More on the Shmita

ART: Israel’s Shmitta Year: From The Perspective of Artists (Eva L. Weiss, The Jewish Week).

The works are meant to evoke artists’ conceptions of what is fallow and the freedom implicit in letting go, according to curator Dr. Anat Chen, director of Emunah College’s art program. This Hebrew year, 5775, marks the observance of the ancient agricultural sabbatical in the Land of Israel. The College chose an artistic take on the cyclical event, in contrast to the more commonly heard debates on the loopholes of Jewish law or calls for environmentalism and social justice.

Background on the Shmita (sabbatical year in Israel) is here.

The story of the GJW

JOEL BADEN AND CANDIDA MOSS: The Curious Case of Jesus’s Wife. Lab tests have suggested that a papyrus scrap mentioning Jesus's wife is authentic. Why do most scholars believe it's fake? (The Atlantic). An excellent, thoughtful account of the whole affair from its beginning to the present. Yours truly is quoted, along with many other bibliobloggers who contributed to the debate. The article concludes:

Indeed, in the scholarly world of ancient history and ancient texts, little is truly unimaginable—because so little, in the end, is truly known. Despite the piles of evidence suggesting that the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife is a forgery, there remains the possibility, however slim, that it is authentic. So the question becomes this: How much historical reconstruction are scholars willing to stake on such narrow grounds? Or, alternatively: Even if the fragment were proved beyond a doubt to be authentic, could one small piece of papyrus really be so important as to fundamentally change our understanding of the past? The problem with reconstructing the distant past is that with so little evidence available, the discovery of even the tiniest pieces can lead to outsize ramifications. It’s a situation ripe for abuse. The more sensationally these sorts of discoveries are reported, the more such abuse we can expect.

Incidentally, quite a few specialists now think that the Secret Gospel of Mark may be an authentic ancient text (see, e.g., here, here, and links), even though not so many years ago the case for it being a forgery seemed just about closed. So you never know.

Background on the Gospel of Jesus' Wife is here, with links going back to the announcement of its discovery.

Burke on translating Syriac Joseph and Aseneth

TONY BURKE: Translating Joseph and Aseneth: My Role in Jacobovici and Wilson’s “Lost Gospel.”

Background here.

Bible as Notepad Conference

IN DECEMBER IN OSLO: Bible as Notepad: Bible as Notepad is a conference that gathers an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars to study notes, comments, and scribbling, in biblical and related manuscripts.

Whereas the Bible is among the world’s most studied books, most scholars are primarily occupied with its textual contents, and most editors of biblical texts concentrate on the text found within manuscripts’ columns. However, annotations are found in manuscripts cross-culturally and the notes may sometimes shed new light on the development of text traditions and historical engagement with biblical manuscripts. These other categories of writing on manuscript folios and the cultural practices that produced them have not received the attention they deserve. Hence, the Bible as Notepad conference will address annotations in different manuscript and language traditions, the various relationships between text in the column and notes in the margins, and the roles and functions of annotated manuscripts as cultural artifacts, exploring – empirically and theoretically - the various practices that produced them.

As you will see from the conference program at the link, I will be there and will be presenting a paper on an unusual manuscript of the Hekhalot Rabbati.

The Shmita

THIS IS THE SABBATICAL YEAR IN ISRAEL: Israeli farmers observe biblical sabbatical - with a wink and a nudge (Daniel Estrin, AP). Briefly, in order to keep farming so the country can eat, most of the farmers have sold their farms (short term) to a guy named George. Really. Alternatively, hydroponics can be involved.

The relevant biblical precept for the sabbatical year is found in Leviticus 25:1-7.

Golem terrorizes Portland

GOLEM WATCH: 'Grimm" Season 4 Episode 4 Spoilers: Jewish Golem Made of Clay Terrorizes Portland [WATCH] (Selena Hill, Latin Post).

In the upcoming episode of "Grimm," which is entitled "Dyin' on a Prayer," an ancient evil monster made up of clay will terrorize Portland. In addition, there will be hope for Adalind to escape her present situation if she can learn to her trust strangers, reports Carter Matt.

In a preview clip, Nick and Hank take a trip to a Jewish temple where a young Rabbi tells them about the Jewish folklore of a 16th century golem made from clay. Although its remains were supposed to be stored away in the attic of synagogue, they were reported missing in 1984 by a documentary film crew. As a result, the Rabbi shows the detectives an empty jar that was supposed to store the remains.

In the photo I see rather too much influence from The Walking Dead, especially in the golem on the right.

For many more golem posts, see here and links.

Review of Johnson, Religion and Identity in Porphyry of Tyre

MARGINALIA: The Problem with Identity in Late Antiquity – By Todd Berzon. Todd Berzon on Aaron P. Johnson’s Religion and Identity in Porphyry of Tyre: The Limits of Hellenism in Late Antiquity.

More on Porphyry here.

Anxious revolutionary years

PHILIP JENKINS has two posts up at the Anxious Bench on the second and third centuries BCE as revolutionary years for ancient Judaism:

Revolutionary Years 1

In the third and second centuries BC, the Jewish world changed very rapidly, and we see the development of many themes and debates that would shape both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism – the Last Judgment and eschatology, angels and demons, afterlife and apocalypse. In that process, one very short period of thirty or so years demands our attention, as the centerpiece of a wide-ranging spiritual revolution.

[...]

Revolutionary Years 2

In a very short period in the second century BC – mainly between 170 and 140 – Jewish thought and religion changed swiftly and fundamentally, creating a world that is familiar to later historians from Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. I have already described some of the scriptures that emerge from this world, but let me here explore some of the religious themes that now rose to central significance.

[...]

Multilingualism Conference

JUDAIC STUDIES AT YALE UNIVERSITY: Multilingualism Conference.

Over the past 20 years there has been a great deal of new work done on multi-lingualism, on material findings, and on the interaction between text and image in antiquity. These findings have had significant implications for the way we think about dynamic interactions between and within cultures in antiquity. The planned conference will explore new research on the transfer of culture in antiquity with respect to language, image, daily practice, religious ritual, and material culture.

Follow the link for the schedule (7-9 December).

Sanders on the aporia of the Torah

SETH SANDERS: The Early History of Scriptural Unreason.

Here is where we can grasp Hebrew literature’s original aporia, in the gap between the Torah and its readers that made it sometimes seem so problematic and irrational. How did the Torah first become a puzzle to its early tradents, a problem to be solved?

Asking the important questions.

On Berlin and Brettler, The Jewish Study Bible, 2nd edition

INTERVIEW: Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler on the Hebrew Bible (OUP Blog).

Winner of the 2004 National Jewish Book Award for Scholarship, The Jewish Study Bible is a landmark, one-volume resource tailored especially for the needs of students of the Hebrew Bible. We sat down with co-editors Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler to talk about the revisions in the Second Edition of The Jewish Study Bible, and the Biblical Studies field as a whole.

[...]

IOSOT Congress volume and Neusner Festschrift

NEW BOOKS FROM BRILL:

Congress Volume Munich 2013

Christl M. Maier, University of Marburg

This volume presents the main lectures of the 21st Congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT) held in Munich, Germany, in August 2013. Seventeen internationally distinguished scholars present their current research on the Hebrew Bible, including the literary history of the Hebrew text, its Greek translation and history of interpretation. Some focus on archeological sources and the reconstruction of ancient Israelite religion while others discuss the formation of the biblical text and its impact for cultural memory. The volume gives readers a representative view of the most recent developments in the study of the Old Testament.

Contributors are: Olivier Artus, Ehud Ben Zvi, Beate Ego, Irmtraud Fischer, Christian Frevel, Shimon Gesundheit, Timothy P. Harrison, Louis C. Jonker, James L. Kugel, Christoph Levin, Amihai Mazar, Steven L. McKenzie, Konrad Schmid, Yvonne Sherwood, Zipora Talshir, Akio Tsukimoto, and Jacques Vermeylen.


A Legacy of Learning
Essays in Honor of Jacob Neusner

Edited by Alan J. Avery Peck, College of the Holy Cross, Bruce Chilton, Bard College, William Scott Green, University of Miami, and Gary G. Porton, University of Illinois, Urbana.

In a career spanning over fifty years, the questions Jacob Neusner has asked and the critical methodologies he has developed have shaped the way scholars have come to approach the rabbinic literature as well as the diverse manifestations of Judaism from rabbinic times until the present. The essays collected here honor that legacy, illustrating an influence that is so pervasive that scholars today who engage in the critical study of Judaism and the history of religions more generally work in a laboratory that Professor Neusner created. Addressing topics in ancient and Rabbinic Judaism, the Judaic context of early Christianity, American Judaism, World Religions, and the academic study of the humanities, these essays demarcate the current state of Judaic and religious studies in the academy today.

