Tuesday, December 05, 2006
JUDAS MAY NOT HAVE BEEN A GOOD GUY in the Gospel of Judas after all:
Judas no hero, scholars sayThis, of course, is old news to regular readers of PaleoJudaica, where I reported in early October that Professor Louis Painchaud was challenging the positive interpretation of Judas in the Gospel of Judas in a paper he presented at the Ottawa Workshop on Christian Apocrypha. Craig Evans was at the workshop too, and it looks as though he found Painchaud's challenge persuasive. The article reports, however, that Elaine Pagels remains unconvinced.
Last Updated: Monday, December 4, 2006 | 9:43 AM ET
CBC News
Some scholars are refuting an interpretation of a 1,700-year-old document claiming to prove that Judas was a hero and not a villain.
Craig Evans, a professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia, was part of the team that unveiled the Gospel of Judas last spring.
"The big headline was in April that the text was discovered," Evans said.
"The second big headline is right now: oops, maybe we misinterpreted it and we need to rethink it."
[...]
BRIEF REVIEWS of Geza Vermes's book, The Nativity: History and Legend, have appeared in the Guardian and the Independent.
Monday, December 04, 2006
PETER KIRBY could use some help with his Open Scrolls Project. I've noted the project before, but he has recently mentioned it again on his Christian Origins blog and e-mailed me about it, so I'm pointing it out again. If you have the time, the expertise, and the inclination, give him a hand.
"THE TREASURES OF TIMBUKTU" are covered in an article in The Smithsonian. For past PaleoJudaica coverage of the Timbuktu manuscripts, see here and just keep following the links back.
(Via Explorator 9.31-32.)
(Via Explorator 9.31-32.)
Sunday, December 03, 2006
MY REVIEW of Andrei A. Orlov's The Enoch-Metatron Tradition has been published by the Review of Biblical Literature.
NATIVITY STORY REVIEWS have been collected by Mark Goodacre at the New Testament Gateway blog. And he starts his own review of the film here.
THE SAN DIEGO DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION is receiving substantial private funding from philanthropists Joan and Irwin Jacobs.
GEZA VERMES fisks the traditional Christmas story in the London Times:
UPDATE (5 December): Some reviews are noted here.
UPDATE (23 December): Another review is noted here.
The real Christmas storyHe also takes a critical look at the Gospel Nativity stories. Professor Vermes has e-mailed to say that he is not responsible for the article's title. He will also be on the BBC program on the Dead Sea Scrolls, noted yesterday, and he has a new book out: The Nativity: History and Legend (Penguin). Reviews are coming out, but don't seem to have reached Google yet.
Geza Vermes
A close reading of Matthew shows the emotional truth of the Nativity
There are three variations on the theme of Christmas. In addition to the potpourri of the traditional Nativity story, the careful reader of the New Testament can discover two further accounts in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
[...]
Four features in this story are without basis in the Gospels. The date of Christmas on December 25 does not appear until AD334 when in a Roman church calendar the Nativity of the Lord replaces the pagan feast of the Unvanquished Sun. Before the 4th century, the birth of Jesus was celebrated on January 6 (Epiphany), or April 21 or May 20.
The idea that Joseph was an old widower with a grown-up family comes from the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, written in the 2nd century in an attempt to make less puzzling the by then current doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary and the gospel references to brothers and sisters of Jesus. The presence of an ox and an ass in the stable is also alien to the New Testament.
As for the kings or wise men, they were neither. Matthew calls them magi, magicians or stargazers, without mentioning their number. The figure of three is no doubt deduced from the reference to the gifts left by them: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
[...]
UPDATE (5 December): Some reviews are noted here.
UPDATE (23 December): Another review is noted here.
ARAMAIC WATCH -- Aramaic in Wyoming:
Pastor attempts to teach Lord's Prayer in Aramaic
Saturday, December 02, 2006
By Charles Honey
[Grand Rapids] Press Religion Editor
WYOMING -- While walking or running in the early morning, the Rev. Larry Bradford chants the ancient words.
"Abwoon d'bwashmaya, nethqadash shmakh": "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name."
Bradford said chanting the Lord's Prayer in the language Jesus spoke brings him closer to God, the mysterious words resonating like "a body prayer."
