SUKKOT SUPER-BLOOD-MOON-TETRAD FINALE: Blood moon: Your stunning photographs of the lunar eclipse over the North East. People across the region were tempted from their beds by a rare celestial event combining a lunar eclipse and a supermoon in early hours of Monday (BARBARA HODGSON, Chronicle Live). Lots of good photos. Also in The Guardian: Super moon and lunar eclipse combine for 'blood moon' – pictures from around the world (Jonny Weeks).
As the latter headline hints, a "super moon" is a full moon while at the moon's closest point to the earth and a "blood moon" happens during a lunar eclipse. Both happened together last night, which coincided with the beginning of Sukkot. This is a fairly rare coincidence, but not so rare as to be an apocalyptic one.
I last saw the full moon last night at about 11:00, when it was just starting to go bloody. And I woke up and went out again at 4:45 am in time to see a remaining crescent from the eclipse. None of my photos came out as well as the ones linked to above, so I won't post any here.
Background here and links.
Monday, September 28, 2015
NASSCAL
TONY BURKE: NEW ACADEMIC ASSOCIATION DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA.
At the conclusion of the 2013 York Christian Apocrypha Symposium there was discussion of creating a North American academic association for the study of Christian Apocrypha, a counterpart of sorts to l’AELAC (the French/Swiss group of scholars responsible for the Corpus Christianorum Series Apocryphorum and other publishing endeavours). We soon established a founding board and met at SBL in November 2014 to consider the group’s mandate, possible collaborative projects, and the very important decision of what do we call the thing? After a few false starts we came up with the North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL). Since November we have elected an executive and created a web site to promote the group and to build a membership. The existence of the group was formally announced at this past weekend’s 2015 York Christian Apocrypha Symposium.Background here. The website of the new society is here: NASSCAL: The North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature.
[...]
Review of Ziedan, Azazeel
BOOK REVIEW IN THE JORDAN TIMES: ‘Storms we have stifled’ (Sally Bland).
The title refers to a name of the devil, who is also a character in the story. His name comes from the Hebrew name Azazel, on which more here. I don't know where the extra "e" comes from, but perhaps this is just an Arabic form of the name?
AzazeelThis novel was first released in Egypt in Arabic in 2010 and was controversial. It was published in the English translation in 2012.
Youssef Ziedan
Translated by Jonathan Wright
London: Atlantic Books, 2013
Pp. 312
Youssef Ziedan’s novel, “Azazeel”, has many layers, each of them fascinating in its own right. At the narrative level, it is the diary of a 5th century monk named Hypa, who undertakes a number of significant journeys, spiritual and temporal. Born in Upper Egypt along the Nile, the disintegration of his family leads him to migrate to Alexandria, then Jerusalem, Syria, north of Aleppo, and Antioch. Other layers of the story involve history, culture, philosophy, psychology, love, religion and spirituality.
Hypa’s descriptions of the people, landscapes, cities and customs he encounters weave a fascinating tapestry of life in a time which is largely forgotten. It is a multilingual and multicultural world peopled by Greeks, Arabs, Kurds and Turks, speaking Syriac (Aramaic), Greek, Arabic, Coptic, etc. It is also a world in transition and turmoil as Christianity advances at the expense of paganism, only to be embroiled in internal doctrinal squabbles.
[...]
The title refers to a name of the devil, who is also a character in the story. His name comes from the Hebrew name Azazel, on which more here. I don't know where the extra "e" comes from, but perhaps this is just an Arabic form of the name?
A seal, not a coin
CONFUSION: 10 Year Old Volunteer Discovers Ancient Coin in Israel (David DeMar, The New Historian).
This doesn't seem complicated to me, but this is the second time I've seen this sort of confusion recently. Back in June someone was confusing a Canaanite-era Egyptian scarab seal with a coin. Story here.
An ancient coin dating back to the tenth century BCE – roughly the time of the reign of King David – was recently discovered by a 10 year old volunteer from Russia who had been participating in the Temple Mount Sifting Project in Jerusalem.No, this was not a coin. Coins were not invented until some centuries after the time of this artifact. It is a seal — a stone object carved with an image (not writing in this case, alas) which is pressed into clay (or later wax). The clay impression is called a "bulla" (plural "bullae) and was used to seal documents shut. You can read about the story here.
[...]
This doesn't seem complicated to me, but this is the second time I've seen this sort of confusion recently. Back in June someone was confusing a Canaanite-era Egyptian scarab seal with a coin. Story here.
The Temple Mount Sifting Project
TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Jewish history’s greatest archaeological crime. The Temple Mount Sifting Project, now in its 10th year, has uncovered hundreds of thousands of invaluable antiquities from tons of ancient debris discarded like trash from Judaism’s holiest site (DANIEL K. EISENBUD, Jerusalem Post).
In 1999, thousands of years’ worth of fragile and irreplaceable Jewish archaeological antiquities were surreptitiously and violently dug up by Arab bulldozers at Judaism’s holiest site, Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, to build an entrance to a subterranean mosque.I have been blogging on this story ever since the Temple Mount Sifting Project's inception, but a reminder never hurts. Background here with many, many links.
The resulting thousands of tons of invaluable debris – believed to contain over 1 million artifacts dating back to the First Temple period – were then carted off in dump trunks and discarded like garbage to a nearby landfill in Jerusalem’s Kidron Valley.
According to internationally recognized archaeologist Gabriel Barkay, PhD, who is the co-director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, located near Mount Scopus, the removal represents perhaps the greatest archaeological crime in history.
[...]
However, only slightly more than 50 percent of the reclaimed earth has been sifted, and a massive shortfall in the project’s funding now seriously endangers the possibility of continuing the work. In an effort to ensure that the project continues, Barkay and Dvira launched a crowdfunding campaign earlier this month.
[...]
In the meantime, despite a growing Arab campaign to rewrite Jewish history at the contested holy site, Barkay notes the sifting project has been instrumental in irrefutably proving the inexorable link between Jews and the Temple Mount.
“Even now we have new information that may well change the written history of some of the periods of the Temple Mount,” he says.
“The sifting project has proven itself to be an inexhaustible source of knowledge for the research and study of the archaeology and history of the Temple Mount, and the project is continuing full steam with many more finds waiting to be discovered by professionals and visitors who come to work at the site.”
[...]
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Sukkot 2015
THE FESTIVAL OF SUKKOT (BOOTHS, TABERNACLES) begins this evening at sundown. Best wishes to all those observing it.
Biblical and other background to the festival is collected here in last year's Sukkot post.
Also, there is this good news: Super blood moon on Sunday will not usher in the end of the world (and other failed predictions) (JAKE ELLISON, SFGate.com). This is the last of the four "blood moons" corresponding with four successive major Jewish holidays, on which more here and links. When the world doesn't end tonight (assuming it doesn't), we should have some peace on the matter again for a while.
Biblical and other background to the festival is collected here in last year's Sukkot post.
Also, there is this good news: Super blood moon on Sunday will not usher in the end of the world (and other failed predictions) (JAKE ELLISON, SFGate.com). This is the last of the four "blood moons" corresponding with four successive major Jewish holidays, on which more here and links. When the world doesn't end tonight (assuming it doesn't), we should have some peace on the matter again for a while.
Israel Beer Museum
IT KEEPS A LOW PROFILE ONLINE, but I just learned from a photo caption in this article that Carlsberg has a brewery in Ashkelon and its Visitor Center includes a Beer Museum. (This website caption places it in Eilat, but that seems to be an error. See the directions in the right-hand column.)
The visit includes the following: a spectacular audio-visual display in a unique auditorium; tour of the brewery, a prize-winning state-of-the-art plant; visit to the museum which describes the story of beer production in ancient times, with an exciting archeological display of authentic tools on loan from the Israeli Antiquity Authorities. Unique pub museum in which the visitor can taste the brewery’s products - unlimited!Background on ancient Near Eastern and biblical beer is here and links.
Lied on Codex Ambrosianus B.21 marginalia
LIV INGEBORG LIED: Details in the margin – not marginal details: A liturgical annotation in the Syriac Codex Ambrosianus.
More on manuscript Codex Ambrosianus B.21 here and here (cf. here). Cross-file under Syriac Watch.
A small annotation such as this one may seem (literally) a marginal detail. However, it may turn out to be an interesting detail, since it sheds some additional light on a hypothesis that has been repeated in scholarship ever since Ceriani published the facsimile edition of the codex in 1876/1883. In the Praefatio of this edition, Ceriani suggestes that the codex was probably not produced for ecclesiastical use, since it includes neither liturgical notes, nor an index of lessons. He notes, though, that the occasional liturgical note occurs in the columns of some texts, but suggests that this is due to the fact that the scribe copied the texts in question from an exemplar that contained such notes (p. 8).Details matter.
More on manuscript Codex Ambrosianus B.21 here and here (cf. here). Cross-file under Syriac Watch.
Workshop on ancient Nabataean rituals
NABATEAN WATCH: Ancient Nabataean rituals uncovered and explored at IFPO workshop (Saeb Rawashdeh, The Jordan Times).
AMMAN (JT) — Under the patronage of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, the French Institute for the Near East (IFPO) held on September 17th a workshop titled “Offerings to Gods, Offerings to Man — Archaeology of Rituals in the Nabataean World“.Seen on Facebook. For some past posts on the Nabateans (Nabataeans), the Nabatean (Nabataean) language, and Petra, see here and links.
