Happy St. George's Day!

CANDIDA MOSS: St George's Day, celebrating a mythical martyr? It seems she doesn't believe the bit about the dragon.

Ignore her, she probably doesn't believe in Santa Claus either.

More on Professor Moss's work here, on St. George here, and on St. Nicholas here and links.

Speaking of Jewish messiahs ...

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: When Messiah Is an Afterthought: The Talmud’s pragmatism and wonder meet in a technical problem about the height of a boundary line.

As best I can recall, in my Talmud reading so far there has been only one reference to the Messiah. This came in Tractate Berachot, where one sage was cited as saying that the deeds of the Messiah would not be supernatural, but political—that the only difference between our world and the messianic age would be the restoration of Jewish sovereignty. And it makes sense that messianism should not, at least so far, be a major concern of the Talmud’s rabbis. After all, they are not theologians but legislators, concerned with how Jews should live in the here and now.

In this week’s Daf Yomi reading, however, the subject of the Messiah returned, in an utterly unexpected and roundabout fashion. ...

A flying Messiah, no less, which brings to mind flying Jesus, as well as the flying Man from the Sea in 4 Ezra 13 who is mentioned in the article cited in the immediately preceding post.

Previous Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

Review of Boyarin, The Jewish Gospels

DANIEL BOYARIN'S BOOK THE JEWISH GOSPELS receives a quite sympathetic review by Simon Rocker at The Jewish Chronicle: Why a 'divine' messiah was not beyond belief: A new book by a leading Jewish scholar turns some of our preconceptions about Jesus and the origins of Christianity on their head. Excerpt:

But a daring new book by one of the world’s leading Jewish scholars challenges this simple contrast. The Jewish Gospels is a short work aimed at general readers by Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmud at the University of California in Berkeley. In ancient times, the borders between what Judaism and Christianity were far more porous than we conceive today, he argues: it was not until the fourth century that the doctrinal differences were clarified, not least because of the desire of the Roman-backed church to put clear water between the spreading new faith and those it considered Jews.

His most explosive contention is that the concept of a divine messiah was not an alien import but part of the cauldron of ideas that bubbled in the volatile world of classical Judaism. “The basic underlying thoughts from which both the Trinity and the incarnation grew are there in the very world into which Jesus was born,” he writes.

Background here and links, where you will see that Peter Schäfer's review of the book goes rather further than believing "that Boyarin overstates his case."

Ancient church discovered in Shiloh?

REPORT: Nearly 1,700-year-old Church found in Shiloh, Israel (YourJewishNews.com).

One of the oldest churches ever to be excavated in Israel was recently discovered at the archaeological site of Tel Shiloh, where the temporary Jewish Temple once stood, in Samaria.

The church, dating from the fourth century CE, was discovered at the site believed that once housed the Ark of the Covenant of the ancient Israelis. The discovery has created much excitement among Christians.

This is the only report of the discovery I can find and, as you can see, it seems pretty vague on geography and chronology. The report says that some mosaics and then the church were discovered when a drainage ditch was dug to clear the excavation of rain water.

UPDATE (23 April): Joseph Lauer e-mails to point out that a very similar story circulated back in 2006. It was noted at PaleoJudaica here. It looks as though the new story is just a recycling of the old one.

The historical Jesus

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Is Historical Jesus Research Futile? (James McGrath).

Syriac in Turkey again

SYRIAC WATCH:

Turkey’s Syriacs yearn to be able to teach Syriac to their children

21 April 2013 /YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN, İSTANBUL (Today's Zaman)

Turkey’s Syriacs have long been seeking ways to teach their ancient language, culture and religion to their children; they finally asked a court in Ankara to right a wrong and allow them to open schools which would include a Syriac education.

“My family has been living in Anatolia for centuries, but I don’t know Syriac. I wish there were kindergartens that started Syriac language education at an early age,” said Nazan Söğüt, who has a daughter in the eighth grade and a son in the third grade in İstanbul.

“We would like to have schools at the kindergarten level in accordance with the Education Ministry’s instructions and with certain hours of language courses in Syriac. We only want to prevent the death of our 5,500-year-old language,” said Ezel Muratoğlu, a mother of two children who live in İstanbul’s Moda district. The battle of Syriacs in the Turkish bureaucracy has failed a number of times in its effort to teach their children their ancient language. In the middle of last year, the local education authority in İstanbul did not give them permission to open kindergartens that could teach Syriac. The Syriacs then went to the directorate of private schools with the same demand, but to no avail.

