Naqsh-e Rustamnecropolis in Iran via Wikicommons
Naqsh-e Rustamnecropolis in Iran via Wikicommons
“This volume, it seems, substantively demonstrates how it is possible to study Jewish cultures (to borrow David Biale’s preferred terminology) as a plurality, while allowing readers to consider—in their own analyses—what might be the unified or unifying elements that draw Jews from different regions, of different life experiences and statuses, into common cultural webs.”
Read MoreThe backside of P.Mich.inv. 5552, showing portions of the Book of Enoch in Greek. Part of the Chester Beatty Papyri.
The backside of P.Mich.inv. 5552, showing portions of the Book of Enoch in Greek. Part of the Chester Beatty Papyri.
“To deny the Jewish origin of a work like the Similitudes is to suppress an aspect of pre-rabbinic Judaism because it would later prove more congenial to Christians than to rabbinic Judaism.”
Read MoreDetail from Qasr Al-Abd, a Hellenistic period palace constructed by the Tobiad family (Araq el-Emir, Jordan). [Image Source]
Detail from Qasr Al-Abd, a Hellenistic period palace constructed by the Tobiad family (Araq el-Emir, Jordan). [Image Source]
The Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls display an overwhelming interest in the Israelite priesthood, sacrificial cult, and Jerusalem temple. A look at the Aramaic Levi Document reveals that this interest may have to do with the shifting fortunes of the priesthood in the third century BCE.
Read MoreThe question of how many sisters were portrayed with Jesus at the Raising of Lazarus in early Christian art has not previously been explored, and interestingly, the hypothesis that Martha was added later aligns with the number of sisters portrayed in early art of the Raising of Lazarus.
Read MoreDan Hadani collection / National Library of Israel / The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Dan Hadani collection / National Library of Israel / The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
This position paper issues a call for editors and publishers with oversight over peer-reviewed publications of inauthentic post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll-like fragments to embark on the processes that would consider (and likely result in) retraction. By common consent, findings in the publications identified in this essay are unreliable at best; many present material subsequently deemed falsified. Retraction is the proper and justified measure to take regarding these publications in order to correct the academic record and alert any and all potential readers to the untrustworthy nature of their content.
Read MoreAncient Jew Review Founding Editors (L to R): Simcha Gross, Nathan Schumer, Krista Dalton
Ancient Jew Review Founding Editors (L to R): Simcha Gross, Nathan Schumer, Krista Dalton
Advisory Board member Andrew Jacobs reflects upon the past 10 years of Ancient Jew Review.
Read MoreScenes from the life of Jesus depicted on a fragment of an early Christian sarcophagus (4th century CE) Narbo Via Museum [Wikimedia].
Scenes from the life of Jesus depicted on a fragment of an early Christian sarcophagus (4th century CE) Narbo Via Museum [Wikimedia].
In this article, I want to contextualize the term polupragmosunē as it is used in the works of other writers in the Roman imperial period (particularly Plutarch, Apuleius, Lucian, and Tertullian) and demonstrate how polupragmosunē is a key component of Diognetus’s anti-Jewish rhetoric and construction of uniquely Christian knowledge.
Read MoreImage by calumetak on Freepik.
Brice Marden, Untitled from Five Plates (1973) The Art Institute of Chicago.
Brice Marden, Untitled from Five Plates (1973) The Art Institute of Chicago.
What did she want us to see and know differently? How did she want to shape us?
Read MoreDr. Steven D. Fraade wrote this article while on sabbatical in 1988. It was accepted for publication soon after, but the journal wanted substantial cuts due to the space constraints at the time. AJR is pleased to give this article a permanent home and hope it will inspire future work on this important subject.
Read MoreRoman geometric mosaic floor, from Conimbriga, Portugal. Image by Carole Raddato.
Roman geometric mosaic floor, from Conimbriga, Portugal. Image by Carole Raddato.
When it came to material culture, I faced another set of accessibility-related roadblocks. I had come to internalize the perspective from the opening of this essay: material culture constituted an evidentiary corpus for which vision was a precondition for insightful analysis. Such an opinion has an ancient pedigree.
Read MoreDrawing of Fragment E prepared by Dangerfield Lithography (London, 1883).