"The breathing in and breathing out, the movement, for me makes the Lord's Prayer come alive," said Bradford, interim rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. "Whether while still in meditation or out walking in nature, it's as close to God as I can get."
Beginning Sunday, the first in Advent, Bradford hopes to bring his congregation closer by teaching them the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic.
[...]
A NEW EDITION OF THE MIKRAOT GEDOLOT is receiving anonymous private funding to continue:
Anonymous contribution keeps Bar-Ilan U. Bible project afloatIt appears they are using the Aleppo Codex to correct copyist errors the biblical text, but I assume they must also be collating manuscripts of Rashi's commentaries, etc.
By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent
The first attempt in 500 years to update the Bible was in danger of being eliminated by continued budget cuts at Bar-Ilan University, but was saved at the last minute by an anonymous contribution.
On the shelf in Professor Menachem Cohen's office at Bar-Ilan University sit nine volumes of an edition of the Bible with numerous commentaries known as Mikra'ot Gedolot.
[...]
ANOTHER MARY MAGDALENE NOVEL:
'Expected One' first in a series of novels on Mary MagdaleneSounds pretty wild.
BY FRANCIS MOUL / For the Lincoln Journal Star
(“The Expected One, Book One of the Magdalene Line” by Kathleen McGowan, Simon & Schuster, $25.95, 449 pages.) Twenty years. Four continents. A first draft of 12,000 pages. That’s the effort that went into the latest best-selling novel about the life of Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene and the family they supposedly created.
This is not about “The Da Vinci Code,” that famous novel and movie that involved a conspiracy by the Catholic Church to eliminate the last descendants of Christ. Kathleen McGowan’s book goes far beyond that and opens up a totally different schism from the very days of Christ’s preaching, a conflict that lasts for 2,000 years.
[...]
Saturday, December 02, 2006
EL-HAJ'S BOOK, FACTS ON THE GROUND, is excerpted at the Solomonia blog here and here.
Regarding the first quote, my experience at Tel Dor was that all periods were studied carefully by Israeli archaeologists. If a bulldozer was in fact used at Lachish -- and the author does not claim she saw this and does not report the names of those who told her -- it doesn't sound like a good idea to me. But I would have to know the specific reasons before I could comment, and I could comment only as a nonspecialist (i.e., not an archaeologist).
As for the second quote, I have not studied the report on Avigad's burnt houses. But from the description it seems very likely that the fires had something to do with the Roman-Jewish conflict around 70 CE. I don't know whether they were caused by the Roman destruction of the city or by conflicts between Jewish factions within the beseiged city. I doubt that the cause was someone smoking in bed. There is plenty of literary evidence for the Roman destruction of Jerusalem (and the literary material is what I know), so whatever happened to these particular sites, that destruction is not in doubt.
I do hope to get around to reading El-Haj's book one of these days, but lately I haven't had adequate time to do much more important reading, and that's not likely to change soon, so don't hold your breath. One can only tell so much from excerpts, and I'm not going to pronounce on the book without actually reading it through. Give the tenure review committee my good wishes and sympathy. They have a hot potato.
UPDATE (6 December): The excavator of Lachish responds.
Regarding the first quote, my experience at Tel Dor was that all periods were studied carefully by Israeli archaeologists. If a bulldozer was in fact used at Lachish -- and the author does not claim she saw this and does not report the names of those who told her -- it doesn't sound like a good idea to me. But I would have to know the specific reasons before I could comment, and I could comment only as a nonspecialist (i.e., not an archaeologist).
As for the second quote, I have not studied the report on Avigad's burnt houses. But from the description it seems very likely that the fires had something to do with the Roman-Jewish conflict around 70 CE. I don't know whether they were caused by the Roman destruction of the city or by conflicts between Jewish factions within the beseiged city. I doubt that the cause was someone smoking in bed. There is plenty of literary evidence for the Roman destruction of Jerusalem (and the literary material is what I know), so whatever happened to these particular sites, that destruction is not in doubt.
I do hope to get around to reading El-Haj's book one of these days, but lately I haven't had adequate time to do much more important reading, and that's not likely to change soon, so don't hold your breath. One can only tell so much from excerpts, and I'm not going to pronounce on the book without actually reading it through. Give the tenure review committee my good wishes and sympathy. They have a hot potato.
UPDATE (6 December): The excavator of Lachish responds.