Ancient Nabataean heritage, language and rituals were at the forefront of the discussion, as nine distinguished scholars gathered from global universities to present their findings.
Archaeologists, historians and anthropologists specialising in Nabataean legacy covered the territories of southern Jordan and northwestern Saudi Arabia in order to reconstruct life in this ancient kingdom.
[...]
Biblical and African manuscripts at the University of Jos
IN NIGERIA: Uni-Jos pushing boundaries on ancient manuscripts collection (Hir Joseph,The Daily Trust).
A research work on ancient manuscripts - now lasting two years so far - has brought the University of Jos (UNIJOS) in Plateau State pushing boundaries in the collection of original, unpublished documents especially about Africa.The article doesn't specify this, but it sounds as though these manuscripts may be from the Van Kampen Collection, which was originally located in Grand Haven, Michigan, but is now in Orlando, Florida, associated with the not uncontroversial Holy Land Experience theme park.
The university is on its way to breaking the record among universities in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to Professor Danny McCain, an American author who is leading a research group made up of a dozen scholars from five universities in Nigeria on a work called “Ancient Manuscripts Project.”
[...]
Ancient manuscripts project:
The ancient manuscript project, brought the university linking up with Ancient Manuscript Group based in Grand Haven, Michigan, according to Professor McCain, who is also a professor of Biblical Theology in the department at the university.
McCain has lectured continuously at UNIJOS since 1991 and has had significant experience creating academic projects and coalitions in Africa. He is also the founder and Chairman of Board, Global Scholars, a group of Christian professors in universities worldwide.
He said the Ancient Manuscripts Group has been visiting the country every three months to do workshops with scholars.
“We have about 12 to 15 scholars involved in this project. These are ancient biblical manuscripts and other manuscripts which are important to the Christian faith because they are the foundation of the bible,” McCain said.
“Now, we have a 600 year old Hebrew scroll with us; we have been analysing for the last three months. We have also analysed 800-year old Latin manuscript. We have one of my PhD students doing works on 4th Century Coptic document.”
He said the group of scholars has spent a good deal of time looking at the Papyrus document; that is one of the earliest papers from 1600 years old to over 2,200 years old.
“For example, I have a picture of the Vice Chancellor holding a document in his hands; a letter from Ptolemy II, son of Ptolemy I, Alexander the Great’s general who ruled Egypt.
[...]
Saturday, September 26, 2015
A new fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh
CUNEIFORM SURPRISE: The Newly Discovered Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh (Osama S. M. Amin, Ancient History et cetera). The fragment, which was recovered from the antiquities market in 2011 and published in The Journal of Cuneiform Studies in 2014, contains new material from the Cedar Forest episode. You can read the JCS article at the link in Mr. Amin's post. Somehow I missed the story last year, so I am happy to catch up with it here.
Mr. Amin tells the story of the identification of the tablet and summarizes its contents:
Bit by bit, a letter at at time, whatever it takes. Until we're done.
Mr. Amin tells the story of the identification of the tablet and summarizes its contents:
The Second Temple Jewish Aramaic Book of Giants (also adopted as scripture by the Manicheans [Manichaeans]) remembers both Gilgamesh and Humbaba (Huwawa), and perhaps also the Flood hero Utnapishtim, as antediluvian giants.
- The revised reconstruction of Tablet V yields text that is nearly twenty lines longer than previously known.
- The obverse (columns i-ii) duplicates the Neo-Assyrian fragments which means the Epic tablet can be placed in order and used to fill in the gaps between them. It also shows the recension on Tablet V was in Babylonia, as well as Assyria and that “izzizūma inappatū qišta” is the same phrase that other tablets being with.
- The reverse (columns v-vi) duplicates parts of the reverse (columns iv-vi) of the late Babylonian tablet excavated at Uruk that begins with the inscription “Humbāba pâšu īpušma iqabbi izakkara ana Gilgāmeš”.
- The most interesting piece of information provided by this new source is the continuation of the description of the Cedar Forest:
- Gilgamesh and Enkidu saw ‘monkeys’ as part of the exotic and noisy fauna of the Cedar Forest; this was not mentioned in other versions of the Epic.
- Humbaba emerges, not as a barbarian ogre, and but as a foreign ruler entertained with exotic music at court in the manner of Babylonian kings. The chatter of monkeys, chorus of cicada, and squawking of many kinds of birds formed a symphony (or cacophony) that daily entertained the forest’s guardian, Humbaba.
- The aftermath of Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s slaying of Humbaba is now better preserved.
- The passages are consistent with other versions and confirm what was already known. For example, Enkidu had spent some time with Humbaba in his youth.
Bit by bit, a letter at at time, whatever it takes. Until we're done.
YCAS 2015
TONY BURKE is currently holding this year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium at York University. It has an excellent lineup of speakers and papers. Tony has been blogging speaker profiles etc. over at Apocryphicity and James McGrath, who is one of the presenters, has been blogging the conference over at Exploring Our Matrix. The Twitter hashtag is #YCAS2015. Good times.
Review of Rapp, The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes
BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Review: The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes. Notes a review by Adam McCollum of Rapp, Stephen. 2014. The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.
Old Georgian language and literature has been receiving a lot of attention lately, not least through Adam's efforts. Background here and links.
Old Georgian language and literature has been receiving a lot of attention lately, not least through Adam's efforts. Background here and links.
Another persecuted Egyptian blogger
FREE SPEECH INTERLUDE: Convicted Egyptian blogger posts Israel fan vid. Sherif Gaber, dodging a one-year jail sentence for atheist activism, says Arab world is envious of Jewish state’s achievements (Stuart Winer, Times of Israel blog).
Hey, General Sissi's Government: the world is watching. Just saying.
Background here and here, sadly, with many links. To be fair, none of come from the time of General Sissi's Government, until now. Let's see them do better than this.
Gaber made headlines earlier this year when he was sentenced to a year in prison for “contempt of religion” after authorities at the Suez Canal University in Ismailia where he was studying reported him in 2013 for setting up a pro-atheism Facebook page.Dear me, Egyptian governments come and go, but this sort of persecution keeps happening. I have not heard of Mr. Gaber before today and I flag this story not because he posted a pro-Israel video, but because I support his right to express his religious and political views, whatever they are.
Bail was set for about $130 until an appeal could be heard but Gaber went on the run and has been in hiding ever since.
Hey, General Sissi's Government: the world is watching. Just saying.
Background here and here, sadly, with many links. To be fair, none of come from the time of General Sissi's Government, until now. Let's see them do better than this.
Jewish Studies Visiting Chair at the College of Charleston
H-JUDAIC: JOB: College of Charleston, YNorman and Gerry Sue Arnold Distinguished Visiting Chair in Jewish Studies. Follow the link for further particulars. The application deadline is January 15, 2016.
Friday, September 25, 2015
3000-year-old seal found in Temple Mount rubble
THE TEMPLE MOUNT SIFTING PROJECT: Special Media Release: Rare 3,000-Year-Old Seal Discovered within Earth Discarded from Temple Mount.
Many, many previous posts on the Temple Mount Sifting Project are here (cf. here, here, here) and links. Cross-file under Temple Mount Watch. A post on the 2014 discovery of some anepigraphic bullae (clay seal impressions) from the same period in the northern Negev is here.
Rare 3,000-Year-Old Seal Discovered within Earth Discarded from Temple MountAlas, it is an anepigraphic seal — no writing. But if the suggested early date holds up, it could have implications for our understanding of the level of administrative sophistication in Jerusalem around the tenth century BCE.
Seal, dating to period of the Biblical kings David & Solomon discovered at Temple Mount Sifting Project
JERUSALEM, September 21, 2015 — A rare 3,000 year-old seal dating to the period of the Biblical kings David and Solomon of the 10th century BCE was recently discovered at the Temple Mount Sifting Project in Jerusalem.
“The seal is the first of its kind to be found in Jerusalem,” stated Dr. Gabriel Barkay, the co-founder and director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project. “The dating of the seal corresponds to the historical period of the Jebusites and the conquest of Jerusalem by King David, as well as the construction of the Temple and the royal official compound by his son, King Solomon… What makes this discovery particularly significant is that it originated from upon the Temple Mount itself.”
[...]
Many, many previous posts on the Temple Mount Sifting Project are here (cf. here, here, here) and links. Cross-file under Temple Mount Watch. A post on the 2014 discovery of some anepigraphic bullae (clay seal impressions) from the same period in the northern Negev is here.
A Hellenistic-era Christianized mikveh
THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:
A Unique Mikveh in Upper Galilee
A mikveh in the Holy Land which shows a cross on its wall
By Eldad Keynan
Bar Ilan
Israel
September 2015
Hebrew/Jewish Studies job at NYU
H-JUDAIC: JOB: NYU, Hebrew and Jewish Studies. Follow the link for further particulars. The rank is open and there is no mention of a fixed term for the post. The deadline for application is 15 October 2015, so don't dawdle.
Airstrikes at Palmyra
PALMYRA WATCH: Syria government airstrikes pound IS-controlled Palmyra (AP).
Background here and here and links.
Background here and here and links.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Electrum coins from Carthage
PUNIC WATCH: Electrum coins weren't just issued early on: Ancients Today. Cities still use alloy after switch to pure gold and silver (David Vagi, Coin World).
