Symposium website “The Social Worlds of Early Christians: A Symposium in Honor of L. Michael White” includes recorded presentations and live Zoom panel discussions (October 24, 2020, at 10:00am, 1:00pm, and 3:00pm CST). Registration is free, but required (scroll down to the bottom of the page to sign up).
From March 19-21, 2018, the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University hosted the “Priests and Priesthood in the Near East: Social, Intellectual and Economic Aspects” conference. The papers from March 19 are available on TAU’s YouTube channel:
Dr Christopher Zeichmann (University of Toronto) has made available a very useful database for the study of early Christianity: The Database of Military Inscriptions and Papyri of Early Roman Palestine (DMIPERP).
This site is designed to aid the study of the military in the early Roman period for those interested in Judaism and Christianity of the first few centuries CE….
DMIPERP entries are divided roughly as follows: entries 1-132 were all found in Palestine and listed in roughly chronological order; entries 133-201 were texts not found in Palestine but discuss either the military in Palestine or those of a Palestinian background (esp. Jews and Gentiles born in Palestine); entries 202-224 are all surviving military diplomas for Judaea and Syria Palaestina; entries 225-296 are military diplomas of units or people originating in Palestine; entries 297-340 are Palestinian milestones erected by the military; entries 341-362 are all known pre-Constantinian military inscriptions involving Christians. There are 372 entries in total, with new entries being added following that number.
On February 9, 2017, Professor Dale B. Martin (Yale University) gave an open lecture on ‘the family’ in ancient and modern times, at the University of Kent.
The lecture begins at 5:20.
h/t: Taylor Weaver
On December 9, 2004, Professor Louis Feldman (October 29, 1926 – March 25, 2017) lectured on the question, “Why were the Maccabees opposed to the Greek Religion and Culture?“(mp3; lecture beginning at 1:12).
The talk is made available by Yeshuva University’s YUTorah Online.
On March 14-16th, 2016, The Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev hosted a conference called “Perceiving the Other: Ancient and Modern Interactions with Outsiders”.
The purpose of this colloquium is to re-examine both ancient Christian, Jewish, and pagan portrayals of outsiders and modern construals of these portrayals. In what ways, both positive and negative, do ancient writers interact with and relate to those outside of their religious traditions? In what ways do modern scholars appropriate and even inflect these earlier portrayals in light of their own modern preconceptions? This colloquium will devote itself to the methodological questions surrounding the use of diverse ancient sources for the construction of the other. The goal is to shed new light on ancient interactions between different religious groups in order both to describe more accurately these relationships and to provide greater understanding and sympathy amongst modern religious traditions.
Monday, March 14
Opening Remarks and Greetings:
– Prof. Rivka Carmi, President, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
– Prof. David Newman, Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
– Prof. Uri Ehrlich, Chair, The Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
-Prof. Haim Kreisel, Head, The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Prof. Albert Baumgarten (Bar-Ilan University): John the Baptist and Jesus: An Ancient Dialogue of Disciples
Prof. Matthew Thiessen (Saint Louis University): Animalistic Gentiles according to Followers of Jesus
Prof. Uta Poplutz (University of Wuppertal): The Image of the Opponents in the Gospel of Matthew
[no video]
Tuesday, March 15
Prof. Tobias Nicklas (Regensburg University): Revisiting the Other: ‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John
Prof. Nathan Eubank (University of Oxford): Damned Disciples: the Permeability of the Boundary between Insiders and Outsiders in Early Christianity
Prof. Katell Berthelot (CNRS): The Paradoxical Resemblance of the Roman Other
Prof. Wolfgang Grünstäudl (University of Wuppertal): Different Approaches to the Core of Christianity
Prof. Shaya Gafni (Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Various ‘Others’ in Rabbinic Literature: Between Babylonia and the Land of Israel
Dr. Haim Weiss (Ben-Gurion University): The Bodily Images of Shimon Bar-Kosibah in Rabbinic Literature
Dr. Michal Bar-Asher Siegal (Ben-Gurion University): Christian Heretics in the Babylonian Talmud
Prof. Christine Hayes (Yale University): Different Differences: The Complicated Goy in Classical Rabbinic Sources
Associate Professor of New Testament Giovanni Bazzana discusses his recent publication [Kingdom of Bureaucracy: The Political Theology of Village Scribes in the Sayings Gospel Q (Peeters, 2015)] with two respondents. The respondents will be Shaye J.D. Cohen, Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University; and Lawrence Wills, Ethelbert Talbot Professor of Biblical Studies at the Episcopal Divinity School.
