SETH SANDERS has just published a book: The Invention of Hebrew (University of Illinios Press).

The Invention of Hebrew is the first book to approach the Bible in light of recent epigraphic discoveries on the extreme antiquity of the alphabet and its use as a deliberate and meaningful choice. Hebrew was more than just a way of transmitting information; it was a vehicle of political symbolism and self-representation.

Note that Seth also blogs at Serving the Word.

THE SALAMANDER IN THE TALMUD: Eli Dahan has the story at the Learning Biblical Hebrew blog.

JIM WEST has an essay on Blogging the Bible at the Bible and Interpretation website. Excerpt:

Blogging the Bible is the best way for scholars to get scholarship to the mass of consumers. Scholars can and should write journal articles in peer reviewed journals. They should publish excruciatingly detailed tomes that only a few other experts in the same field will ever read. They should meet at conferences and hear papers and interact and learn and grow professionally and intellectually. Likewise, they should write “popularizing” books targeted for the wider public. And finally they should, and I would suggest must, also attend to their duties as the disseminators of publicly consumable biblical scholarship for people who will not, or cannot, read extensive treatments. This is not to suggest that they dumb down their ideas, scholars should clarify, not reduce. But, scholars should also understand that anything that can't be explained in some clear fashion, so that the majority of people can understand it, may become an exercise in self-importance, not true scholarship.

Scholarship, it seems to me, must always be aware of its audience. And communication of said scholarship means dissemination. Scholars have a tendency--when they gather--to bemoan their students’ ignorance in the most basic matters. And yet within their hands, at their very fingertips, is a formidable, under-used tool for the correction of that state of affairs: Blogging the Bible.

Fair points, all. It's good that there is now an SBL unit on this subject.

JOB ADVERT at Portland State University: Schusterman Teaching Fellow and Assistant Professor of Classical Judaism.

THE HANUKKAH NARRATIVE, and its use in various subsequent historical contexts, comes under further scrutiny:

Heroes or rabble-rousers? The real story of the Maccabees

By Gil Shefler · December 10, 2009

NEW YORK (JTA) -- In 165 BCE, a group of warriors led by Judah Maccabee and his band of brothers ushered in a new era in Jewish history when they routed the soldiers of the Greek-Syrian empire and rededicated the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

That victory, and the miracle of the menorah that followed, is celebrated every year by Jews around the world at Chanukah.

But if the same thing had happened today, would contemporary Jews hail the Maccabees as heroes?

The place in Jewish history of the Maccabees -- a nickname for the first members of the Hasmonean dynasty that ruled an autonomous Jewish kingdom -- is much more complex than their popular image might suggest.

[...]

"My guess is that most liberal Jews today wouldn't necessarily get along with the Maccabees if they showed up again," said Rabbi Jill Jacob, the rabbi in residence at Jewish Funds for Justice.

“Even those of us who are regularly active in Jewish life may find it hard to identify with Matityahu, the leader of the Jewish revolt, whom the first Book of Maccabees depicts as killing a Jew who sacrifices to a pagan god," she wrote in an essay about the meaning of Chanukah.

Jacobs argues that Jews should be aware of the complicated history, though they do not have to be bound by it.

"In redefining Chanukah, each generation considers anew the questions of assimilation and ethnic identity, the tension between Judaism as a religion and the Jewish people as a nation," she wrote.

Many Jews in ancient times also had their reservations regarding the exploits of Judah Maccabee and his brothers.

[...]

In general I would say that it is perilous to hold up any event, text, or narrative from antiquity as an unambiguous moral example for today. The ancients often took moral standards for granted which we find very troubling. But that should not stop us from learning from what they said and did, appreciating the courageous stands they often took under horrendous conditions it is hard for us even to imagine, and (one would hope) improving on their example.

THE HELIODORUS INSCRIPTION - now confirmed as genuine by the excavated fragments published this year - leads Senior Albright Fellow Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg to take the narrative of 2 Maccabees more seriously:

Hanukka, another version

By STEPHEN GABRIEL ROSENBERG

Last year we knew that the story of Heliodorus in the Second Book of Maccabees was built around a kernel of truth. The story goes that the Emperor Seleucus IV (187-175 BCE) sends his chief minister to the Temple in Jerusalem to rob its treasury. To the consternation of the priests and the people, Heliodorus marches into the Temple, but there he is confronted by a golden rider on a warlike horse and beaten to the ground by two golden boys (3:25). He is dragged out empty-handed and hardly conscious.

It's a good story and has been illustrated by such great artists as Raphael in the 16th century and Gustav Doré in the 19th, but was it true? That sounds most unlikely, but the Heliodorus stele (inscribed tablet) that was lent to the Israel Museum by the Steinhardt family and exhibited there last year tells a related story. It is written in pure Greek bureaucrat-speak and tells howthe Emperor Seleucus instructs Heliodorus in 178 BCE to check the temples of the empire to see that they are suited to the needs of the population and their gods, and in particular to inspect the temples of Coele-Syria, the land later to be called Palestine and Israel.

Heliodorus sends the letter on to "his brother" Dorymenes, and he in turn writes to one Diophanes telling him, "You will do well to take care that everything is carried out according to the instructions." In other words,the emperor 's orders are passed down the line, and probably it was Diophanes who tried to check the Temple and was prevented from raiding it, but the author ofSecond Maccabees just remembered the most important name, that of Heliodorus.

[...]

THE STELE and its fragments now give us the confidence to follow the Hanukka story in the Second Book of Maccabees, which is rather different from the one in the First.

[...]

Antiochus has no idea how to handle Jews; he has to consult his expert, the High Priest Menelaus. First of all, he is led into the Temple by Menelaus to demonstrate to the Jews that he is the overall master of their fate, and Menelaus allows him to rob the Temple further to pay his tribute to the Romans (5:21). Then Menelaus advises him to abrogate the ancestral laws of the Jews, like circumcision and keeping the Sabbath, to build an idol in the Temple and force the Jews to sacrifice to it and eat the entrails. All these indignities would keep them down.

For some Jews this was too much. The Maccabees fled into the countryside where Judah started their counterrebellion. After three years they managed to regain the Temple and cleanse it of pagan worship. They celebrated the festival of Hanukka for eight days, to make it like the Succot they had not been able to celebrate two months earlier, when they were "living like wild animals in the mountains and caves" (10:6).

They lit the menora for eight days like on Succot, not because they had found a small jar of pure oil with the seal of the high priest that lasted for eight days by miracle. If they had found such a jar, and it had on it the seal of the last High Priest Menelaus, would they have used it? This high priest who had usurped the position, who had robbed the Temple to pay his bribes, who had arranged the murder of the old priest Onias, who had led the emperor into the Temple, helped him to rob it and advised him how to forbid the Jewish laws and customs and to replace them with pagan ritual, would they have accepted the kashrut of such a man? Would you have bought a jar of oil from such a priest?

Incidentally, as I noted a few years ago (bottom of post), the sixth-century chronographer Malalas has a passage on the Maccabean revolt that appears to come from Seleucid sources and which gives yet another perspective on events. We hope to include this as "8 Maccabees" in the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project.

THE KEEPER OF THE ARK at Axum is glimpsed by Mark Sissons (SF Chronicle):

At this point, I hoped - no, needed - to catch a rare glimpse of the Keeper of the Ark, the only mortal allowed to lay eyes upon it (not even the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is granted that privilege). Keepers are virgin monks chosen to protect this holiest of Christian relics for their entire lives. They remain confined to the sanctuary (some say with a chain), never setting foot outside the chapel grounds until they die.

As the afternoon light began to fade and the Keeper had not yet made an appearance, I reluctantly prepared to leave the compound. What naive presumption drove me to think that the one man on Earth entrusted with protecting the word of God would condescend to make an appearance just for me?

Just then, a bearded, almost spectral figure swathed in black glanced furtively from behind a chapel doorway protected from intruders by a spiked fence. It was the Keeper. We locked eyes - the virgin monk and the spiritual voyeur. I wondered if I should pursue him, risking life, limb (and perhaps even eternal damnation) to discover what lies behind that door? There must be something inside important enough for the Keeper and countless Keepers before him to sacrifice their freedom, and even their lives.

Before I could act, the Keeper retreated behind the chapel's heavy wooden door, closing it - as well as my fleeting opportunity to solve 3,000-year-old mysteries - behind him.

For more on Ark of the Covenant traditions (and goofy notions), including Ethiopian Ark traditions, see here and follow the links.

NEW ORLEANS SBL: David Larsen summarizes April DeConick's paper, "Star Gates: What Were the Gnostics Doing?" on his Heavenly Ascents blog.