Sahidic Old Testament Project

GOOD NEWS: Sahidic OT Project at Göttingen!!! (ETC).

A new Syriac Gospel in which Jesus married Mary Magdalene? I don't think so.

SHORT ANSWER, NO: Is this proof Jesus married and had two sons? Ancient manuscript said to be 'lost gospel' with a sensational twist (Harry Mount, The Daily Mail).

Barrie Wilson and Simcha Jacobovici have published a book about the well-known Syriac version of the Old Testament pseudepigraphon Joseph and Aseneth, in which they claim that the story is really a secretly-coded one about Jesus marrying Mary Magdalene. That's right: Jesus and Mary are not mentioned at all in this "Gospel," it is a story about two Old Testament characters and one has to impose an allegory of Jesus and Mary onto it, based on an imagined marriage.

The Syriac version of Joseph and Aseneth happens to be our earliest copy of the text, but we know (from the comments in the larger work in which it now imbedded) that the Syriac is a translation of a Greek text. We have many copies of this Greek text in more than one version. The origin of the Greek work is debated by scholars. Some think it is a Second-Temple-era Jewish text and others that it is a late-antique Christian one. The translator of the Syriac and the person who commissioned the translation seem to think that the book is an allegory. An allegory of what is not entirely clear, due to an unfortunate manuscript break, but something to do with "our Lord the Word." Presumably Joseph represents Jesus. I would guess that Aseneth correspondingly represents the gentile Church.

So, if Joseph and Aseneth is a Christian work (and I am not yet persuaded otherwise) and if the Syriac writers are correct in reading it as an allegory involving Jesus (and it's possible that they are), it still does not follow that the allegorical marriage of Joseph and Aseneth has anything at all to do with a literal marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The allegorical marriage of Jesus and the Church goes back to the New Testament (e.g., Ephesians 5:21-33 and Revelation 19:6-8; 21:2). The idea of a marriage of Jesus to Mary Magdalene is not explicitly attested in antiquity (the almost certainly forged Gospel of Jesus' Wife notwithstanding). It would take a lot of evidence to persuade me that Joseph and Aseneth is about Jesus and Mary.

Even if it were demonstrable that Joseph and Aseneth was about a marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, this would merely be evidence for a creative apocryphal notion thought up sometime in late antiquity (and there were many, many such notions). It would remain to prove that this text told us anything about the historical Jesus and Mary and that would be very difficult indeed to establish.

Although I always like to see the Old Testament pseudepigrapha getting some media attention, it is too bad that the fascinating and entertaining text Joseph and Aseneth is being tied in the public mind to this ingenious but highly implausible connection with a literal marriage of Jesus.

It's always possible that there is some stunning argumentation in the book that will make me change my mind, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm not going to get around to reading the book anytime soon, or more likely ever. But I will keep an eye on reviews and other scholarly commentary to see if anything interesting does arise from it.

Did Jesus actually marry Mary Magdalene? I have commented here. I put up a post on the Wilson-Jacobovici notion about Joseph and Aseneth back when it was first hinted at about a year ago, linking to very helpful comments by Mark Goodacre and Richard Bauckham.

Some responses from New Testament specialists in various media:

ABC News: Alleged 'Lost Gospel' Claims Jesus Had Wife, 2 Children: Authors of a new book say they have evidence to back up claims the savior was married to Mary Magdalene. Mark Goodacre is interviewed briefly. [Bad link now corrected.]

James McGrath: Married with Children? Recent Headlines About Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

Greg Carey: Another Jesus and Mary Magdalene Hoax.

Robert Cargill (who has already read the book): Review of “The Lost Gospel” by Jacobovici and Wilson. Key excerpt:

By that same allegorical logic, you could swap out the names of Samson and Delilah and claim that Mary Magdalene cut Jesus’ hair. Or swap out Adam and Eve and conclude that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were the primordial couple. Or read David and Bathsheba allegorically and end up with Jesus having a son named Solomon, who is guarded by the Priory of Sion, and…well, you get the picture.

UPDATE: Also Simcha Jacobovici has some pre-publication comments about the book in The Times of Israel, noting that the Syriac text was translated by Professor Tony Burke (of York University and the blog Apocryphicity): It begins!

And so it does.

Sight-reading a Maimonides autograph in the British Library

SAUL J. SINGER: Confessions Of A Judaica Document Collector (The Jewish Press).

I am walking through the British Library in London, which serves as the state repository for, among other things, treasured original documents. Outstanding works in the collection include a unique Aristotle papyrus, four original Magna Cartas, the 4th-century Greek Codex Sinaiticus Bible, a Gutenberg Bible, and Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks.

[...]

Mr. Singer's collection is mostly of modern Judaica and, although it is of great interest on its own terms, it is not very relevant to PaleoJudaica. But this cool little vignette caught my eye:

And then I turn around – and there it is, unbelievably right before my eyes: A handwritten responsa by Moshe ben Maimon, otherwise known as the Rambam or Maimonides. It is protected behind glass, but I can come within only a few inches of it and almost – almost – touch it.

As I begin to decipher the letter, trembling with excitement, a museum docent arrives with his group of some fifteen followers and offers a comprehensive and detailed discourse on Maimonides: renowned physician and Jewish philosopher, author of seminal texts on Jewish law, etc.

A member of the group asks: “But what does it say?” The docent bursts into a broad smile. “You know,” he says, grinning ear to ear “I have been conducting this tour for over 15 years, and no one has ever asked me that question. I don’t know the answer, but I will find out.”

I slowly raise my hand, which he acknowledges with a nod. “Although the Hebrew is old-style and I cannot read all of it,” I tell them, “this is a response to a question of Jewish law posed to Maimonides in which he essentially writes that the doctrine of caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”) has no place in Jewish law. That is, the seller has an absolute duty to disclose to the buyer all the material faults of the item known to him, and his failure to do so not only constitutes grounds for a ruling in the buyer’s favor, but also establishes a religious violation.”

With thick British eyebrows raised high, the docent asks, “Are you a Jewish scholar, then, sir?” I respond, much amused, “No, and I leave behind a long trail of rabbis and teachers who would happily disabuse you of that notion. Actually, I’m an average Orthodox Jew whose parents gave him the gift of a yeshiva education.”

I proceed to describe and contrast the yeshiva day school system in the United States and Britain, explaining that what is common to both is that every elementary school child is able to read the Bible in the original Hebrew, as well as centuries-old Hebrew and Aramaic texts. They are all awestruck.

Stuckenbruck, The Myth of Rebellious Angels

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:

Loren T. Stuckenbruck
The Myth of Rebellious Angels
Studies in Second Temple Judaism and New Testament Texts

The mythical story of fallen angels preserved in 1 Enoch and related literature was influential during the Second Temple period. This myth, initially attested in the Enochic Book of Watchers and picked up in further parts of 1 Enoch , was received in writings composed in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek, and had a profound impact on streams of religious thought in the western and oriental world, as well as in Africa. This volume collects studies by Loren T. Stuckenbruck that explore aspects of this influence in some of the literature and demonstrate how it was reused and adapted to address new cultural and religious contexts ( Book of Giants , Book of Jubilees , Dead Sea Scrolls, Book of Tobit, Book of Daniel, Genesis Apocryphon , Philo). In addition, apart from whether influence of the fallen angels’ tradition can be established, Stuckenbruck analyses the degree to which it offers a theological framework through which to reconsider theological approaches to several New Testament texts (Synoptic Gospels, Gospel of John, Acts, Pauline texts, and the Book of Revelation). Themes covered in the essays include demonology, prominent evil figures, giants, exorcism, petitionary prayer, the birth and activity of Jesus, the holy Spirit, conversion of Gentiles, "apocalyptic" and the understanding of time, and theological anthropology.

Follow the link for the TOC and ordering information.

Anxious angels

PHILIP JENKINS has been publishing a series of posts on angels in ancient Judaism and early Christianity over at the Anxious Bench. Here they are, with a brief excerpt from each:

Naming Angels

Angels certainly feature in the Old Testament, as divine envoys and as mighty figures in the divine court – see for instance the overwhelming Cherubim in Ezekiel 1. But they are nothing like as central as they would become in what we sometimes call the inter-testamental period, and in the subsequent history of Judaism and Christianity. Nor are these older figures given anything like an individual identity.

Enoch’s Angels

At some point in Jewish history, texts began referring to angels with specific names like Gabriel or Michael, and that trend reflects a basic shift in concepts of the supernatural hierarchy. That shift is significant itself in terms of the history of Western religion, but it particularly matters for anyone interested in early (or medieval) Christianity.