As the production of electrum coinage in Asia Minor died out in the 320s, it is most curious that the tradition was then taken up at the other end of the Mediterranean by Carthage, a Phoenician settlement on the shore of North Africa, just southwest of Sicily.It's good to know these things. Cross-file under Numismatics.
The earliest precious metal coins of Carthage, dating to about 350 B.C., were made of pure gold, but by about 320 B.C. they were substituted with staters of electrum.
These were issued in very large quantities, along with multiple and fractional denominations that were produced only occasionally and in relatively small quantities. The standard design for the Carthaginian stater was the head of the goddess Tanit and a standing horse.
They mainly appear to have been issued from circa 320 to 270 B.C. After that prolific era, Carthage also struck electrum coinage during its three wars with Rome: the First Punic War (264 to 241 B.C.), the Second Punic War (218 to 201 B.C.), and the Third Punic War (149 to 146 B.C.).
Judaic Studies Chair at UT
THE HUGOYE LIST: Job Ad: Judaic Studies. The job is an Endowed Chair in Judaic Studies and Program Director in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Follow the link for further particulars. Review of applications begins October 21, 2015.
Jewish-Temple denial and "extremist" Talmudic rabbis
TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: The current conflicts at and about the Temple Mount have led to some predictable, but still disappointing, rhetoric. First, from the Egypt Independent/Anadolu Agency: Palestinians warn of extremist plan to demolish Al-Aqsa.
I'm not going to comment on the various claims and counterclaims about what has recently been happening on the Temple Mount. I wasn't there and I can't judge. But I do note that this article cites and approves of some unhistorical denial that there ever were Jewish temples on the site. The bold emphasis is mine.
The United Nations, for its part, seems not to be helping matters with its own rhetoric: U.N. Can’t Even Say ‘Temple Mount’ (Stewart Ain, The Jewish Week).
Likewise, if the Palestinians want their concerns to be taken seriously, they should stop denying that Jewish temples once stood on the site and, indeed, that they were the original reason the site was regarded to be holy.
Palestinian activists warn that extremist Jewish groups in Israel — which they say enjoy the tacit support of Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government — are now openly calling for the destruction of occupied East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque to make way for a "third Jewish temple".I have commented with some concern about some of the rhetoric coming out of groups that advocate the rebuilding of the Temple on the Temple Mount, so I don't blame Palestinian groups for being concerned as well. But Jews already refer to the site as the "Temple Mount" because there were Jewish temples there in the past, not because some groups want to (re)build a temple there.
Recent weeks have seen large groups of Jewish settlers, usually accompanied by Israeli army troops and police, forcing their way into the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex — which Jews already refer to as the “Temple Mount” — with increasing frequency.
I'm not going to comment on the various claims and counterclaims about what has recently been happening on the Temple Mount. I wasn't there and I can't judge. But I do note that this article cites and approves of some unhistorical denial that there ever were Jewish temples on the site. The bold emphasis is mine.
According to Ziad Hammouri, a Palestinian expert on these extremist Jewish groups, the current Israeli government uses these right-wing organizations “to stage incursions by settlers into the Al-Aqsa compound”.Extremist Jewish rabbis? Who compiled the Talmud? What does that even mean?
He went on to cite groups such as Rabbis of the Temple Mount, Women of the Temple Mount, the Temple Mount Faithful, Kahana Chai, Kach and Lahiva.
“These organizations openly call for the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque to make way for what they call the ‘Temple of Solomon’, which they claim was destroyed in 586 BC during the Babylonian Captivity,” Hammouri told Anadolu Agency.
[...]
Hammouri went on to explain that these groups adhere to an ideology laid out in the Talmud, which – as opposed to the Torah, the Jews’ traditional holy book – was compiled over the centuries by extremist Jewish rabbis.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site after Makkah and Medina. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount,” claiming it was the site of both Solomon’s Temple and a second temple built during the reign of King Herod (destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD).Mr. Hammouri seems to want to cast doubt even on the existence of the Herodian Temple, which goes farther than even Yasser Arafat and, more recently, one Dr. Jamal Amer have been willing to go. Evidence for the existence of the First Temple and the Second and Herodian Temples on the the Temple Mount is collected at the links.
The United Nations, for its part, seems not to be helping matters with its own rhetoric: U.N. Can’t Even Say ‘Temple Mount’ (Stewart Ain, The Jewish Week).
Now, on the eve of the annual gathering of world leaders for the U.N. General Assembly and smack in the middle of the High Holy Days, Jewish leaders are saying the world body came up with another doozy. This time, it couldn’t even bring itself to use the term favored by Jews to refer to the area housing the Western Wall and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.If the U.N wants to be taken seriously as an honest broker, it would do well to use terminology that reflects the positions of both sides. No one disputes the title "Haram al-Sharif," the Noble Sanctuary, which refers to the Islamic shrines on the site. But "Temple Mount" refers to the past presence of Jewish temples on the site, which is a matter of historical record and is important to Jews (and Christians).
The U.N. Security Council issued a statement last Thursday expressing “grave concern regarding escalating tensions in Jerusalem, especially surrounding the Haram al-Sharif compound, including recent clashes in and around the site.” It went on to call for “restraint, refraining from provocative actions and rhetoric and upholding unchanged the historic status quo at the Haram al-Sharif — in word and in practice.” It added that Muslims “must be allowed to worship in peace, free from violence, threats and provocations.”
Likewise, if the Palestinians want their concerns to be taken seriously, they should stop denying that Jewish temples once stood on the site and, indeed, that they were the original reason the site was regarded to be holy.
Conservation at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Precious pigments and high-tech solutions: unlocking Chester Beatty texts. Library conservators combine science and creativity in protecting and restoring the collection of 20,000 objects (Dick Ahlstrom, The Irish Times).
UPDATE: Broken link now fixed!
There are few places where sticky goop made from fish meets mass spectrometry, other than in the conservation unit of a museum. The old and the new sit easily together, however, when in the hands of experts.A number of projects are described, including these two:
The conservation unit of the Chester Beatty Library is just such a place. It has some of the oldest documents in Europe and one of the world’s finest collections of Qur’ans. There are rare and precious objects, such as imperial robes from ancient China and surgical tools dating back a millennium.
The collection includes more than 20,000 objects, of which only 1 per cent of which are on display at any one time. It was assembled by Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, an Irish- American mining millionaire, who was born in the US, was naturalised British in 1933, and was granted honorary Irish citizenship in 1957.
[...]
[Chief conservator and head of collections Jessica] Baldwin referred to a conservation challenge, the Manichaean papyrus that she describes as “the sod of turf”. It suffered from repeated floodings by the Nile river before being acquired by Beatty and is in poor condition.More on the Chester Beatty collection is here and here.
Yet it may hold the last text of the Iranian prophet Mani who founded the Manichaean religion. It thrived during the third to seventh centuries, spreading from the Mediterranean across to China, and rivalled Christianity at the time.
She is studying ways to retrieve the texts it holds, unlocking a text that has been closed for centuries.
[...]
Conservator Julia Poirier is working on the Samaritan Pentateuch dating from 1339, part of the Hebrew collection at the library. She applies ancient Japanese techniques to conserve the pages. She uses “washi”, a form of tough paper made from the mulberry tree to strengthen cracks and breaks in the pages. She dyes it with “yasha” made by boiling up alder tree cones, to achieve a good colour match with the parchment.
She sticks bits of the dyed washi to reinforce the parchment using “isinglass”, a kind of glue made from the swimming bladder of the sturgeon fish.
Yet high tech enters in a collaboration with University of York where cells are lifted from the parchment for DNA analysis to determine what animal provided the original skins and to measure any deterioration.
UPDATE: Broken link now fixed!
Fixed-term post at Colby College
H-JUDAIC: JOB: Colby College, Jewish Studies (sabbatical replacement). A one-year position. Deadline for full consideration is 1 November 2015.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
On the origins of Yom Kippur
A MYSTERY: Origin of Yom Kippur: Not Moses, but a Murder in the Temple? While tradition says that observance of the Day of Atonement was initiated by Moses, careful reading of the Bible indicates that the holiday was a much later contrivance (Elon Gilad, Haaretz). Some interesting speculation on the possible origins of the festival being observed today. Mr. Gilad's first point is indubitable:
Again, it's an interesting idea and I can't prove it's wrong, but I think it is historically more plausible to look for the origins of new festivals in new social trends than in a specific event.
Mr. Gilad published an article last year exploring the possible connection of the Day of Atonement to the Mespotamian spring New Year festival, the Akitu. This is possible as well. I give my own very tentative view of the origins of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur in this post. This is not so much a theory as a notion, but it still makes sense to me.
It may simply be omission that Yom Kippur is not mentioned in the rest of the Bible. But in the passages dealing with events observed during the month of Tishri, the silence on the Day of Atonement is glaring.The evidence he collects is compelling and it is clear that the Day of Atonement was not celebrated in the pre-Exilic Temple cult or even during the Exile and into the early Restoration period. His guess that it was established around 400 BCE is plausible. Mr. Gilad then suggests the following:
The Roman-Jewish historian Josephus Flavius recounts a story pertaining to these individuals, which may hold the key to the origins of Yom Kippur.Maybe. But we should be cautious. Josephus was writing centuries after the events he described and we don't what his source was or if it is reliable. He includes quite a few stories in the Antiquities which are obviously legends and this may be one too. Moreover, even if the story is true, it is speculative, if not implausible, to connect it to the founding of the Day of Atonement. It really only pushes much of the problem back a step, leaving us to ask how the priests thought they could introduce a new festival into the calendar as though it were an old one, and where the ritual in Leviticus 16 came from in the first place.
