Daniel Boyarin: Enoch or Jesus? The Quest of the Historical Metatron

Professor Daniel Boyarin (University of California, Berkeley) presents the 2016 Shaffer Lecture in Theology, at Yale Divinity School, in three parts, on March 8, 9, and 10. The topic of his series is “Enoch or Jesus? The Quest of the Historical Metatron”.

In the series, Professor Boyarin furthers his defence of the ancient roots of a greater and subordinate second god within Judaism, the “two powers in heaven”. In the lectures, he lays out the development of a complex binitarian theology in both early Judaism and early Christianity. He also disagrees with Peter Schäfer.

While there is nearly incontrovertible evidence for the interchange between Christian and Jewish circles in late antiquity, there is also good evidence for the circulation of apocalyptic traditions among Jews through the rabbinic period, independent of specific Christian contexts.

• Daniel Boyarin, 2016 Shaffer Lecture 1, 23:55ff

Lecture 1 (March 8, 2016)

Lecture 2 (March 9, 2016)

Lecture 3 (March 10, 2016)

George W. E. Nickelsburg: “The Temple According to 1 Enoch”

Professor Emeritus George W. E. Nickelsburg (University of Iowa) delivered a lecture on “The Temple According to 1 Enoch” on February 19, 2013, at Utah State University.

The paper was later published as “The Temple According to 1 Enoch“, BYU Studies Quarterly 53.1 (2014): 7-24.

During the Second Temple period (516 BCE to 70 CE), most Jews in Jerusalem worshipped at the Jerusalem temple. But a separate community at Qumran decried the lack of ritual purity in the activity at the Second Temple and saw their community as an ersatz for the temple. Literature at Qumran included 1 Enoch, a collection of five tractates composed in the Aramaic language between the fourth century BCE and the turn of the era and ascribed to the ancient patriarch Enoch, the head of the seventh generation after creation (Gen. 5:18–24). Some of the tractates are concerned about a dysfunctional Jerusalem cult and resolve the problem of how to worship by looking forward to the approaching eschaton. Other sections of 1 Enoch tell that the real action is already taking place in the true temple, which is the heavenly temple. There, variously, God is enthroned, and the Son of Man is being prepared to enact divine judgment so that God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven. Here Enoch remains until the end-time, witnessing the interaction between God and the archangels. This vision refers to three Israelite sanctuaries—the tabernacle, the First Temple, and the Second Temple—and to the establishment of a new Jerusalem, in which there is no temple, because the city itself serves as a temple.

Alan Segal on Life after Death

Professor Alan Segal (then emeritus at Barnard College) delivered a lecture on “Life After Death in Judaism” on November 13, 2008, at Stanford University. Alan Segal discusses near death experiences (NDEs), The Sopranos, Sheol, apocalyptic, martyrdom,  resurrection, and transformation into angels.

Alan Segal was the author of Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion (2010).

 

 

 

 

Robert Henry Charles – Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English

Robert Henry Charles’s classic edited collection of translations of Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (1913) is made available by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL).

Another copy is available on Internet Archive: vol 1 and vol 2.

Although somewhat superseded by James Charlesworth’s Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (1983-85) and Bauckham, Davila, and Panayotov’s Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures 1 (2013), the translations in Charles’s edited volumes are still regularly used and referred to.

Volume 1: The Apocrypha of the Old Testament

Historical Books
Esdras (Cook)
1 Maccabees / William O.E. Oesterley
2 Maccabees / James Moffatt
3 Maccabees (Emmet)

Quasi-historical Books Written with a Moral Purpose
Tobit (Simpson)
Judith (Cowley)

Wisdom Literature
Sirach / George H. Box and William O.E. Oesterley
Wisdom of Solomon (Holmes)

Additions to and Completions of the Canonical Books
1 Baruch (Whitehouse)
Epistle of Jeremy [Jeremiah] (Ball)
Prayer of Manasses [Manasseh] (Ryle)
Additions to Daniel
Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Children (Bennett)
Susanna (Kay)
Bel and the Dragon (Witton Davies)
Additions to Esther (Gregg)

