A DRAINAGE CHANNEL IN JERUSALEM has been discovered which is also thought to have been used as an escape route during the siege of Jerusalem in the Great Revolt:

Ancient Escape Hatch Found in Israel

By AMY TEIBEL – 25 minutes ago

JERUSALEM (AP) — Under threat from Romans ransacking Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, many of the city's Jewish residents crowded into an underground drainage channel to hide and later flee the chaos through Jerusalem's southern end.

The ancient tunnel was recently discovered buried beneath rubble, a monument to one of the great dramatic scenes of the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 A.D.

The channel was dug beneath what would become the main road of Jerusalem, the archaeology dig's directors, Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said Sunday. Shukron said excavators looking for the road happened upon a small drainage channel that led them to the discovery of the massive tunnel two weeks ago.

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CONFERENCE REPORT (British New Testament Conference 2007):

Here are a few notes and thoughts gathered from this year's BNTC. I should emphasize that these are just my random thoughts about things that happened to make an impression on me, and there's no claim that they are complete, representative, or balanced.

The most interesting thing I learned was in the Social World of the NT Seminar in a session on magic. In the discussion of a stimulating paper by Helen Ingram, it was noted that in the story of the raising of Lazarus in John 11, Jesus is said, oddly, twice (vv. 33, 38) to have "sighed deeply" before bringing Lazarus back to life. It seems that the actual meaning of this Greek word is "to snort like a horse," which rather changes one's mental image of the episode and raises the possibility that Jesus was engaging in a ritual performance of the sort known from ancient magical texts (and cf. Mark 7:31-37, esp. v. 34).

Later, in the NT & Second Temple Judaism Seminar we had a good discussion of the Testament of Abraham, on which I have also written in my book. I have grave reservations about the Testament of Abraham's use as "New Testament background," to which use it is still put today. My concerns have to do with doubts about its provenance: in the book I outline three possible origins, as a Jewish composition, a Christian composition, and a composition by a God-Fearer. The problem is that none of the scenarios provides a background in which the text makes complete sense. This may be in part because it has been transmitted rather freely, with a long recension, a short recension, and some variants of the latter surviving, none of which represents the original. But the incoherence of the document may lie even deeper, and we discussed the implications of recent suggestions that it contains a significant element of comedy (see the book by Jared Ludlow). I'm wondering now if trying to distil a coherent and systematic eschatology or theology of repentance from the Testament of Abraham is a little like trying to do the same for movies like Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey or Dogma (also here). That would explain a lot.

I mentioned Larry Hurtado's plenary address in the preceding post. Rather than try to summarize the lecture from my notes, I'll just quote the publisher's blurb on his book from Amazon:

Much attention has been paid to the words of the earliest Christian texts, yet Larry Hurtado argues that an even more telling story is being overlooked — that of the physical texts themselves. Well known for his nimble scholarship, Hurtado combines his comprehensive knowledge of Christian origins with an archivist’s eye to make sense of these earliest objects of the faith.

Hurtado introduces readers to the staurogram, possibly the first representation of the cross, the nomina sacra, a textual abbreviation system, and the puzzling early Christian preference for book-like texts over scrolls. Intended for intellectually engaged readers as well as New Testament scholars and students, The Earliest Christian Artifacts introduces the distinctive features of early Christian manuscripts, illustrating their relevance for wider inquiry into the ancient history of Christianity.

The manuscript-as-artifact is an area that is finally getting the attention it deserves, and I look forward to reading Larry's book.

Larry Hurtado lectures. Helen Bond is in the chair.

One other note on his lecture: at one point he commented in passing that 99% of the Oxyrhynchus papyri remain unpublished and are mostly still just sitting in boxes, unscrutinized. I believe he also said that about 5000 fragments have been published, which would leave, what, half a million to go? My Pseudepigrapha radar always lights up when I hear things like this. There are a few Old Testament Pseudepigrapha fragments among the published Oxyrhynchus texts. (off the top of my head I can think of a manuscript of 2 Baruch, a manuscript of 1 Enoch, and a reference to the Book of Jubilees ["Little Genesis") in a letter.) That implies that another hundred or more fragments and references remain to be identified in the unpublished materials. I guess those will have await the attention of some future "More More Testament Pseudepigrapha Project."