FORENSIC RECONSTRUCTION of the face of St. Nicholas? "Well, we did add the beard."

No, I made that quote up, but Kate Nicholas (no relation, as far as I know) does suggest that "[a] possible source for the broken nose may have been the altercation between him and Arius at the First Council of Nicaea, over what later was deemed the heresy of Arianism."

(Cross-file under Technology Watch and Can't Make It Up.)

PRESIDENT OBAMA has published a Hanukkah message on the White House website:

Statement by the President on Hanukkah
Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to all who are celebrating Hanukkah around the world. The Hanukkah story of the Maccabees and the miracles they witnessed reminds us that faith and perseverance are powerful forces that can sustain us in difficult times and help us overcome even the greatest odds.

Hanukkah is not only a time to celebrate the faith and customs of the Jewish people, but for people of all faiths to celebrate the common aspirations we share. As families, friends and neighbors gather together to kindle the lights, may Hanukkah's lessons inspire us all to give thanks for the blessings we enjoy, to find light in times of darkness, and to work together for a brighter, more hopeful tomorrow.

Hebrew translation available here at whitehouse.gov.

MARY MAGDALENE meets belly dancing:

Moon Belly Dance studio to present '100,000 Feet Deep'

The studio's latest show uses different traditions about Mary Magdalene.

By Jessica Schuster (MOVE Magazine)

Published Dec. 11, 2009

As it has been used for centuries, dancing can convey messages words cannot. It can interpret the unknown and surface hidden emotions all through movements. The Moon Belly Dance studio brings together women to tell their different stories through dance.

Moon Belly Dance studio owner Kandice Grossman coordinates opportunities for women to express their passion for performance. Dec. 12 at The Blue Note, performers will be showcasing an intricate look at the elusive Mary Magdalene through their production, "100,000 Feet Deep: Mary Magdalene."

Grossman, who serves as the artistic director of 100,000 Feet Deep, has pulled from many aspects of her life to create the vision for this production. Grossman is a women's studies professor at Columbia College and has been studying Mary Magdalene for about 15 years.

"There are so many myths and traditions about her ranging from Gnostic, Christian and Beguine," Grossman said. "She was really an elusive character and that has caused us to have little snippets of her life."

[...]

THE MILWAUKEE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION is coming on 22 January and preparations are well underway:

Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit coming alive

By Jackie Loohauis-Bennett of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Dec. 12, 2009

If you let loose your imagination, you might hear a desert wind blowing across Milwaukee and smell the scent of ancient parchments - and maybe just a whiff of old camel.

That's because curators and artists are re-creating part of the Middle East in the halls of the Milwaukee Public Museum for the "Dead Sea Scrolls and The Bible," the largest temporary exhibit ever produced by the museum staff.

Opening Jan. 22, the exhibit will evoke a faraway time and place using everything from eerie wind sound effects to a 50-foot-wide re-creation of Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

The "Dead Sea Scrolls" spotlights more than 200 artifacts dating from 300 B.C. to A.D. 70, including the oldest known texts of the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament) and the oldest existing version of the Hebrew Masoretic Text.

[...]

Then there's this:

But perhaps no job on this construction site has been more delicate than the one Wendy Christensen-Senk has tackled for three months. She's rebuilding a camel. A camel with dry rot.

In life, the camel with no name trod the sands of the Middle East. In the 1970s, his skin was mounted at the museum, and he has held court in the North Africa Exhibit since then.

When "Dead Sea Scrolls" planners decided to use him to portray the lifestyle of the Bedouin people who found the scrolls, Christensen-Senk took a close look to see how the camel had fared over the decades.

The diagnosis: A severe case of camel rot.

"The acids from the tanning process had eaten up the skin, and he had dry rot," she said. "Pieces of him were flaking off."

Christensen-Senk had to use a hypodermic needle to put the skin back using new types of glue that flex with the temperature. She added parts of the skin that had gone missing over the years.

These days, Camel stands proud again: hump up, lips saucy. Christensen-Senk said: "No straw could break this camel's back. He's back in his glory."

A camel through the eye of a needle?

I've noted this exhibition earlier here.

YESTERDAY'S Samaritan genetics post has been updated.

SUNRISE IN ST. ANDREWS (which happens close to 9:00 am this time of year):


The Botanic Gardens



Entrance to Cockshaugh Park
Click on the pictures for a larger image.

THE HELIODORUS INSCRIPTION is back in the news for Hanukkah. New fragments of it were published earlier this year. JTA has a recap:

Maccabees still making news

By Gil Shefler · December 10, 2009

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Some 2,200 years after the Maccabees' revolt, historians and archaeologists are uncovering new information about their era.

This year's biggest discovery is a correspondence between Seleukes IV, whose brother and heir was Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Chanukah story, and one of Seleukes' chiefs in Judea found on parts of an ancient stele.

Professor Dov Gera of Ben-Gurion University, who studied the stone's inscription, said it confirms the account by the Jewish historian Josephus regarding the tightening grip of the Greek-Syrian empire over its subjects' religious practices.

[...]

NEWS ON THE HASMONEAN KINGDOM, just in time for Hanukkah. This IAA press release is posted in full on the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs site:

Archeological analysis proves Hasmonean rule extended to Negev highlands
10 Dec 2009

Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini of the Israel Antiquities Authority: “The Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus conquered Gaza and the Negev and for decades prevented the Nabataeans from using the Incense Road.”

Via Joseph I. Lauer and others.

HAPPY HANUKKAH to all those celebrating. It begins this evening at sundown.

THE TOPOGRAPHY OF HELL is covered in the latest Philologos column in The Forward. Excerpt:

In ancient rabbinic Judaism, which could cite in its support the biblical phrase ha-shamayim u/shmey ha-shamayim, “the heaven and the heavens of the heaven,” these layers were thought to be seven — a number whose sacred status goes back to the Bible, too. (Think of the seven days of creation, the seventh or Sabbath day, the seven branches of the menorah, etc.) Most likely, this sacredness was linked from the outset to the concept of a sevenfold heaven, which in turn derived from the seven brightest and most independent heavenly bodies: the sun, moon and five visible planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Each of the heavens associated with one of these bodies had its own name in rabbinic literature, as did each of the seven hells. The latter were, using synonyms for the underworld taken from the Bible: She’ol, Avadon, Gehinom, Duma, Tsalmavet, Eretz-Taḥtit and Eretz-Neshi’h.

There is Jewish literature from the Middle Ages that enumerates the inhabitants and punishments of every one of these “houses” of hell, as they are called there, each of which has its own tribunal of judges and is so large that it would take 300 years to walk to one end of it from the other. (Assuming that a man can walk 30 miles a day, this would come to roughly 23 million miles for the entirety of hell.) All seven, according to rabbinic tradition, were glimpsed in a vision by the prophet Isaiah. Thus, we are told, “When Isaiah entered the first house, he saw two men carrying jars of water on their shoulders and emptying them again and again into a pit that never filled. ‘Tell me their secret,’ he said to God. ‘These,’ the Holy Spirit answered him, ‘are the men who coveted what belonged to others and are now paying the price for it.’” The second “house” of hell is for the gossips and slanderers, who are hung from their tongues. In the third are the adulterers, who are suspended from their sexual organs, and so on and so forth.

The seven levels of hell (and the corresponding seven levels of heaven) are dealt with in detail in some of the Hebrew and Aramaic texts being translated for the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project.

CONGRATULATIONS to Syriacologist Professor Susan Ashbrook Harvey at Brown University, who has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern.

(Via George Kiraz on the Hugoye list.)

PROFESSOR YOCHANAN MUFFS of JTS NY has passed away:

Yochanan Muffs, Scholar of Bible, Law and Languages, Is Dead
Appreciation
By Ed Greenstein (The Forward)
Published December 09, 2009, issue of December 18, 2009.


Yochanan Muffs, a scholar of Bible, law and Semitic languages whose books illuminated the legal and social meaning of emotions such as love and joy in the lives of Jews in antiquity, succumbed to Parkinson’s disease on December 6.

Muffs, professor emeritus of Bible and Jewish thought at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, had been coping heroically with Parkinson’s for 40 years, with the help of his extraordinary wife, Yocheved. Yet for about half a century, despite the slow, steady progress of the disease, Muffs inspired generations of students and colleagues through his brilliant scholarship and exciting teaching. Indeed, such overused descriptions hardly do justice to the creative intellectual magic he brought to the classroom and the page.

[...]