[...]

More stories on Syriac in Turkey here, here, here, and links.

Adam Kadmon on television

PHILOLOGOS: How Adam Kadmon Made the Leap From The Kabbalah to Italian Television: Primordial Man Has Had a Long, Strange History.

Is he an imaginative Italian investigative journalist? The descendant, as he claims to be, of an ancient family endowed with mystical powers, stemming from seven androids created thousands of years ago by an extraterrestrial geneticist in ancient Sumeria? A former peace activist — as he also claims — who was attacked and put out of commission in 1986 by a secret group of mobsters called “the Illuminati,” only to resurface again, in 2009, as a popular media figure?

It’s anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, as the guessing goes on, so does a weekly show on Italia 1 television in which Adam Kadmon, which means “primordial man” in the Hebrew of the Kabbalah, unravels such “mysteries” as the abdication of Pope Benedict, the death of Hugo Chávez and the secret life of Michael Jackson, and tilts with the Illuminati, who are still out to get him.

Despite his Hebrew name, there’s no need to suspect that he’s Jewish, because the kabbalistic figure of Adam Kadmon has had literary currency outside the Jewish world for a century or more; this goes back at least as far as the late 19th-century vogue for Theosophy, a movement that drew eclectically on a wide range of mystical sources.

DSS "kick-off event" at Brandeis

DEAD SEA SCROLLS IN BOSTON: Dead Sea Scrolls come alive at Brandeis April 23: Brandeis educational partnership with the Museum of Science provides unique insight into the era.

Background here and here and links.

More on Palmyra

SYRIA CONFLICT: Syria’s war is blasting the past (Adam Blitz, The Times of Israel).

Today it is Palmyra’s turn to face the bullet. It too is caught in conflict albeit with the Assad regime, Hezbollah’s bedfellow, and rebel opposition forces. It remains highly strategic. Quite simply Palmyra is “smack-bang” in the middle of Syria. ...

Palmyra remains an artistic marvel. It was one of the top tourist-destinations prior to the civil war. Its artistic heritage derives from its unique role as a buffer city which it first held in the 2nd Century between Rome in the West and Parthia (Iran) in the East. Palmyra responded to a state of “betwixt and between” and became one of the most prosperous of all caravan cities. As merchants of antiquity crisscrossed the desert, wealth flowed through the sands of Palmyra. Affluence found expression in a distinct yet hybrid art. It borrowed from Greek, Roman, Semitic and Iranian traditions while at the same time it offered its own local contribution.

This artistic endeavour finds its voice in the rich funerary art which can now be seen in the great museums of the world. In the town itself soaring burial towers, colonnades and temples dominate the landscape. The Temple of Bel is the most monumental of all of the temple-complexes in Palmyra. As with Baalbek, the Temple of Bel has retained the name of an earlier Semitic cult. It was associated with the Mesopotamian Baal, chief god of the pantheon. And as with Baabek’s Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of Bel also sits on the site of a much older Semitic temple.

More on Palmyra in the present conflict and on its historical and archaeological significance here and links.

"David era" temple/palace found near Jerusalem?

A COLUMN FROM AN IRON-AGE STRUCTURE has been found in "a deep cave south of Jerusalem." Everyone seems to agree on that much with reference to a story first published in English by the Jewish Press: King David Era Find ‘Buried’ by Authorities for Political Reasons (Yori Yanover). Excerpt:

That’s the story of a remarkably rare archeological discovery, which no one has heard about. For some reason, possibly political, the Israeli authorities have been trying to silence this discovery which could usher in a breakthrough in our understanding of the periods of King David and his son, King Solomon.

The column crown Tropper ran, or rather climbed down into, is very likely part of a complete temple or palace buried underground.

Tropper, who expected nothing short of a medal for his fortunate discovery, called over the field school’s director, Yaron Rosenthal, who in turn alerted a senior employee of Israel’s Antiquities Authority. But no medals were to come any time soon.

The story has also been covered by Arutz Sheva: Is the State Hiding a Major Bible Era Find? Makor Rishon says authorities are keeping lid on what may be a royal castle from David's time. For those who read Hebrew, the Makor Rishon article that broke the story is here. And Todd Bolen has a blog post up on the subject as well at his Bible Places Blog: Royal Architecture Found Near Jerusalem.