Angels at the Dead Sea

My recent posts concerned angels, and specifically when and why they acquired names and individual identities. Angels are fully developed characters in 1 Enoch, probably from the third century BC, and that text was well known in the community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls. That group had a special interest in angels and their doings, and their role in cosmic warfare.

Angels from the East?

But the story is neither simple nor straightforward. One basic problem is that we really don’t know as much as we should about the Persian system and the great prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra). Based on analogies with Western religions, we tend to assume that Zarathustra had some great insight, founded a religion, which eventually became the official creed of the mighty Persian Empire. Well, yes and no.

Thrones and Dominions

Cautiously, then, let me suggest this. Whatever the holes in our knowledge, we can safely say that the Persian world view during the occupation of Judea was Dualistic and did involve a large number of spiritual beings, good and evil, some of whom were major figures at the heavenly court. If we had more surviving writings from that Persian faith, we would perhaps see more of a resemblance to the angels and cosmic warfare that we know from 1 Enoch. So yes, with all due skepticism, I believe that the practice of naming and individualizing angels is indeed a Persian borrowing,

HB and ancient Judaism job at Durham

SENIOR LECTURESHIP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM:

Job Details
Senior Lecturer in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible
Reference Number 4117
Location Durham City
Faculty/Division Arts & Humanities
Department Theology and Religion
Grade 9
Position Type Full Time
Contract Type Permanent
Salary (£) 48743 - 54841
Closing Date 15 December 2014

Job Description
The Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University has a long-standing tradition of outstanding research and is widely recognized as one of the leading departments in its field. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise it was ranked first in the UK, while its teaching quality is shown in its consistently obtaining exceptionally high rankings in both National Student Surveys and independent league tables. Its strengths range across Biblical Studies (Old Testament / Hebrew Bible, New Testament, ancient Judaism, and Biblical languages), Christian theology (Greek and Latin patristics, the history and theology of late antiquity and the early middle ages, the Reformation, doctrinal and philosophical theology, and theological ethics), and the study of religion (the anthropology, sociology and psychology of religion). It also has centres in Catholic Studies and Death and Life Studies; and research projects in spirituality, theology and health, and Anglican studies. The Department has a welcoming and collegial atmosphere, and is beautifully sited between the Cathedral and the Castle on the World Heritage Site in the centre of the city of Durham.
The Department seeks to appoint a non-fixed-term Senior Lecturer in Old Testament / Hebrew Bible with effect from 1 September 2015. Those who currently teach in the area include Professors Walter Moberly and Stuart Weeks, while several other staff in the Department have cross-disciplinary research interests that relate to the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible. There is a fortnightly Old Testament Research Seminar, at which papers are presented by leading scholars from the UK and abroad as well as by members of staff and research postgraduates. More information about the Department is available at http://www.dur.ac.uk/theology.religion/ .
We invite applications from scholars with an established track record of excellent teaching and research in any aspect of Old Testament / Hebrew Bible studies, which may include ancient Judaism more broadly. The successful applicant will be expected to contribute to teaching at undergraduate and taught postgraduate levels, including the teaching of Hebrew, and may also be asked to contribute to teaching Aramaic or other ancient languages; to supervise postgraduate research students; to undertake outstanding research leading to publications of international significance; and to play a full part in the life of the department.
 
The university is an equal opportunities employer and acknowledges a range of flexible working practices.
 
Applications are particularly welcome from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in the University.

Job Summary and Purpose
The main features of the job will be:
a)        To conduct outstanding research leading to publications of international significance in the field of Old Testament / Hebrew Bible studies, which may include ancient Judaism more broadly.
b)        To teach at all undergraduate levels and at Masters level in the field of Old Testament / Hebrew Bible studies, including language teaching;
c)        To attract and supervise research students (MA and PhD);
d)        To submit applications for externally-funded research grants;
e)        To undertake administrative tasks in the Department of Theology and Religion, as agreed with the Head of Department.
The post-holder will be responsible to the Head of the Department of Theology and Religion.

Responsibilities
The key responsibilities of the job will be in teaching (lecturing, seminar leading, course organisation, marking, and dissertation supervision), research (writing and publication) and administration, within the team of staff constituting the Department of Theology and Religion.
‘Research’ may extend to pursuing research which may create ‘impact’ as understood by the UK Research Excellence Framework, but this is not a requirement for the post.

Person Specification
Essential

Qualifications 
1. Doctoral degree in a relevant area of scholarship
2. Track record, appropriate to career stage, of outstanding research publication 
3. Evidence of a planned programme of research that is compatible with and will enhance the Department's research profile, and including plans to secure external research income
4. Experience of teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level in Old Testament / Hebrew Bible studies, including language teaching, and where possible including experience of postgraduate research supervision and examination

Skills and Competencies 
5. The ability to teach and organize courses, and mark assignments in the field of Old Testament / Hebrew Bible studies at undergraduate and postgraduate levels
6. Excellent communication skills in English, both oral and written
7. Scholarly expertise in appropriate languages, including the ability to teach ancient Hebrew and to contribute to the teaching of Aramaic
8. Ability and willingness to work as a member of a team, in research, teaching and administration
9.  Ability and willingness to secure external research income
10. Good IT skills
11. The applicant’s research has the potential to shape the disciplinary agenda and/or create public benefit or impact in terms of individual or societal wellbeing or the economy outside the academic community.
Desirable
11. The ability to teach one or more further appropriate ancient languages

Additional Information
Guidance for written application 

1. It is essential that in your written application you give evidence of examples of proven experience in relation to the selection criteria.

2. Please include with your application
(a) A statement (of up to 1,000 words) of the research project(s) you aim to pursue in the next five years. Where relevant this should mention any potential impact you envisage your research having outside higher education.
(b) A short statement discussing your approach to beginners’ language teaching.
These materials may be incorporated into your letter of application or included as separate documents.

3. You should include a sample of your recent scholarly writing (c. 5,000-7,000 words) with your application.
At interview, shortlisted candidates will be asked to give a 20-minute presentation on an aspect of their current or recent research to a mixed audience of academic staff and postgraduates from across the Department of Theology and Religion.
 
Interviews will be held in January 2015 - date to be confirmed.

From the SOTS List.

PLO tries to censor the name "Temple Mount"

DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE: PLO Urges Journalists: Don't Use the Term 'Temple Mount.' Mahmoud Abbas's faction says journalists should only use 'Al Aqsa Mosque Compound' in blatant attempt to erase Jewish history. (Ari Soffer, Arutz Sheva).

PA chief Mahmoud Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has issued special instructions to members of the international media, urging them to stop using the term "Temple Mount," and to instead refer to the holy site as "the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound" or "Haram al-Sharif/Noble Sanctuary."

In a blatant attempt to impose a discourse erasing any reference to the Jewish character of the site, the PLO "media advisory" claims that the "Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, sometimes referred to as the Noble Sanctuary (“Haram al-Sharif” in Arabic), is the compound that contains Al Aqsa building itself, ablution fountains, open spaces for prayer, monuments and the Dome of the Rock building. This entire area enclosed by the walls which spans 144 dunums [sic] (almost 36 acres), forms the Mosque."

[...]

Be sure and follow the second link, which leads to the PLO document, which you can read for yourself. The term "Haram al-Sharif" is certainly one name for the site, but so is "the Temple Mount," and it is bizarre to claim otherwise or to demand that the latter term not be used. This odd demand, of course, contradicts the Waqf's literature on the Temple Mount from the early twentieth century, which, as the article notes, freely admitted the ancient Jewish connection to the site. Background here (where I report that a copy of the relevant Waqf pamphlet is in the St. Andrews University Main Library) and here.

Cross-file under "Jewish-Temple denial."

UPDATE: In a couple of places above I wrote "PA" when I meant "PLO." Now corrected.

Jewish Mystic Jam

THE ARTS: ‘Jewish Mystic Jam’ seeks storytelling contest entries. It doesn't sound all that mystical, but they do have a drum circle.

Tel Burna not a "cult complex" after all?

HAARETZ: Cult fiction: Pagan relics found at ancient site fail to resolve Iron Age mystery. Pagan objects were common in ancient Judahite homes and not all animal bones originate in sacrifice, not to the gods at least (Julia Fridman).

Not every ancient site sporting a war god or female figurine is a temple to Baal or Anat. Tel Burna, the "cultic complex" sensationalized in the news last month, might be that. Or it might have been somebody's house, says Itzhaq Shai, the Israeli archaeologist directing the dig: “We can’t know for sure yet.”

In any case, the focus on the cultic finds distracted from the main body of evidence, which indicates that Tel Burna was a Judahite stronghold located smack in the middle of two ancient Biblical city giants: the Philistine city of Gath and the Judahite city of Lachish.

