AN HISTORIC TOURIST ROUTE along the "Via Maris" is being planned by Israeli, Palestinian, and EU authorities, according to Ha'aretz. They met yesterday in Florence to approve plans for the project.

PALEOJUDAICA'S GOOGLE-NEWS PSEUDEPIGRAPHA AWARD (which I just made up), for mention of the Pseudepigrapha in a Google News item, goes to Professor Bert Randall and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle, for an article that covers his lecture series on the origins and development of the Bible. Since PaleoJudaica began, I have regularly searched Google News with the term "pseudepigrapha" and, until today, the result was always null. But the article on Professor Randall includes the following crucial paragraphs (my emphasis):

The second session will look at the significance and influence on Christianity of the Tanakh, Septuagint, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

"For example, take the Pseudepigrapha, it is a collection of around 100 scriptures written largely between the time periods of the two testaments," Randall said.

Congratulations, Professor Randall and the Leaf Chronicle, first winners of this award! Keep up the good work!

NEW BOOK REVIEWS FROM THE REVIEW OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE:

Chilton, Bruce and Jacob Neusner, eds.
The Brother of Jesus: James the Just and His Mission

Marshall, John W.
Parables of War: Reading John's Jewish Apocalypse

Akenson, Donald Harman
Surpassing Wonder: The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds

THE WEB PAGE FOR THE MORE OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA PROJECT has just been updated and expanded with a number of new texts. My colleague Richard Bauckham and I are undertaking this project, in which we aim to edit a new volume of ancient Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. We are editing some of the texts ourselves and will coordinate a large group of other scholars who will prepare the other texts under our general editorship. I haven't yet mentioned the project in this blog, so now is a good a time. We shall continue to update the list as additional texts come to our attention, so if you know of something that fits our criteria and which isn't listed, please drop me a note.

Evidently this is timely, since Beliefnet says that publishing your own scriptures is "in." But ours is an academic project and does not involve founding any new religions. In fact, I would be grateful if people would refrain from using the texts to start any new religions: it could get embarrassing. Maybe we should issue a disclaimer in the volume:

These texts are supplied "as is," with no warranty of truth or accuracy and no endorsement of any claims to divine or other inspiration. The suppliers shall not be held liable for any damages, personal injury, or founding of new religions resulting from the use of these texts. We edit, you decide.

What do you think?

BEYOND BELIEF: THE SECRET GOSPEL OF THOMAS, by Elaine Pagels, has been commented on by a number of bloggers in the last few days. Andrew Sullivan read it and he liked it. New Testament Scholar and blogger A. K. M. Adam (of AKMA's Random Thoughts) has published a review in The Disseminary (noted by Mark Goodacre). And Mark, who himself is writing a book on the Gospel of Thomas, has read Beyond Belief and he didn't like it. He comments: "But what there was on Thomas -- and there's not a lot -- I was already familiar with from Pagels' academic articles. How odd that the book went through with that subtitle -- doesn't make much sense to me." I'm afraid it does to me: marketing. It's a sexy subtitle: secret Gospels sell well. But then, I'm a cynic.

UPDATE: I'm not implying that Professor Pagels is to blame for the misleading subtitle. My guess is that someone in the marketing department put it in. I haven't read the book myself, so I'm relying on Mark's impression, which I trust.

UPDATE (17 September): Mark Goodacre agrees.

THE MENORAH COIN PROJECT:

is a vast and unique project consisting of a die by die indexing, classification and representation of Biblical coins. . . . the end result is to establish the most important databank on Biblical coins, to classify these coins in the most rational way possible and to present them in the most detailed and agreeable fashion to allow everybody, from the amateur coin collector to the professional, historians, scholars, dealers, researchers or students to access it easily and freely. Of course, the MCP website can also be used for simple visual delight!

The author, a Canadian named Jean-Philippe Fontanille, is keen to have new photos of coins. You can find his e-mail on the website. There are already a great many photographs posted there. Sounds like an interesting project.

BEWARE OF ORACLES! Ancient Judaism was big on them: oracles from the Sibyl; from the Teacher of Righteousness; from biblical prophets like Abraham, Enoch, Moses, Ezra, and Baruch; from later prophets like Jesus, Jesus ben Ananiah, and Josephus. Philo found oracles everywhere. Early Christians liked them too. Lots of people like them today. Some still produce them.

