Illustration of the Magi | Harvard, MS Syr. 168 | Image Source
On AJR
Christopher Frilingos writes: “Why do the Infancy Gospels Matter?”
Frilingos: “The early Christians who wrote, read, and heard the family gospels wanted more details about Jesus and Mary. But this desire did not express itself in accounts of solitary holy figures. Instead, the family gospels depict Jesus, Mary, and Joseph tangled up in the web of domestic life. The portrayal neither affirms the patriarchal order of the Pastoral epistles nor evokes the harmony of the renunciant household in the Apocryphal Acts. The home of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is in constant disarray.”
Book Note: Elizabeth S. Bolman, ed. The Red Monastery Church: Beauty and Asceticism in Upper Egypt (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016)
Buckner: “On the whole, this monograph provides as much of a cohesive historical and literary narrative of the Red Monastery as possible. As Bolman makes clear in her introduction, the local monastic community decided to return the church following the restoration to its original function with the ultimate consequence of limiting access to the church and the area of the triconch to a small group of monks and clergy (p. XXXV). In light of this decision, this collected volume may very well be the only access point to the architectural and cultural marvels of the Red Monastery Church for a large swathe of people.”
Articles and News
Feature piece at the New Books Network on Mira Balberg's new book, Blood for Thought (UC Press, 2017).
Josephine Quinn discusses invented ancestry claims from imaginary Phoenicians.
Studies in Late Antiquity, along with other UC Press journals, open access for April.
At the British Library blog, richly illuminated Haggadot for Passover.
Trismegistos Place 2.0 goes live – a database of places connected with the ancient world.
Beth Gazo app provides digital access to West Syriac liturgical music, complete with recordings.
Sarah Bond examines early Christian calendars, debate over the date of Easter, and anti-Judaism
Program goes live for the North American Patristics Society meet in Chicago.
#NAPS2018 I love you - but even for an early Xtianity conference, a list of six Augustine units just called “Augustine (x)” takes something of a flying leap into self-parody
— Matthew Chalmers (@Matt_J_Chalmers) 2 April 2018
Hey #Syriac folks, please spread the word: if you or anyone you know is attending #NAPS2018 in Chicago this year, please join us for a pre-conference digital humanities workshop. https://t.co/ntJ2CPQoPd
— James E. Walters (@jedwardwalters) 2 April 2018
#materiality #jewishstudies in #lateantiquity #umich Apr 9-10! We ask: How did ppl in #AncientMediterranean relate to #matter? Und rltnsps btw word+thing, language+action, text+artifact? Sense, feel, make quotidian/sacred artifacts, human/divine bodies, built/'natural' envirnmts? pic.twitter.com/U00a7HWPIw
— Rachel R. Neis (@RNeis) 2 April 2018