The talk and responses were delivered on February 16, 2016 at Harvard Divinity School. The talk begins at 6:50.
Book summary:
The Sayings Gospel Q was composed in the central decades of the first century CE by Galilean villagers who had acquired knowledge of Greek mostly through their involvement with the public administration. The present book analyzes the text of Q in order to rediscover the terminological and ideological traces of the activity of these sub-elite scribes in the Sayings Gospel. Given the bureaucratic positions occupied by the members of this group, the peculiar use of the phrase Basileia tou theou carries a specific significance for its theological political implications. On the basis of Giorgio Agamben’s recent revision of the category of political theology, the attitude of Q on divine kingship is understood as an instance of sub-elite negotiation of social and political positions vis-à-vis the expansion of Roman imperial hegemony in the eastern Mediterranean. In this context the author(s) of Q envisage apocalyptic scenarios in which divine kingship replaces human rulers and native sub-elite bureaucrats can share in the exercise of cosmic government.
– Peeters
Professor Paul Trebilco (University of Otago) delivered a paper on “Early Christian Communities in the Greco-Roman City” at the Perspectives on Urban Ministry from the New Testament Seminar in 2013, at North Park Theological Seminary.
There is a response by Stephen Chester, professor of New Testament, North Park Theological Seminary.
Professor Lee Levine (Hebrew University) delivered a talk on “The Revolutionary Effects Of Archaeology On The Study Of Jewish History“. The lecture was part of the Orange County Community Scholars Program (OCCSP), podcasted July 6, 2004.
Levine discusses Herod in Judea and the Dura-Europos synagogue in Syria.
The talk is available in m4a audio format:
Professor Steven Katz (Director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies at Boston University) delivered a talk on “The Jewish Encounter With Hellenism” as part of the Orange County Community Scholars Program (OCCSP), podcasted February 13, 2007.
The talk is available in m4a audio format:
Professor Steven Katz (Director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies at Boston University) delivered a talk on “The Emergence of the Hasmonean State and its Political and Theological Consequences” as part of the Orange County Community Scholars Program (OCCSP), podcasted January 30, 2007.
The talk is available in m4a audio format:
Dr Richard Bauckham (University of St Andrews) delivered the 2014 Thomas Burns Memorial Lectures on ‘The Sons of Zebedee: The Lives of Two Galilean Fishers’, at the University of Otago. The lectures provide a detailed examination of the geographical-social context of Galilee in the time of Jesus.
The lectures are available on iTunes, and are downloadable in mp4 video and mp3 audio formats:
1) The World of the Lake of Galilee’ – Tuesday 12 August (video) (audio)
2) ‘The Fishing Industry’ – Wednesday 13 August (video) (audio)
3) ‘Zebedee and Sons’ – Thursday 14 August (video) (audio)
4) ‘Called to Fish for People’ – Tuesday 19 August (video) (audio)
5) ‘Sons of Thunder’ – Wednesday 20 August (video) (audio)
6) ‘Jerusalem’ – Thursday 21 August (video) (audio)
In a Marginalia forum on August 26, 2014, eight scholars write replies to Adele Reinhartz’s essay, “The Vanishing Jews of Antiquity”, Marginalia, June 24, 2014. Responses are by Steve Mason, Daniel Schwartz, Annette Yoshiko Reed, Joan Taylor, Malcolm Lowe, Jonathan Klawans, Ruth Sheridan, James Crossley. In addition, Adele Reinhartz provides a reply.
The essay and responses are available for download in epub and mobi formats.
Professor Richard Bauckham and Dr Chris Marshall presented a lecture series on the historical Jesus, at Carey College, 7-8 August 2014.