Michael Dirda reviews THE ROAD TO DELPHI: The Life and Afterlife of Oracles by Michael Wood in the Washington Post (via Arts and Letters Daily). Excerpts:

The pythias, or priestess, at Delphi told Croesus that if he attacked the Persians he would destroy a great empire. Having found the oracle accurate in the past, Croesus went to war and was defeated. The great empire he would destroy was his own.

Oracles, as Michael Wood reminds us in this surprisingly wide-ranging meditation, deal in ambiguity and equivocation, the kind of double-speech technically known as amphibology. That is, oracles tell the truth, but in such a way that we don't see it. As Wood writes, "We hear what we hope for and get what we fear."

[...]

I'm particularly fond of Wood's discussion of what he calls "slither," the way that language can squirm out of its apparent meaning, i.e., "None of woman born will harm Macbeth" seems to say one thing and in fact means quite another.

"In that slither an open promise becomes a closed prophecy. I want to suggest that this is how prophecy typically works and also that this motion meets a very particular human need, what we might call a pathology of promising. Promises are kept, but promises are also often not kept, and we need to be prepared for this eventuality. The pathology arises when a promise is manifestly not kept but we can't bring ourselves to believe this. Our favorite strategy in this situation is to reinterpret the promise so that what looked like its breaking was a hasty illusion; on reinterpretation we see the promise has been kept after all, we have not been betrayed. Whose promises do we cling to in this way? Those of God or the gods, of our parents and loved ones; those of anyone whose reliability is more important to us than any truth contained in their apparent defection."

[...]

The consequences of such misunderstanding can be terribly unjust. Wood notes that oracles are repeatedly cruel, toying as gods will with people (and as wanton boys do with flies). But why is this? Do the deities wish to teach us self-reliance the hard way? In the last sentence of his book, Wood writes: "The gods appear whenever we think we know more than a human creature ordinarily could, and they disappear again when we turn to ask them what to do." Yet, as all of us know, in moments of crisis and indecision, we look desperately for signs. Christians open their Bibles at random ("Tolle, lege"), and the waffling set up conditions: "If he calls tonight, I'll leave my husband; if he doesn't, I'll stay in the marriage." But this clearly moves us away from "oracle theory," which is based on language and organized ritual, to the realm of what one might call omens. We can see omens anywhere, but they are univocal -- we only pay attention to those that give us the answers we secretly want. And not always to them.

[...]

Dirda's oracular conclusion: "What a book!"

THERE ARE STILL KARAITES IN ISRAEL - quite a few of them:

In Israel, Karaites keep their faith ---
and distance from mainstream Jews (Jewish Telegraphic Agency News)
By Ariel Finguerman and Elana Shap

ASHDOD, Israel, Sept. 14 (JTA) � They have been branded as one of the worst enemies of the Jewish people.

They have attacked the authority of the rabbis and claimed the Talmud is full of falsehoods, and were allied with some of the cruelest adversaries of the Jews, including the Russian czars and Nazi leaders.

Yet today the Karaites � members of a Jewish offshoot that denies the talmudic-rabbinic tradition � are flourishing in Israel. In fact, some members suggest that the community is experiencing a rare high point in its 1,300-year history.

Mainly concentrated in the cities of Ashdod and Ramla, Israel�s Karaite community is about 30,000 strong. There are about 5,000 Karaites elsewhere in the world, mainly in the United States.

The Karaite sect first appeared in the eighth century, breaking with mainstream Judaism by declaring that Talmudic oral law was a rabbinic invention with no legal authority. Maintaining that the Bible was the sole source of religious law, the Karaites adopted a number of practices that kept them apart from mainstream Jews.

[...]

Over the centuries, the Karaites developed a religious tradition of their own consisting of doctrines not found in the Bible.

In Israel today, they have an imposing synagogue and cultural community center in Ashdod that adheres to their particular traditions.

[...]

In Israel, the Karaite community has been able to grow thanks to the relaxation of an ancient Karaite law that prohibited �mixed� marriages with Jews, whom they call �rabbinic Jews.�

�I myself allow marriages with rabbinical Jews, but only after checking that there are no incestuous cases in their families,� says Rabbi Haim Levi, the white-bearded man at the head of the Karaite Court of Justice.

Karaites also do not don tefillin or post mezuzahs on their doorposts. They do celebrate Chanukah because, they say, the festival was established after the biblical period.