Muffs saw himself as an anthropologist of his ancient forebears and a psychologist of the Divine. Several items of his published research became academic landmarks, beginning with his very first book, “Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri From Elephantine.” In this 1969 watershed work, Muffs analyzed all manner of legal documents from a colony of Jewish families literally holding the fort for the Persian governor of Egypt in the fifth century BCE. Gleaning comparative evidence from Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Jewish and other legal sources, Muffs was able to extract insights on innumerable aspects of these documents and, through them, the everyday life and thought of the people for whom they provided some order. A rich vein of information and commentary emerged, extending well beyond the documents themsleves. The book remains in print, an invaluable resource.

[...]

May his memory be for a blessing.

SAMARITAN WATCH: At BoingBoing, Maggie Koerth-Baker discusses recent genetic studies of the Samaritans and the implications of those studies. Excerpt:

As the 21st century dawned, the few Samaritans left (712 in 2007, up from a low of 146 in 1917) still claimed to be descended from the ancient Hebrew tribes. Jewish religious authorities still disagreed. And strong evidence either way was still lacking. Until 2004.

See, that tiny population (which wasn't real big on converts) led to a decent amount of inbreeding. In fact, according to research done in the late 1990s, 84% of Samaritan marriages are between cousins--making them the most highly inbred population on the planet. Unfortunately, that title comes with a propensity for genetic abnormalities, concern about which eventually led several Samaritans to turn their DNA samples over to a team of genetics researchers.

The results turned up some surprising confirmation of the Samaritans' personal origin stories. The study compared Samaritan Y-chromosome DNA (genetic information passed mostly intact from father to son) and mtDNA (ditto, but from mother to daughter) with that of several different Jewish populations from across the Middle East and Africa, as well as with a couple of non-Jewish groups from the same areas. Not only do the Samaritan Y-chromosomes seem to be closely related to Jewish Y-chromosomes, but most of the Samaritans actually carry a distinctive set of Y-chromosome mutations known as the Cohen Modal Haplotype--which is connected with men descended from the ancient Jewish priestly class.

On the other hand, Samaritan mtDNA doesn't match up to its Jewish counterparts at all, said Marcus Feldman, Ph.D.,professor of biological sciences at Stanford University and part of the research team that studied the Samaritans in 2004.

To Feldman and his colleagues, the genetic evidence suggests that modern Samaritans are descended from Hebrew men, left behind after the Assyrians conquered ancient Israel, who went on to marry non-Hebrew women. It's probably not just coincidence that Samaritan ethnicity (at least, the official social recognition of that ethnicity) is traditionally passed to a child through its father--exactly opposite from the way Jewish ethnicity has been traditionally passed down.

In that way, the evidence suggests that both the Jews and the Samaritans are right, sort of. If you believe ethnicity is something passed down from the mother, then the Samaritans probably aren't Children of Israel. But if you think ethnicity comes from the father's side (or, you know, from both parents) then the Samaritans have a good case. It's all about how you use culture to interpret the science.

I confess I don't understand how her narrative explains the evidence. The Assyrian exile would not have left behind more men than women. On the contrary, I would expect that the depredations of the war would have killed off more men. There would have been plenty of un-exiled "Hebrew" (i.e., Israelite) women to go around, so why would the remaining men have favored non-Israelite women?

The lack of Samaritan women today, however, is a serious problem for the community. Background here and follow the links back.

(Cross-file under Technology Watch.)

UPDATE (11 December): Richard Bauckham e-mails:

Is this evidence not strongly reminiscent of Ezra 9-10 and Neh 13:23-27? Judean men were marrying non-Israelite women. Presumably Judean women also married non-Israelite men, but they left the Jewish community to join that of their husbands. So, if these Judean men had not divorced their foreign wives and sent their children by them away with them, they would have had descendants who were Jewish in the male line but non-Jewish in the female. There did not have to be a shortage of Israelite women for this to happen. We simply need to suppose that there was reciprocal inter-marrying between Jewish and non-Jewish communities.

So the Samaritans would be descended from Israelites whose inter-ethnic marriages were not severed by reforms like those of Ezra and Nehemiah. This needn't have anything to do with the Assyrian exile.

One might even speculate that they descended from Jewish priests from Jerusalem who resisted the reforms and left for Samaria taking their non-Jewish wives with them. Neh 13:28 gives an example of such.

I know there has been recent discussion of Samaritan origins that I have not kept up with. Those who have may be be able to relate these ideas to the current discussion.

PH.D. SCHOLARSHIPS at the Divinity School of the University of St. Andrews!

St Mary's College, The School of Divinity
Six New Scholarships to Celebrate 600 Years of Divinity in St Andrews

The School of Divinity at St Mary's College, St Andrews, Scotland is offering six PhD scholarships to be taken up in the Autumn of 2010, or as soon as possible thereafter to work in the following fields:

1. The Matthew Black Scholarship: for a student interested in Old Testament / Hebrew Bible
2. The Donald M. Baillie Scholarship: for a student interested in Theology;
3. The Richard Bauckham Scholarship: for a student interested in New Testament;
4. The Emanuel Tov Scholarship: for a student interested in Old Testament / Hebrew Bible Textual Criticism;
5. The Queen Margaret of Scotland Scholarship: for a student interested in any field of Divinity;
6. The Lady Kenmure Scholarship: for a student interested in any field of Divinity.

The scholarships cover home fees for a UK or EU student, or a contribution of around £3500 per annum towards overseas fees. An additional stipend of £3000 (or £1000 for the fourth scholarship) is offered to the recipients. Recipients of the scholarships (1-4) will be asked to teach one language class in their second and third year of residency or do equivalent work.

The successful candidates will join a rapidly expanding School of Divinity postgraduate program.

Candidates for these scholarships are required to fill out the normal postgraduate application forms. Special attention will be given to the PhD proposal.

Further details can be obtained from: Ms Margot Clement, Postgraduate Secretary, School of Divinity, St Mary's College, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JU, Scotland, Email: mc41@st-andrews.ac.uk

The closing date for applications is January 15, 2010.

THIS IS GENERATING SOME DISCUSSION:

Protests after Israeli minister signals shift toward theocracy

Published Date: 09 December 2009
By Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem (The Scotsman)

ISRAEL'S justice minister has touched off a storm of controversy by suggesting that he would like to see the country evolve into a theocracy based on Jewish religious law.

Minister Ya'acov Neeman, an observant Jew, told a conference of rabbis and religious court judges late on Monday that holy texts contain "a complete solution to all the things we are dealing with".

He said that the past standing of Jewish religious law "needs to be restored so that the law of the Torah will become the binding law of the land". The Torah can mean parts of the Old Testament but it also sometimes includes the Talmud, a delineation of Jewish laws dating to the second and third centuries and subsequent rabbinic opinions.

Mr Neeman praised the work of rabbinical courts that gain jurisdiction by mutual consent in solving financial disputes. He said they are "a worthy way of inculcating the Torah's laws step by step".

[...]

If the quotes are accurate and in context, they are bound to offend a large part of the Israeli population. Minister Neeman and others are already back-pedaling away from the "theocracy" characterization, but the damage seems to be done. Calls for his resignation are noted in the Jerusalem Post. The same publication suggests mildly that "[i]f our justice minister wants to think out loud, he should do so in the privacy of his own home." Yossi Sand in Haaretz takes a rather firmer line: "And if such shameful words uttered by the justice minister do not cause him to resign and to sit at home, or at a private law firm, then some evil is bound to befall us; for we have become like Iran of the ayatollahs, like Afghanistan of the Taliban, and Sodom is no longer so bad." The Taliban are being invoked by others as well - see first Jerusalem Post link above.

By the way, regarding the Scotsman article, although both Talmuds may contain Tannaitic (i.e., second and third-century) material in their Gemaras, their more-or-less final editing came well after this, the Yerushalmi in the early fifth century and the Bavli in the sixth century or later.

CONGRATULATIONS TO PROFESSOR MAJELLA FRANZMAN, well-known specialist in Gnosticism at Otago University in New Zealand, who has accepted a high-level administrative post at the Curtain University of Technology in Australia:

Franzmann named Humanities Pro VC at Curtin

* From: The Australian
* December 09, 2009 5:09PM

HIGH-powered academic Professor Majella Franzmann has been appointed Curtin University of Technology's new Pro Vice-Chancellor of Humanities.

In a move signalling an upgraded focus on humanities research, Professor Franzmann said she was looking forward to helping boost the faculty's national and international profile.

[...]

Professor Franzmann was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2001, and awarded an Australian Centenary Medal in 2003. She served on the Council of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2007.

