Feldt, Ancient Mythologies of the Wilderness (CUP)

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Ancient Mythologies of the Wilderness

Narrative, Nature, and Religious Identity Formation from the Babylonians to the Late Antique Christians

Author: Laura Feldt, University of Southern Denmark
Published: April 2025
Availability: Available
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009574549

£90.00 GBP
Hardback

Description

Ancient wilderness mythologies have been criticised for their role in forming anthropocentric outlooks on the natural world, and idealising human separateness from the rest of the living world. Laura Feldt here challenges these ideas and presents a new approach to the question of the formative role of ancient wilderness mythologies. Analysing seminal ancient myths from Mesopotamia and ancient Jewish and Christian texts, she argues that these narratives do not idealise the destruction of and dominion over wildlands. Instead, they kindle emotions like awe and wonder at the wild powers of nature. They also provide a critical perspective on human societies and power and help form identities and experiences that resonate with the more-than-human world. Feldt also demonstrates how ancient wilderness mythologies played a decisive role in shaping the history of religions. As a sphere of intense emotion and total devotion, wilderness generates tendencies towards the individualisation and interiorisation of religion.

• Surveys theories of religion and wilderness, offering readers a fundamentally new approach to ancient wilderness mythologies
• Offers in-depth narrative analyses of ancient wilderness mythologies stretching from the 19th century BCE to the 6th century CE
• Argues that wilderness narratives play vital roles in articulating, framing and forming wild resonance experiences and the opacity of nature for humans

Product details

Published: April 2025
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781009574549
Length: 354 pages
Dimensions: 229 × 152 × 24 mm
Weight: 0.625kg
Availability: Available

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Hein, The Prophet Is the People (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Prophet Is the People: An Answer to "Why Elijah?" in Second Temple Jewish and Early Christian Literature

Series: Vetus Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 199

Author: Alicia R. Hein

The question of why the prophet Elijah comes to hold such enduring significance in early Jewish and Christian tradition has previously remained largely unaddressed. Why is it Elijah, as opposed to any other prophet of the Hebrew tradition, who is associated with Israel’s future restoration? Why is his return predicted by the book of Malachi? Why are both Jesus and John the Baptist associated with Elijah in the New Testament Gospels? This study argues that Elijah’s literary character is portrayed and received throughout early Jewish and Christian literature as the paradigmatic prophet who simultaneously embodies the righteous people of God, and thereby, by his ongoing life, ensures a remnant’s survival and restoration.

Copyright Year: 2025

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-73469-2
Publication: 28 Apr 2025
EUR €109.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-72976-6
Publication: 08 May 2025
EUR €109.00

This book is Dr. Hein's revised Ph.D. thesis completed at the University of St. Andrews.

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Tony Burke's Regensburg Year: May 2025

THE APOCRYPHICITY BLOG: My Regensburg Year Part 10: May 2025.

Tony Burke is on research sabbatical for the 2024-25 academic year at the University of Regensburg in Germany.

Tony reports that in May he visited Athens and Santorini, etc., he attended the annual meeting of the North American Patristics Society in Chicago, and he was briefly detained by the U.S. Government, out of abundance of caution, as a possible like-named "criminal mastermind or something."

For earlier posts in the series and more on Tony's work, see here and links.

Cross-file under New Testament Apocrypha Watch.

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Hamernik, ... 4QWords of Ezekiel in Its Broader Context (Brill)

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Ezekiel Traditions in the Second Temple Period

4QWords of Ezekiel in Its Broader Context

Series:
Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Volume: 151

Author: Anna Shirav Hamernik

This volume offers a fresh perspective on the composition 4QWords of Ezekiel found at Qumran, and the development and transmission of the textual traditions associated with the prophet Ezekiel during the Second Temple period. As the first comprehensive monograph on this composition, it explores the intricate relationship between WoEzek and the scriptural Book of Ezekiel. The study suggests that WoEzek, through its unique structural framework and selected oracles, reflects how Ezekiel’s visions were interpreted during the Second Temple period. By placing WoEzek within its broader literary and historical context, the analysis challenges traditional views on this composition and highlights the significance of Ezekiel's prophecy in the evolution of apocalyptic literature. This resource is ideal for scholars and graduate students in Biblical Studies and Second Temple literature, especially those interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ezekiel’s prophetic writings.

Copyright Year: 2025

E-Book (PDF)
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-72558-4
Publication: 28 Apr 2025
EUR €124.00

Hardback
Availability: Published
ISBN: 978-90-04-72557-7
Publication: 01 May 2025
EUR €124.00

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Be'er Shema mosaic exhibition

DECORATIVE ART: Spectacular Early Christian Mosaic Presented to the Public in Israel. Discovered 25 years ago, the huge mosaic carpet of a monastery shows life in the Holy Land 1,600 years ago, plus lion (Unattributed, Haaretz).

Exactly 25 years ago, in the year 1990, a mosaic was discovered on a farm near the ruins of Be'er Shema, south of Kibbutz Urim, and it was extraordinarily beautiful.