�We say that it is not possible that the Almighty gave a written law and another oral law, which partially contradicts the former one,� Levi says.

Karaite women do not immerse themselves in mikvahs, as required by Jewish law, instead using showers as a means of spiritual purification after menstruation.

The group also has a different calendar, so the Karaite Yom Kippur does not always match the fast day observed by world Jewry.

Some Karaite interpretations of the Bible are more lax than those of rabbinic Judaism, but other interpretations lead to more strict practices than in rabbinic Judaism, such as those concerning Sabbath observance.

�On the day of rest we don�t leave home, we don�t practice sexual intercourse and, on the eve of Shabbat, we disconnect the refrigerator,� Levi says.

[...]

Read it all. In July I linked to information about some Karaites outside of Israel here.

HERE'S A PAGE FROM THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD with explanations of the elements therein by Professor Eliezer Segal.

HERE'S A BELIEFNET INTERVIEW with Rabbi Harold Kushner on his new book on Psalm 23 (via Bible and Interpretation News).

HANAN ESHEL reports that he may have found a Qumran text that tells a different version of the Aqedah (Genesis 22, the binding of Isaac), one in which God did not order Isaac to be sacrificed. Jim West on Ioudaios-L points to this Star Telegram article on the Dallas "Dead Sea Scrolls to the Forbidden Book" exhibit. The relevant passage reads:

The center has designed one gallery room to look like a cave. The tiny, darkened fragments hang in frames above infrared photographs that reveal their original text. Noted archaeologist and scholar Hanan Eshel of Bar-Ilan University in Israel studied these fragments of the books of Genesis and Isaiah that are on display.

In one fragment, Eshel believes he may have discovered an ancient commentary on Chapter 22 of Genesis that contradicts the traditional interpretation of God ordering Abraham to sacrifice his son Issac. In other words, Eshel said, he now believes that God may not have asked Abraham to sacrifice his son.

"God called Isaac 'My son,' not 'your son,' " Eshel said. "This is the first time we have found this distinction."

The passage sounds interesting, but without seeing it all in context it's hard to tell how likely the proposed interpretation is. (It's interesting, isn't it, that the echo of Gen 22:2 in Mark 1:11 also has God saying "my beloved son," although in this case the change in possessive pronoun seems to come from the influence of Psalm 2:7.) The article has more information on the exhibit and several photos of ancient manuscripts.

Also, here's an article from 5 September in the North Texas Daily about another lecture by Eshel in Texas, this one about his archaeological work on the Bar Kokhba era. Excerpt:

Eshel began his work in 1986, the same time that the Israeli Cave Research Center was founded. A small comb was found in a cave north of Jericho, spurring further research into the caves. To date, Eshel's discoveries include 19 Greek and Aramaic economical documents, several coins and skeletal remains.

Eshel primarily studies areas of Israel associated with the Bar Kokhba Revolt in A.D. 135. Jewish rebels fled from Roman armies and into desert caves, only to die of starvation or at Roman hands. "Although I'm dealing with a catastrophe that happened more than 1,900 years ago, the struggles of the 20th century make me feel connected to struggles in the past," Eshel said.

Past excavations focused on religious artifacts, and Eshel said he believes what he found sheds even more light on the lives of the people that lived at that time. "We will never know exactly what happened from [A.D.] 132 to 135, but you can still learn history from economical documents," Eshel said.

The most recent excavation took place late 2002 in Ein Gedi, Israel. Eshel and his team found several coins, arrows, pots and two Greek documents.

Eshel said he has no immediate plans for another excavation, but there is still more work to be done. "There are still illegal excavations, and I'm always afraid of looters." He has a license to survey Ein Gedi and keeps a close eye on possible discoveries.

By the way, Jim West's web page, which sends me a lot of traffic, has changed its address. The new address is http://www.biblical-studies.org.

TWO NEW SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS reviewed in the Guardian have ancient classical themes. One, Roma Eterna, by Robert Silverberg, explores an alternate history in which the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt is delayed until the 28th century C.E., the Roman empire doesn't fall, and Christianity and Islam fail to become world religions. As I've mentioned before, the book I'm currently writing uses alternate history as a tool to analyze the transmission of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, so I'm interested in keeping track of such things. I think I read the chapter on Muhammad a few years ago when it was published as a short story. Robert Silverberg . . . well . . . Robert Silverberg rules.