She is widely published and has research interests in gnosticism, feminist biblical interpretation and Manichaean and Nestorian remains in China.

Professor Franzmann gained her PhD at the University of Queensland in 1990 with a thesis on the Syriac, Coptic and Greek texts of the Odes of Solomon.

She was the recipient of the prestigious Humbolt Fellowship at the University of Tubingen, Germany, in 1992-1993. She also held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University from 1986-1987 with her research focusing on the figure of Jesus in the Nag Hammadi writings.

[...]

I hope she will still have time to continue her research!

LOOKS LIKE I'm up a tree. Time traveling from 1973?

THE CAPTAIN OF THE GOOD SHIP PHOENICIA has written (scroll down) to the Telegraph to call for action against Somalian pirates. I'm pleased that the Phoenicia has been able to avoid pirates on its journeys. Captain Beale doesn't say whether they had to use their anti-pirate sonic ray gun though.

More background here.

PRETEND TO BE A TIME TRAVELER DAY is today.

UPDATE: Do bogus prophecies count? If so, the Weekly World News is in. (Cross file under Dead Sea Scrolls, popular culture watch.)

THE NEXT BEST THING TO BEING THERE: Ancient city of Pompeii added to Google Street View.

I've posted a few photos from my visit to Pompeii last June here.

CARL JUNG'S THE RED BOOK includes themes from Jewish and Christian myth and esotericism. The new facsimile edition is reviewed in the New York Times:

The Symbologist

By KATHRYN HARRISON
Published: December 3, 2009

From 1914 until 1930, C. G. Jung recorded, revised, rewrote, recopied and painstakingly illustrated what he considered “the numinous beginning” from which all the rest of his work derived. “The Red Book,” or as Jung called it, “Liber Novus,” consisted of some 200 parchment pages of meticulous calligraphy and visionary paintings collected into a huge folio bound in red leather. While its content, either whole or in part, was made available to a handful of colleagues and patients, its publication was postponed until now, nearly 50 years after his death, because Jung feared the book’s potential impact on his reputation. After all, anyone who read it might conclude what Jung himself first suspected: that the great doctor had lost his mind.

[...]

Practicing “active imagination,” Jung conjured characters with whom he interacted and conversed. Dreams, he felt, were “inferior expressions of unconscious content” because there was less tension in sleep. “The Red Book” “faithfully transcribed” visions Jung recorded privately in his “Black Books,” adding commentary and painting what he had seen in his waking dreams to encourage readers to “understand the psychological nature of symbolism” and challenge them “to a new way of looking at their souls.” The whole is structured after Nietzsche’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” a work of great influence on Jung. But while Nietzsche had announced the death of God, “The Red Book” described “the rebirth of God in the soul,” drawing from many and varied sources, including the Bible, the Apocrypha, Gnostic texts, Greek myths, the Upanishads, the ancient Egyptian “Am-Tuat,” Wagner’s “Ring,” Goethe’s “Faust” and Dante’s “Divine Comedy.” And, as Shamdasani points out, although the writers on whom Jung drew “could utilize an established cosmology, ‘Liber Novus’ is an attempt to shape an individual cosmology.” Jung continued to practice while working on “The Red Book” and encouraged his analysands to summon and record their own visions, as he had done. The book a patient created would be, he said, “your church — your cathedral — the silent places of your spirit where you will find renewal.”

In fact, reading “The Red Book” is like visiting a foreign place of worship. To understand Jung’s text — to meet and listen to the creatures of his unconscious — requires solitude, silence, concentrated effort. At the beginning of the book (which is divided into “Liber Primus,” “Liber Secundus” and “Scrutinies”), Jung rediscovers his soul, alienated while he “had served the spirit of the time.” With it, he embarks on a series of adventures and meets, among others, Elijah, Salome, a serpent and the Devil. The narrative proceeds like a blend of biblical prophecy and dialectic ...

The article includes a nice image of the open volume. I wonder if I can finagle a review copy.

MEGIDDO CHURCH UPDATE:

Discovery of world's oldest church may turn prison into tourist site
By Eli Ashkenazi
Tags: Israel archaeology

Megiddo prison, surrounded by prison guards on horseback supplemented by guard dogs, is not a place that many people would care to approach. But if a plan now in the final stages comes to fruition, it could become a tourist attraction drawing Israelis and tourists from around the world.

Behind the prison walls, the remains of the oldest Christian house of worship ever discovered were unearthed four years ago in the course of prison renovations. The plans that are coming together call for the relocation of the prison to a site a short distance away so that the archaeological site can be opened to the public.

Some prisoners, including both common criminals and security prisoners, were allowed to dig below the prison - jailbreak style - as part of the archaeological research. The ancient finds on the site have led to an agreement in principle involving the prison service, the Megiddo Regional Council and the Antiquities Authority for the relocation of the detention facility.

[...]

Background here and follow the links back.

SHLOMO SAND'S THE INVENTION OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE is listed as one of the best history books of 2009 in the Independent and gets a positive brief review from Lisa Hilton:

There's nothing retiring about Shlomo Sand's The Invention of the Jewish People (Verso, £18.99). The outrage surrounding Sand's book in Israel has positioned him as an enemy within, an arch-revisionist working out of the university of Tel Aviv. Sand's contentions – that much Zionist history derives from deeply unreliable sources and that Jewish identity is essentially defined by religion rather than race or nationalism – are thorough and reasonable, but this has not prevented his attackers from claiming he wants to write Israel out of history. Sand's arguments are considerably more subtle; he does not question the right of Israel to exist; rather, he calls for a more rigorous examination of the premises on which that existence is based and suggests that they require redefinition. Sand takes on a formidable tradition in claiming that moral validity in the Middle East needs good history, and no discussion of the region any longer seems complete without acknowledgement of his book.

For more reviews go here and follow the links back.

JOHN BROWN AND ZION OIL are still drilling for oil in Israel and still haven't found it. I've noted the story before here (where I discuss his misunderstanding of a biblical text that refers to olive oil, not petroleum), here, here, and here.

ALEXANDER THE ITSY BITSY AGAIN? Søren Holst e-mails:

Tangential to Biblical Studies proper, but still:

Danish archaologist Jeppe Boel Jepsen claims to be able to see that "a tiny image of a mysterious horned figure" found on a recently recovered ivory copy of a Danish golden horn usually dated to about 5t century CE, "now turns out to resemble pictures of Aleander the Great".

Boel Jepsen suggests that on the basis of this, the horns must be dated a couple of centuries older than assumed until now.

Report in Danish here:
http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/348478

Horns here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Horns_of_Gallehus

The original horns were stolen and melted down in 1802 and it is uncertain how accurate existing copies, made from drawings, are. The ivory copy recently recovered in Russia was made directly from the original (although, here too, doubts about the accuracy remain) and given to zar Peter the Great in 1716.

You can read a Google translation of the Danish article here. For the recently discovered Alexander gemstone, see here and follow the links back.

BOOK REVIEW/TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Another review of Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalem's Sacred Esplanade, this one in the Scotsman.

Book aims to end clash over Temple Mount

Published Date: 05 December 2009
By Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem

TRANSCENDING the bitterness of the confrontation between their nations and faiths, Israeli and Palestinian scholars have come together for an unprecedented joint history of the most contested religious site on earth.

A new book, Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalem's Sacred Esplanade is an antidote to extremism about the holy city's Temple Mount, revered by Jews as site of the biblical temples and sacred to Muslims as the site of the al-Aksa mosque.

[...]

Here's an interesting bit:

During peace negotiations with Israel in 2000, Yasser Arafat reportedly questioned whether two Jewish temples existed on the site, stressing there is no archeological evidence for that. Mr Nusseibeh [Palestinian philosopher Sari Nusseibeh, president of al-Quds University], while not affirming the existence of the temples, wrote that it was a site revered by Jews even before what Muslims believe was a journey from al-Aksa to heaven by Mohammed in the seventh century. According to Muslim tradition, the journey started from the rock later covered by the golden dome that has become Jerusalem's foremost symbol.

Amnon Cohen, emeritus professor at the Hebrew University, who contributed a chapter on Turkish rule of the Temple Mount, believes the joint endeavour has political significance. The Palestinian participation, he says, "means they don't disagree with the basic hypothesis that the first and second temples were on the Temple Mount".

But Mustafa Abu Sway, of the Islamic Research Centre at al-Quds and contributor of a chapter, responded: "I have written an Islamic narrative and people can read into it what they want. Ultimately it's a mosque and has been for 1,400 years. When the Muslims arrived the area of the mosque was barren and it has been a mosque through and through."

