Portier-Young, The Prophetic Body (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Prophetic Body

Embodiment and Mediation in Biblical Prophetic Literature

Anathea E. Portier-Young

£78.00

Hardback
Published: 29 August 2024
344 Pages
235x156mm
ISBN: 9780197604960

Also Available As:
Ebook

Description

Biblical prophecy involves more than words: it is always also embodied. After assessing the prevalence, implications, and origins of a logocentric model of biblical prophecy, Anathea E. Portier-Young proposes an alternative, embodied paradigm of analysis that draws insights from disciplines ranging from cognitive neuroscience to anthropology.

Portier-Young provides a new, embodied paradigm of analysis for biblical prophecy, offering tools for academics and students to study a wide range of texts with new emphasis on the body. If offers a broadly-based account of prophetic embodiment. The author first assesses the prevalence, implications, and origins of a logocentric model of biblical prophecy, then proposes an alternative, embodied, and interdisciplinary paradigm. She argues that embodied religious experience and affect are not merely antecedent or coincidental to prophetic mediation but are both means (how mediation occurs) and objects (part of what is mediated).

While Portier-Young's primary aim is to intervene in how biblical scholars understand and talk about prophecy, it has broader implications for how we map the relationships between spoken and written word(s) on one hand and body and praxis on the other. The author provides a game-changing reframing of prophecy that not only changes how we read biblical texts but also funds and energizes our understanding of prophetic witness in the contemporary world.

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Walter E. Aufrecht, R.I.P.

SAD NEWS: In memorium - Walter “Wally” E. Aufrecht (Kevin McGeough & Shawn Bubel, University of Lethbridge).

With sadness, we are writing to share the news that Walter “Wally” E. Aufrecht passed away in Calgary, Canada the morning of Saturday, September 21, 2024.

... Wally was perhaps best known for his pioneering work on the Ammonite language, encapsulated by the second edition of his A Corpus of Ammonite Inscriptions, published by Eisenbrauns in 2019. His chapters on Ammonite religion, texts, and language in MacDonald and Younker’s Ancient Ammon are good summations of his larger body of work on those topics. His contributions were not limited to the Transjordanian languages, however. ...

Requiescat in pace.

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Nutzman on Ritual Healing in Roman and Late Antique Palestine

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: Person, Place, and Object: Ritual Healing in Roman and Late Antique Palestine (Megan Nutzman).

I argue that three broad avenues for seeking miracles can be identified in Palestine, and indeed across the ancient Mediterranean world: person, place, and object. People were believed to transmit cures by their own intrinsic power or through the use of prescribed words and actions; sacred places hosted incubation rituals where the sick and injured awaited healing in their dreams; and objects inscribed with powerful texts and images were attached to the body as amulets to ward off present and future ailments.

As the essay notes, most of the published late-antique amulets from Palestine are unprovenanced (cf. here). As I've said many times, my methodological principle is that we should assume an unprovenanced artifact is a forgery unless someone makes a credible positive case for its authenticity.

In the case of these artifacts, we should draw initial conclusions based on the minority of amulets that come from controlled archaeological excavation. It is a judgment call on what to do with the unprovenanced ones, but if they are going to be used, their evidence should generally be given less weight than the provenanced ones.

With that out of the way, read the esssay, which takes a sophisticated cross-cultural contextual approach to the data. I have noted a review of Professor Nutzman's book, Contested Cures: Identity and Ritual Healing in Roman and Late Antique Palestine, here.

Outside the scope of this essay and her book, but the late-antique Hebrew magical tractate Sefer HaRazim includes ritual healing spells for generic healing, recovery from stroke, protection during childbirth, and curing migrane headaches and cataracts. It seems to have been composed roughly in the Talmudic era. Its provenance is unknown, but Egypt or Palestine are plausible.

Sefer HaRazim was translated by Michael Morgan in 1983 (details here). I have translated it again, forthcoming (April 2025!) in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, More Noncanonical Scriptures, volume 2, drawing on much more manuscript information than was available to Morgan.

For addition posts on Sefer HaRazim see here and follow the links from here. Note also today's post here.

