On April 3, 2017, Professor Dana Nolan Fewell (Drew University) delivered a lecture on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19, and its reception in “Bible-Thumping, Bible-Tweeting Culture”. The lecture was held at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts.
On March 30, 2015, at The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, University of Arizona, Professor Matthias Henze (Rice University) delivered a talk on “Demons and Evil Spirits in Early Judaism and Christianity”.
Dr. Matthias Henze talk will explore the origins of the beliefs in demons and evil spirits. The rich literature of the late Second Temple period attests to a wide array of speculations about the origin, nature, and function of demons and evil forces. There are incantations against demons and liturgies for exorcism among the Dead Sea Scrolls. While rabbinic Judaism later on dismissed such beliefs and practices, demons had a major impact on Christianity and continue to be alive and well in some Christian circles today.
On March 23, 2011, Emeritus Professor Heikki Räisänen (10 December 1941 – 30 December 2015) presented the paper “Are Christians Better People? The Contrast Between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ in Early Christian Rhetoric”. He examines in particular the Pauline and Pseudo-Pauline letters, noting the Pauline rhetoric which idealizes Christian morality and denigrates Greco-Roman morality.
Troels Engberg-Pedersen provides a response.
Professor Jon D. Levenson (Harvard Divinity School) delivered three talks on the Akedah, or sacrifice of Isaac, in Genesis 22, as part of the Orange County Community Scholars Program (OCCSP).
The talks are available in m4a audio format:
Midrash: What Bothered the Rabbis In Genesis 22 (July 8, 2008)
The Afterlife of the Story In Judaism (With A Glance At Christianity & Islam, Too) (July 9, 2008)
The Artistry of Genesis 22 (July 11, 2008)
On February 24, 2014, Professor Mark Leuchter (Temple University) presented “The Devil Made Me Do It: The Ancient Mythology Behind Personal Moral Struggle in Early Judaism” at Temple University.
The lecture delves into the familiar image of the “angel” and “devil” on either shoulder, each arguing for the individual to make a particular moral choice, which is derived from ancient Jewish ideas of a moral struggle against an individual’s “evil inclination.” This trope is often seen as derived from the Jewish encounter with ancient Greek philosophy, but the roots of this concept are far older, and reflect a centuries-long development of ancient Israelite mythology regarding the Divine Warrior’s struggle against the forces of chaos and evil. Over time, this mythology evolved into different iterations until the battleground became internal and personal, with the struggle against evil directed to the enemy within.
Professor Elaine Pagels (Princeton University) delivered a talk on April 11, 2014, at the Facing History and Ourselves’ Day of Learning, “Confronting Evil in Individuals and Societies”.
Pagels explains that many interpretations of evil throughout history are inspired by the Book of Revelation, and she uses artistic depictions to describe the events of the story. She then illustrates examples of people using the imagery from the Book of Revelation at different times of war to justify their position and vilify their enemy.
Professor John E. Hare, the Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School, delivers a paper on “Kant, Job and the Problem of Evil”. The paper was given on Friday March 21, 2014, at the Contemporary Moral Theory and the Problem of Evil Conference held at the University of Notre Dame on March 21-22, 2014.
John Hare’s paper deals with Kant’s brief 1791 work , Uber das Misslingen alter philosophischen Versuche in der Theodicee [“On the miscarriage of all philosophical trials in theodicy‘”].
The paper begins at 10:10 in the video.
Videos are available of some of the speakers at the Evil in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity conference, St Mary’s College, Twickenham, May 23-24, 2014.
Prof Loren Stuckenbruck, “How Much Does the Christ Event Solve? Evil in New Testament Theology and Its Relation to Jewish Theology”
Prof Christopher Rollston, “The Rise of the Satan in Early Second Temple Judaism”
Dr Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer, “Evil at Qumran”
Dr Chris Tilling, “Paul, Evil, and Justification Debates”
Dr Tommy Wasserman, “Variants of Evil in the New Testament”
Dr Christopher Skinner, “Overcoming Satan, Overcoming the World: Exploring the Cosmologies of Mark and John”
Professor M. Daniel Carroll, of Denver Seminary, delivers the Old Testament lectures for the 2013 Nils W. Lund Memorial Lecture series, on September 26, 2013, at North Park Theological Seminary:
Lecture 1: “Once a Stranger, Always a Stranger: Immigration, Assimilation, and the Book of Ruth”
Lecture 2: “Probing the Prophets for Social Ethics: Insights from Multiple Perspectives — The Case of Amos”
Leong Seow, professor of Old Testament language and literature, Princeton Theological Seminary, presents a lecture on ethics in the Book of Job (March 19, 2009).
In the history of Christian interpretation, Job has always been held up as an example of moral excellence, with the early exegetes pointing to the Prologue (chapter 1-2) and Job’s own assertions in chapters 30 and 31. This lecture explores the ethical perspectives represented in these and other important but less-noticed passages in the book.
Leong Seow is the author of Job 1-21: Interpretation and Commentary (Eerdmans, 2013), a commentary that focuses on the reception history of the Book of Job.
Biblical Studies Online 