Tel Burna, a hillside site in south-central Israel, was occupied for several thousand years, from the Bronze Age to the end of the Iron Age. It was in the kingdom of Judah, King David’s old stomping ground. There is a great deal of evidence that if anything, Tel Burna was the site of a powerful Judahite stronghold, not a cultic hub as some papers - but not the excavator - have claimed.

[...]

I expressed some skepticism about the "sanctuary" interpretation seized on by the media when the story broke. Now the excavators are doing the same, so I guess I am in good company.

The site as a whole has produced a lot of interesting finds and the "cult complex" (or rich guy's house) shouldn't overshadow them. For example, some inscribed jar handles:

Yet another sign that the town belonged to Judah are archetypal Judahite handles of large four-handled jars found there, made of local clay. The jars are thought to have held either wine or olive oil.

Some handles were decorated, including with a four-winged scarab beetle and another with a two-winged sun disk. Above these markings was the word lmlk ("[belonging] to the king," written in ancient Hebrew script), and below it one of four city names: Sochoh, Hebron, Zif and "Mmsht" (which has never been found). Similar handles have been found throughout all of ancient Judah.

Some handles also had personal seals with names of individuals. One such found at Tel Burna bears the name l’Azar Haggai. The very same name had been found on seals in the nearby site Azekah, and at Gezer, though the design of the seal found at Burna is different.

Archaeologists think the marking on the handles may have been affiliated with some sort of a Judahite administrative system.

Read it all if you can catch it before it goes behind the subscription wall.

The Talmud on conversion for love

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Converting for Love (Like Natalie Portman’s Husband)? The Talmud Forbids It. Talmudic Rabbis regulated not just actions but reputations, and left a legacy we debate and refute to this day.

The most common reason why people convert to Judaism today, I would guess, is because they want to marry a Jewish spouse. Such conversions are a sign of the amazing acceptance that Judaism enjoys in America, compared to the stigma it labored under for most of Western history. For a Christian to marry a Jew in medieval Europe meant stigmatization, isolation, perhaps even violence, as it does in many parts of the Muslim world today. For us, it is simply a personal choice, even a laudable demonstration of spousal loyalty. It was surprising to learn in this week’s Daf Yomi reading, then, that according to the Talmud, converting out of love is actually forbidden. ...

I always think of Natalie Portman's husband as Darth Vader, but I suppose that's neither here nor there.

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

Report on Digital Collation Conference

TOMMY WASSERMAN: Report from the Digital Collation Conference in Münster (ETC). I'm glad to hear that Collate is still around.

Conference on Ancient Jewish and Christian Apocalypses

APOCRYPHICITY: Conference Program for “Ancient Jewish and Christian Apocalypses.” Coming in mid-November in Berlin.

Apocrypha as fanfic

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: Of Scriptures and Superheroes (Philip Jenkins).

Some modern-day examples illustrate the kind of cultural curiosity that drives such a process of intertextuality and cross-referencing, although they are not ones that usually feature in Biblical or extra-Biblical scholarship. Bear with me in this thought-experiment.

Popular culture regularly produces figures or works that seize the imagination, heroes like James Bond or Batman, mythological worlds like Star Trek or Star Wars. Initially the works stand alone, but their respective worlds soon expand to include spin-offs and sequels, prequels and origin stories. Perhaps these offshoots develop the principal character and supply more information on his or her deeds, or else minor figures expand to become central to new works and series. Individual characters migrate into other genres and mythologies.

Reviewlet of Lim, The Formation of the Jewish Canon

LARRY HURTADO: “The Formation of the Jewish Canon”: Lim’s New Book. Earlier reviews etc. here, here, and links.

Jacobovici – Zias trial begins

BIBLE PLACES BLOG: Trial Begins in Jacobovici’s Lawsuit Against Zias.

Background here and links.

McGrath, mythicism, and the DSS

JAMES MCGRATH: Mythicism and the Teacher of Righteousness. I generally don't have the patience to engage with mythicism (i.e., the idea that Jesus never existed), but I'm glad James is willing to take it on.

Hong Kong exhibition opens

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION IN HONG KONG OPENED YESTERDAY:
Scrolls exhibit shines light on ancient links. Hong Kong was picked as the venue of the Dead Sea artefacts exhibition, which opens today, because of its cultural diversity (Elizabeth Cheung, South China Morning Post).

The main exhibits are the Gabriel Revelation Stone and a replica of the Great Isaiah Scroll. Background here. And more on China's current interest in Judaism is here and links.

Seland on Reading Philo

TORREY SELAND gives us two previews of his forthcoming book on Philo of Alexandria:

Reading Philo

Reading Philo: Why and How?

The book is: Torrey Seland (ed.), Reading Philo: A Handbook to Philo of Alexandria (Eerdmans).

McGrath on mythicism and space Jesus

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Did Jesus Die in Outer Space? (James McGrath in Bible and Interpretation).

Okay, the subtitle is "Evaluating a Key Claim in Richard Carrier’s On the Historicity of Jesus," which does nuance the title a bit. Here's the opening summary:

The attempt to use later sources, interpreted in ways that are at best open to dispute, in an attempt to argue against what generations of skeptical scholars have concluded to be likely with respect to the early Christian sources, is never going to make mythicism seem more probable than the hard-earned and intensely-researched consensus of historians and scholars, namely that there was a historical Jesus of Nazareth.

Also, Old Testament pseudepigrapha are involved.

A new Coptic magical handbook

WHAT'S NEW IN PAPYROLOGY: Choat, M, and Gardiner, I. edd., A Coptic Handbook of Ritual Power. From the new series The Macquarie Papyri.

New early fragments of b. Temura

THE TALMUD BLOG: A Tantalizing Tale of Temura Fragments – Guest Post by Noah Bickart.

As a Talmudist at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, I have long been accustomed to fantastical tales about the discovery of ancient manuscripts of the Babylonian Talmud. That famous picture of Schechter in the Geniza hangs everywhere in our halls. We are taught from the beginning not only to read Raphael Nathan Rabinovitch’s Dikdukei Soferim, but to imagine him on some Sunday morning in Rome, unlocking the Vatican Apostolic Library with his own set of keys, sitting down to transcribe Vatican 109 by candlelight. We hear of our own Haim Zalman Dimitrovsky, who supervised the doctorates of so many of our own teachers (Shamma Friedman, Mayer Rabinowitz, Joel Roth, and Burton L. Visotzky among countless others), roaming the monasteries of Italy, excato knife in hand, no binding safe from the search for more Seridei Bavli. And yet, we are accustomed to thinking that the time for these kinds of monumental discoveries, of even a few leaves of a Tractate stuffed into the binding of a 16th century print, has long past, and that only European libraries and monasteries might hold more finds. You can imagine my surprise when I found myself staring at an image in a Facebook message of what looked to my own eyes as an early European manuscript of the Bavli, apparently having formed the cover of a book of Church Music published in Prague in 1604, now housed in Fales Library at New York University.

[...]

Bit by bit, a letter at a time, whatever it takes. Until we're done.

Arch of Titus video

KHAN ACADEMY: Relief from the Arch of Titus, showing The Spoils of Jerusalem being brought into Rome. Narrated by Dr. Steven Fine and Dr. Beth Harris.

HT reader Yehoshua Rabinowitz. Lots more on the Arch of Titus here (scroll down) and links.

Destruction of Jewish heritage in the Middle East

ISRAEL HAYOM: Jewish heritage sites in Arab counties face extinction Old Jewish synagogues and cemeteries in Syria, Iraq, Libya and the rest of the Arab world are being turned into mosques or completely destroyed • Several Jewish organizations are sparing no effort to preserve these historic sites (Ksenia Svetlov). This article reports some very disturbing developments. Except:

This chaos has made the fate of the Jewish sites all too predictable. While several synagogues are still standing in Baghdad, Ezekiel's Tomb has been turned into a mosque. Most of the ancient Jewish inscriptions there have been destroyed or covered with cement. Daniel's Tomb in Mosul was blown up by Islamic State, which opposes worship at tombs in general, whether they are the tombs of Jewish prophets or relatives of the Prophet Muhammad in Mecca and Medina. In other areas, Islamic State and other jihadist groups are destroying sites held sacred by Shiites, including magnificent mosques, as well as Christian churches.

The atmosphere destruction has reached Syria as well. Aleppo's historic market suffered severe damage recently, together with the Umayyad mosque in Damascus and many Jewish sites. The Jobar Synagogue in Damascus, also known as the Prophet Elijah Synagogue, was demolished in May 2014. The site is in ruins, and no one will do anything to save what remains of the beautiful building that the Jewish community constructed in the Middle Ages.

Almost 20 years ago, the manuscripts known as the Damascus Codices, books of the Hebrew Bible that were written in Tiberias in the 10th century C.E., were removed from the Hosh al-Basha Synagogue in Damascus and taken out of Syria in a daring Mossad operation. They are now in the National Library in Jerusalem, far from those who dream of the destruction of books and people alike.