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Presentation on ancient art and ritual in Jewish worship practices

EVENT: CHAP presents Representing the Divine: Late Antique Jewish Art and Ritual (Porterville Recorder [California]).

Independent art historian and curator Rachel Schmid will explore the presence of ancient art and ritual in Jewish worship practices during the Porterville College Cultural and Historical Awareness Program presentation of “Representing the Divine: Late Antique Jewish Art and Ritual.” The event will take place on Friday, October 11 at 7 p.m. at the PC Theater.

For centuries, the prohibition against graven images in Jewish tradition has led to the misconception Jewish places of worship were always devoid of figurative art. However, recent discoveries have revealed a stunning array of beautifully decorated synagogues dating back to the 3rd-7th centuries CE.

[...]

The presentation is free. Follow the link for details.

For many (but by no means all) PaleoJudaica posts on ancient synagogues, follow the links from here. For pagan imagery in late-antique synagogues and in the late-antique magical tractate Sefer HaRazim, see here and links. There are many other posts on mosaic art in various ancient synagogues in Israel. See the archives.

Cross-file under Ancient Decorative Art and Iconography.

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Review of Eliav, A Jew in the Roman bathhouse

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: A Jew in the Roman bathhouse: cultural interaction in the ancient Mediterranean.

aron Z. Eliav, A Jew in the Roman bathhouse: cultural interaction in the ancient Mediterranean. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023. Pp. 392. ISBN 9780691243436.

Review by
Eleanor J. F. Martin, Yale University. eleanor.martin@yale.edu

... What truly sets Eliav’s work apart, however, is the way in which he goes about developing and validating the model of “filtered absorption”: his focus is not only on one particular group (the Jews, specifically those living in Judea/Syria Palaestina), but also on their engagement with one particular cultural institution (the public bathhouse). In doing so, he reconciles rabbinic literature—so often neglected by classicists working on the imperial Mediterranean—with the wealth of written, visual, and archaeological evidence for bathing culture in Roman Palestine and beyond, thereby putting in conversation two fields that have been kept distinct in unnecessary and unproductive ways. ...

I noted the publication of the book, and a related essay by the author, here.

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Biblical Studies Carnival 220

THE AMATEUR EXEGETE: Biblical Studies Carnival #220 (September 2024) (Ben).

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

Review of Hayes, The literature of the sages: a re-visioning

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: The literature of the sages: a re-visioning.

Christine Hayes, The literature of the sages: a re-visioning. Compendia rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum, 16. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2022. Pp. xi, 660. ISBN 9789004515420.

Review by
Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Tel Aviv University. rosenzvi@tauex.tau.ac.il

... The majority of the articles serve as concise summaries of monographs by the aforementioned scholars, effectively capturing the key theses. Maintaining a commendable equilibrium between primary sources and the current state of research, these articles meticulously distinguish between Babylonia and Roman Palestine, as well as between Tanaim and Amoraim. ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Ancient Eshtemoa Synagogue defaced and burned

VANDALISM: Pro-Hamas vandals deface, burn ancient Judea synagogue. The Eshtemoa Synagogue south of Hebron dates to around the 4th century C.E. (Jewish News Syndicate).

Alas, this is not the first vandalism episode for this late-antique synagogue.

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Rosh HaShanah 2024

HAPPY NEW YEAR (ROSH HASHANAH - Jewish New Year 5785) to all those celebrating. The New Year begins tonight at sundown.

Pray for peace in the coming year.

Last year's Rosh HaShanah post, with links, is here. For biblical background, see here.

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A Judeo-Egyptian in the third century BCE?

GREEK EPIGRAPHY: A Judeo-Egyptian Complains to King Ptolemy About His Neighbor. First record of ethnic identifier 'Judeo-Egyptian' revealed on petition to King Ptolemy. Could this papyrus fragment be the earliest extant petition in Greek to any ancient Egyptian king from a Jew? (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

Long story short, apparently Palous' village was near the paleolake Moeris, separate work suggests, and he and a fellow villager were engaged in an argument – involving sheep – bitter enough to be brought before the mightiest one in the land. How was the dispute resolved? We do not know.