When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem in 444 B.C.E., he found that the Jews in the city were mixing with the local population. Even worse, Jeshua, son of Joiada the high priest and heir to the priesthood, married the daughter of his enemy Sanballat the Horonite, governor of Samaria: “And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me,” he writes (Nehemiah 13:28). When Joiada died, Nehemiah replaced him with Jeshua’s younger brother, Johanan. But then, in 413 B.C.E., Nehemiah himself died.
According to Josephus, in his book “The Antiquities of the Jews,” Bagoas conspired with Jeshua to have him replace his younger brother as high priest. When Johanan learned of this, he confronted his brother in the Temple and killed him. When Bagoas subsequently heard what had happened, he rushed to the Temple. “Have you had the impudence to perpetrate a murder in your temple!” Bagoas shouted as he made his way into the holy sanctuary. Those in attendance pleaded with him not to enter as his presence would defile the Temple. He ignored their cries, declaring, “Am not I purer than he that was slain in the temple?”
Josephus doesn’t say what happened after this shocking event took place. But clearly, this was a huge crisis. The Temple had to be cleansed, but how?
After looking through the Bible and not finding reference to a ceremony that could make amends for what had happened, Johanan and his fellow priests must have looked elsewhere, until they found the text that constitutes what is now the bulk of Leviticus 16, describing the ritual carried out by Aaron.
Again, it's an interesting idea and I can't prove it's wrong, but I think it is historically more plausible to look for the origins of new festivals in new social trends than in a specific event.
Mr. Gilad published an article last year exploring the possible connection of the Day of Atonement to the Mespotamian spring New Year festival, the Akitu. This is possible as well. I give my own very tentative view of the origins of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur in this post. This is not so much a theory as a notion, but it still makes sense to me.
On blogs and consensus
JAMES MCGRATH: A Blog-Based Consensus? With reference to the question of the authenticity of the Gospel of Jesus Wife. It's true that most of the discussion has been in the blogosphere and many of the important advances have first been made public there. But it is also important that those advances have now been published in peer-review publications, which require more rigor than a blog post. Specialist blogs have the advantage of being able to advance the discussion much more rapidly in a preliminary way, and I think this is a significant contribution. But I would not want to see them replace peer-review publication.
Specialist blogs also make a significant contribution when they evaluate stories about unpublished ideas that receive a lot of media attention without the benefit of any formal scholarly publications. The fake metal codices are a good example. The story was announced and the media became very excited, but specialist blogs evaluated the case and found it severely wanting. There are still no peer-review publications on the Jordan codices after four and a half years — I think because there is no case for their authenticity that could pass peer review. But be that as it may, in the absence of peer-review analysis, the blog discussions raised many important points that the media probably would have missed and are the closest we have to a preliminary scholarly consensus. Any advance in the discussion would require some real arguments to be made against this consensus, preferably arguments published in peer-review venues.
Past PaleoJudaica posts on the idea of scholarly consensus are here and links.
UPDATE: Background on the GJW is here and links. And in that post I respond to the latest essay by Baden and Moss, mentioned in McGrath's post cited above.
Specialist blogs also make a significant contribution when they evaluate stories about unpublished ideas that receive a lot of media attention without the benefit of any formal scholarly publications. The fake metal codices are a good example. The story was announced and the media became very excited, but specialist blogs evaluated the case and found it severely wanting. There are still no peer-review publications on the Jordan codices after four and a half years — I think because there is no case for their authenticity that could pass peer review. But be that as it may, in the absence of peer-review analysis, the blog discussions raised many important points that the media probably would have missed and are the closest we have to a preliminary scholarly consensus. Any advance in the discussion would require some real arguments to be made against this consensus, preferably arguments published in peer-review venues.
Past PaleoJudaica posts on the idea of scholarly consensus are here and links.
UPDATE: Background on the GJW is here and links. And in that post I respond to the latest essay by Baden and Moss, mentioned in McGrath's post cited above.
Jewish studies post at Stanford
H-JUDAIC: JOB: Stanford University, Jewish Religion and/or Thought.
The Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University invites applications and nominations in the area of the study of Jewish religion and/or thought for a tenure-line, open-rank position. The successful applicant must demonstrate substantial evidence of creativity and excellence in research and scholarship as well as a commitment to excellence in teaching and advising students at both graduate and undergraduate levels. He or she may specialize in any area or period of the study of Jewish religion and/or thought.Follow the link for further particulars. The deadline for the receipt of applications is 30 October 2015.
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Sea of Galilee quiz
THE ASOR BLOG: Can you pass this Sea of Galilee quiz? Don't expect to get a perfect score unless you happen to be an expert on everything to do with the Sea of Galilee.
Jewish Studies is struggling
DEMOGRAPHICS: Jewish Studies Struggling on Several Fronts, Study Says (JTA, rpt. The Forward).
Student enrollment in Jewish studies classes is declining, and newly minted Jewish studies professors are having a significantly harder time finding tenure-track positions, a new survey foundThese are the trends in higher education in general, especially in the humanities.
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Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Yom Kippur 2015
YOM KIPPUR, the Day of Atonement, begins this evening at sundown. An easy fast to all those observing it.
Biblical etc. background on Yom Kippur is here and links.
UPDATE (23 September): More historical discussion here.
Biblical etc. background on Yom Kippur is here and links.
UPDATE (23 September): More historical discussion here.
The search for the tomb of the Maccabees
ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY PRESS RELEASE: Is the Large Mausoleum Recently Uncovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Residents of the Modi‘in Region Really the Tomb of the Maccabees? The Israel Antiquities Authority is calling on the public to donate, volunteer and be part of the journey in discovering one of the most fascinating stories in Israeli archaeology. The short answer to the question is "Maybe."
Background here and links.
According to Amit Re’em and Dan Shahar, excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “There is no doubt that the structure that was uncovered is unusual. The descriptions from 150 years ago were revealed right here in front of our eyes, and we discovered the magnificent burial vaults, enormous pillars that apparently supported a second story, a forecourt that led to the tomb and other associated buildings. To our disappointment, the building seen by our predecessors had been robbed, and its stones were taken to construct settlements in the vicinity; nevertheless, the appearance of the place is impressive and stimulates the imagination. The archaeological evidence currently at hand is still insufficient to establish that this is the burial place of the Maccabees. If what we uncovered is not the Tomb of the Maccabees itself, then there is a high probability that this is the site that early Christianity identified as the royal funerary enclosure, and therefore, perhaps, erected the structure. Evidently one cannot rule out the assumptions of the past, but an excavation and a lot of hard work are still required in order to confirm that assumption unequivocally, and the riddle remains unsolved–the search for the elusive Tomb of the Maccabees continues".Pending additional funding. A very interesting project.
Background here and links.
Satlow interview
MICHAEL L. SATLOW is interviewed by Jason Schulman for New Books in Jewish Studies, with special attention to Prof. Satlow's recent book How the Bible Became Holy.
Reviews of the book etc. are noted here and links.
Reviews of the book etc. are noted here and links.
Syriac post at Fordham
SYRIAC WATCH: Job in Syriac studies at Fordham (Jeanne-Nicole, the Hugoye List).
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY, Department of Theology, invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professorship, beginning Fall 2016, in the field of Syriac Christianity. Candidates must have the ability to teach both the content of Syriac theological literature and the Syriac language. The ability to teach courses on Islam at the undergraduate level is also required.Follow the link for further particulars. The deadline for receipt of applications is 16 October 2015.
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When is a nazirite not a nazirite and a sin not a sin?
THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Why in Jewish Law Good Can Be Evil and Evil Good. In this week’s Talmud study: Is just thinking about pork a sin?
This point of law opens an interesting moral question, which the rabbis address at length starting in Nazir 23a. Say a woman takes a nazirite vow and her husband nullifies it without telling her, so that she believes she is still a nazirite even though legally she isn’t. What if that woman then starts drinking wine, so that she is in violation of what she believes to be her obligations. Has she committed a sin? Legally, it would seem she has not, and the mishna says that she is not liable for the 40 lashes that are ordinarily imposed on a sinning nazirite. But since she intended to sin, it seems unfair that she should be rescued by a technicality. Thus Rabbi Yehuda says, “She should incur lashes for rebelliousness,” and in the Gemara, the sages say, “She requires atonement and forgiveness.” Intending to sin is itself sinful, even if you end up not committing the sin you think you did.Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Pharisees
BIBLE ODYSSEY: Pharisees (Joshua Garroway).
HT Anthony Le Donne at the Jesus Blog. Some past PaleoJudaica posts on the Pharisees are here and links.
HT Anthony Le Donne at the Jesus Blog. Some past PaleoJudaica posts on the Pharisees are here and links.
Jezreel Expedition 2015
THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION: Preliminary Report of the 2015 Jezreel Expedition Field Season (Norma Franklin and Jennie Ebeling).
More on Late Antiquity
THE MARGINALIA LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE NEW HUMANITIES FORUM has published three more essays:
Late Antiquity Dissolves – By Anthony Kaldellis
Can “Late Antiquity” Be Saved? – By Philip Rousseau
On Authors, Fathers, and Holy Men – By Ellen Muehlberger.
Background here and here.