Finally, a message to Mark Goodacre: Cat Smith and Helen Ingram send their love.

If you'd been here, Mark, this could have been you.

Many thanks to Cherryl Hunt, Louise Lawrence, David Horrell, and their postgraduate assistants Dom, John, and Frances for all their hard work to give us a very successful conference.

UPDATE: Mark responds. (And happy belated blogiversary to his New Testament Gateway blog and also to David Meadows's Rogue Classicism.)

UPDATE: Reviews of Hurtado's book are noted here.

UPDATE (13 September): More reports on this year's BNTC are noted here.

FROM THE BOOK DISPLAY - I picked up two more items yesterday:

Birger A. Pearson, Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions And Literature (Fortress, 2007)

Larry W. Hurtado, The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins (Eerdmans, 2006)

Larry's lecture last night was so good that I couldn't resist buying his book. More on that later.

I'M BACK IN ST. ANDREWS. I didn't have any time to blog in Exeter before I left. Good conference, more on it later.

THE CONFERENCE is going well and I'm making notes for my report to you later. I'm a little tired from last night, which, as tends to happen at the BNTC, culminated in Lloyd Pietersen's room with the usual suspects and some bottles of whisky. We have free time this afternoon and, with blogging now caught up, I feel a nap coming on.

JEWISH MYSTICAL BOOKS are on display in Russia:

Rare Judaica at Russian State Library

Published: 09/06/2007 (JTA)

Rare vintage books from the Russian State Library’s massive Judaica collection went on display for the first time.

The exhibition, “Jewish Mysticism and Hassidism,” began Thursday and includes selections from the library’s holdings of more than 80,000 Jewish books and manuscripts. Sponsored by the Russian Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, it is the first such exhibit ever mounted in the country’s largest library.

[...]

THE ARAMAIC-SPEAKING VILLAGE OF MALULA (MA'ALOULA, MAALOULA) is back in the news:

Preserving The Language Of Jesus
A Tiny Syrian Village Is Working To Keep Aramaic Alive

MALULA, Syria, Sept. 6, 2007

(CBS) For thousands of years, a tiny Syrian village has kept a well-guarded treasure: the language of Jesus. Tucked away in the Qalamoun Mountains, just north of Damascus, Syria, is Malula - one of the last places on earth where Aramaic is still spoken.

Aramaic was a thriving language during the time of Jesus and his disciples. Many of the gospels were written in the Semitic language, along with sections of the Talmud and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

People who come to Malula take in a piece of history and hear in its purest tones the 3,000-year-old language closely related to Hebrew. For the religious here, keeping Aramaic alive is nothing less than a calling.

"Of course we are interested to maintain this language, because at the end, this is the language of Jesus Christ," says Father Toufic Eid of St. Sergius Church.

The locals and the Syrian government are taking conservation of this national treasure very seriously. They have opened a special school where students from 5 to 50 brush up on their Aramaic, and, for the first time in their history, learn to write this traditionally oral language.

[...]

Past coverage is here, here, here, and here.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH - The Waqf is still digging that trench:

Silence in the Face of Continued Temple Mount Destruction

by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) As an Arab bulldozer continues to dig away at the current Temple Mount floor, evidence is mounting that actual walls from the Second Temple are being destroyed. The world is silent, while Prime Minister Olmert continues talks with the Palestinian Authority regarding future sovereignty over the holy area.

The actual digging, under the auspices of the Moslem Waqf [religious trust to which Israel has assigned responsibility for the Temple Mount - ed.], has been ongoing for several weeks. Only over the past 8-10 days, however, has attention been paid to the dangers of the barely supervised works. The Waqf claims that the purpose of the 400-meter-long, 1.5-meter deep trench is to replace electric cables in the area.

Discarding a Temple Wall, Piece by Piece
For the Jews, however, the trench represents more than just better lighting. Under the current floor of the Temple Mount compound lie the remains of the Second Holy Temple, largely untouched since it was destroyed by the Romans nearly 1,950 years ago. For pieces of one of the Temple courtyard office walls to be unceremoniously bulldozed up and discarded - as archaeologists such as Drs. Eilat Mazar and Gavriel Barkai believe has happened - is all but traumatic for Jews who have been praying for centuries to see the Temple rebuilt.