The underlying article in the current issue of the Journal of Jewish Studies (75.2) is behind the subscription wall: A Ptolemaic petition from a ‘Judeo-Egyptian’ (Ἰουδαιοαιγύπτιος). The abstract is free.

This papyrus intriguingly contains a very early use of some form of the Greek word for "Jew," ioudaios. I wrote some comments on the nuances of the word ioudaios some years ago here. And for more on that subject, see Paula Fredriksen's review of Steve Mason's recent book, Jews and Christians in the Roman World, noted today here.

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The Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE)

THE AWOL BLOG: Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE) Collections.

Formerly, the Harvard Semitic Museum. On the name change in 2020, see here. A couple of related posts are here and here.

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

Review of Mason, Jews and Christians in the Roman world

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Jews and Christians in the Roman world: from historical method to cases.

Steve Mason, Jews and Christians in the Roman world: from historical method to cases. Ancient Judaism and early Christianity, 116. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2023. Pp. x, 691. ISBN 9789004543874.

Review by
Paula Fredriksen, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. augfred@bu.edu

... “This is not a dump of stray essays,” Mason tells his reader in the introduction (1). It is, rather, a gathering of articles published in hard-to-access places—conference volumes, Festschriften, and various volumes of collected essays—that cohere around certain themes central to Mason’s work. A premier theme is historiography, modern no less than ancient. “What is historical method?” (1). ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

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One MOTB Afghan codex, not two

EXHIBITION AND CORRECTION: ‘Most exciting find in a millennium’: Oldest Hebrew book goes on display in DC. The eighth-century Afghan Liturgical Quire “pushes the history of the Jewish book back approximately 200 years,” said scholar Gary Rendsburg ( Menachem Wecker, Israel Today).

This long and informative article includes information I have not seen before. On that basis, I need to revise my previous conclusions about the manuscript.

When Steve Green, the president of Hobby Lobby, presented the book in 2013 at a Religion Newswriters Association conference, the founder of the museum and its board chair said that the manuscript dated to the ninth century.

(Original emphasis.) This paragraph establishes that the manuscript was first presented in 2013. That must mean that it is the "Hebrew siddur" noted at the time here. The discovery of its actual Afghani provenance in 2017 led to a new C-14 dating which established it eighth-century date.

As for its layout, the book currently on display seems to combine two originally independent quires, with more writing added after they were combined. Herschel Hepler, "associate curator of Hebrew manuscripts at the Museum of the Bible":

“I think there were two quires that had independent lives from this manuscript in the eighth century. One the Haggadah. One the beginning of a poem” about Sukkot, Hepler said. “Someone came into possession of these two different quires of four sheets of parchment and wanted to combine them, and I think this is the person who wrote the Sabbath morning prayers.”

Thus the codex appears to have inconsistent layouts. One widely posted photo of it (see links here) has 14-15 lines. The available photos I have seen of the 2013 book (e.g., here) have 11 lines. But a more recent photo of the current book also has 11 lines. And a photo in the Israel Today article shows 12 lines, one blank.

I conclude therefore that there is only one book, first presented in 2013 and now on display in the MOTB with new information. Please pardon the confusion.

Background here and links.

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Review of Mazza, Stolen Fragments

BOOK REVIEW: Inside the dangerous world of papyrus dealing. Frauds have infested the artefact trade (Alexander Poots, UnHerd).

Kardashian’s coffin made global news. The beautiful object, further burnished by its fleeting contact with television royalty, was a wonderful story. But not all stolen antiquities are so instantly arresting, so immediately recognisable, or so obviously priceless. Their value is measured not in beauty, but in what they can tell us about the ancient world, and they are just as vulnerable to trafficking as a gold coffin. Such objects are explored in a fascinating new book by Roberta Mazza, Stolen Fragments: Black Markets, Bad Faith, and the Illicit Trade in Ancient Artefacts.

A long and informative article. Regular PaleoJudaica readers will be familiar with much of its contents.

Roberta Mazza blogs at Faces & Voices. For the Museum of the Bible and the difficulties regarding some of its holdings, start from the links here. For posts on Dirk Obbink and the Oxford missing-papyri scandal, see there, plus follow-up posts here and links.