ANDERS BELL at Phluzein asks whether the LarkNews website, which currently has this article on the "discovery" of Proverbs chapter 32 is a (Christian) humor site and if it is credible. If he really isn't sure, the answers are yes and no, respectively. Look at the disclaimer in red caps at the bottom of the page. I've cited it before here.

THE SIEGFRIED H. HORN ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM at Andrews University in Michigan (not to be confused with the University of St. Andrews in Scotland) is moving quarters and tripling its size. Looks like they have some cool stuff.

A CATHOLIC SCHOLAR will lecture in a synagogue on Mel Gibson's The Passion. Whatever the movie's problems, it's good that it's generating this kind of dialogue.

KABBALAH FOR KIDS from the Material Girl: The English Roses. Excerpts from the NY Daily News article:

The book, inspired by the kabala, the ancient Jewish mystical system of which Madonna is a devotee, tries to communicate "the importance of sharing," she says, "and the desire to enlighten others" through the story of five little girls, a pumpernickel-fancying fairy godmother and some MTV-ish dance moves.

[...]

The five little girls' names are Charlotte, Nicole, Amy, Grace and Binah (which means "wisdom" in Hebrew).

Because the proceeds are supposed to go to charity, "I was liberated," Madonna says in her interview, "and my creativity was not motivated by ego or greed for the first time in my life."

I don't remember any dance moves in the Zohar, but I haven't read it all.

UPDATE (13 September): it occurred to me during the night that the Hekhalot Rabbati (a pre-Kabbalistic Merkavah mystical text) does have some dance moves in it. I quote my translation of �189 in Descenders to the Chariot:

Every single day, when the afternoon prayer arrives, the adorned King sits enthroned and exalts the living creatures. The word does not finish coming from His mouth before the holy living creatures go forth from under the throne of glory. From their mouths chanting is fulfilled, with their wings rejoicing is fulfilled, their hands make music, and their feet dance. They go around and surround their King; one on His right, one on His left, one before Him, and one behind Him. They embrace and kiss Him and uncover their faces. They uncover and the King of glory covers His face, and the Arabot firmament is split like a sieve before the King.

MTV-ish? Well, maybe. I'm afraid I'm even less up on MTV than I am on the Zohar.

Incidentally, the peekaboo moves are there to keep the angels from looking straight into God's uncovered face, which would be fatal even for them.

PREMIERE MAGAZINE reviews The Order and isn't much impressed. Excerpts:

Now, these aren't your average priests. Fathers Alex (Heath Ledger) and Thomas (Mark Addy) know Latin and Aramaic, but favor four-letter expletives. They subscribe to the old ways, but conceal cell phones in their cassocks. And when they're not delivering mass or praying the Rosary, they're perfectly comfortable fighting demons . . . which is convenient, since Rome seems to be full of them this time of year.

[...]

Writer-director Brian Helgeland has fashioned a dark and creepy enough supernatural yarn to entice the kind of suckers who fell for Stigmata and The Ninth Gate. But all this doomsaying is just too silly to take so seriously...

THEY'RE SERIOUS! The proposed Egyptian lawsuit against the Jews for reparations for the plunder they took during the Exodus is "under study by a group of lawyers in Egypt and Europe" according to a Reuters interview with Nabil Hilmi, dean of the law faculty at Egypt's al-Zaqaziq University. The Yahoo article quotes him as saying "This is serious, and should not be misread as being political against any race. We are just investigating if a debt is owed."

Surreal.

Luckily, Alan Dershowitz is willing to act as defense attorney for the Jews.

"THE ORDER OF NAZOREAN ESSENES, a Buddhist Branch of Original Christianity" is a modern Gnostic group with a large website. Despite the name, they seem more influenced by the Nag Hammadi Library, the Mandeans, Mani, and other things than by the Dead Sea Scrolls (although I have not gone through the site exhaustively). In any case, their approach is highly eclectic. They give summary data on their group here. This site was drawn to my attention by a neighbor who is interested in such things.

FUN FACTS about the Ten Commandments, mainly things people think they know which aren't so. This stuff probably isn't news to most PaleoJudaica readers, but I suppose it is to lots of other people. The article should have added that to "bear false witness" means to perjure yourself in court under oath, not just to lie. The Ten Commandments have no problem with lying per se.