Late Antiquity Dissolves – By Anthony Kaldellis
Can “Late Antiquity” Be Saved? – By Philip Rousseau
On Authors, Fathers, and Holy Men – By Ellen Muehlberger.
Background here and here.
Georgian in the news
GEORGIA TODAY: Georgian Among 10 Oldest Languages Still Spoken in the World Today.
Lani Seelinger of theculturetrip.com has compiled a list of the ten oldest languages still spoken in the world today. Georgian features at number nine after Hebrew, Tamil, Lithuanian, Farsi, Icelandic, Macedonian, Basque and Finnish, and followed by Irish Gaelic.I'm not sure the full list would be as few as ten. Aramaic, for example should be on it as well.
Georgian is the biggest Kartvelian language, and it is the only Caucasian language with an ancient literary tradition. Its beautiful and unique alphabet is also quite old – it is thought to have been adapted from Aramaic as far back as the third century AD.And some form of the written language may be even older than that. For background on Georgian and why it matters to PaleoJudaica, see here and links.
Review of Zarghamee, Discovering Cyrus
IRANIAN.COM: Book review: Discovering Cyrus (bparhami).
Zarghamee, Reza, Discovering Cyrus: The Persian Conqueror Astride the Ancient World, Mage Publishers, 2013.This is an informal review by a non-specialist, but the book sounds interesting. For lots more on Cyrus the Great, see here and links.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Ben Zvi Festschrift
NEW BOOK FROM EISENBRAUNS:
History, Memory, Hebrew ScripturesHT AJR Twitter.
A Festschrift for Ehud Ben Zvi
edited by Ian Douglas Wilson and Diana V. Edelman
Ehud Ben Zvi is one of the foremost scholars in the field of Hebrew Bible today. He has had a global impact both as a researcher and as a teacher, and he continues to create cutting-edge research that is helping to shape the future of the field. This volume marks his upcoming retirement from the University of Alberta and honors him and his career as a scholar and educator. Thirty-one papers written by a select group of colleagues, including several former students and a former teacher, are presented in three categories: History and Historiography; Prophecy and Prophetic Books; and Methods, Observations, (Re)Readings. These categories represent the wide-ranging interests of Ehud himself and include contributions on the Bible as social memory, for which he has been a leading advocate and theorist in the past decade. Readers, regardless of their areas of specialization, will find many stimulating and thought-provoking contributions in the collection, which is fitting, given the boundary-pushing work of the honoree.
Eisenbrauns, 2015. Pp. vii + 474. English. Cloth.
ISBN: 978-1-57506-391-1 List Price: $64.50
http://www.eisenbrauns.com/item/WILHISTOR
Amzallag, Esau in Jerusalem
NEW BOOK FROM GABALDA:
Esau in Jerusalem - The Rise of a Seirite Religious Elite in Zion in the Persian Period
Auteur Nissim Amzallag
Année 2015
ISBN 978-285021-242-0
Nombre de pages 282
Cahiers de la Revue Biblique n°85
Description rapide
The post-exilic biblical writings speak in two contrasting voices. The first focuses on the Babylonian repatriates and ignores the Israelite population that remained in the land during the exile. It upholds an exclusive relationship between YHWH and the community organized around Jerusalem and its temple. The second voice takes a contrasting and much more universalistic approach to the relationship with YHWH and even promotes its expansion among foreign nations through the diffusion of musical worship.
The first voice clearly echoes the theology evoked in Jeremiah (especially in the metaphor of the good and bad figs in Jeremiah 24) and extensively developed in Ezekiel. The second voice, however, appears to be distant from the classical Israelite theology. It is shown in this study that this second voice echoes a pre-Israelite cult of YHWH that originated in the land of Seir and denotes the existence of a Seirite religious elite in post-exilic Zion.
Part 1 of the study investigates the reason for the presence of a small group of Edomite/Seirite musicians and poets, self-defined as "sons of Zerah" or "Ezrahites," in early post-exilic Jerusalem, and clarifies the nature of their yahwistic religious background. With the help of the books of Nehemiah, Chronicles, and Psalms, Part 2 analyzes the Levitization of these foreign singers and the opposition this process stimulated among the community of the Sons of Exile. Part 3 examines the transformation of these Ezrahite singers into a new religious elite, a process promoted mainly by Nehemiah and his followers, and explores the theological changes this new situation stimulated.
This study uncovers an overlooked reality that had a profound influence on the evolution of post-Exilic yawhism and on the composition and content of many biblical writings.
Keywords: Babylonian exile, Chronicles, complex antiphony, Edom/Israel rivalry, Ezekiel, Ezra, Ezrahites, Jeremiah, Levite singers, musical worship, Nehemiah, Persian period, post-exilic religion, primeval yahwism, Psalter, Seirite theology, Seirite source of biblical writings, Yehud, Zerah
Collins, Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy
JOHN J. COLLINS is about to publish a collection of his essays: Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy. On Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (Eerdmans, 2015). He has a post on it at the Eerdword Blog: Meet This Book: Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy by John J. Collins.
I have been engaged with apocalypticism as a religious phenomenon throughout my scholarly career. Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy brings together nineteen essays written over the last fifteen years or so. They mainly deal with two recurring issues. One is the question of genre. The other is the issue of apocalyptic ethics.
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Sinaiticus
NO, NOT CODEX SINAITICUS! Open Access Journal: Sinaiticus: The Bulletin of the Saint Catherine Foundation (AWOL). Looks like this publication has lots of information on St. Catherine's Monastery and its manuscripts, on which more here and here and links.
Syriac comet
SYRIAC WATCH: A Syriac report on the comet of 1577 (Adam McCollum, hmmlorientalia blog).
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Another review of Kosmin, The Land of the Elephant Kings
BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW:
Paul J. Kosmin, The Land of the Elephant Kings: Space, Territory, and Ideology in the Seleucid Empire. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press, 2014. Pp. xv, 423. ISBN 9780674728820. $49.95.Earlier posts on the book are here and here.
Reviewed by Laurent Capdetrey, Université Bordeaux-Montaigne (laurent.capdetrey@u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr)
Preview
Dans un style stimulant et suggestif, qui fait la part belle aux formules percutantes et aux expressions souvent heureuses, P. J. Kosmin s’attaque avec des outils conceptuels en partie nouveaux à une question ancienne : comment les rois séleucides ont-ils pu faire tenir ensemble, et aussi longtemps, des régions si diverses – de l’Égée à l’Asie Centrale - et les intégrer à un véritable territoire impérial ? Et - question connexe - dans cette entreprise, quelle fut la part d’innovation et d’invention des rois séleucides ? D’autres avaient tenté d’apporter leur réponse, mais l’approche de P. J. Kosmin témoigne d’une réelle capacité à tenir, avec un savoir faire certain, les deux bouts de la démarche historique : l’analyse des sources et le recours à une indispensable conceptualisation. Pour trouver un point de comparaison dans le cadre des études séleucides, on pourrait dire que si le livre de J. Ma sur Antiochos III et les cités d’Asie Mineure occidentale1 pouvait être lu comme un produit du linguistic turn, l’ouvrage de P. J. Kosmin s’inscrit pour sa part, et délibérément, dans le contexte du spatial turn.2 En effet, loin de proposer une histoire générale du royaume séleucide, l’auteur l’aborde de façon résolue sous l’angle des processus de spatialisation du pouvoir, à toutes les échelles. C’est là, à coup sûr, son originalité principale.
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Le Boulluec and Le Moigne, Vision que vit Isaïe
A NEW TRANSLATION OF THE SEPTUAGINT OF ISAIAH IN THE BIBLE D'ALEXANDRIE SERIES:
Vision que vit Isaïe
d' Alain Le Boulluec , Philippe Le Moigne
Collection La Bible d'Alexandrie [Éditions du Cerf]
368 pages - nov. 2014 - Disponible
30,00€
Un texte fondamental revisité. Cette nouvelle traduction de la Septante, accompagnée d’un index et d’un glossaire, offre à tous la possibilité de (re)lire l’œuvre du prophète Isaïe, souvent considérée comme le cinquième évangile, précurseur des quatre autres. La version grecque d’Isaïe se distingue de son modèle hébraïque par une grande originalité mue et voulue par un projet littéraire et théologique. S’intéressant davantage à l’esprit du texte qu’à sa lettre, l’auteur possède une vision propre et réfléchie de son œuvre. Une découverte, parfois avec étonnement, toujours avec joie, de ce texte sacré.
Jubilees in Hebrew
THE BOOK OF JUBILEES has been translated into Hebrew by Kana Werman (ספר היובלים מבוא, תרגום ופירוש - The Book of Jubilees: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary) and is available from the Yad Ben-Zvi Institute. This Second Temple Jewish work was originally composed in Hebrew (we have fragments of the original among the Dead Sea Scrolls), then translated into Greek. The Greek is now almost entirely lost, but in antiquity it was translated into Ethiopic (Ge'ez) and it survives complete only in that language. It was also translated into Latin and we have some, but not all of the Latin text, as well as bits of it in Syriac translation. Now all of these resource have been used to translate it back into Hebrew. A remarkable history of textual transmission.
New book on the Bible, Classics, and ancient Persian culture
BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Assessing Biblical and Classical Sources for the Reconstruction of Persian Influence, History and Culture. New book: Fitzpatrick-McKinley, A. (ed.). (2015). Assessing Biblical and Classical Sources for the Reconstruction of Persian Influence, History and Culture. Classica et Orientalia 10. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Friday, September 18, 2015
The church historian, the rabbi, and everything
MARGINALIA: Late Ancient Judaism: Beyond Border Lines – By Mira Balberg.