RAGEH OMAR will be hosting a program on the Dead Sea Scrolls on BBC 4 this Tuesday:
Dead Sea Scrolls
Tuesday 5 December
9.00-10.30pm BBC FOUR (Schedule addition 13 Novermber)
In the winter of 1947, Bedouin looking for a lost goat on the shores of the Dead Sea discovered a cave whose contents rocked the academic world. The Dead Sea Scrolls were the Biblical find of the age. Dating from the time of Jesus, it was hoped that they would shed light on the birth of Christianity and the Jewish world of the first century.
But the scrolls were soon embroiled in controversy, with allegations of conspiracy and cover-up – and the rumours persist today, thanks to The Da Vinci Code.
Most people have heard of the Scrolls, but what do they actually contain? Do they deserve their controversial reputation and can they change people's understanding of Jesus?
In Secrets Of The Scrolls, Rageh Omaar tells the remarkable story of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He uncovers the truth behind the myth and discovers that their story is far from over. As Rageh says: "I guessed that the Dead Sea Scrolls would be a puzzle, but the more I met those who understood the contents of these documents, the more I realised that there are, in fact, many, many intriguing puzzles within the wider puzzle."
THE LIBRARIAN:
UPDATE: This review is considerably less positive. And the New York Times grudgingly acknowledges that the first movie was "inexplicably successful."
Bob Newhart plays against typeI've not heard of this series before, but it sounds funny, and Bob Newhart is always good. I hope it makes it across the pond. There's another review of the show here.
By Rick Bird
[Cincinnati] Post staff reporter
Imagine a befuddled, hesitant Bob Newhart-type character guarding humanities' great secrets and artifacts like the Dead Sea Scrolls, Noah's Ark, Poseidon's Trident, King Arthur's Excalibur.
"I would be terrified at the thought of that," Newhart says with a laugh.
The legendary comedian/actor reprises his role as Judson, head of a mysterious monolithic library in "The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines" (8 p.m. Sunday, TNT) in the sequel to the Indiana Jones spoof TV movie that first aired two years ago. Noah Wyle ("ER") produced the movies, also starring as a nerdy and reluctant action-adventure hero with 22 academic degrees.
Actually Newhart's librarian is a different character than he usually plays, a sort of smug all-knowing taskmaster who sends Wyle's hero on missions to prevent the bad guys from acquiring legendary artifacts that will give them more evil powers.
[...]
UPDATE: This review is considerably less positive. And the New York Times grudgingly acknowledges that the first movie was "inexplicably successful."
Friday, December 01, 2006
THE DIET OF THE INHABITANTS OF MASADA (throughout its history) is being studied by an Israeli archaeologist:
What peach did they dare to eat at Masada?
By Ran Shapira (Haaretz)
The Roman army commander and naturalist Pliny described, in his book "The Natural History," a rare and unique variety of peach that ripens at an early date, in the summer, and not in the fall, as did all the other peach varieties around in his day. No one knows what this rare variety was called in antiquity, but Prof. Mordechai Kislev, an expert on botanical archaeology, claims that peaches matching Pliny's description appear in a wall drawing in the city of Herculaneum, near Pompeii, and that they also grew in the Land of Israel and were part of the diet of Masada's residents.
[...]
Masada's residents did not suffice with just peaches, of course. In excavations at the site conducted by the late Prof. Yigael Yadin, abundant remains of fruits and grains were found. At the beginning of his academic career, in the early 1970s, Kislev received from Yadin all the remains of plants unearthed until then at Masada, and a few years ago, other botanical remains were added to the collection, having been uncovered in excavations there by Prof. Ehud Netzer and Dr. Guy Shtiebel. Today the collection includes thousands of items, representing all the periods when the mountain was inhabited: from the construction of Herod's palace on the peak of Masada in 37 BCE to the era of Roman rule after the conquest of the mountain in 73 CE.
Almost 30 years elapsed from the time Kislev received the findings from Yadin until he found the time and assistance to research the material. In the last three years, he has returned to the collection, with help from Suheil Zeidan, of the Jewish National Fund, and his colleagues Dr. Orit Simchoni and Yonit Tabak, a master's student. The team found that Masada residents enjoyed the full variety of foods produced by the Land of Israel: wheat, barley, apricots, plums, pomegranates, peaches, almonds, figs, grapes and olives.
[...]
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