Richard Bauckham, “The World of the Lake of Galilee”
Richard Bauckham, “The Fishing Industry”
Richard Bauckham, “The Historical Jesus”
Interview with Richard Bauckham
Chris Marshall, “A Parable of Restorative Justice”
Interview with Chris Marshall
Lectures from Dr Robert R. Cargill’s course “Jerusalem: The Holy City: A History of Jerusalem from Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel” (University of California, Los Angeles; Spring 2010) are freely available for viewing on iTunes. The course consists of 18 lectures, on 27 videos, and is accompanied by a syllabus.
This course surveys the religious, political, and cultural history of Jerusalem over three millennia as a symbolic focus of three faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The course content will focus on the transformation of sacred space as reflected by literary and archaeological evidence by examining the testimony of artifacts, architecture, and iconography in relation to the written word. We will study the creation of mythic Jerusalem through event and experience. Course requirements will focus on developing advanced writing skills.
| 1 | Syllabus for Spring 2010 ANNEA 10W: Jerusalem, the Holy City (CARGILL) | — | 4/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 2 | VideoLecture 1.1: Jerusalem as Sacred Space (Part 1) (4/1/2010) | — | 4/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 3 | VideoLecture 1.2: Jerusalem as Sacred Space (Part 2) (4/6/2010) | — | 4/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 4 | VideoLecture 2: Canaanite Jerusalem (4/8/2010) | — | 4/8/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 5 | VideoLecture 3.1: David’s Jerusalem (Part 1) (4/8/2010) | — | 4/8/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 6 | VideoLecture 3.2: David’s Jerusalem (Part 2) (4/13/2010) | — | 4/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 7 | VideoLecture 4.1: Solomon’s Jerusalem (Part 1) (4/13/2010) | — | 4/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 8 | VideoLecture 4.2: Solomon’s Jerusalem (Part 2) (4/15/2010) | — | 4/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 9 | VideoLecture 5.1: Hezekiah’s Jerusalem (Part 1) (4/15/2010) | — | 4/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 10 | VideoLecture 5.2: Hezekiah’s Jerusalem (Part 2) (4/20/2010) | — | 4/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 11 | VideoLecture 6.1: Josiah’s Jerusalem (Part 1) (4/20/2010) | — | 4/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 12 | VideoLecture 6.2: Josiah’s Jerusalem (Part 2) (4/22/2010) | — | 4/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 13 | VideoLecture 7.1: Exilic Jerusalem (Part 1) (4/22/2010) | — | 4/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 14 | VideoLecture 7.2: Exilic Jerusalem (Part 2) (4/27/2010) | — | 4/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 15 | VideoLecture 8: Persian Jerusalem (5/4/2010) | — | 5/4/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 16 | VideoLecture 9: Hellenistic Jerusalem (5/6/2010) | — | 5/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 17 | VideoLecture 10.1: Hasmonean Jerusalem (Part 1) (5/6/2010) | — | 5/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 18 | VideoLecture 10.2: Hasmonean Jerusalem (Part 2) (5/11/2010) | — | 5/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 19 | VideoLecture 11: Herodian Jerusalem (5/11/2010) | — | 5/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 20 | VideoLecture 12: Jerusalem in Revolt (5/13/2010) | — | 5/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 21 | VideoLecture 13: Byzantine Jerusalem (5/18/2010) | — | 5/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 22 | VideoLecture 14: Islamic Jerusalem (5/20/2010) | — | 6/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 23 | VideoLecture 15: Crusader Jerusalem (5/25/2010) | — | 5/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 24 | VideoLecture 16: Mamluk and Ottoman Jerusalem (5/27/2010) | — | 5/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 25 | VideoLecture 17.1: 20th Century Jerusalem (Part 1) (6/1/2010) | — | 6/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 26 | VideoLecture 17.2: 20th Century Jerusalem (Part 2) (6/3/2010) | — | 6/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 27 | VideoLecture 18: 21st Century Jerusalem (6/3/2010) | — | 6/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 28 | VideoRandom Questions for/about Dr. Cargill (6/3/10) | — | 6/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
Biblical Studies Online 