Cross-file under New Book.

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Meir, Rethinking Ancient Jewish Politics (PhD diss. University of Helsinki, 2023)

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dissertation Spotlight: Rethinking Ancient Jewish Politics: The Hasmonean Dynasty in the Seleukid Empire (Rotem Avneri Meir).

Rotem Avneri Meir, “The Emergence of the Hasmonean Dynasty on the Margins of the Seleukid Empire” (PhD diss., University of Helsinki, 2023).

... Was imperial rule indeed so antithetical to local agency, or was it in fact a facilitating factor in the formation and consolidation of local elite identities? Did the Hasmoneans and their supporters really espouse such an anti-imperial political theology as is often associated with them? What would change in our understanding of emerging Judaism and the Jewish political imagination if we were to reimagine the Hasmonean period without such a heavy emphasis on Jewish national and religious identity in opposition to empire? These are the questions that guided me in my dissertation, in which I revisit the emergence of the Hasmonean dynasty on the margins of the Seleukid empire. ...

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Abebe, Apocalyptic Spatiality in 1 Peter and Selected 1 Enoch Literature (Mohr Siebeck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Sofanit Tamene Abebe. Apocalyptic Spatiality in 1 Peter and Selected 1 Enoch Literature. A Comparative Analysis. 2024. XIV, 209 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe (WUNT II) 613. €84.00 including VAT. sewn paper available 978-3-16-162230-4. Also Available As: eBook PDF €84.00.

Sofanit Tamene Abebe analyses the constructions of symbolic space in the later 1 Enoch texts and 1 Peter, and the extent to which their respective vision of reality is constructed on the basis of an axis linking heaven and earth through divine revelation. She argues that the revelatory basis on which the Enochic authors form their text gives their readers access to a new spatial reality. In 1 Peter, through recalling cultic spatial practices and significant events from Israel’s sacred past, she depicts how the addresses form the space where the divine dwells. Such a spatial construal reconstitutes them as the mobile axis linking heaven and earth. In this way, 1 Peter construes the readers’ corporate and corporeal existence in Roman Asia Minor within the Jewish matrix of exile as a mode of existence on an apocalyptic stage newly configured by Christ.

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CFP: Divination Techniques in the Ancient Near East and the Mediterranean World

THE MELAMMU PROJECT:

Divination Techniques in the Ancient Near East and the Mediterranean World

Twentyfifth Workshop of the Melammu Project
Sofia
29–30 May 2025

Organiser: Zozan Tarhan

Workshop Program

Divination and prophecy played an important role in decision-making in the ancient world. Royal courts, political elites, military commanders, and ordinary people relied on divination and prophecy to make the right decisions. The 25th Melammu Workshop is dedicated to divination techniques, provoked and unprovoked omens and prophecy in the Ancient Near East and the Mediterranean World. The workshop aims to analyse divination techniques, their development and the context they have been used in, the experts behind them, their conceptual setting, and their diffusion in the ancient world.

The call for papers, with more information, is here.

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Forty in the Bible

RABBI YEHUDA HAUSMAN: Forty: A Biblical Symbol of Completeness (TheTorah.com).

In biblical texts, the span of forty days or forty years is rarely a measure of precise time. Instead, it holds symbolic significance, shaping narratives in ways that transcend a literal interpretation.

If you liked forty, wait until you see seven!

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Runesson, Judaism for Gentiles (Mohr Siebeck, open access)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Anders Runesson. Judaism for Gentiles. Reading Paul beyond the Parting of the Ways Paradigm. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament (WUNT I) 494. DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-161996-0. eBook PDF Open Access. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 978-3-16-161996-0. Also Available As: cloth €159.00.

For clergy, scholar, and lay person, Paul's letters hold weight and continue to draw in new readers. In this collection of essays, Anders Runesson listens to the voice of the historical Paul - a Jew proclaiming a form of Judaism to non-Jews to save them from divine wrath - but also probes what it means to breathe new life into this historical figure in the twenty-first century.

HT the AWOL Blog.

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