VAT): €165.00 / $199.00

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Not Yet Published [But according to the date it is published now.]
ISBN: 978-90-04-43540-7
Publication Date: 22 Oct 2020

Hardback Availability: Not Yet Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-43539-1
Publication Date: 22 Oct 2020

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Jassen, Scripture and Law in the Dead Sea Scrolls

RECENT BOOK FROM CUP:

Scripture and Law in the Dead Sea Scrolls

AUTHOR: Alex P. Jassen, New York University
DATE PUBLISHED: August 2018
AVAILABILITY: Available
FORMAT: Paperback
ISBN: 9781108469036

This book is the first work of its kind to examine legal exegesis in the Dead Sea Scrolls from the perspective of both the history of Jewish law and early Jewish scriptural interpretation. It shows how the Dead Sea Scrolls transform the meaning and application of biblical law to meet the needs of new historical and cultural settings. The Dead Sea Scrolls legal texts are examined through the comparative lens of law and legal interpretation in Second Temple Judaism and rabbinic Judaism. The creative interpretation of scriptural texts in the Dead Sea Scrolls responds to the tension between seemingly rigid authoritative scripture and the need for law and scripture to be perpetually evolving entities. The ongoing legal interpretation of scriptural texts frames the development of Jewish law at the same time as it shapes the nature of the biblical canon.

• The first study of its kind to examine legal exegesis in the Dead Sea Scrolls from the perspective of both the history of Jewish law and early Jewish scriptural interpretation
• Situates the study of Jewish law in the Dead Sea Scrolls in the broader setting of Second Temple Judaism and rabbinic Judaism
• Explores the contribution of law and legal exegesis in the Dead Sea Scrolls to the formation of the text and canon of the Hebrew Bible

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