I have been following reports about the (traditional) Tomb of Ezekiel for years (most recently here). Reports from several years ago about its fate were pretty positive, but if this latest report is accurate, recent developments have taken a serious turn for the worse. More on the destruction of the Jobar Synagogue and on those Hebrew manuscripts from Damascus is here and links. I had heard of the destruction of the (traditional) tomb of Jonah in Mosul, but this is the first I recall hearing about the destruction of the (traditional) Tomb of Daniel there, although I see now that it too has been included in the news reports.

More on When the Greeks Ruled Egypt

EXHIBITION REVIEW: When the Greeks Ruled Egypt (James Romm, New York Review of Books). Excerpt:

Egypt was a melting pot of languages as well as of religious traditions. Aramaic arrived in the sixth century BCE as the lingua franca of Egypt’s Persian conquerors, joining the Greek, Carian, and Hebrew tongues already spoken there by pharaoh’s foreign mercenaries. A superb set of Aramaic papyri displayed in this show provides a kind of biographic sketch of one Ananiah, a Jewish garrison soldier stationed at Elephantine (modern Aswan) who married an Egyptian slave named Tamet, acquired property, refurbished his home, and passed on his estate to his children, Pilti and Jehoishema. Though they precede the Ptolemies by a century, and have no connection either to the Greeks or their rule, these perfectly preserved documents illustrate one family’s journey through time in the polyglot, multiethnic valley of the Nile.

Ananiah lived in an Egypt that chafed under Achaemenid Persian conquerors who ruled from afar and disdained local traditions. Small wonder then that the Ptolemies, who made themselves at home in Egypt and embraced much of its culture, proved such a long-lived and successful dynasty, overthrown in the end not by revolt or rebellion but by the armies of the rising power of Rome.

Background on the exhibition is here. More on the Elephantine papyri is here and links.

Zoroastrianism article

ARASH ZEINI: Zoroastrianism in Iranian history. A 2012 article by Michael Stausberg available online.

Moxnes, A Short History of the New Testament

NEW BOOK FROM I. B. TAURIS:

A Short History of the New Testament
Halvor Moxnes

£12.99 | $25.00

Few documents in world history can match the inspirational impact of the New Testament. For all its variety – gospels, letters and visions – this first-century collection of texts keeps always at its centre the enigmatic figure of Joshua/Jesus: the Jewish prophet who gathered a group around him, proclaimed the imminent end of the world, but was made captive by the authorities of Rome only to suffer a shameful criminal’s death on a cross. When his followers (including former persecutor Saul/Paul) became convinced that Jesus had defeated extinction, and had risen again to fresh life, the movement crossed over from Palestine to ignite the entire Graeco-Roman Mediterranean world. The author shows how the writings of this vibrant new faith came into being from oral transmission and then became the pillar of a great world religion. He explores their many varied usages in music, liturgy, art, language and literature. In discussing its textual origins, as well as its later reception, Moxnes shows above all how the New Testament has been employed both as a tool for liberation and as a means of power and control.

The Ketef Hinnom amulets

THE BIBLE PLACES BLOG: Artifacts of the Month: Ketef Hinnom Silver Amulets (Mike Caba).

And they are very cool artifacts, although I don't think they have any relevance for the dating of the Pentateuch. All they tell us is that the particular liturgical pronouncement inscribed on them is as old as 600 BCE, which is no particular surprise. Background here and links.

Review of Anton, Enchantress

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE: Heaven sent: Judaism’s magical mystery tour of the Talmud’s sorcery, spells (Toby Tabachnick).

The magic conjured up by J.K. Rowling in her “Harry Potter” series and the magic revealed in Maggie Anton’s new book, “Enchantress,” are two very different kinds of magic, according to the author best known for her popular “Rashi’s Daughters” trilogy.

“I didn’t make up the spells, like in ‘Harry Potter,’” Anton explained.

Rather, she said, the spells that appear in “Enchantress,” her fictional account of the life of Rav Hisda’s daughter — a character described in the Talmud, were all derived from actual incantations inscribed on Jewish archaeological artifacts dating from fourth-century Babylon.

[...]

Yes, but more like seventh-century Babylon. Background here and links.

Studia Philonica Annual XXVI

TORREY SELAND: The Studia Philonica Annual XXVI 2014. It's about to be published. Follow the link for TOC and additional information.

Visiting Fellowships in Oxford: Israel in Egypt / Egypt in Israel

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW: Visiting Fellowships in Oxford: Israel in Egypt / Egypt in Israel: An investigation of the land of Egypt as concept and reality for Jews in Antiquity and the early medieval period.

For Jews in ancient and medieval Palestine and the Diaspora, the land of Egypt was a real place and also an abstract notion shaped by scriptural texts. The nation-defining episode of the Exodus of the Israelites, the unequivocal injunction in the Torah not to return to Egypt (Deut 17:16) and the negative attitude of biblical writers in general towards Egypt, existed in tension with the fact of Jewish residence there. Jewish settlements in Egypt ranged from the time of Jeremiah, to the Jewish military garrison in Elephantine during the Persian period, to major settlements and above all the huge urban community in Alexandria under the Ptolemies and Romans. Though all these disappear in the second century following the revolt of 115–17 CE and the extermination of the Jews of Egypt under Trajan, the presence of Jews is attested again in the fifth century by patristic writers, and then through Byzantine and Islamic rule into the medieval period, principally by the documents preserved in the Cairo Geniza.

The ‘Israel in Egypt’ project addresses a number of questions about identity and belonging among Egyptian Jews over the course of one and a half millennia.

Follow the link for further particulars and application information.

Lindbeck, Elijah and the Rabbis

TALES RETOLD: Elijah's women (Caren Schnur Neile, Florida Jewish Journal).

The Talmud is the written record of the spoken conversations and questions, teachings and stories of the Sages. It documents a Jewish oral tradition that continues in one form or another to the present day.

One of the most prominent characters in Rabbinic literature is Elijah, who appears in many guises, serving as herald, mediator, adviser and teacher. According to Dr. Kristen Lindbeck at Florida Atlantic University, Elijah's duties include protecting travelers, helping those in financial distress, and devising useful stratagems.

In her book "Elijah and the Rabbis: Story and Theology," Dr. Lindbeck recounts oral Elijah tales from the Babylonian Talmud, with a few exceptions. "The Seven Good Years" first appeared in a tenth-century midrash from Israel. Like all oral narrative, every retelling is different. The following is my own, closely based on that of Dr. Lindbeck. Pay close attention to the role of the farmer's wife ...

This book was noted earlier here.

Taylor Swift and the DSS

CULTURAL ICON WATCH: Don't go breaking my heart - Taylor Swift opens up. The Dead Sea Scrolls come up in the most unexpected places:

Taylor Swift, however, is very much a big deal. Her every utterance and action is world news or at least trending on Twitter. Her lyrics are dissected by culture vultures as though they are the Dead Sea Scrolls of post-teen angst. ...

Biblica

THE JOURNAL BIBLICA, a longstanding staple of biblical studies, is online for free (for reading but not downloading) and archived back to 1979. I haven't mentioned it in years. Thanks to AWOL for the reminder.

Punic shipwreck

PUNIC WATCH: Archaeologists Recover Artifacts from 2,200-Year-Old Roman Shipwreck (Sci-News.com).

Italian archaeologists and divers from a Florida-based group called Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) have recovered a wide range of artifacts from an ancient shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea, off the Aeolian Island of Panarea near Italy.

The ship, dubbed Panarea III, is believed to have sailed around 218-210 BC, during the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage.

[...]

On board were lots of interesting artifacts, including a vessel bearing a Greek inscription, which the excavators think was used as a sacrificial altar. Also the Daily Mail has an AP article on the discovery here with more photographs and a video.

More on the Punic Wars here and links. Note also that the discover of a somewhat older Phoenician shipwreck was announced last summer.

New director of the IAA

POLITICS: Israel Antiquities Authority taps politician with ties to rightist NGO
Kadima’s Israel Hasson has links to Elad, which administers the City of David archaeological site in Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood. (Nir Hasson, Haaretz).

The Israel Antiquities Authority has tapped the Kadima party’s Israel Hasson to be its next director — a politician controversial for his ties to the Elad NGO that encourages Jews to move to the Silwan neighborhood in Arab East Jerusalem.

Hasson has been approved by the authority’s board on the recommendation of Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat. The appointment, which archaeologists have criticized due to Hasson’s lack of experience in the field, still needs the approval of the Civil Service Commission and the cabinet.

The director’s post is a powerful one when it comes to archeological digs around the country, not to mention the preservation and research of Israel’s archaeological heritage.