I've not read the book yet (and won't have time to for some time to come) but if this report is accurate it sounds like equivocation that is being spun differently by each side. I would be more impressed to hear that the Palestinian authors had come straight out and said that there were Jewish temple on the site in antiquity.

Background here.

MORE ON JACOB NEUSNER'S HONORARY DOCTORATE at HUC-JIR: Notice of the honor is now on the HUC-JIR News and Publications website:

Dr. Jacob Neusner Awarded Honorary Doctorate
by HUC-JIR

Dr. Jacob Neusner, the renowned historian and theologian, was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, by Rabbi David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), in a ceremony at HUC-JIR’s New York campus on December 1, 2009.

[...]

The site has also posted the text of the lecture that Professor Neusner gave on the occasion: "Reform Judaism For Our Day: Why It Is Necessary."

REPAIRS ON THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE are again generating controversy. This time they are being done by the IAA and protested by the Jordanian Goverment and the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land according to the AFP.

Another repairs controversy is noted here.

THE PERSEPOLIS CUNEIFORM ARCHIVE and the political controversy surrounding it (i.e., whether Iranian artifacts in American museums should be seized and sold off to pay a terrorism-compensation judgment) is discussed by Touraj Daryaee at the Huffington Post. Excerpt:

This issue has very important implications for the United States. First of all, one can imagine how much dislike, distrust, and suspicion would be incurred by a Western power dragging another culture's ancient heritage to the auction block. America's museums are national institutions that are often trusted to hold and display the cultural materials of other societies around the world. They are not bank accounts or slush funds to be raided whenever money is needed.
Secondly, and more importantly, if Iranian artifacts are successfully seized, it will set a precedent that will open a floodgate of claims to other cultural treasures in the US. American museums hold thousands of objects from countries in the Middle East and other troubled spots in the world. Many of these are on loan from their home countries, brought here for a time so that they may educate and inform American citizens. If it is established that such artifacts can be taken and sold, what country would risk lending its invaluable antiquities to any U.S. museum? None. The hesitation of every foreign country and museum around the world to lend art and artifacts to U.S. museums will cripple exhibits in the United States and contribute to the decline in the cultural awareness of Americans and our understanding of the meaning of cultural diversity.

On the Persepolis archive specifically:

These tablets only make sense if they are studied as a group and not dispersed throughout the world in the hand of dealers and private collectors. It is a rare archive from antiquity, and so it should remain as such to be studied and understood. It would be a shame to have had in the twenty-first century a unique source for understanding the ancient Persians that got arbitrarily partitioned and dispersed, forcing us to remain in the dark for another 2,500 years about the social and cultural history of these people and the region.

I agree. Read it all. For background go here and follow the links back.

THE WIND BENEATH MY WINGS: Language mega-dork Jessica Apple posts some tidbits of medical history.

THE BIBLIOBLOG TOP FIFTY has posted its semi-annual edition for 2009.

A FIXED-TERM OLD TESTAMENT POST (2 years) is being advertised at Glasgow University. Go here and enter the job reference code 00094-2 for details. Applications are due by 18 December!

(Via the SOTS list.)

EHUD BEN-ZVI e-mails the following:

Dear all,

I am glad to announce the publication of the following article in the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures (http://www.jhsonline.org)

Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 9: Article 23 (2009)

Israel Finkelstein, "Persian Period Jerusalem and Yehud: A Rejoinder."

Abstract

This is a rejoinder to several recently published articles which take issue with my views on Persian period Jerusalem and Yehud. The article deals with methodological issues such as inconsistencies between archaeology and text and the meaning of negative evidence in archaeology. On the factual level, with the available data at hand, I see no reason to change my views: Persian period Jerusalem covered ca. 2-2.5 hectares, and both the description of the construction of the city-wall in Nehemiah 3 and the List of Returnees in Ezra and Nehemiah probably reflect late Hellenistic (Hasmonean) period realities.

Those who wish to access this article directly may go to http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_126.pdf

In other news, a slightly revamped interface for JHS will be ready soon. My thanks to Melanie Marvin who is working on this project.
----

The printed version of volume 8 (2008) has been released by Gorgias Press. For information please go to http://www.gorgiaspress.com/BOOKSHOP/pc-56678-10-ben-zvi-ehud-perspectives-on-hebrew-scriptures-v.aspx

For information about the other volumes, please go to
http://www.gorgiaspress.com/BOOKSHOP/pc-56678-10-ben-zvi-ehud-perspectives-on-hebrew-scriptures-v.aspx

For information about the Logos version of the Journal (vols. 1-7), please go to http://www.logos.com/products/details/4336

The Logos version of volume 8 of the journal is being prepared.

Regards,

Ehud


Ehud Ben Zvi
History and Classics
University of Alberta
2-28 HM Tory Building
Edmonton AB Canada T6G 2H4

CONGRATULATIONS TO JACOB NEUSNER, who (I have just learned) received an honorary doctorate on 1 December from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York.

UPDATE (4 December): More here.

ARAMAIC WATCH: A Living Languages Institute at Mardin Artuklu University in Turkey includes Aramaic language teaching. The Institute seems to be an attempt at a compromise with those who wanted a Kurdish language and literature (only) department.

A JOB ADVERT from the Agade list:

From Erica Laclair erica.laclair@gmail.com & Joel Gereboff
Joel.Gereboff@asu.edu:
=================================================================

Assistant or Associate Professor of Hebrew and Near Eastern Cultures

The School of International Letters & Cultures (SILC) at Arizona State University seeks to appoint an experienced assistant professor or a tenured associate professor of Hebrew Studies and Near Eastern Cultures beginning in the fall of 2010. Applications will be accepted from candidates whose scholarship focuses on the Late Bronze Age to Late Antiquity, including the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple, and/or Early Judaism. The individual hired will teach undergraduate and graduate students in the trans-disciplinary environment of the School. Teaching load is two courses per semester.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in an area of Near Eastern studies or related discipline; demonstrably successful teaching experience; proven excellence in research and publication; and knowledge of one or more classical languages. Ability and desire to teach biblical Hebrew required. Desired qualifications include demonstrated research interest in Hellenistic Jewish literature and ability to read modern academic Hebrew.

Send letter of application, complete CV, three letters of recommendation, sample syllabi and a scholarly writing sample to: Hebrew and Near Eastern Cultures Search Committee, c/o Robert Joe Cutter, Director, School of International Letters & Cultures, PO Box 870202, ASU, Tempe, AZ 85287-0202. All materials except for letters of recommendation must be sent also electronically to: SILC-Hebrew@asu.edu.

Application deadline is December 31, 2009 and every week thereafter until position is filled. Review of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until search is closed.

A background check is required for employment. Arizona State University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer committed to excellence through diversity. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

A LARGE GRANT for Jewish Studies has been turned down by New York University. Larry Schiffman defends the decision.

NYU rejects $50K education grant

by Ashley Mason (nyunews.com)
Published December 2, 2009

NYU's Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies recently declined a potential $50,000 grant from the Posen Foundation, an international organization that provides schools with grants to teach courses about Jewish culture through an exclusively secular point of view.

Other schools, including Harvard University, Brown University, Brandeis University and the New School, have accepted the grant.

Under the grant, the university would be required to incorporate courses in Jewish thought and history and other related topics into the Judaic studies curriculum. Myrna Baron, the executive director of the Center for Cultural Judaism, which administers Posen Foundation projects and grants in North America, said some professors think ancient Jewish texts have been emphasized too heavily and that the past 300 years of secular Jewish culture were not being studied at all.

Baron said the grant was not intended to shift the focus of Jewish studies but instead to enable universities to include Jewish contributions from the ancient period up to today.

But according to Lawrence Schiffman, the chair of the department of Hebrew and Judaic studies, the department "doesn't accept the notion that you can categorize Judaism."

Schiffman thinks an exclusively secular curriculum would represent only a single part of Judaism. He said his department allows professors to teach the way they prefer to teach and that separating the religious and the secular would be an interference.

"They were offering a small amount of money for us to teach the way they want," Schiffman said. "We don't want outsiders being a part of that process."

[...]

The decision is not entirely without controversy at NYU.

LAWRENCE SCHIFFMAN is giving the Rabbi Dr. Joseph Baumgarten Memorial Lecture in Baltimore on Sunday.