This is the second essay in a series of five coming in the Late Antiquity and the New Humanities Forum.
Yet if fourth-century Caesarea is a quintessential locale in which the transformations and developments pertinent to late antiquity are both reflected upon and manufactured, why are Rabbi Abahu’s teachings usually not of interest for understanding these transformations? Why, more broadly, are the teachings of the greater circle known in Palestinian rabbinic sources as “the rabbis of Caesarea” (rabbanin dekisrin) not brought into this conversation, as well as the teachings of the circles that often position themselves against the rabbis of Caesarea — the rabbis who dwell in the Galilee? And if we’re already at it, where are the Babylonian rabbis, many of whom have emigrated to and from Palestine and transmitted various teachings between the two Jewish centers of learning of the third to the sixth centuries? In short, why is the vast Jewish literature of late antiquity so rarely considered a part of “late antiquity”?I think the part about Hebrew and Aramaic in that last sentence is an overstatement, but certainly the work is in its early stages and much remains to be done.
The answer to this question has to do in part with conventions of archiving and classification — which, as Ellen Muehlberger powerfully argues in this forum, determine our ways of approaching and assessing our materials more than we tend to realize. First, the “late ancient” library is still conceived almost exclusively as a Greek and Latin library. Only fairly recently have Syriac, Coptic, and to some extent Armenian claimed a place on this library’s shelves; Hebrew and Palestinian/Babylonian Aramaic, however, have not been introduced to this library at all (as is the case with Pahlavi, Arabic, and other non-European languages). ...
This is the second essay in a series of five coming in the Late Antiquity and the New Humanities Forum.
More on the Sacred Writings exhibition
THE PENN CURRENT: Exhibit highlights scope of biblical texts (Heather A. Davis).
I have already noted two of the highlights of the Sacred Writings exhibition, now showing at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia: the third century fragment of the Gospel of Matthew and the clay tablet containing the Sumerian Flood story (the "Eridu Genesis"). But this is worth mentioning as well:
I have already noted two of the highlights of the Sacred Writings exhibition, now showing at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia: the third century fragment of the Gospel of Matthew and the clay tablet containing the Sumerian Flood story (the "Eridu Genesis"). But this is worth mentioning as well:
One item that speaks to the worldwide appeal of these biblical stories is a polyglot New Testament Bible compiled by German scholar Elias Hutter and printed in Nuremberg in 1599. That volume contains 12 languages printed side-by-side: Syriac, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, Czech, Italian, Spanish, French, English, Danish, and Polish.Background here.
CFP: EABS Graduate Symposium
EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF BIBLICAL STUDIES: Eighth Graduate Symposium: March 18-20, 2016 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Call for PapersFollow the link for further particulars. The deadline for submission of proposals is 1 November 2015.
EABS is excited to announce its eighth Graduate Symposium, which will take place in Cluj-Napoca, March 18-20, 2016. The symposium, which seeks to engender a supportive atmosphere for dialogue across a variety of biblical studies fields and subfields (Hebrew Scriptures, OT, NT, DSS, early Christianity, Septuagint studies, second temple Judaism, Rabbinics, reception history, methodologies, etc.), welcomes PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers to present on a topic related to their research area(s).
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Very, very ancient Georgian?
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: Ancient Script Spurs Rethinking of Historic ‘Backwater.’ At a temple site in the Republic of Georgia, letters carved in stone could change the way we see the development of writing (Tara Isabella Burton)
Georgian is a little-known Indo-European language that sometimes preserves literary artifacts that are important for the history of biblical interpretation. It comes up in PaleoJudaica from time to time, for example, here, here, here, here, and here. And Adam McCollum has posted a lot on Georgian over at the hmmlorientalia blog. So it is of at least tangential interest to note that written Georgian (or proto-Georgian?) may go back much earlier than had hitherto been suspected.
Georgian is a little-known Indo-European language that sometimes preserves literary artifacts that are important for the history of biblical interpretation. It comes up in PaleoJudaica from time to time, for example, here, here, here, here, and here. And Adam McCollum has posted a lot on Georgian over at the hmmlorientalia blog. So it is of at least tangential interest to note that written Georgian (or proto-Georgian?) may go back much earlier than had hitherto been suspected.
The script as a whole bears no relation to any other alphabet, although [chief excavator Vakhtang] Licheli detects similarities to letters in ancient Greek and Aramaic.UPDATE: Adam McCollum e-mails:
He says there’s no doubt that the carvings are part of an alphabet rather than a decorative pattern.
“In a decoration you see repetition every two, four, six times. Here there’s no repetition.” He notes the skill of the carver in smoothing the design. “He was very comfortable doing this—this was not his first time.”
Licheli says it’s reasonable to assume that the writing dates to the seventh century B.C., when the temple is believed to have been built.
I hope you don’t mind my writing with a correction. In your post on the Nat. Geo. story about the inscription found in Georgia, you introduce Georgian as „a little-known Indo-European language“. That’s only partly right: it’s little-known, but it is not Indo-European. It and a few other languages of the area belong to Kartvelian, genetically unrelated to other language families.I don't know Georgian myself and this time I cut corners and didn't double check my memory. That'll larn me. Many thanks, Adam, for the correction.
The John Rylands Research Institute
NATURE: (Peter E. Pormann).
Productive interaction between the arts and sciences is at the heart of the John Rylands Research Institute at the University of Manchester, UK. Founded in April 2013, the institute (which I direct with associate director and head of special collections Rachel Beckett) now has a staff of more than two dozen. It brings together scientists, conservators, curators, digital-imaging specialists and humanities scholars to unravel, reveal and realize the research potential of the University of Manchester Library's special collections. These run from clay tablets to e-mail archives. Highlights include Greek, Coptic and Arabic papyri, medieval Hebrew and Persian manuscripts and early-modern printed books — such as one of the world's finest collections of volumes printed by Renaissance humanist Aldus Manutius. The institute was established in response to the rise of digital humanities, a field that enables the study of books and manuscripts in ways that were unimaginable a generation ago.An interesting report on the work of the John Rylands Research Institute, on which more here, here, and here. But you need a personal or institutional subscription to Nature to read the whole article.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Imagining late antiquity
MARGINALIA: Pro nobis fabula narratur: Late Antiquity as Art and Fantasy – By Catherine M. Chin
This is the first of five essays scheduled for Marginalia's new Late Antiquity and the New Humanities Forum. HT Ancient Jew Review Twitter.
Historians of all periods face this dilemma: how can we engage the past without being in the past? Attending to the somatic and aesthetic responses that we ourselves have to materials from the past, and elaborating those responses in new forms, might allow us to create new modes of experiencing and engaging past worlds in an intellectually rigorous and yet creative manner. This practice can lay open to us the experience we have of simultaneous temporalities, of worlds tenuously coexisting — perfect, but impossible. The appearance of an unexpected late antiquity might be, in this way, much like a forest making its way through a forest.An interesting literary thought experiment. The essay doesn't deal directly with ancient Judaism, but the approach would certainly be applicable to it.
This is the first of five essays scheduled for Marginalia's new Late Antiquity and the New Humanities Forum. HT Ancient Jew Review Twitter.
Archaeological looting "on industrial scale" in Syria
THIS BEARS REPEATING. AND REPEATING: Syria archaeological sites looted ‘on industrial scale,’ UN says. Satellite photos show sites pocked with illegal excavations; UNESCO accuses Islamic State group of using stolen artifacts as piggy bank (AFP).
Background here and links
Background here and links
Wikimedia competition in Israel
PHOTOGRAPHY: Wikimedia tells Israelis to photograph heritage sites. For 4th year in a row, Wikimedia Israel is hosting competition in which both amateur and professional photographers can win prizes for pictures of any national heritage site in Israel.. (Jerusalem Post).
Working in partnership with Wikimedia Israel is the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel, the Galitz School for Photography and World Jewish Heritage. Several organized tours to heritage sites around Israel associated with the contest will take place over the next month, with details available on the Wikimedia Israel website in both Hebrew and English.If you're in Israel, please do go and take lots of photos of archaeological sites and antiquities.
Renovation of the Israel National Library
THE JEWISH JOURNAL: Reimagining Israel’s new national library (Tom Teicholz).
These are but two of the treasures of the library’s collection, which includes more than 5 million items, among them the archives of leading Jewish and Israeli figures such as S.Y. Agnon, Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem. There are some 35,000 rare books, 10,000 Hebrew manuscripts and 74,000 rolls of microfilmed manuscripts (comprising 90 percent of all known Hebrew manuscripts and including photos of segments from the Cairo Genizah).I was aware of the INL digitization project, on which more here and here and links, but as far as I can recall this is the first time I've heard about the renovation of the Library itself. It sounds like an exciting project.
The Islam and Middle East collection has 2,400 manuscripts in Arabic script and more than 100 manuscripts of the Quran dating back to the ninth century. There is a collection of rare and ancient maps dating back to the 15th century, and 30,000 hours of recorded songs related to Jewish traditions in communities all over the world.
The new National Library will be housed in a gleaming, state-of-the-art building by Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron. The design, simulations of which can be seen on the National Library website (web.nli.org.il), is a modernist wedge atop a glass core, in which the library’s vast holdings can be seen. It also features indoor and outdoor community spaces for cultural events.