Hasson has served both as a deputy director of the Shin Bet security service and as a Knesset member for Kadima. He would succeed Shuka Dorfman, who died in July. A number of leading archaeologists vied for the post but were rejected.

[...]

Background on the search for a new IAA director is here. And there's lots more on Elad here, here, and links.

DSS replica plus Gabriel Revelation in Hong Kong

EXHIBITION: Hong Kong to get a glimpse of largest of the historic Dead Sea Scrolls (Elizabeth Cheung, South China Morning Post).

A copy of the largest of the Dead Sea Scrolls, some of the oldest and most significant texts ever discovered, will go on display in Hong Kong next week, alongside the Gabriel Revelation Stone, often called the “stone scroll”.

The Great Scroll of Isaiah, which is 734cm long, is the largest and most complete of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls which were discovered in caves near the West Bank, next to the Dead Sea, in 1947.

The scroll, written in Hebrew, contains the entire 66 chapters of the Book of Isaiah.

Dating from between 120BC and 100BC, the scroll is considered to be one of the oldest of those discovered. “The Great Isaiah Scroll conveys the importance of the prophet Isaiah in Jewish belief and is 1,000 years older than the oldest manuscripts in the Hebrew Bible,” said Dr Adolfo Roitman, an Israeli expert on the scrolls.

While the original scroll is kept in Israel, a copy will be displayed in Hong Kong.

[...]

More on the Isaiah Scroll and its replicas is here and links. And there's lots more on the Gabriel Revelation (formerly, the Vision of Gabriel) here and links.

The schools of Hillel and Shammai

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: How To Solve Disputes Between Schools of Jewish Thought? In Private, or Not at All. At what point does a disagreement between groups of Jews become a point of religious principle, which cannot be compromised?. Excerpt:

Clearly, what concerns the rabbis when it comes to factionalism is the possibility of Jews disagreeing about the Law in public. No wonder even the greatest sages hesitated to get involved in disputes between the two schools. “They asked Rabbi Yehoshua: What is the law with regard to the rival wife of a daughter? He said to them: It is a matter of dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel.” But this evasive answer wasn’t enough to satisfy the questioners, who pressed him: “And in accordance with whose statement is the law? He said to them: Why are you inserting my head between two great mountains?” Getting caught between Hillel and Shammai was like being caught in a war between mountains—or, as we might say, between rock and a hard place. No wonder it took a divine voice to settle the argument between them.

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

Review of Berkowitz, Defining Jewish Difference

MARGINALIA: Not Like the Egyptians – By Jonathan Boyarin. Jonathan Boyarin on Beth A. Berkowitz’s Defining Jewish Difference: From Antiquity to the Present.

How much difference can one sentence make? Defining Jewish Difference traces several vital moments in the reception history of a single verse that is all about the making of differences. In Beth Berkowitz’s English rendering, verse 3 of chapter 18 in the book of Leviticus reads: “Like the practice of the land of Egypt where you have dwelled, you should not practice, and like the practices of the land of Canaan to which I am bringing you, you should not practice, and in their laws you should not go.” No doubt the verse has been read countless times over the centuries, in ritual and other contexts, without readers or listeners bothering to query just what it might mean. Which practices are intended? All? Only those that conflict with practices somehow already established as distinctively Israelite? Are Egyptian practices different from Canaanite, or is the repetition intended only for rhetorical emphasis? Are only Egyptian and Canaanite practices foresworn, since these might well be seen as the most dangerously proximate Others of the Biblical Israelites, or do they stand as representative of all non-Israelite (and later, of all non-Jewish) peoples? What is the difference between practices and laws, and what is the difference between practicing and going?

[...]

UPDATE: The link to the review is no longer working. I have contacted the Marginalia Review of Books to find out what happened. I will report back when I know more.

UPDATE: The piece is now back up with a new URL and a corrected author attribution (also corrected above).

Syriac conference in Oxford

SYRIAC WATCH: Oxford Syriac Conference Jan 2015: Call for Papers (Peter Head, ETC).

Translation, transmission, and influence

This conference explores the intellectual cultures of Syriac-language literary and scholarly communities of the late antique (c. 3rd-9th century) Near and Middle East. It will also provide an opportunity for postgraduate and emerging scholars in the fields of biblical studies, theology and religion, late antique and Byzantine studies, near eastern studies, and rabbinics to present their work on Syriac literature within the University of Oxford’s vibrant late antique studies community.

Follow the link for further particulars.

Another SBL events for bloggers (now updated)

ALIN SUCIU: SBL Coptic Sushi Night.

I've never tried Coptic sushi. I wonder if it's good.

UPDATE: Another one: SBL ETC Blog Dinner.

Cambridge Teachers of Rabbinics

HISTORY OF SCHOLARSHIP: Cambridge Teachers of Rabbinics, posted at the Faculty of Divinity website.

Christianity and Judaism in ancient Iran

ARASH ZEINI notes two recent articles relating to late-antique Iran:

The rise of Christianity in Iran;

Iranian Jewry in late antiquity.

Both can be read online. Follow the links

Henoch XXXVI 2014/1

IN THE MAIL: Henoch XXXVI 2014/1, edited by my St. Andrews colleague William Tooman. Included are the papers on the Temple Scroll presented in a section that I chaired at the 2013 meeting of the International Society of Biblical Literature here in St. Andrews.

Yale manuscript digitization project

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Experts in New Haven working with ancient texts see modern connections (New Haven Register). Excerpt:

[Tasha] Dobbin-Bennett is a papyrologist, her work a key part of the process of digitizing the collection of 7,000 papyrus and parchment documents held at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. She is one of a five-member team, led by Paula Zyats, assistant chief curator for Sterling Memorial Library.

[...]

Yale’s collection of 7,000 catalogued papyrus and parchment documents, acquired in 1931, is second only to the University of Michigan’s and ranges from the mundane to the earliest known copy of the Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians and gnostic texts, including part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Working on well-known texts is easier in some ways but presents its own difficulties, because finding differences is a significant part of the task.

Translations into ancient Egyptian of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey — the Beinecke has 36 fragments of the Greek writer’s poetry — show how far the works, originally spread by oral tradition, traveled. “The Homer pieces are amazing for that,” says Dobbin-Bennett. “We get little snapshots of (how) Homer must have been performed … thousands and thousands of miles away from Greece.

[...]

Just to clarify, since the phrasing is a little confusing, the Dead Sea Scrolls are not Gnostic.

More on Yale's antiquities collections here. And more on many other manuscript digitization projects is here and links.

Chinese Hebraist game-show contestant

MORE CHINESE INTEREST IN JUDAISM: Hebrew U student represents Israel to millions on popular Chinese game show. During Lechao Tang’s screen-time, the show rose to China’s second most-viewed program (Eitan Arom, Jerusalem Post). Excerpt:

Tang represented Hebrew University in a popular Chinese game show earlier this month that pitted students from schools across the world against one another. His unlucky opponent hailed from the University of Cambridge, with other contestants representing Yale and Harvard.

But whereas Harvard and Yale are well-known abroad, Tang said that in China, the typical response when he says he studies in Israel is: “Where’s Israel?” “We are easternmost Asia and Israel is westernmost Asia,” he said. “I’m lucky to be the person to connect them.”


[...]

For Tang, merely appearing on television as a student from Israel was “a really honorable and special opportunity.” A master’s student in bible studies, Tang seeks to bridge the gap between the Chinese and Jewish cultures, which he says share many values and philosophies.

He runs a blog in Chinese about ancient Israel. He teaches Hebrew via Web videos for the Chinese online education startup One Man University, which are sometimes the first introduction to Hebrew for newcomers from China.

Related stories noted here and links.

Review of Denzy Lewis, Cosmology and Fate

REVIEWS OF BIBLICAL AND CHRISTIAN STUDIES:

Nicola Denzey Lewis
Cosmology and Fate in Gnosticism and Graeco-Roman Antiquity: Under Pitiless Skies
In Brill, Nicola Denzey LEWIS, Sarah Parkhouse, Uncategorized on October 16, 2014 at 10:00 am

2014.10.16 | Nicola Denzey Lewis. Cosmology and Fate in Gnosticism and Graeco-Roman Antiquity: Under Pitiless Skies. (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 81). Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2013.

Reviewed by Sarah Parkhouse, Durham University.

Many thanks to Brill for providing a review copy.