Source: Dershowitz, Idan (2021). The Valediction of Moses: A Proto-Biblical Book. Forschungen zum Alten Testament.
Drawing of Fragment E prepared by Dangerfield Lithography (London, 1883).
Source: Dershowitz, Idan (2021). The Valediction of Moses: A Proto-Biblical Book. Forschungen zum Alten Testament.
Michael Press on the myth of Moses Shapira as a master forger: “So we are left with the image of Shapira — and that image, of a master forger and genius, is now entrenched. It seems impervious to the reality that he forged almost nothing himself, that he mostly sold fakes made by others. It seems unaffected by the fact that he and his collaborators were actually poor forgers.”
Read MoreMany modern collections of Christian apocrypha group texts under headings such as “gospels,” “acts,” “epistles,” and “apocalypses.” But do these conventional genre categories help or hurt?
Read MoreDemons look out from Hades in this detail from the frescoes of the Cappella Spagnuolo, Santa Maria Novella in Florence by Andrea di Bonaiuto (1365–1368). [Full image courtesy of Wikimedia].
Demons look out from Hades in this detail from the frescoes of the Cappella Spagnuolo, Santa Maria Novella in Florence by Andrea di Bonaiuto (1365–1368). [Full image courtesy of Wikimedia].
Apocryphal narratives and traditions about the apostle Peter abounded among early Christian communities.
Read MoreUntitled painting by the Master of the Magdalen (ca. 1280–1285), Gallerica dell'Accademia, Florence, featuring canonical and noncanonical episodes from the life of Mary Magdalene. [Wikimedia]
Untitled painting by the Master of the Magdalen (ca. 1280–1285), Gallerica dell'Accademia, Florence, featuring canonical and noncanonical episodes from the life of Mary Magdalene. [Wikimedia]
The mingling of competing versions of the Magdalene’s life also tells us about how emerging veneration for her competed with and complemented cults of the Virgin Mary.
Read MoreRoman road in Hippos [Image courtesy of the author].
Roman road in Hippos [Image courtesy of the author].
This essay thus explores Paul as a mediating intellectual who uses the space in his letters to imagine a new social form, and likewise to establish it in the minds of his audience in a persuasive way.
Read MoreFour Gospels in Armenian (1434/5 CE) - MET Collection
Four Gospels in Armenian (1434/5 CE) - MET Collection
This exhibition aims to showcase Armenia as an artistic civilization in its own right rather than a postscript to the more prominent and the better-known achievements of Byzantium or Near Eastern cultures.
Read MoreIvory casket that illustrated Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land, 900–1000 CE. At the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
Ivory casket that illustrated Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land, 900–1000 CE. At the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
“In Judaism, as we saw, a bad Jew was still a Jew. The belief in shared ancestry was the anchor that permitted some to drift without breaking loose.”
Read MoreA History of Judaism, while marketed as a ‘popular book,’ needs also to be considered for its ‘innovative conservatism,’ that is, its between-the-lines critique of current academic tendencies, and its active decision to step back towards a historiographical approach to the study of religion that has mostly lost its holding among current scholars.
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![Demons look out from Hades in this detail from the frescoes of the Cappella Spagnuolo, Santa Maria Novella in Florence by Andrea di Bonaiuto (1365–1368). [Full image courtesy of Wikimedia].](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5449167fe4b078c86b41f810/1619439910335-BZBZCPLILWQBN1SM9P3S/Descent_of_Christ_to_Limbo_WGA.jpg)
![Untitled painting by the Master of the Magdalen (ca. 1280–1285), Gallerica dell'Accademia, Florence, featuring canonical and noncanonical episodes from the life of Mary Magdalene. [Wikimedia]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5449167fe4b078c86b41f810/1616265163066-GHH5VMCQ1PQFEE206W44/512px-Maestro_della_maddalena%2C_maddalena_e_otto_storie_della_sua_vita%2C_1280-1285_178x90cm_B.jpg)
![Roman road in Hippos [Image courtesy of the author].](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5449167fe4b078c86b41f810/1589476300762-L2Q4ARU6LNAWDM9ME19W/GetAttachmentThumbnail.jpg)
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