SPECIAL EVENT
The Dead Sea Scrolls – Decoding Early Judaism: Reflections on the Contributions of Dr. Joseph Baumgarten

Speaker: Dr. Lawrence H. SchiffmanSunday, December 6th, 4:00 p.m., LA 4110

Lawrence H. Schiffman is Chair of New York University’s Skirball
Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and serves as the Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor in Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University (NYU). He is a specialist in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism in Late Antiquity, the history of Jewish law, and Talmudic literature.

(Via Joseph I. Lauer's list.)

NEW ORLEANS SBL: Mark Goodacre has some highlights. He too notes the problem of proliferation of sessions and corresponding tiny attendance at individual sessions.

BIBLICAL STUDIES CARNIVAL XLVIII has been posted by Doug Chaplin at Clayboy.

THE TALMUD: A SELECTION by by Norman Solomon (ed.) (Penguin Classics) is reviewed by Lawrence Grossman in The Forward. Excerpt:

The publication of “The Talmud: A Selection” suggests that we have entered a new era in which the Talmud can be discussed objectively, without Jewish defensiveness or fear of antisemitism. By presenting meaty selections from every one of the 63 Talmudic tractates in English translation, the book conveys something of the real feel of the Talmud as a whole, interspersing complex legal discussions with stories, practical rulings and wide-ranging biblical commentary. Solomon’s introduction, which covers the history and literary character of the Talmud, and his erudite footnotes to the selections themselves, admirably convey the insights of both traditional and modern authorities, ranging from the classic Medieval commentary of Rashi to 20th-century figures like Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and philosopher Emmanuel Levinas.

“The Talmud: A Selection” is so instructive and well crafted — as well as accessible to the educated reader who has never before studied Talmud — that it seems ungrateful to ask for more. But in truth, it could have used a short epilogue that would step back from the texts and examine the Talmud’s formative role in shaping the Jewish people, a long-range influence that takes the work out of the category of ancient literary curiosity and renders it a true “classic.”

First I've heard of it, but it sounds important.

NEW ORLEANS SBL: April DeConick raises some concerns about the Society of Biblical Literature meetings, most of which I experienced as well this time around. I hope things improve next year with the return of the American Academy of Religion meetings at the same time as SBL. (The lead-up to the debacle of the spilt in 2004 is noted here.)

NEW ORLEANS SBL: Rebecca Lesses summarizes a Mysticism session that I had to miss.

NEW ORLEANS SBL: David Larsen, my doctoral student, summarizes an important paper by Frances Flannery at the SBL meetings earlier this month.

JORDAN-VALLEY QUARRY UPDATE: Brian Blondy gives "Impressions from a 1st-century underground quarry" in the Jerusalem Post. Excerpt:

Within the raw, unpolished one acre quarry, were various etched markings on the walls and on some of the 22 brute pillars. Among the markings were crosses that were carved into the stone, whichProf. Zertal explained were an indication of the site's possible former function.

According to his assessment, the site had once served as a monastery or place of refuge between the years 1 - 600 CE. Thereafter, 31 other engravings testified to the presence of those who dwelled in the space following its Christian usage. Some of the symbols,Prof. Zertal explained, were possibly reflective of the Zodiac, while others were likely Roman letters.

Walking among the ancient writing, I was reminded of graffiti which I've seen sprayed on structures in cities throughout the modern world. Had the former inhabitants of thiscave also intended to leave a reminder of their presence for the generations to follow?

Throughout the tour of the cave, I had to navigate my steps around the bones and partial jaws of what I presume were ancient jackals or dogs that also once used thecave as a place of refuge. Prof. Zertal explained that when he originally began working on the cave, several Beduin approached his team and warned that there were evil spirits within.

This is the quarry that is near Jericho. Background here and here. More on recently discovered quarries here.

"ASTROLOGY AND JUDAISM IN LATE ANTIQUITY" is a doctoral dissertation by Lester Ness, who writes "I believe it was the first dissertation online." I'm surprised I haven't noted it before this, but here it is. Note also his "Research Sources For Astrology."

(Via the Agade list.)

JESUS IN ENGLAND (NOT): In the Daily Mail, Peter Stanford examines the historical evidence and realizes it adds up to very little. Well done. Excerpt:

Another version of the story claims Joseph [of Arimathea] went to Glastonbury with Jesus before his 'nephew' started preaching in public.

Legend has it that the 20-year-old Messiah built a church from mud and wood there and dedicated it to his mother. It stood in the grounds of what went on to become Glastonbury Abbey.

The new film, which cites the second story, includes testimony from the sixth-century St Gildas that just such a building existed in Glastonbury.

But while the claim is fantastic, it was made more than 500 years after any possible visit and hardly counts as an eye-witness account of Jesus toiling over the construction of an English chapel.

And besides, in medieval times, they rarely let facts get in the way of a good story. After all, a visit by Christ, however fanciful, would have been a major draw for a location's pilgrimage trade, sucking money into the coffers.

But the film does uncover some fascinating details - and provides plenty of circumstantial evidence that Britain was the centre of learning for any wealthy young Palestinian in the 1st century AD.

Even so, Rome was a whole lot closer to Nazareth than England, and it is hard to imagine why a knowledge-hungry Jesus would bypass the centre of arguably the greatest civilisation the world has ever seen in favour of a small town in Somerset.

It is also doubtful that Druids made gentle schoolmasters. After all, most contemporary references to 1st century Druids describe them as bloodthirsty warriors rather than the Mr Chips of the Dark Ages.

Roman historian Tacitus, for example, describes the imperial army clashing on Anglesey with Druids who 'poured forth horrible imprecations' and performed 'barbarous rites' at altars 'stained with the blood of their prisoners and the entrails of men'.

We do know that some ancient religious traditions encouraged scientific exploration, but if it was maths Jesus wanted to find out about - as the film claims - he really would have done better heading for India.

Arithmetic, including squares, cubes and roots, are all to be found in its sacred Vedic texts dating to 1,000 BC.

And anyway, why maths in particular? It is not as if once he began his public ministry, Jesus preached the parable of the accountants.

What all these speculative efforts rather depressingly reveal is a penchant in human nature for concentrating on the superficial rather than the profound.

Background here.

JESUS IN ENGLAND? I don't think so.

Jesus 'may have visited England', says Scottish academic

(BBC)

Jesus Christ could have come to Britain to further his education, according to a Scottish academic.

Church of Scotland minister Dr Gordon Strachan makes the claim in a new film entitled And Did Those Feet.

The film examines the story of Jesus' supposed visit, which survives in the popular hymn Jerusalem.

Dr Strachan believes it is "plausible" Jesus came to England for his studies, as it was the forefront of learning 2,000 years ago.

[...]

This story is making the new rounds, although I have not been able to find the original press release. Yes, it is possible that Jesus visited England, insofar as England existed when Jesus lived and it was physically possible to get from the one place to the other. But, like the suggestion that Jesus visited India, there is no evidence for it apart from much later legends. And what's this about England being the "the forefront of learning 2,000 years ago?" Ever heard of Alexandria and Rome? Specialists in the study of the historical Jesus have enough difficulty inherent in their work and they will not thank someone whose expertise obviously lies elsewhere (Dr. Strachan is not listed as an academic staff member at the Edinburgh University School of Architecture, but he has taught courses there on "Sacred Geometry" and "Edward Irving and his Circle") muddying the water of the public arena with this sort of wild speculation. Naturally, the media lap it up utterly uncritically.

The hymn is cool, but let's not get carried away.

THE INVENTION OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE by Shlomo Sand is reviewed in the Independent by Stephen Howe:

Shlomo Sand clearly intended his book as an explosive device, a big bang demolishing the myths of Jewishness on which both communal identity and Israeli state policies rest.

His hostile critics react as if it were a deadly bomb, a kind of literary-political terrorist attack. Actually, The Invention of the Jewish People is less a single detonation than a string of firecrackers, erupting or just fizzling in uncertain succession. Ranging across several millennia but with its main aim on Israel's political present, the book has too many diffuse themes and purposes quite to start the kind of fire Sand wants. It doesn't help that a few of his incendiary gadgets almost entirely fail, while others prove to be worn out from previous use.

That sounds harsh: perhaps unduly so. Sand's political purpose is (in my view) an admirable one, and many of his historical claims probably more right than wrong. But at least the mixed response this review will convey might help break away from the pattern of reactions the book is receiving: it has already been published in French and Hebrew. They are starkly divided between uncritical enthusiasm and total condemnation. The blogosphere has been buzzing with wild charges and vulgar abuse against Sand's book – most repeatedly, predictably and depressingly, calling it anti-Semitic.

[...]

We seem to have been reading different reviews (and I certainly can't claim to have looked at all of them). The ones I have seen have usually been critical, but thoughtfully so.

