The Social Worlds of Early Christians

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).

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Priests and Priesthood in the Near East

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:

  • Dominique Charpin (Collège de France), Opening Address: Recent Discoveries from Ur / Tell Muqayyar, Priests of Ur in the Old Babylonian Period: A Reappraisal in the Light of the Discoveries at Ur / Tell Muqayyar in 2017
  • Walther Sallaberger (LMU, Munich), Keynote Session I: Origins of Near Eastern Priesthood, Close to the Ruler and to the Gods: The Cultic Duties of the Cupbearer and the Role of Priestesses and Priests in Early Dynastic Mesopotamia
  • Piotr Steinkeller (Harvard University), Babylonian Priesthood during the Third Millennium BCE: Between Sacred
    and Profane
  • Louise Quillien (EPHE, Paris), Identity Through Appearance: Babylonian Priestly Clothing
  • Aren Maeir (Bar Ilan University), “The priests, the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel” (Deut 18:1): Is There Archaeological Evidence of Priests and Priesthood in Iron Age Israel and Judah?
  • Yonatan Adler (Ariel University), “Is there a Priest in the House?”: Identifying Jewish Priests (Kohanim) in the Archaeology of Roman Judaea/Palaestina
  • Julietta Steinhauer (University College London), Near Eastern Priests: A Graeco-Roman perspective

 

 

Dale Martin on Ancient, Biblical, and Modern Families

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

Louis Feldman: “Why were the Maccabees opposed to the Greek Religion and Culture?”

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.

 

 

Conference on Ancient and Modern Interactions with Religious Outsiders

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

Giovanni Bazzana on The Political Theology of Village Scribes in the Sayings Gospel Q

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

Lee Levine: The Revolutionary Effects Of Archaeology On The Study Of Jewish History

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:

levine_lee

Steven Katz on The Jewish Encounter With Hellenism

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:

Katz-Steven

Steven Katz on The Emergence of the Hasmonean State and its Political and Theological Consequences

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:

Katz-Steven

Richard Bauckham on the Geography and Culture of Galilee and Its Fishers

bauckham

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)

Jew and Judean – A Marginalia Review of Books Forum

Jew-or-Judean

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.

Richard Bauckham with Chris Marshall: Jesus in Context Conference

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

Robert R. Cargill – Jerusalem: The Holy City

jerusalem-cargill

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

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.

Geza Vermes on the Dead Sea Scrolls

The following is a talk by Geza Vermes on ‘The Story of the Dead Sea Scrolls’.

The Story of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a lecture presented by Professor Geza Vermes at Louisiana State University’s Hill Memorial Library on September 29, 2009. Geza Vermes was born at Mako in Hungary in 1924. He studied in Budapest and in Louvain (Belgium), where he read Theology and Oriental history and languages, and in 1953 obtained a doctorate with a dissertation on the historical framework of the Dead Sea Scrolls.