Now after being dug up again, cleaned, restored and relocated, the Be'er Shema (or Birsama) mosaic with no less than 55 medallions has been presented to the public in all its glory for the first time. It can be experienced at the Merhavim Regional Council complex, located in the western Negev, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday.

[...]

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Schmidt, Josephus and Jesus (OUP, open access)

NEW OPEN-ACCESS BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Josephus and Jesus

New Evidence for the One Called Christ

T. C. Schmidt

£99.00

Hardback
Published: 03 June 2025
336 Pages | 14 Illustrations
234x156mm
ISBN: 9780192866783

Also Available As:
E-book Open Access

Description

This book brings to light an extraordinary connection between Jesus of Nazareth and the Jewish historian Josephus. Writing in 93/94 CE, Josephus composed an account of Jesus known as the Testimonium Flavianum. Despite this being the oldest description of Jesus by a non-Christian, scholars have long doubted its authenticity due to the alleged pro-Christian claims it contains. This book, however, authenticates Josephus' authorship of the Testimonium Flavianum and reveals a startling observation: Josephus was directly familiar with those who put Jesus on trial. Consequently, Josephus would have had access to highly reliable information about the man from Nazareth. The book concludes by describing what Josephus tells us about the Jesus of history, his miracles, and his resurrection.

An open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence.

Roger Pearse has already posted some preliminary comments on the book and the problem it addresses: T. C. Schmidt, “Josephus & Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ”

T. C. Schmidt has bravely added to the bibliography on the so-called Testimonium Flavianum in Josephus, with a new book through Oxford University Press, titled: “Josephus & Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ.” The author makes the case that this much-discussed passage is “substantially authentic.” In doing so he responds to recent scholarship on the subject, some of which has been unduly sceptical. ...

The most recent substantial work on the Testimonium Flavianum of which I was aware before this was by Ken Olsen, who argued that it was composed entirelyby Eusebius. Now T. C. Schmidt argues that it is "substantially authentic." And others have argued for many possibilities in between.

My own working hypothesis has become that we haven't a clue how much, if any, of the paragraph is genuine. And, barring welcome but unlikely new manuscript discoveries, we probably never will know.

PRE-POSTING UPDATE: I understand from a note from reader Stephen Goranson that, in a new commentary on Antiquities 18-20, Daniel R. Schwartz takes a intermediate position, finding some Christian interpolations in the paragraph. I'm really busy now, but I will noted Schwartz's book in more detail when I get a chance.

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Review of Glas, Flavius Josephus’ self-characterisation in first-century Rome

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Flavius Josephus’ self-characterisation in first-century Rome. A historiographical analysis of autobiographical discourse in the Judaean War.

Eelco Glas, Flavius Josephus' self-characterisation in first-century Rome. A historiographical analysis of autobiographical discourse in the Judaean War. Historiography of Rome and its empire, 19. Leiden: Brill, 2024. Pp. 285. ISBN 9789004697638.

Review by
William den Hollander, Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary. wdenhollander@crts.ca

... Eelco Glas rightly treats the Judaean War as a sophisticated work of literature that has been carefully crafted to communicate to a concrete historical audience in a unique cultural context, first-century Rome. His careful historiographical analysis of Josephus’ autobiographical discourse makes it abundantly clear that Josephus’ writings need to be understood as complex rhetorical texts with their own structure, themes, and purposes, and that, consequently, they cannot simply be looked or sifted through to discover the ‘historical Josephus,’ an approach that has usually resulted in condemnation of his character. ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

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Should publications of forged fragments be formally retracted?

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: The Case for Retraction of Academic Authentications of Forged Fragments (Jonathan Klawans).

Abstract: This position paper issues a call for editors and publishers with oversight over peer-reviewed publications of inauthentic post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll-like fragments to embark on the processes that would consider (and likely result in) retraction. By common consent, findings in the publications identified in this essay are unreliable at best; many present material subsequently deemed falsified. Retraction is the proper and justified measure to take regarding these publications in order to correct the academic record and alert any and all potential readers to the untrustworthy nature of their content.

For related PaleoJudaica posts regarding biblical-related forgeries and the like, follow the links here and here, and see also and here.

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Egypt promises no interference with Saint Catherine's monastery?

SAINT CATHERINE'S MONASTERY: Egypt Affirms Saint Catherine Monastery’s Status After Court Clarification (Tasos Kokkinidis, Greek Reporter).

Egypt has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to safeguarding the Monastery of Saint Catherine of Sinai, emphasizing that a recent court ruling has further solidified its protected status.

Cairo said that the court ruling, which was mistakenly interpreted as a prelude to the seizure and closure of the world’s oldest continuously functioning Christian monastery, does the exact opposite: It safeguards its future.

[...]

This story made a splash last week, but I'm only getting to it now.

I don't really understand what was going on. That is, I don't know whether this legal ruling opens the door to the seizure of the site from the monks (the original media narrative) or closes that door and protect the site. Or whether that depends on its intepretation. I don't know where to read the actual ruling and I doubt I could be confident of understanding all its implications anyway.