Here's another one by David Goldberg in the Jewish Chronicle. Excerpt:

Sand is not immune to similar zeitgeist factors. He rightly excoriates Zionist historiography that posits an unbroken continuum between the ancient Jewish homeland and its modern inhabitants in order to justify ownership of all the biblical territory. His particular beef is with geneticists who have “discovered” such ludicrous “facts” as the Jewish gene that is shared by Ashkenazim and Sephardim, or make the even more preposterous claim that a single chromosome is common to over 50 per cent of men surnamed Cohen.

But because Sand’s political ideal would be “the creation of a democratic bi-national state between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan”, he is too cavalier in dismissing all of our standard historical narrative as an “invention”. Shared folk memories, totally accurate or not, have been a vital ingredient in Jewish survival.

Background here. Some more recent information about genetic markers for the Jewish priesthood is here and here.

CONGRATULATIONS TO STEVEN FINE AND HAYIM TAWIL:

YU Professors Fine and Tawil Make Mark on Jewish Studies Literature Scene

Yaelle Frohlich (The YU Observer)
Issue date: 11/25/09 Section: News

Dr. Steven Fine, a professor of Jewish history at Yeshiva University (YU) and director of the YU Center for Israel Studies, was recently awarded a Jordan Schnitzer Book Award by the Association for Jewish Studies. Fine's book, "Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology," explores Jewish art and its relation to Jewish identity in the Greco-Roman period. Described as "the first historical monograph on ancient Jewish art in forty years," it won in the category of "Jews and the Arts."

[...]

Meanwhile, Yeshiva College Professor Hayim Tawil's Akkadian lexicon, "An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew" is being released this month. The work demonstrates the relationship between Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic and Akkadian, once the main language spoken in what is now known as the Middle East. ...

OH, AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING TOO.

ADMINISTRIVIA, please ignore: 2F5VRBBCH5DB MXHCKB3M43EV

DO TELL. Scientist says to be 'very careful' when interpreting writing on Shroud of Turin.

Dr. John P. Jackson, director of the Turin Shroud Center of Colorado, told CNA, “you have to be very careful when interpreting these things.” He cited the example of an image on the Shroud thought to have been the rope which led Jesus to Calvary which, under scientific investigation, turned out to be nothing more than a watermark.

“I'm not trying to demean someone else's work that I'm not familiar with,” Jackson said. He did, however, point out that “there is a long history of people finding things on the Shroud which are tied into subjectivity.”

Background here.

IN THE MAIL:

Eugene Ulrich (ed.), The Biblical Qumran Scrolls (VTSup 134; Leiden: Brill, 2010) (Not yet on Amazon. Includes my work on the Cave IV Genesis-Exodus manuscripts.)

Bernard A. Taylor et al., Analytical Lexicon to the Septuagint: Expanded Edition (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2009) (review copy)

I'M BACK IN ST. ANDREWS. More tomorrow.

GOOD SBL 2009 CONFERENCE. The best part is always catching up with the people, although this year the food gave them some competition. I lived in New Orleans for a few years a long time ago and on this trip I made sure to visit some of my favorite places. I've been posting food pictures on Facebook, but I'll spare you that.

One of the most interesting things that happened at the conference was this morning, when I saw Stephen Pfann in the book display area and he showed me pictures of the inscribed stone cup from the Mt. Zion excavation. Most of it is written in one or more cryptic scripts, one of which is related to Cryptic A from Qumran. Most of the text remains undeciphered as yet, but what can be read at the beginning has some resemblance to Psalm 26. That's all I'm free to repeat at present.

Background here (and follow the links back) and here.

I'm in the New Orleans Airport right now and my first flight leaves in a little over an hour.

THE INVENTION OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE by Shlomo Sand is reviewed by Patricia Cohen in the NYT. Excerpt:

Despite the fragmented and incomplete historical record, experts pretty much agree that some popular beliefs about Jewish history simply don’t hold up ...

But while these ideas are commonplace among historians, they still manage to provoke controversy each time they surface in public, beyond the scholarly world. The latest example is the book “The Invention of the Jewish People,” which spent months on the best-seller list in Israel and is now available in English. Mixing respected scholarship with dubious theories, the author, Shlomo Sand, a professor at Tel Aviv University, frames the narrative as a startling exposure of suppressed historical facts. The translated version of his polemic has sparked a new wave of coverage in Britain and has provoked spirited debates online and in seminar rooms.

Professor Sand, a scholar of modern France, not Jewish history, candidly states his aim is to undercut the Jews’ claims to the land of Israel by demonstrating that they do not constitute “a people,” with a shared racial or biological past. The book has been extravagantly denounced and praised, often on the basis of whether or not the reader agrees with his politics.

The vehement response to these familiar arguments — both the reasonable and the outrageous — highlights the challenge of disentangling historical fact from the sticky web of religious and political myth and memory.

Again, I haven't read the book, but this looks like a careful and dispassionate treatment of it.

Background here.

AN ARABIC TRANSLATION of a book on the Dead Sea Scrolls:

Yarmouk University DSS dss@yu.edu.jo:
================================

The Jordanian Dead Scrolls Project and the Publications Office of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology/Yarmouk University published the Arabic translation of David N. Freedman and Pam Fox Kuhlken's Book: What Are The Dead Sea Scrolls and Why Do They Matter? Translated by Ikhlas Qanaweh.

The publications of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology are available for exchange. Please send your publications to the following address:

Publications Office
Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology
Yarmouk University
Irbid – Jordan

For more information please write to: archpubl@yu.edu.jo.

Well done! I hope we see more of this sort of thing.

(From the Agade list.)

ENOCH SEMINAR NEWS: There are three new initiatives of the Enoch Seminar in the works.

1. 4 Enoch: The Online Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism Research.

The Encyclopedia aims to offer a comprehensive introduction to scholarly research in Second Temple Judaism (or from the Babylonian Exile to the Bar-Kokhba Revolt). It includes biographies of Scholars and Authors as well as abstracts of scholarly and fictional Works on the period, from the 16th century to the present.

2. A sixth Enoch Seminar is planned for 2011. The Chair, Matthias Henze of Rice University, informs me that:

Our topic will be "2 Baruch and 4 Ezra: Jewish Apocalypticism in Late First Century Israel." The Seminar will take place June 26-30, 2011 (i.e., one week before the international SBL in London) in the Villa Sacro Cuore in Triuggio, just outside of Milan, Italy. The opening evening will be at the Ambrosiana Library, where we will be shown the famed Syriac manuscript that contains 2 Baruch, as well as several other treasures.

Attendance is by invitation only.

3. The Third Enoch Graduate Seminar will be held in Budapest, Hungary on 19-24 JULY, 2010 and is currently accepting paper proposals from postgraduates. A fourth Enoch Graduate Seminar is also planned for 2012 at the University of Notre Dame.

For further information on the Enoch Seminar and Enoch Graduate Seminars, see the Enoch Seminar website.

THE PERSEPOLIS FORTIFICATION ARCHIVE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT is available with hyperlinks at Payvand.

Background here with links.

UPDATE: That version is pirated. Chuck Jones e-mails:

The Payvand copy of the Persepolis Annual Report is an unattributed copy of what I posted here http://persepolistablets.blogspot.com/2009/11/persepolis-fortification-archive.html on November 12th. "Mine" is an authorized republication (with reformatting and hyperlinks added by me) of an article under copyright by the Oriental Institute.

No big deal really, but I thought I'd mention it any way.

Thanks for doing so.

MORE ON THOSE SUPPOSED SHROUD-OF-TURIN INSCRIPTIONS in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, which are starting to get some media attention. This is from the Scotsman:

Professor Frale has published a new book, The Shroud of Jesus the Nazarene, which claims an archaic script that appears on parts of the material was written by low-ranking Roman officials or mortuary clerks on a scroll or piece of papyrus to identify Christ's corpse.

Such a document would have enabled the relatives of a dead person to retrieve a body from a communal morgue, she suggested.

Scholars first noticed that there was writing on the shroud in 1978 but when the radiocarbon tests a decade later suggested that the shroud was a forgery, historians lost interest in the script, Dr Frale said.

She claimed the text also partially confirmed the Gospels' account of Jesus' final moments. A fragment in Greek that can be read as "removed at the ninth hour" may refer to Christ's time of death reported in the holy texts, she said.

On an enhanced image studied by Frale, at least seven words can be seen, fragmented and scattered on and around the face, criss-crossing the cloth vertically and horizontally.

The text also mentions that the man who was wrapped in the shroud had been condemned to death, she believes.