Volume 2: The Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Primitive History Rewritten from the Standpoint of the Law
The Book of Jubilees / Robert Henry Charles

Sacred Legends
The Letter of Aristeas (Andrews)
The Books of Adam and Eve (Wells)
The Martyrdom of Isaiah (Charles)

Apocalypses
1 Enoch (Charles)
The Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs (Charles)
The Sibylline Oracles (Lanchester)
The Assumption of Moses (Charles)
2 Enoch, or the Book of the Secrets of Enoch (Forbes and Charles)
2 Baruch, or the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (Charles)
3 Baruch, or the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (Hughes)
Ezra (Box)

Psalms
The Psalms of Solomon (Gray)

Ethics and Wisdom Literature
4 Maccabees (Townshend)
Pirke Aboth (Herford)
The Story of Achikar [Ahikar] (Harris, Lewis, Conybeare)

History
The Fragments of a Zadokite Work [Cairo Damascus Document] (Charles)

Online Critical Pseudepigrapha (OCP)

The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha (OCP) provides open-access, online critical editions of various Jewish and Christian pseudepigrapha. OCP is a publication of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL).

To date, the site provides critical editions (with critical apparatuses, which show variants in the various manuscripts) for some works, and provides other texts without critical apparatuses. The project is ongoing, so “readers should consult the ‘text status’ information on the introductory page for each document to determine whether a better or more complete text exists elsewhere.”

The current available texts are:
Texts with critical apparatus
2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) Baruch
The Testament of Job
1 Enoch (In progress)
Testament of Adam (In progress)
Texts without critical apparatus
Testament of Abraham
The Life of Adam and Eve
Visions of Amram
The Letter of Aristeas
Aristeas the Exegete
Aristobulus
Artapanus
3 (Greek Apocalypse of) Baruch
4 Baruch (Paraleipomena Ieremiou)
Cleodemus Malchus
Eldad and Modad
Eupolemus
The Apocryphon of Ezekiel
Ezekiel the Tragedian
Vision of Ezra
The History of the Rechabites
Jubilees
The Lives of the Prophets
Assumption of Moses (Testament of Moses)
3 Maccabees
4 Maccabees
Philo the Epic Poet
Pseudo-Eupolemus
Testament of Solomon
Theodotus

Michael Satlow – From Israelite to Jew

Professor Michael Satlow, of Brown University, offers a complete set of lectures on early Judaism (recorded 2011), available for free download on iTunes. The course, “From Israelite to Jew” covers the exile, return from exile, Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods, including Philo, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the destruction of the Temple.

 Name   Description   Released   Price 

 Episode 1 – Between Faith and Reason–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 2 – The Religion of Israel–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 3 – Exile–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 4 – Return–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 5 – Ezra–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Talmud–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 6 – The Torah–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 7 – Nehemiah–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

Episode 8 – Jews of the Persian Empire–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 9 – Hellenism Arrives–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 10 – Jubilees and 1 Enoch–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 11 – The Revolt of the Maccabees–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 12 – The Hasmonean Kings–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 13 – Origins of Jewish Sectarianism–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 14 – Hellenistic Judaism–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 15 – Herod the Great–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 16 – Philo–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 17 – The Dead Sea Scrolls–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 18 – Jesus and Other Strange Jews–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 19 – Josephus–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 20 – The First Century–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 21 – Destruction–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

 Episode 22 – After the Destruction: A Beginning or an End?–1/4/11 Free View In iTunes

Professor Michael L. Satlow specializes in Early Judaism and has written extensively on issues of gender, sexuality, and marriage among Jews in antiquity, as well as on the Dead Sea scrolls, Jewish theology, methodology in Religious Studies, and the social history of Jews during the rabbinic period. His latest book is entitled Creating Judaism.