A week ago, Temple expert Dr. Gavriel Barkai told Arutz-7 that according to his, and others', calculations, the route of the trench passes precisely through the spot where one or more of the office walls stood the day of the Roman destruction.

"Some man-worked stones have been found in the trench," Barkai said at a press conference last week, "as well as remnants of a wall that, according to all our estimations, are from a structure in one of the outer courtyards in the Holy Temple."

Shortly afterwards, Dr. Mazar examined a photo of the trench, clearly showing a chopped-up carved stone. Mazar said the damaged stone displays elements of the Second Temple era, and might well be part of the Jewish Temple. She says she needs to view it up close; but the Waqf does not allow her to do so.

Waqf Stops TV Crew
In fact, the Waqf is so protective of the dig and its finds that it has tried to stop all photographing of the area. Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute reported that his camera was confiscated before he was allowed to visit the site this week, and WND's Aaron Klein and an InfoLive.TV camera crew were prevented from taking pictures of the dig on Thursday.

[...]

The article in which WorldNetDaily reports that their representative was barred from photographic the site is here.

REFLECTIONS ON GNOSTICISM from someone named Douglas Todd in the Vancouver Sun:

A new force in popular culture
Movies are fuelling a renewed fascination with Gnosticism today, but does it really offer satisfying answers?

[Skipping over the discussion of Dan Brown and Elaine Pagels, which you can read by following the link.

Still, despite the renewed fascination with Gnosticism today, does it really offer satisfying answers?

Although it appeals to many, Gnosticism has a harsh and depressing side.

In addition to politics, there may have also been strong metaphysical reasons for the early church rejecting it. Gnosticism teaches that the earthly realm is a meaningless illusion, a place full of suffering and pain. Developed in response to the cruel reign of the Roman Empire, Gnostics believed the world was a dismal place and the body was evil.

This bitter world, they thought, was like a bad dream, ruled by second-rate deities known as demiurges. Only the distant true God, existing in a completely different dimension, was good.

In many ways, this is the theme of The Matrix series, which paints our "normal" world as governed by malevolent forces. In The Matrix, the hero, Neo, is "saved" only after he "frees his mind" and obtains esoteric knowledge.

Despite the appeal of the Matrix movies, Gnostic theology's dualistic view of a bad world, good God, doesn't fit with western culture's current emphasis on spirituality as a way to integrate health, wholeness and gratitude for all that is.

It also contradicts mainstream Christianity's emphasis on Creation being good, an incarnation of God. Perhaps it is no surprise the only followers of Gnosticism today are about 20,000 so-called "Marsh Arabs" in Iran and southern Iraq (who were persecuted by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.)

But it's not necessary to entirely throw out Gnosticism. As Richard Smoley concludes in the new book, Forbidden Faith: The Secret History of Gnosticism, it's ultimately best to de-emphasize the ancient sect and focus more on the process of gnosis itself, on inner spiritual knowledge.

Authentic understanding, Smoley suggests, can be obtained by liberating oneself from false beliefs. Gnosis, Smoley astutely suggests, is as important as faith and reason as a way to comprehend the sacred.

Without some direct, intuitive experience of the sacred, spirituality always runs the danger of feeling second-hand.

For more on the Matrix angle on Gnosticism, see here.

On that note I'm going to go enjoy the material world at the drinks reception, which starts in a few minutes.

NEWS ON AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL PHOTO AND VIDEO BANK:

Archaeology Takes to the Skies as SitesandPhotos.com teams up with Albatross Aerial Photography
September 06, 2007 Publishing News

(PRLEAP.COM) Tel Aviv (September, 2007) � SitesandPhotos.com, the world�s only photo and video bank devoted entirely to archaeology has teamed up with Albatross Aerial Photography to add aerial photos and video to their already comprehensive library.

[...]

The site is here. It includes photos of archaeological sites in Israel.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

Jews beg Christians to help save the Temple
(Israel Today)

The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has issued a statement strongly urging Bible-believing Christians to petition their governments and the government of Israel to put an end to Muslim destruction of important Jewish artifacts atop the Temple Mount.

[...]

Background here.

FROM THE BOOK DISPLAY:

John M. G. Barclay, Flavius Josephus: Against Apion (Brill, 2006)

My review copy for the JSNT Booklist.