There will be a central reading room with a giant oval skylight, which speaks to both the serious scholarship and openness the library hopes to foster. For the library’s invaluable collections, there will be a secure, climate-controlled, underground storehouse.
Finally, for those who can’t visit the library in person, there will be multi-language access to the library’s digitized collections as well as related collections held in institutions all over the world.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Iraq's Christians
MODERN ARAMAIC WATCH: Iraq's Christians. More than 125,000 of Iraq's Christians have been forced to flee the homeland they have lived in for nearly 2,000 years because of ISIS violence and threats (Lara Logan, CBSN).
Background on the plight of modern Aramaic speakers in the Middle East and on the modern Aramaic-speaking diaspora is here, here, here, and links. Background on the Monastery of St. Matthew is here; on the destruction of a church in Mosul is here; and on the situation in Erbil is here and here.
On the side of a mountain, overlooking the Nineveh Plains of ancient Mesopotamia, is the Monastery of St. Matthew. It's one of the oldest on earth.Ms. Logan also interviews Nicodemus Sharaf, the Archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Mosul, and Bashar Warda, the archbishop of the Erbil diocese, and others.
The voices of its monks have echoed here since the fourth century, uttering prayers that have not changed.
Lara Logan: You do the service in Aramaic?
Father Joseph Ibrahim: Yes.
Lara Logan: Which was the language of Jesus.
Father Joseph Ibrahim: Yes.
Lara Logan: Are you among the last people on earth to speak this language?
Father Joseph Ibrahim: We think so because we kept this language through the language of prayers.
Background on the plight of modern Aramaic speakers in the Middle East and on the modern Aramaic-speaking diaspora is here, here, here, and links. Background on the Monastery of St. Matthew is here; on the destruction of a church in Mosul is here; and on the situation in Erbil is here and here.
Is Aramaic dying out?
NOT DEAD YET! Where Do Languages Go to Die? The tale of Aramaic, a language that once ruled the Middle East and now faces extinction (JOHN MCWHORTER, The Atlantic).
As for the future of Aramaic, I hope it doesn't die out. A vast Aramaic literature survives and there are dispersed Aramaic-speaking communities that are trying to maintain their traditions. We'll see. I wish them the best. Cross-file under Aramaic Watch and Modern Aramaic Watch.
If a Middle Eastern man from 2,500 years ago found himself on his home territory in 2015, he would be shocked by the modern innovations, and not just electricity, airplanes, and iPhones. Arabic as an official language in over two dozen countries would also seem as counterintuitive to him as if people had suddenly started keeping aardvarks as pets.A nice summary history of the Aramaic language. One point deserves some nuancing:
In our time-traveler’s era, after all, Arabic was an also-ran tongue spoken by obscure nomads. The probability that he even spoke it would be low. There were countless other languages in the Middle East in his time that he’d be more likely to know. His idea of a “proper” language would have been Aramaic, which ruled what he knew as the world and served, between 600 and 200 B.C.E., as the lingua franca from Greece and Egypt, across Mesopotamia and Persia, all the way through to India. Yet today the language of Jesus Christ is hardly spoken anywhere, and indeed is likely to be extinct within the next century. Young people learn it ever less. Only about half a million people now speak Aramaic—compared to, for example, the five and a half million people who speak Albanian.
How does a language go from being so big to being on the verge of dying out entirely?
[...]
Here is also why Jesus and other Jews lived in Aramaic, and why goodly portions of the Hebrew Bible are actually in Aramaic. The two languages are part of the same Semitic family, but still, when the Book of Daniel switches into Aramaic for five chapters because Chaldeans are being addressed, it’s rather as if Cervantes had switched into Italian in Don Quixote for the tale of the Florentine nobleman.The "Chaldeans" (and I could get sidetracked on a long discussion of the development of that word) would have spoken Babylonian Akkadian rather than Aramaic, and the writer of Daniel probably would have been aware of this. No one is quite sure why the middle of the book of Daniel (2:24b through chapter 7) is written in Aramaic (with 1:1-2:4a and chapters 8-12 in Hebrew), but it doesn't seem to have to do with a change in the language of the speakers in the story. True, the Masoretic text may imply this when it says "(in?) Aramaic" in 2:4a, but this could just be an addition to mark the change in language in the book. The only Qumran Daniel manuscript that contains this passage is damaged at just this point and it is unclear if it contained the word "Aramaic." Daniel converses with Babylonians in chapter 1 and chapter 8 as well, with no indication of a language change.
As for the future of Aramaic, I hope it doesn't die out. A vast Aramaic literature survives and there are dispersed Aramaic-speaking communities that are trying to maintain their traditions. We'll see. I wish them the best. Cross-file under Aramaic Watch and Modern Aramaic Watch.
Damage to the Al Aqsa Mosque
TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Clashes Damage Al Aqsa Mosque at Jerusalem, and Jordan Warns Israel (DIAA HADID, NYT).
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian youths and the Israeli police clashed again Tuesday at Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and King Abdullah II of Jordan issued a rare warning to Israel that the fighting could weaken relations between the two countries.I've been watching this story for some time, but haven't posted on it. But damage to one of the ancient monuments on the site brings it into the area of PaleoJudaica's concerns. Not surprisingly, the cause of the damage is disputed:
Concerns are growing that the clashes over Jewish visits to the contested holy site, which began on the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, could set off wider violence.
[...]
In Tuesday’s fighting, Palestinian youths, some masked, took up positions in Al Aqsa Mosque, where they had built barricades from wood and iron rods, and from the closets where worshipers leave their shoes before entering the holy site, said Luba Samri, an Israeli police spokeswoman.
Omar Kiswani, the director of Al Aqsa Mosque compound, said centuries-old woodwork, windows and doors had been damaged in the violence. “We are making calls for intervention,” Mr. Kiswani said. “We hope these problems won’t continue. We want quiet, to preserve the lives of the worshipers.”
The youths pelted police officers, who used sound grenades in an effort to quell the demonstrators. A small fire erupted on some of the wooden panels being used as barricades.
Ms. Samri said the blaze was ignited by Palestinians who threw firecrackers. But a mosque official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared arrest, said Israeli forces were to blame because they fired stun grenades that burned holes in the mosque’s carpet and probably ignited a wooden panel.I hope things settle down without any more harm to the site or anyone in the area.
The Book of Giants in art
EXHIBITION IN MINNEAPOLIS: MICHAEL THOMSEN EXPLORES HIS TIES TO THE OCCULT THROUGH ART (SHEILA REGAN, City Pages).
Past posts relating to the Book of Giants are here and here and links
Michael Thomsen's interest in secret societies, mythologies, and the occult stems from his grandfather, an auctioneer who belonged to the Blue Lodge of the Masonic Temple.It seems the Enochic giants feature in one of his works:
"I was really flipped out by that as a kid," Thomsen recalls.
When Warren (Barney) Thomsen, the Master Mason, passed away in the early 1990s, Michael Thomsen was given some of his jewelry and other items from the lodge. In recent years, he's researched the Masons and other secret groups.
"It all goes back to pre-religions," he says. "Religions came out of cults, and cults were secret societies of some sort."
For "Mystery School," Thomsen's solo show at Public Functionary, he not only dives into Masonic imagery, but also takes bits from the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology, and an assortment of esoteric narratives, including angel-descended mutant giants, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and third eyes that see beyond ordinary sight.
[...]
While he's creating the work, Thomsen admits that he can sometimes get a little spooked by the imagery. "[The Dead Sea Scrolls' Book of Giants piece] kind of gets underneath my skin at certain points," he admits.Unfortunately, I can't find an image of this piece. Such images of his work that I can find online look interesting.
Past posts relating to the Book of Giants are here and here and links
George Brooke in Australia
LECTURE: Dead sea scrolls come to life with Professor George J. Brooke (IAN KIRKWOOD, Newcastle Herald).
VISITING British academic Professor George J. Brooke unlocked some of the secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls to a rapt audience of about 250 at the annual Morpeth Lecture at Christ Church Cathedral on Tuesday night.
Professor Brooke, Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis and Early Judaism at the University of Manchester, spoke for almost an hour on the ‘‘Dead Sea Scrolls and the authority of the Bible’’, before taking questions.
[...]
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Kahn and Rubin (eds.), Handbook of Jewish Languages
BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Judæo-Iranian Languages. New article in a new book: Borjian, Habib. 2015. Judeo-Iranian Languages. In Lily Kahn & Aaron D. Rubin (eds.), Handbook of Jewish Languages, 234–296. (Brill’s Handbooks in Linguistics). Leiden: Brill, 2015.
Jacob Neusner Chair
FULL-TIME TENURE TRACK/TENURED POSITION: Jacob Neusner Chair in the History and Theology of Judaism of Bard College.
Bard College invites applications for a full-time, open rank position in the Religion Program, in the area of Judaic Studies. This is an endowed chair, the Jacob Neusner Professor in the History and Theology of Judaism, in recognition of his distinguished contributions to the field and to Bard College. The position contributes centrally to both the Religion Program and the Jewish Studies concentration.Big shoes to fill.
The position requires a strong commitment to teaching and scholarship in a liberal arts setting. The period of specialization is open.
Shutdown of St. Catherine's Monastery
"FOR SECURITY REASONS": Sinai's St. Catherine's Starves, Monastery Shuts Down (Mohannad Sabry, Al-Monitor).