At this point all we know is a little about the structure and that the IAA had known about it for some time, but had elected, for reasons not yet clear, not to make it public. All else is speculation. Note that the first comment at Bolen's blog post, by Israeli archeologist Aren Maier, casts doubt on the structure being as early as the United Monarchy. A potentially "complete" ruin of a structure of this sort from any time in the Monarchic Period would still be exciting, but would not be as profoundly important as one from as early as the United Monarchy.

Just as an aside, I'm having trouble getting a mental picture of how you get a column attached to the relatively untouched (at least recently) ruin of an Iron-Age palace buried in the wall of a deep cave. But maybe that's just me. Presumably the full picture will become clear as more details emerge.

All of the links above were circulated by Joseph I. Lauer on his e-mail list.

Bible jobs in Norway

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OSLO:

Professor/Associate Professor: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies

Professor/Associate Professor in the New Testament

There is a catch: you have either to show up knowing a Scandinavian language or agree to learn Norwegian within two years.

(HT Liv Ingeborg Lied.)

Sherman, Babel’s Tower Translated

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Babel’s Tower Translated

Genesis 11 and Ancient Jewish Interpretation
Phillip Michael Sherman, Maryville College, TN
In Babel's Tower Translated, Phillip Sherman explores the narrative of Genesis 11 and its reception and interpretation in several Second Temple and Early Rabbinic texts (e.g., Jubilees, Philo, Genesis Rabbah). The account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) is famously ambiguous. The meaning of the narrative and the actions of both the human characters and the Israelite deity defy any easy explanation. This work explores how changing historical and hermeneutical realities altered and shifted the meaning of the text in Jewish antiquity.

Anglo-Saxon biblical apocrypha and pseudepigrapha

THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH, Philip Jenkins tells us, was really into their Old Testament Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha and their New Testament apocrypha: THE FIRST ENGLISH BIBLE.

Anglo-Saxon England was converted in the century or so after 597, and in the following centuries became one of the liveliest cultural centers of Western Europe. Scandinavian invasions caused massive damage in the ninth century, but Anglo-Saxon culture and literature continued to flourish until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Within a couple of generations after that cataclysm, the Anglo-Saxon language ceased to matter as a learned tongue. When we find a text associated with the Anglo-Saxon church, then, we can say confidently that it was used somewhere between 600 and 1066 or so, and is very unlikely to be much earlier or later.

A century ago, M. R. James remarked that “the Anglo-Saxon and Irish scholars seem to have been in possession of a good deal of rather rare apocryphal literature,” mainly in Latin but occasionally even in Greek. ...

For early Irish Old Testament pseudepigrapha, see this essay by my colleague Grant Macaskill: The Pseudepigrapha in the Irish Church.

UPDATE: Dead links now fixed! Sorry about that.

No reconstructing Herod's tomb

WELL, THAT WAS AN AMBITIOUS IDEA:

Israeli plan to rebuild Herod’s tomb scrapped due to experts' criticism
The reconstruction of the West Bank monument, which would have set a precedent as the world's first archaeological structure to be fully restored, was championed by a local politician but slammed by archaeologists and academics as ostentatious and populist.(Nir Hasson, Haaretz)

[...]

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority said in a statement, “Following the public hearing organized by the authority, new insights were received that will enrich and improve the proposal [to restore the tomb]. The Israel Museum exhibition will close in eight months, and after that the findings will be returned to Herodion and be integrated into the restoration.”

I'm not particularly keen on the idea of full on-site reconstructions of important ancient ruins. Let's stick to scale models that can be updated and corrected as our understanding improves. And in this case, as the article points out, we're not even entirely certain that this is Herod the Great's tomb.

Background on the Israel Museum's Herod exhibition and on the site is here and keep following the links back.

DSS in Utah

DEAD SEA SCROLLS ARE COMING TO SALT LAKE CITY:

Dead Sea Scrolls coming to Leonardo in Salt Lake City

By Sean P. Means

| The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Apr 17 2013 10:55 am • Updated 5 hours ago

A display featuring some of the Dead Sea Scrolls — the parchments that include the earliest known manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible — is coming to Salt Lake City.

Twenty scrolls, some of which date back to near the time of Christ, will be part of an exhibit that will open in mid-November at The Leonardo, downtown Salt Lake City’s art-and-technology museum, officials announced Wednesday.