Philip Harland’s Podcasts on Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean

Philip Harland has an ongoing series of podcasts on a wide range of topics relating to religions of the ancient Mediterranean which are available here. These include:

Series 1: Paul and His Communities

Podcast 1.1 Paul in his own words

Podcast 1.2 The situation at Thessalonica

Podcast 1.3 Paul’s response to Jesus-followers at Thessalonica

Podcast 1.4: Paul and the followers of Jesus at Corinth, part 1

Podcast 1.5: Paul and the followers of Jesus at Corinth, part 2

Podcast 1.6: Paul and the followers of Jesus at Corinth, part 3

Podcast 1.7: Paul and the situation in Galatia

Podcast 1.8: Paul’s response to the Galatians

Podcast 1.9: Paul and the situation at Rome

Podcast 1.10: Paul’s response to the Romans

Podcast 1.11: Legacies of Paul – Women’s leadership, part 1

Podcast 1.12: Legacies of Paul – Women’s leadership, part 2

Series 2: Early Christian Portraits of Jesus

Podcast 2.1: Introduction to the Gospels as Portraits of Jesus

Podcast 2.2: Mark’s portrait of Jesus – Suffering Son, part 1

Podcast 2.3: Mark’s portrait of Jesus – Suffering Son, part 2

Podcast 2.4: Matthew’s portrait of Jesus – New Moses, part 1

Podcast 2.5: Matthew’s portrait of Jesus – New Moses, part 2

Podcast 2.6: Luke’s Portrait of Jesus – Prophet Elijah, part 1

Podcast 2.7: Luke’s Portrait of Jesus – Prophet Elijah, part 2

Podcast 2.8: John’s Portrait of Jesus – Son and Word, part 1

Podcast 2.9: John’s Portrait of Jesus – Son and Word, part 2

Podcast 2.10: Hebrews’ Portrait of Jesus – Highpriest Melchizedek, part 1

Podcast 2.11: Hebrews’ Portrait of Jesus – Highpriest Melchizedek, part 2

Series 3: Diversity in Early Christianity: “Heresies” and Struggles

Podcast 3.1: Introduction to Diversity – A Schism in John’s Community, part 1

Podcast 3.2: A Schism in John’s Community, part 2

Podcast 3.3: Docetic and Judaizing Opponents of Ignatius

Podcast 3.4: Docetic and Judaizing Opponents of Ignatius, part 2

Podcast 3.5: Diversity in Asia Minor – A Regional Case Study

Podcast 3.6: Sources for the Study of Diversity – Gnostic, Apocryphal, Patristic

Podcast 3.7: Jewish Followers of Jesus, part 1 – Ebionites

Podcast 3.8: Jewish Followers of Jesus, part 2 – Pseudo-Clement

Podcast 3.9: Marcionites and the Unknown God

Podcast 3.10 Introducing Gnostic Worldviews

Podcast 3.11: Secret Book of John, part 1 – The Spiritual Realm

Podcast 3.12: Secret Book of John, part 2 – Salvation from the Material Realm

Podcast 3.13: The Wisdom of Jesus Christ and Middle Platonism

Podcast 3.14: The Gospel of Philip, part 1 – Ideas of Salvation

Podcast 3.15: The Gospel of Philip, part 2 – Ritual Enactments of Salvation

Podcast 3.16: The Gospel of Mary – Secret Knowledge from the Ultimate Disciple

Series 4: Honouring the Gods in the Roman Empire: Asia Minor

Podcast 4.1: Introduction to Honouring the Gods

Podcast 4.2: A City and Its Patron Deity – Artemis of Ephesus

Podcast 4.3: Salvation from the Gods – Asklepios at Pergamum

Podcast 4.4: Messages from the Gods – Apollo at Claros and Didyma

Podcast 4.5: Justice from the Gods in Lydia

Podcast 4.6: Honouring the Emperors as Gods

Series 5: The Historical Jesus in Context

Podcast 5.1: Studying the Historical Jesus – Sources and Problems, part 1

Podcast 5.2: Studying the Historical Jesus – Sources and Problems, part 2

Podcast 5.3: Studying the Historical Jesus – Sources and Problems, part 3

Podcast 5.4: Scholarly Portraits of the Historical Jesus, part 1 – Crossan

Podcast 5.5: Scholarly Portraits of the Historical Jesus, part 2 – Sanders

Podcast 5.6: Jesus, Galilee, and Israelite History, part 1 – To the Second Temple