Nicola Denzey Lewis’ Cosmology and Fate in Gnosticism and Graeco-Roman Antiquity reveals that in Gnostic and Graeco-Roman texts, the skies are not pitiless. The aims of the book are three-fold: firstly, a survey of how second-century authors understood astrological fate (heimarmene) as controlled by cosmic beings; secondly, the suggestion that these authors (almost) consistently offered their readers an escape from heimarmene; and, thirdly, further deconstruction of the orthodoxy-heresy dichotomy. The book demonstrates Denzey Lewis’ impressive knowledge of all things second century, explicitly shown by her ability to discuss fate in New Testament, Middle Platonic, Stoic, Gnostic, Manichean, Hermetic, pagan and proto-orthodox texts, despite stating that ‘language of “enslavement to Fate” in antiquity was rare’ (p.28).

[...]

Muchnik, The Gender Challenge of Hebrew

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Gender Challenge of Hebrew

Malka Muchnik, Bar-Ilan University

The Gender Challenge of Hebrew is the first book to delve in depth into the problem of gender representation over the 3,000-year history of the Hebrew language. By analyzing and illustrating the grammatical characteristics of gender in Biblical, Mishnaic, Medieval and Modern Hebrew, Malka Muchnik reveals the social and cultural issues that they reflect.

Gender discrimination in all periods of Hebrew is shown in sacred, liturgical and literary texts, as well as in the popular language spoken today. All of them testify to the problematic status of women, who were traditionally excluded from religious studies and public activities, and in recent decades have been struggling to change this practice. Malka Muchnik shows that linguistic change remains a challenging goal.

New books on ancient Greek

TWO IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS ON THE STUDY OF ANCIENT GREEK:

First, from Brill:

Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics (3 vols)

General Editor: Georgios K. Giannakis (Thessaloniki)

The Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics (EAGLL) brings together the latest research from across a range of disciplines contributing to our knowledge of Ancient Greek. The EAGLL offers a systematic and comprehensive treatment of all aspects of the history and study of Ancient Greek, comprising detailed descriptions of the language from Proto-Greek to koine. It addresses linguistic aspects from several perspectives, including history, structure, individual singularities, biographical references, schools of thought, technical meta-language, sociolinguistic issues, dialects, didactics, translation practices, generic issues, Greek in relation to other languages, etc., and on all levels of analysis including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon, semantics, stylistics, etc. It also includes all the necessary background information regarding the roots of Greek in Indo-European. As and when, excursions may be made to later stages of the language, e.g. Byzantine or even later. The focus, however, will predominantly be Ancient Greek. With well over 500 entries on all aspects of Ancient Greek, this new encyclopedia is the authoritative reference work for students and researchers of Ancient Greek, general linguistics, Indo-European languages, and Biblical literature.

And here's one from Eisenbrauns:

No Stone Unturned
Greek Inscriptions and Septuagint Vocabulary
Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible - CSHB 5
by James K. Aitken
Eisenbrauns, 2014
xiv + 140 pp., English
Paper
ISBN: 9781575063249
List Price: $28.95
Your Price: $26.06
www.eisenbrauns.com/item/AITNOSTON

For understanding biblical Greek in context, the importance of the discoveries of papyri was recognized early in the twentieth century, while inscriptions by comparison were left unexplored. Those scholars who had intended to turn their attention to the inscriptions were delayed by their work on the papyri and by the conviction that the greater results would come from these. As a result, undue focus has been placed on papyri, and biblical Greek words have been viewed only through their lens, leading to the inference that the Greek is specifically Egyptian and vernacular. This volume widens the focus on Septuagint words by demonstrating how the inscriptions, coming from a broader geographical region than papyri and containing a wider range of registers, are a source that should not remain untouched.

This work explains the current state of the study of Septuagint vocabulary and outlines the competing roles of papyri and inscriptions in its interpretation, including the limitations of focussing solely on papyri. The practical issues for a biblical scholar in dealing with inscriptions are presented and some guidance is given for those wishing to explore the resources further. Finally, examples are drawn together of how inscriptions can illuminate our understanding of Septuagint vocabulary, and thereby inform the socio-historical position of the Septuagint. The origins of apparently new words in the Septuagint, the semantic and grammatical function of words, and the geographical distribution and register all demonstrate the need for further investigation into this field.

Woes of smaller museum collections

IT'S HARD: Biblical-Era Collections Suffer in a New World of Archaeology (Geraldine Fabrikant, NYT)

In recent decades, countries that house remains of the ancient world have become determined to keep archaeological finds within their borders. Partly as a result, many smaller archaeological museums at religious-affiliated schools across the United States, lacking the financial resources to buy works or borrow actively from other collections, are scrambling to increase the museums’ appeal.

“Today they are often filling those museums with information, rather than with objects,” said Aaron Brody, director of the Badè Museum at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif. In the process, they have become largely “legacy museums,” he said.

For the Tel Zayit Abcedary see here and links. The Siegfried H. Horn Museum has also been mentioned here, although the links have now rotted.

Who wrote the Pentateuch?

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Who wrote the Torah? For thousands of years people believed that the five books of the Pentateuch were written by Moses. But it couldn't have been, academics say. (Elon Gilad). As usual with Haaretz, read this quickly before it goes behind the paywall.

The answer in this article describes the classical Documentary Hypothesis pretty well, although (1) the second creation story in Genesis uses the divine name YHWH Elohim, not just YHWH, and (2) the idea that the name of the writer of Deuteronomy was Shaphan (cf. 2 Kings 22:8-14) assumes that Deuteronomy was composed during Josiah's reign, whereas many specialists think that what was found in the Temple was an older document (old even in Josiah's time) which eventually served as the basis for our current book of Deuteronomy. In any case, specialists in Pentateuchal source criticism now tend to have some significant reservations about much of the classical Documentary Hypothesis. I have said more on the current state of this question here.

But, yes, everyone agrees that the Pentateuch was written long after the time of Moses, if there was a Moses.

Obama, Hannibal, etc.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Is Obama a modern-day Quintus Fabius Maximus? (Brian Michael Jenkins, Los Angeles Times).

President Obama has been repeatedly accused of delay. Critics say he dragged his feet on sending more troops to Afghanistan, on addressing the dangers in Libya, on providing support to Syria's rebels and, most recently, on initiating military action against Islamic State.

But is that necessarily such a bad thing? Calculated delay has a long history as an effective military strategy, dating back at least to the Second Punic War in the 3rd century BC.

[...]

Although America is constantly compared to ancient Rome, this is the first time I can remember the comparison being to Rome during the Punic Wars.

Also, in The Mirror Tom Parry has a review of A History of the World in Numbers, by Emma Marriott, which includes this tidbit:

To launch the second Punic War (218–201BC), Carthaginian general Hannibal took an army of about 30,000 men and 37 elephants across the Pyrenees and Alps into Italy to fight the Romans.

One elephant survived – apparently named Surus, meaning “the Syrian”. Hannibal often rode it.

Carthage, on the coast of modern Tunisia, fell to the Romans in 146BC. They massacred 200,000 people and sold the remaining 50,000 as slaves.

More, recently, on the Punic Wars is here. Cross-file under "Punic Watch."

Le Donne on Perrucci

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Who is Ignazio Perrucci? (Anthony Le Donne).

Background here.

Hey, another copper scroll!

ARASH ZEINI: A note on the Schøyen copper scroll. This is a bibliographic note that leads to an article by Étienne de la Vaissière. The scroll itself is a Buddhist donation inscription written in Sanskrit and "Brahmī."

For the Qumran Copper Scroll (and facsimiles of it), see here and links. Inscriptions on metal are rare, but not unknown in the ancient world. Other examples are the gold cuneiform tablet and the gold tablets in Phoenician and Etruscan. A legendary example is mentioned in the Treatise of the Vessels. And the fake metal codices are an infamous and now thoroughly debunked fake example, but some genuine ancient lead inscriptions are noted here, here, and links.

Mind-boggling family law in the Talmud

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: The Talmud’s Difficulty Is What Makes the Talmud ‘Talmudic’—And Unlike the Law. Daf Yomi: In rabbinic Judaism, study is not merely a pragmatic enterprise, but a religious act in itself

Complex as this situation might appear, it is child’s play compared to some of the truly mind-bending hypotheticals that the rabbis raised in this week’s reading. We have often seen in the Talmud that the rabbis devote just as much attention to extremely unlikely possibilities as to real-world scenarios. This is, indeed, one of the things that make the Talmud “Talmudic” in the pejorative sense. Why, the impatient reader might wonder, spend so much time analyzing situations that surely would never arise in real life? Yet it is crucial to remember that, in rabbinic Judaism, the study of the law is not merely a pragmatic enterprise, like going to law school today. The study of Torah is a religious act in itself. The law forms a complete and perfect logical system, and all of its ramifications are equally valuable parts of that system. In American law, one sometimes hears the maxim “hard cases make bad law”: The more unusual and complex the case, the less suitable it is to serve as a precedent. The rabbis believe just the opposite: The law is never more fascinating to them than when it is difficult.