[...]

Salt Lake City is one of only 10 cities to host the "Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times." The exhibit has been shown in New York, Philadelphia and Cincinnati, and will open May 19 at Boston’s Museum of Science.

[...]

Background here with many, many links.

More on that man in a plastic bag

SIMON HOLLOWAY has more on that story about the man who sealed himself in a plastic bag on an El Al flight, including a survey of relevant Talmudic etc. passages and halakhic issues: Sons of Aharon (Davar Akher).

Hurtado on revelatory experiences

LARRY HURTADO summarizes his recent lecture series: “Revelatory” Experiences and Religious Innovation.

I have some related thoughts on ancient and more recent revelatory experiences here and here.

"Channeling" the Tannaim

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Crossing the Line: By avoiding authoritative rulings in favor of nuanced debate with the ideas of the past, the Oral Law refuses to simplify.

It’s not often that the subject of the weekly Daf Yomi reading makes headlines in the blogosphere. But last week, the web—especially its Jewish corners—was buzzing over a bizarre photograph of an Orthodox Jewish man on an airplane, completely wrapped in a plastic bag. Many commenters on the photo assumed this had something to do with sexual purity or avoiding women, but in fact, as knowledgeable readers pointed out, it actually involved another taboo entirely.

The man must have been a Kohen, a member of the priestly class, and Kohanim are prohibited from coming into contact with corpses. Passing over a cemetery—even, in this case, at 30,000 feet—qualifies as such a contact. By wrapping himself in plastic, the man in question must have been guarding himself against that kind of impurity or tumah. Since most Orthodox Jews, even Kohanim, do not regularly fly in plastic, it’s clear that the man in the photo was adopting a minority position about what’s required to avoid contamination. (I’d be glad to hear from knowledgeable commenters about the law on this issue.)

As it turned out, just this question—how a Kohen can travel through a cemetery—was addressed in the Talmud last week, in Eruvin 30b. ...

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here, here, and links.

OT Pseudepigrapha in the Biblioblogosphere

OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH:

Philip Jenkins discusses the musical history of interpretation of the Sibylline Oracles: AS THE SIBYL SANG.

Lawrence Schiffman has a post on another important pseudepigraphon: Second Temple Period Rationales for the Torah’s Commandments: Book of Jubilees.

BMCR reviews

RECENT REVIEW FROM BMCR:

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.04.13
Mireille Hadas-Lebel, Philo of Alexandria: A Thinker in the Jewish Diaspora. Studies in Philo of Alexandria, 7. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2012. Pp. 240. ISBN 9789004209480. $140.00.

Reviewed by Maren R. Niehoff, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus (msmaren@mscc.huji.ac.il)

Preview

This guide to Philo’s life, thought and political activity is an important addition to Philonic scholarship, which has been flourishing and reaching out to other disciplines. While A. Kamesar has recently collected introductory essays on Philo by a team of international researchers, who highlight the status quaestionis in their respective fields,1 Hadas-Lebel singlehandedly offers a comprehensive study of Philo, lucidly outlining the different aspects of his personality without striving to provide an updated picture of Philonic research. She initially describes his historical context in Alexandria and then provides an analysis of his writings and thought, concluding with an overview of his influence among early Christians. Hadas-Lebel forcefully argues for a significant connection between Philo’s Diaspora setting and his thought: he cannot be subsumed within rabbinic Judaism, but is the main exponent of a form of Judaism that took Greek culture very seriously into account, while maintaining a strong and visible Jewish identity.

[...]


Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.04.23
J. Albert Harrill, Paul the Apostle: His Life and Legacy in Their Roman Context. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Pp. xv, 207. ISBN 9780521757805. $24.99 (pb).

Reviewed by Paul B. Harvey, Jr., Pennsylvania State University (pbh1@psu.edu)

Preview

Harrill has published extensively on the socio-economic contexts (especially slavery) of Paul’s letters;1 here he offers a biographical sketch of Paul with a very welcome discussion of how and to what extent ancient authors appropriated Paul and his teachings. Harrill urges that Paul be reckoned among the “key figures” of ancient Mediterranean history. Few scholars acquainted with the modern study of early Christianity would, I think, quarrel with Harrill’s assessment of the apostle’s historical significance and influence. Indeed, many would surely agree with Bruce Chilton’s apothegm: without Paul, no Christianity.2

[...]