ST. CATHERINE'S — In the Sinai city of St. Catherine, a few thousand people and around 800 camels have been left struggling since the first week of August, when Egyptian security authorities ordered the total shutdown of the town's 1,500-year-old monastery. Bedouin residents of the mountainous area were forced to sell their camels, which they cannot feed, to feed their families.This has been very difficult both for the Monastery and the local residents whose income came from tourism. The report says that the Egyptian Government has not provided any financial help.
Over the past 50 years, St. Catherine's Monastery closed its gates twice, in 1977 when former President Anwar Sadat made his historic visit to Jerusalem, and in 1982 when the Egyptian military entered Sinai after the withdrawal of Israeli forces. This time, the shutdown, which wasn’t explained by any official statements from either the Defense or Interior Ministry, was allegedly ordered after a failed attempt to kidnap a monk traveling in South Sinai in June and rising suspicions of a possible attack on the monastery.
[...]
At the town's coffee shop, Mousa, as well as several others who have sold or struggled to feed their camels and a few tribal elders, agreed that the town's main request for the government is for it to provide townspeople with food for their camels, the community's most precious possession.More on St. Catherine's Monastery and its precious repository of manuscripts is here and many links.
A simple calculation made by the Bedouin gathering proposed that one month's food for the town's 800 camels would cost the government around $68,000 if bought at retail prices the Bedouins normally pay, an amount equivalent to that paid by 13,600 tourists for entrance tickets, which according to the monastery's estimates was collected in less than four days until January 2011.
"We are not asking the government for millions of dollars, we are just asking it for camel food, which would cost it nothing in comparison with the fortunes it made with the help of this community," said Mousa. "We don’t mind suffering until the tourism crisis is over, but selling our camels means destroying our lives permanently."
Sites damaged and destroyed by ISIS
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: Here Are the Ancient Sites ISIS Has Damaged and Destroyed. Shocking destruction in the Syrian city of Palmyra is part of the militant group's ongoing campaign against archaeology. You can find more on almost all of these sites by searching for them in the PaleoJudaica archive.
Background on ISIS and its assault on the past and its caretakers is here and links.
Background on ISIS and its assault on the past and its caretakers is here and links.
Archaeology, the Bible, and history
THE DOG ATE MY EVIDENCE: King David Slept Here. Thoughts about Evidence and Method in Biblical Archaeology (Michael Press, ASOR Blog).
The continuing search for the historical David appears, like the conclusions of the Albright School, to be driven – problematically – by heavy investment in the historicity of the Bible. And here lies the paradox: heavy investment in the Bible is what motivates work in the field in the first place, and what drives public interest. Without it, our field simply would not exist. (Why else would anyone care about a tiny corner of southwestern Asia?). We must be careful in crafting responsible scholarly approaches that acknowledge this investment, with all its positives and negatives. In any attempt to historicize the United Monarchy, we must also historicize our own scholarship by acknowledging this context. After all, mythic history has a tremendous appeal, to scholars and non-scholars alike. It is why people still care, over 200 years later, where George Washington slept – and why people still care, 3000 years later, where David might have slept.Archaeology does not readily align itself with the concerns of the ancient biblical texts, and the texts themselves were often not interested in the historical questions that interest us and cannot readily be used to answer them.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Daniel Boyarin's doctoral thesis
THE TALMUD BLOG: DANIEL BOYARIN’S DISSERTATION ON B. NAZIR. Downloadable as a PDF file.
Bauckham response regarding eyewitnesses
THE JESUS BLOG: Richard Bauckham Responds.
For background see my earlier post: Eyewitness accounts. A couple of other past posts that seem relevant to the discussion are here and here.
My view at present? The Gospels may well reflect a large amount of eyewitness testimony, although, as I have said before, I am happier drawing generalizations from them than relying on any specific story as historical. Jesus was a healer and an exorcist who taught about the Kingdom of God and perhaps about the Son of Man — not to say that it is particularly clear what he meant about either subject. Also, he was reputed to have had a special, divinely attended birth and some of his disciples reported that he remained in contact with them after his death. I accept that something like this account of him probably goes back to his lifetime and the lifetimes of his closest followers. That said, what these eyewitnesses experienced was embedded in a cultural framework very, indeed nearly unimaginably, different from ours. For them, Jesus was an intermediary with the divine and did the things such intermediaries do. If we obtained time-travel 3-D stereophonic videos of the events, they might look rather different to us.
Some more or less relevant past posts concerning or touching on the historical Jesus are here, here, here, here, here, and here.
UPDATE: I should add that my view as summarized above is much influenced by Pieter Craffert's book The Life of a Galilean Shaman (Cascade/Matrix, 2008).
For background see my earlier post: Eyewitness accounts. A couple of other past posts that seem relevant to the discussion are here and here.
My view at present? The Gospels may well reflect a large amount of eyewitness testimony, although, as I have said before, I am happier drawing generalizations from them than relying on any specific story as historical. Jesus was a healer and an exorcist who taught about the Kingdom of God and perhaps about the Son of Man — not to say that it is particularly clear what he meant about either subject. Also, he was reputed to have had a special, divinely attended birth and some of his disciples reported that he remained in contact with them after his death. I accept that something like this account of him probably goes back to his lifetime and the lifetimes of his closest followers. That said, what these eyewitnesses experienced was embedded in a cultural framework very, indeed nearly unimaginably, different from ours. For them, Jesus was an intermediary with the divine and did the things such intermediaries do. If we obtained time-travel 3-D stereophonic videos of the events, they might look rather different to us.
Some more or less relevant past posts concerning or touching on the historical Jesus are here, here, here, here, here, and here.
UPDATE: I should add that my view as summarized above is much influenced by Pieter Craffert's book The Life of a Galilean Shaman (Cascade/Matrix, 2008).
4 Ezra in Old Georgian
ADAM MCCOLLUM: On 4 Ezra in Old Georgian, with a synoptic text sample of 5:22-30. 4 Ezra: another philologist's gift that keeps on giving.
Recent related posts are here and links.
Recent related posts are here and links.
Antiquities looting in Egypt
IT'S A PROBLEM EVERYWHERE: Digging for antiquities, a dream to get rich fast in Upper Egypt (Egypt Independent).
Related posts here and links.
Researcher Ayman al-Wakil says the people of Upper Egypt believe in ancient Egyptian tales passed on from generation to generation about treasures buried underground. He also says they believe in jinns that guard those treasures, which can be contacted through witchery to tell where the treasures are buried.The looters often die in soil collapses as well. It's not a pretty undertaking.
Wakil says there are impostors who convince people they can decipher ancient Egyptian codes. They say they know where the treasures are hidden, in exchange for money.
Mahmoud al-Sayed from Upper Egypt says the phenomenon has spread since the January 25 revolution, when there was a state of lawlessness and people could infringe on state property.
“Usually, they do not find anything and they end up fighting and perhaps even killing each other,” he says.
Fathy, a sheikh to whom people go to contact jinns, says those tales are true. “I do not take money unless they find the treasure,” he says. “I only take the expenses for the incense and other material needed to recall the jinns.”
Related posts here and links.
More conflict over the Church of Loaves and Fishes
INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC NEWS: Israel refuses compensation for church damaged in arson attack (Dan Bergin). Which can be juxtaposed with this: Jewish Groups Raise Funds to Rebuild Church on Site Where Jesus Multiplied Loaves and Fishes to Feed 5,000 (VINCENT FUNARO, The Christian Post).
Background here and links.
Background here and links.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Rosh HaShanah 2015
HAPPY NEW YEAR (ROSH HASHANAH - Jewish New Year 5776)! The New Year begins tonight at sundown.
This concludes the Shmita (Sabbatical year), on which there is more here and links. For biblical and historical background on Rosh HaShanah, see here and links.
Also, the Coptic Orthodox Church celebrated its New Year on 11 September, year 1732 according to the Coptic Calendar. Happy slightly belated New Year to them as well.
This concludes the Shmita (Sabbatical year), on which there is more here and links. For biblical and historical background on Rosh HaShanah, see here and links.
Also, the Coptic Orthodox Church celebrated its New Year on 11 September, year 1732 according to the Coptic Calendar. Happy slightly belated New Year to them as well.
Byzantines and the Bible
CALL FOR PAPERS: Byzantines and the Bible, Belgrade, 22-27 August 2016 (Tommy Wasserman, ETC). The deadline is 30 September 2015, so don't dawdle!
CFP for Divine Sonship Symposium at St. Andrews
CONFERENCE: Call for Papers: Son of God: Divine Sonship in Jewish and Christian Antiquity.
The organisers of the St Andrews Symposium for Biblical and Early Christian Studies are happy to announce the theme of the next installation of this series taking place at the University of St Andrews 6-8 June 2016.Follow the link for further particulars. The CFP (as well as early-bird registration) closes on 15 February, 2016.
[...]
THEOT meeting in Hamburg
MARYLHURST UNIVERSITY: Garry Jost Presents at Consultation in Germany. Dr. Garry Jost, religious studies faculty, gave a presentation at an Ethiopic manuscript consultation at the University of Hamburg, Germany, in June 2015. This was a meeting of The Textual History of the Ethiopic Old Testament Project, on which you can find more here.
Review of Taylor (ed.), Jesus and Brian
JAMES MCGRATH: Review of Jesus and Brian. More on the book and the conference is here and links.
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