But in any case, it appears that the Egyptian Goverment recognized that the story was getting a lot of bad publicity, so they stepped in to assure the Monastery that it was safe. There are more details of the Government's respose here.

I commend the Egyptian Government for clarifying its position. They clearly understand the reputational damage that would result from any effort to interfere with the long-established operations of Saint Catherine's Monastery.

But let's do keep an eye on this and make sure they stick to it.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Saint Catherine's Monastery and its important collection of manuscripts, start here and follow the links.

PRE-POSTING UPDATE: As I was about to post this I found a post by Luke Coppen in his Substack, The Pillar: What’s happening at Egypt’s St Catherine’s Monastery? A controversial court ruling over the ownership of the ancient monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai has caused outcry. He seems to have more information on the Egyptian ruling, based on Greek media. He says:

On May 28, the Egyptian Court of Appeals issued a ruling widely interpreted as declaring the monastery state property, while recognizing the monks’ right to perform their religious duties at the site.

But the 160-page text was of such complexity that even legal professionals struggled to grasp it fully.

I can't vouch for his assessment, having not seen the information directly. But I was worried about this. If the ruling is actually this complicated, then how it is implemented is a matter of goodwill. So, as I said above, let's keep an eye on the situation.

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INL displays the Crowns of Damascus manuscripts

EXHIBITION: Ancient 'Damascus Crowns' unveiled in Jerusalem in tribute to Syrian Chief Rabbi. In a moving ceremony at the National Library in Jerusalem, the public was granted a rare glimpse of the ancient “Damascus Crowns” — Torah manuscripts smuggled from Syria in a daring operation led by Rabbi Avraham Hamra (Israel National News).

The “Damascus Crowns” are some of the oldest Torah manuscripts in existence, featuring cantillation marks, vowel notation, and intricate masoretic commentary. They were preserved for generations in Damascus synagogues and were smuggled out using creative and covert methods.

For more on the Crowns of Damascus—eleven very early vocalized Hebrew Bible manuscripts—see here and links. For a summary overview of their story, see this Chabad essay by Yehudis Litvak: The Untold Story of the Crowns of Damascus.

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Agrippa's Pan place at Paneas

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: New Discoveries in the Pan Grotto in Paneas (Adi Erlich and Ron Lavi).

Travelers who visit the springs of Paneas in the Hermon Stream Nature Reserve in Northern Israel, at the foot of Mt. Hermon, are amazed by the cliff, water, and forest scenery. However, the most impressive feature of that landscape is a big natural cave on the cliff, which, during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, was associated with the cult of Pan, the god of the wild and shepherds.

[...]

For more on Herod Agrippa II and his Pan sanctuary at Paneas (a.k.a. Bania), see here and links.

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Leonard J. Greenspoon (1945-2025)

SAD NEWS FROM H-JUDAIC: Passing of Prof. Leonard J. Greenspoon (1945-2025).

H-Judaic is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Prof. Leonard J. Greenspoon (1945-2025), Klutznick Chair (emeritus) at Creighton University, Omaha, where he also served as Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies and Theology.

[...]

Lennie was a great guy, always full of good cheer, and an accomplished Septuagint scholar and expert on the history of Jewish Bible translations. May his memory be for a blessing.

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Shavuot 2025

THE FESTIVAL OF SHAVUOT (Weeks, Pentecost) begins tonight at sundown. Best wishes to all those celebrating.

Last year's Shavuot post is here, linking back to previous years' posts. For biblical references, see here.

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Judeophobia and the New Testament (Eerdmans)

NEW BOOK FROM EERDMANS:

Judeophobia and the New Testament
Texts and Contexts

Edited by Sarah E. Rollens, Eric M. Vanden Eykel and Meredith J. C. Warren

Imprint: Eerdmans

372 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in

HARDCOVER
9780802882882
Publication Date: April 24, 2025
$44.99
£34.99

EBOOK
9781467466158
Publication Date: April 24, 2025
$44.99
£34.99

DESCRIPTION

An essential resource for understanding the troubling role of the Christian scriptures in anti-Semitism

This eye-opening collection of essays is essential reading for anyone concerned about the ways that Christian scripture has been used—both in the past and the present—in service of anti-Semitism. The authors seek to identify, contextualize, and problematize New Testament “Judeophobia,” a broad heading that encompasses anti-Semitism, supersessionism, and various discriminatory practices against Jews at different points in history.

In the first half of Judeophobia and the New Testament: Texts and Contexts, readers engage with the subject matter through thematic essays. In the second half, readers engage with text-based essays that focus on individual books of the New Testament as well as relevant non-canonical literature. Throughout, the book’s goal is to educate readers about the ways that New Testament texts have been used to engender Judeophobia from the early church to today. While the book is designed primarily as a resource for teachers and students, it also aims to help New Testament scholars account for Judeophobic interpretations, take responsibility for them, and encourage the discipline to work against its own role in rising anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence.

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