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

Very small very old coins

INCLUDING THE "WIDOW'S MITE": Small Change: The Tiniest Ancient Coins (Mike Markowitz, CoinWeek).

In the local coinage of first century Judea, the smallest denomination was a bronze coin called a lepton in Greek and a half prutah in Hebrew.

Hadrian inscription in Jerusalem

NEWS FLASH: WATCH: 2,000-year-old inscription dedicated to Roman emperor unveiled in Jerusalem. Israel Antiquities Authority: This is among the most important Latin inscriptions ever discovered in Jerusalem. (Jerusalem Post).

A rare fragment of a stone engraved with an official Latin inscription dedicated to the Roman emperor Hadrian, discovered in the capital in July by the Antiquities Authority, was unveiled at Rockefeller Museum in east Jerusalem Tuesday morning.

[...]

The inscriptions [sic], consisting of six lines of Latin text engraved on hard limestone, was read and translated by Avner Ecker and Hannah Cotton of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The English translation of the inscription is as follows: “To the Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, son of the deified Traianus Parthicus, grandson of the deified Nerva, high priest, invested with tribunician power for the 14th time, consul for the third time, father of the country (dedicated by) the 10th legion Fretensis Antoniniana.”

Ecker, a Ph.D candidate, said the inscription was dedicated by Legio X Fretensis to the emperor Hadrian in the year 129/130 CE.

“The fragment of the inscription revealed by the IAA archaeologists is none other than the right half of a complete inscription, the other part of which was discovered nearby in the late nineteenth century, and was published by the pre-eminent French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau,” he said.

[...]

Sphinx excavated

ARCHAEOLOGY: Giant Sphinx from 'Ten Commandments' Film Unearthed
(Laura Geggel, LiveScience).

Hidden for more than 90 years beneath the rolling sand dunes of Guadalupe, California, an enormous, plaster sphinx from the 1923 blockbuster movie "The Ten Commandments" has been rediscovered and is now above ground.

[...]

Aramaic in Israel and on The Simpsons

MODERN ARAMAIC WATCH: First Arameam Gets Registered in Israel (Arutz Sheva). Background here and links.

And on a far less serious note: The Simpsons Halloween Special: Homer and Co Haunted? Where to Watch 'Treehouse of Horror' Online (Ruchinka Upadhyaya, International Business Times; my bold-font emphasis).

The animated comedy's 25th annual Halloween instalment, contains a segment that parodies The Others, in which the Simpsons are haunted by another ghostly family living in the house. These ghosts turn out to be none other than their crudely drawn former selves. The Simpsons, originally surfaced in 1987 as a series of animated shorts on [Tracey] Ullman's sketch comedy show.

And the second segment shows Bart and Lisa being transported to a demon-filled alternate universe after Bart reads a set of Aramaic symbols he finds on the underside of his desk.

I hate it when that happens.

The Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting

NEW JOURNAL: The Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting.

Introducing,
the Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting (JJMJS) -
FREELY AVAILABLE ONLINE FROM OCTOBER 20!

JJMJS is a new interdisciplinary peer-reviewed online journal, published in cooperation with Eisenbrauns.

A rich variety of Jewish and Christian traditions and identities mutually shaped one another in the centuries-long course of Roman Late Antiquity. A no less rich variety of scholarly approaches – from the history of Christian Origins to that of the late empire, from archaeology to Dead Sea Scrolls, from Rabbinics to Patristics – has in recent years converged upon this period, the better to understand its religious and social dynamics. JJMJS seeks to facilitate and to encourage such scholarly investigations across disciplinary boundaries, and to make the results of cutting-edge research available to a worldwide audience.

JJMJS is free of charge with complete open access. The journal is published in cooperation with Eisenbrauns and will be available in hard copy, which can be ordered from Eisenbrauns.

SBL blogger events

IN SAN DIEGO NEXT MONTH: Bibliobloggers’ Gatherings at SBL/AAR (James McGrath). Planning is in progress. I'm not sure what else I have going on that Saturday evening, but I may see you there. Fortress also has a bloggers' roundtable on the Monday. Follow the link for both.

A Cross logion on Hebrew

HARVARD MAGAZINE publishes an interesting inquiry from an alumnus:

Thomas Burrows hopes, after a half-century of searching, that someone can provide him with the source of the following assertion, delivered by Professor Frank Moore Cross during an elementary Hebrew course: “It was a saying of the ancient rabbis that you may as well learn Hebrew now because you will need it in the world to come.”

I was around Cross quite a bit for five years in the 1980s and I never heard him mention this particular saying. I do know that there is a Jewish tradition or saying that Hebrew is the language of heaven, but I don't have a specific reference. It does seem to be implied in the Talmud in b. Shabbat 12a, which advises making intercession for a sick person in Hebrew, because angels don't know Aramaic.

Baal sanctuary?

EXCAVATION: Ancient Cult Complex Discovered in Israel (Owen Jarus, Livescience).

A massive cult complex, dating back about 3,300 years, has been discovered at the site of Tel Burna in Israel.

While archaeologists have not fully excavated the cult complex, they can tell it was quite large, as the courtyard alone was 52 by 52 feet (16 by 16 meters). Inside the complex, researchers discovered three connected cups, fragments of facemasks, massive jars that are almost as big as a person and burnt animal bones that may indicate sacrificial rituals.

The archaeologists said they aren't sure who was worshipped at the complex, though Baal, the Canaanite storm god, is a possibility. "The letters of Ugarit [an ancient site in modern-day Syria] suggest that of the Canaanite pantheon, Baal, the Canaanite storm god, would have been the most likely candidate," Itzhaq Shai, a professor at Ariel University who is directing a research project at Tel Burna, told Live Science in an email.

[...]

The goddess Anat is also in the running. This is an exciting discovery and I hope it does turn out to be a major sanctuary. But I'll believe it's a Baal sanctuary when they find an inscription that says "House of Baal" or the like. Or better yet, another copy of the Ugaritic Baal epic.

Bejewelled watchers

JACK COLLINS: Addendum - to his excellent review of the Noah movie, noted here. So there's precedent after all for the idea of watchers made of stone.

More on Noah here and links.

Gathercole on the Gospels

BRITISH NEW TESTAMENT CONFERENCE 2014 PLENARY LECTURE: Simon Gathercole on the canonical and non-canonical Gospels. Summarized by Steve Walton. I was there too and I thought it was an impressive lecture.

Some Brill books

NEW BOOKS FROM BRILL:

The Divine Courtroom in Comparative Perspective

Edited by Ari Mermelstein and Shalom E. Holtz, Yeshiva University

Contributors to The Divine Courtroom in Comparative Perspective treat one of the most pervasive religious metaphors, that of the divine courtroom, in both its historical and thematic senses. In order to shed light on the various manifestations of the divine courtroom, this volume consists of essays by scholars of the ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, Talmud, Islam, medieval Judaism, and classical Greek literature. Contributions to the volume primarily center upon three related facets of the divine courtroom: the role of the divine courtroom in the earthly legal system; the divine courtroom as the site of historical justice; and the divine courtroom as the venue in which God is called to answer for his own unjust acts.


Eating in Isaiah
Approaching the Role of Food and Drink in Isaiah's Structure and Message

Andrew T. Abernethy, Wheaton College

In Eating in Isaiah Andrew Abernethy employs a sequential-synchronic approach to explore the role of eating in the structure and message of the book of Isaiah. By focusing on 'scaffolding' chapters (Isaiah 1; 36–37; 55; 65-66), avenues open for exploring how eating operates within the major sections of Isaiah and how the motif enhances the book's coherence. Furthermore, occurrences of eating in Isaiah create networks of association that grant perspective on significant topics in the book's message, such as Zion, YHWH’s kingship, and YHWH's servants. Amidst growing scholarly interest in food and drink within biblical literature, Eating in Isaiah demonstrates how eating can operate at a literary level within a prophetic book.


The Lawsuit Motif in John’s Gospel from New Perspectives
Jesus Christ, Crucified Criminal and Emperor of the World

Per Jarle Bekken, University of Nordland, Bodø

The study sheds fresh light on aspects of the lawsuit motif in John from the background of Diaspora-Jewish and Greco-Roman data and perspectives. – John’s narrative of the attempts on Jesus for such crimes as breaking the Sabbath, blasphemy, and seduction are illuminated from Philo’s perspectives on vigilante execution. – Furthermore, John’s narrative of the official Jewish and Roman forensic procedures against Jesus can also be situated within the framework of the Greco-Roman administration exemplified by the legal papyri from the Roman Egypt. – Philo’s expectation of an eschatological emperor, who shall rule over many nations, provides a cultural context for the way John’s gospel re-inscribed Jesus as the true “Emperor” of all the nations.