I'M AT EXETER UNIVERSITY. Got here this morning. The business about our dorm rooms having dial-up Internet access sounded to good to be true, and it was, but the conference organizers have kindly logged me onto a machine in one of the local computer clusters while they try to sort out something more long term.

I'M OFF TO EXETER first thing tomorrow morning for the annual British New Testament Conference, where I co-chair the NT & Second Temple Judaism Seminar with Darrell Hannah. I'm responding to a paper this year, but not presenting one myself. I'm told that dial-up e-mail will be available in our rooms, so I hope blogging will continue more or less as usual.

THE STANDARD EDITION OF [see update] THE TESTAMENT OF SOLOMON is being reprinted by Gorgias Press. It's very dated, but still the best available.

Conybeare, F. C.. The Testament of Solomon

E-mail this product to a friend

Author: F. C. Conybeare
Title: The Testament of Solomon
Subtitle:
Series: Analecta Gorgiana 56
Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Publication Date: 8/7/2007 12:44:29 PM 1898
Availability: Forthcoming
ISBN: 978-1-59333-871-8
Language: English
Format: Paperback 6 x 9, 1 volume(s), iv+46 pages, illustrations

The Testament of Solomon is the tale of King Solomon’s encounter with and subjugation of demons whom he subsequently engages in the construction of his temple. While beseeching the Lord Sabbaoth concerning his servant who has been attacked by the demon Ornias, Solomon is given a ring that endows its possessor with authority over the demons. It is through the power of this ring that Solomon comes to the aid of his servant and is able to command the demons to assist in the completion of the temple. Solomon’s dialogue with these demons reveals much concerning the demonology of Testament’s author and redactors. Herein a translation of the text is introduced with a critical essay concerning the religious provenance of the text. Through a careful analysis of possible Christian passages in the Testament Professor Conybeare argues that the Christian elements do not point to a Christian author. Instead, with comparison to the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, he suggests that both are Christian recensions of Graeco-Jewish originals.

Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare (1856-1924) was a British orientalist who wrote extensively on religious themes from biblical and Christian literature, especially matters related to Armenian Christian literature. He taught at Oxford University and authored such notable books as Myth, Magic, and Morals, History of New Testament Criticism, and The Life of Apollonius of Tyana.

UPDATE (9 September): Sorry, I misread the advert. This is an old translation, not the standard edition, which was by C. C. McCown. My mistake; comes of wishful thinking I guess.

NOAH'S ARK RECALLED:

Thousands of wooden toy Noah’s Arks made in China are being recalled across Britain after excessive lead was found in paint.

[...]

PROFESSOR ELLIOT WOLFSON, renowned specialist in Jewish mysticism, is visiting Rice University for a semester, where a conference is to be held in his honor. April DeConick has information at the Forbidden Gospels blog.

THE SILOAM TUNNEL INSCRIPTION is returning to Israel on loan from Turkey - perhaps to stay:

Hezekiah Inscription to return to Israel

By Jay Bushinsky (Washington Times)
September 5, 2007


JERUSALEM

An ancient inscription memorializing Jerusalem's salvation from Assyrian invaders 2,700 years ago is to be returned to the Holy Land from Turkey for study and public display.

Israel has been trying for about 20 years to recover the artifact, which marks one of the most important turning points in Hebrew history.

[...]

Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek made the first attempt to retrieve the inscription for contemporary Israel two decades ago. Last month, Mayor Uri Lupolianski asked for it again at a meeting with Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan. The ambassador said it would be returned in accordance with international law as a loan rather than a restitution.

A member of the Turkish Embassy's staff in Tel Aviv said the inscription could be deposited in Jerusalem "on a long-term basis" if some kind of reciprocity was made. Otherwise, it may stay at the Israel Museum for as little as three months.

Mr. Barkay suggested that the diplomat was hoping for a loan of items dating from the Ottoman Empire's 400-year-long rule over Palestine. Most of this material is stored in Israel's state archive, he said.

[...]

Sounds like a fair trade to me.

Background to this story is here (and follow the links from there). Also, I have discussed Sennacherib's invasion of Judah here.

MESSAGES TO THE DEMIURGE: We have a winner! Two, in fact, and eleven runners up. John Tierney reports at the TierneyLab blog. But does that second winning post mean that the theological conundrum is solved?

BIBLICAL STUDIES CARNIVAL XXII has been published by Duane Smith at Abnormal Interests.