Podcast 5.7: Jesus, Galilee, and Israelite History, part 2 – To the Time of Jesus

Podcast 5.8: Jesus, the Galilean and Judean

Podcast 5.9: Jesus in the Context of Educated Groups and Leaders

Podcast 5.10: Jesus and his Mentor, John the Baptizer

Podcast 5.11: Jesus as Teacher, part 1 – Method and Content

Podcast 5.12: Jesus as Teacher, part 2 – Present or Future Kingdom?

Podcast 5.13: Jesus as Healer and Exorcist

Podcast 5.14: Jesus as Prophet

Podcast 5.15: Jesus as Messianic King?

Series 6: Associations in the Greco-Roman World

Podcast 6.1: Introduction to Associations in the Greco-Roman World

Podcast 6.2: Social, Religious, and Burial Activities of Associations

Podcast 6.3: Judean and Christian Groups as Associations

Podcast 6.4: Associations and Greco-Roman Society (The City)

Podcast 6.5: Associations and the Roman Empire

Podcast 6.6: Approaches to Studying Ethnic Associations and Identities

Podcast 6.7: Phoenician Immigrant Associations, part 1

Podcast 6.8: Phoenician Immigrant Associations, part 2

Podcast 6.9: Judean Immigrant Associations, part 1

Podcast 6.10: Judean Immigrant Associations, part 2

Podcast 6.11 Jesus Groups as Associations and Cultural Minorities, part 1

Podcast 6.12: Jesus Groups as Associations and Cultural Minorities, part 2

Podcast 6.13: Cultural Minority Associations and Ethnic Stereotypes, part 1

Podcast 6.14: Cultural Minority Associations and Ethnic Stereotypes, part 2

Series 7: Visions of the End: Origins of Judean Apocalypticism

Podcast 7.1: Visions of the End – What is Apocalypticism?

Podcast 7.2: Origins part 1 – Ancient Near Eastern Combat Myths

Podcast 7.3: Origins part 2 – Zoroastrian apocalypticism

Podcast 7.4: Origins part 3a – Israelite Prophets 1

Podcast 7.5: Origins part 3b – Israelite Prophets 2

Podcast 7.6: 1 Enoch – An Introduction to the Earliest Apocalypse

Podcast 7.7: 1 Enoch – Fallen Angels in Early Apocalypticism

Podcast 7.8: Introduction to Daniel’s Historical Apocalypse

Podcast 7.9: Daniel’s Visions as Veiled History

Series 8: A Cultural History of Satan – Personified Evil in Early Judaism and in Christianity

Podcast 8.1: A Cultural History of Satan – Predecessors of Satan from Mesopotamia

Podcast 8.2: Predecessors of Satan from Canaan and Israel

Podcast 8.3: Predecessors of Satan from Persia

Podcast 8.4: Other Predecessors of Satan from the Hebrew Bible

Podcast 8.5: Fallen Angels in 1 Enoch (ca. 225 BCE)

Podcast 8.6: Mastema in Jubilees and Beliar in the Dead Sea Scrolls (ca. 100 BCE)

Podcast 8.7: The Devil and Beelzebub in Early Biographies of Jesus (70-100 CE)

Podcast 8.8: Internal Functions of the Rhetoric of Satan in Paul and John (ca. 50-110 CE)

Podcast 8.9: A Satanic Empire in John’s Apocalypse (ca. 80-100 CE)

Podcast 8.10: Jealous Satan, the Image of God, and the Serpent in the Life of Adam and Eve

Podcast 8.11: The Jealous Creator and the Serpent of Wisdom in Gnosticism (2nd century CE)

Podcast 8.12: Satan’s Demons and the Greco-Roman Gods in the Church Fathers (2nd-3rd centuries CE)