Professor Frale said the hidden text was, in effect, the "burial certificate" for Christ.

"I tried to be objective and leave religious issues aside," she said. "What I studied was an ancient document that certifies the execution of a man, in a specific time and place."

However Antonio Lombatti, anther historian who has written books about the shroud, said: "People work on grainy photos and think they see things. It's all the result of imagination and computer software."

I will look at the evidence with great interest when it becomes available and will maintain a skeptical open mind in the meantime. But I do note the rule of thumb that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't so, which is widely applicable in life if you want to stay out of trouble.

Background here.

A MAP OF ARCHAEOLOGY SITES has won an award at the ASOR meetings, which are taking place here in New Orleans alongside of SBL:

Archaeologists publish first map of contested sites in Middle East
New online map reveals archaeological activity on Holy Land sites in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

By UCLA Newsroom November 20, 2009 Category: Research

A team of archaeologists from UCLA, USC, Israel and Palestinian territories has developed the first map detailing Israeli archaeological activity in the West Bank and Jerusalem – much of it never publicly disclosed.

The fully searchable online map, which serves as a window into thousands of years worth of archaeological sites in the Holy Lands, has won the 2009 Open Archaeology Prize from American Schools of Oriental Research, the main organization for archaeologists working in the Middle East.

The prize will be announced today at the organization’s annual meeting in New Orleans.
[...]

THE DEAD SEA is getting some publicity:

Dead Sea area next focus of IGTO

Written by Atara Beck (Jewish Tribune)
Wednesday, 18 November 2009

TORONTO – The Israel Government Tourist Office (IGTO) recently began focusing on developing a greater awareness of the Dead Sea/Tamar region, which, with its unique healing properties and magnificent surroundings, has attracted visitors for thousands of years.
At a recent breakfast hosted by the IGTO, Jerry Adler, manager, marketing and PR, told journalists that Israel’s ministry of tourism would conduct a public relations campaign for this initiative.

[...]

OH OH!

IAA: Israel's ancient wonders face ruin

By BEN HARTMAN (Jerusalem Post)


Israel's greatest archeological treasures are in danger of being destroyed by natural disasters and vandalism, and preventative measures must be taken, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) warned on Wednesday.

The statement came at the end of a three-day workshop in Acre called "Disaster Risk Reduction to Cultural Heritage," convened by the IAA and the Israel Commission for UNESCO. The event hosted experts from around the world in an effort to brainstorm ways to safeguard Israel's antiquity sites from destruction.

[...]

CANAANITE NEWS:

Canaanites the art collectors of their day

(USA Today Science Fair Blog)

The Canaanites get a bad rap in the Old Testament, but some may been among the first cosmopolitan art collectors, report archaeologists Thursday.

At the American Schools of Oriental Research meeting in New Orleans, Eric Cline of George Washington (D.C.) University and Assf Yasur-Landau of Israel's University of Haifa report the intriguing results this year from Tel Kabri, a vanquished Canaanite palace more than 3,500 years old.

[...]

So I guess this means that the Canaanites were not Philistines?

Sorry, Sorry! Couldn't resist.

ARAMAIC WATCH? The AP notes the claim of Vatican researcher Barbara Frale that she has found hitherto unnoticed Hebrew and Aramaic on the Shroud of Turin, including a reference to one Jesus of Nazareth. Sounds interesting, but I'll believe it when I see it. See also my comments on this story here.

MANDAEAN (MANDEAN) EXILES in Jordan discuss the plight of their community: "Dispersed by violence, an ancient community struggles to survive" (Jordan Times). Excerpt:

According to Mandaeans residing in Jordan, life in Iraq was difficult for them during the Saddam Hussein regime, under which the minority was forced to pay bribes, forcibly conscripted into the army and forbidden from teaching Mandaic, an ancient language related to Aramaic.

Many within the community were hopeful of their future following the US-led invasion in 2003, and many took jobs with the American military and contractors.

“We thought things were going to improve,” said Abu Kareem, who serves as the representative of Mandaeans in Jordan.

“We were wrong.”

As Iraqis saw their country fall along sectarian lines, minorities such as the Mandaeans became the frequent prey of militias.

Fatwas were issued declaring Mandaeans kuffar, or infidels. Mandaeans, known for their gold and jewellery craftsmanship, became frequent targets of kidnappings, with ransoms set as high as $100,000.

Since the US-led invasion, the Mandaean Human Rights Group has recorded around 180 killings, 275 kidnappings and 298 assaults and forced conversions within Iraq.

“Since 2003, the Mandaeans have been persecuted and specifically targeted by various components of religious fundamentalists and insurgents who have targeted the minorities of Iraq in general,” Laila Alroomi, of the Mandaean Human Rights Group, told The Jordan Times.

After his youngest son was kidnapped in Baghdad in 2004 due to his connections to the US army and held for a $30,000 ransom, Abu Kareem, one of thousands of Mandaeans facing the threat of violence, knew it was time to leave.

Return to the river

When the security situation in Iraq deteriorated, Jordan became a natural destination for Mandaeans, community leaders said.

The Jordanian government’s respect for minority rights and its proximity to the Jordan River, where the religion was founded, attracted many Mandaeans, according to Alroomi.

Some 5,959 Sabian Mandaeans have come through the Kingdom on to third party nations, according to UNHCR, while around 10,000 are estimated to remain in Syria and Jordan.

Upon their arrival in Jordan, the Mandaean community began holding ritual baptisms in Wadi Seer, they said. After a physical altercation between local residents and Mandaean worshippers, however, authorities encouraged the community to choose another place to worship, Abu Kareem said.

Now Mandaeans baptise in Wadi Shuaib, a site further from Amman and with poorer water quality, and must inform authorities one month in advance of any ceremony in order for protection to be provided.

The last Mandaean priest left Jordan for resettlement in early 2007, leaving followers unable to complete basic ritual ceremonies, or mark the five major holidays of the religion, they said.

Since then, resettlement has slowed, and some 1,139 UNHCR-registered Mandaeans in Jordan struggle to maintain their identity while keeping contact with the new diaspora.

Due to distrust and rising violence back home, the Mandaean community in Jordan avoids neighbourhoods in Amman known to house a significant Iraqi Shiite population, several Mandaeans told The Jordan Times.

Greater awareness of their religion is needed, they added.

“Although Mandaeanism was born in Jordan, people here have no idea what it is. Some think we are fire worshippers,” Abu Kareem noted.

“Once they realise we follow Adam, the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), Zacharia and Yahya (John the Baptist), then they are accepting. We are people of the book too,” he stressed.

More on the Mandaeans here and here.

IN NEW ORLEANS. Got in last night, having entirely missed the Skynet-type air traffic controller outage on the East Coast.

I'M OFF TO NEW ORLEANS for the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.

I will be presenting a paper there on "Practical Challenges in Publishing the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project." You can download the paper as a pdf file here.

Also, last month I gave a paper on "The More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project" at New College at the University of Edinburgh, which gives an up-to-date survey of the whole project. You can download it as a pdf file here and the handout that goes with it here.

Both are also available on the More Old Testment Pseudepigrapha Project website.

At SBL I am also on a panel of the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Group which is reviewing Christopher Rowland and Christopher R.A. Morray-Jones, The Mystery of God: Early Jewish Mysticism and the New Testament (noted earlier here), but I will be working from scrawled notes for that one and will not post anything here.

Look for me again late tonight or on Friday.

MAUREEN DOWD gets more flack for her recent comments on Goldman Sachs:

Maureen Dowd mines an anti-Semitic theme
The New York Times columnist crosses a line in her condemnation of Goldman Sachs.


by Menachem Z. Rosensaft and Jason H. Dolinsky

November 13, 2009 (New Jersey Jewish News)

We do not believe New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd to be an anti-Semite. Nor is she either stupid or unaware of the potential impact of her words. Thus, the blatantly anti-Semitic insinuations in her column of November 11 about the profiteering of what she refers to as “blood-sucking banks” are especially appalling.

[...]

Blankfein is living refutation of another stereotype that all Jews or investment bankers are smart. Still, his insensitive, bordering on moronic, comments do not give Ms. Dowd the right to revive and recirculate a number of vicious and dangerous anti-Semitic stereotypes. She contrasts the “cycle of greed and concupiscence” of what she calls “Goldmine Sachs” (hint, hint) with the “virtuous” Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism. And just to be certain that no one should miss her point, she concludes by emphasizing that “the bankers who took government money and then gave out obscene bonuses are the same self-interested sorts Jesus threw out of the temple.”

[...]

Background here.