Ceramic Menas ampulla, for holding holy oil | Dated 610-50CE | Currently on display at the Met, New York Item No. 17.194.2291.
Ceramic Menas ampulla, for holding holy oil | Dated 610-50CE | Currently on display at the Met, New York Item No. 17.194.2291.
This Week: New journals, multi-million dollar antiquities smuggling, Huqoq, Sasanian Iran, Greek color, animality in Talmud – and more!
Read MoreSample webpage from Biblical Theology Spring 2017 semester.
Sample webpage from Biblical Theology Spring 2017 semester.
Dr. Rebecca Falcasantos with an alternative website-building term project.
Read MoreArmenian Illustrations of Pentecost (f.2r, left) and the Transfiguration (f.3v, right) | Four Gospels in Armenian, 1434/35 | No. 2010.108 on display at the Met, New York
Armenian Illustrations of Pentecost (f.2r, left) and the Transfiguration (f.3v, right) | Four Gospels in Armenian, 1434/35 | No. 2010.108 on display at the Met, New York
This Week: Paul and the dinosaurs, dog-headed saints, Armenian monks, scholarly bias, #openaccess hoards – and more!
Read MoreSt. Paul by Lippo Memmi. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 625 [public domain]
St. Paul by Lippo Memmi. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 625 [public domain]
"One criticism I have of Paul and the law scholarship (and Matthew and the law as well) is that extra-Jewish materials are only incorporated into a scholar’s research when such materials are believed to have influenced Paul’s thought. Put differently, extra-Jewish materials only count for Paul and the law scholars if we think Paul knew about them."
Read More"The oblique nature of Paul’s references to the Abraham Narrative suggests that his implied readers, in fact, do know the basic contours of that story. Paul’s allusions to Genesis, therefore, must represent his efforts to get them to read or hear the Abraham Narrative very differently than they currently do."
Read MoreSolomon Schechter at work, in Cambridge, on the Cairo Genizah fragments | Cambridge, 1898 | Original photograph image
Solomon Schechter at work, in Cambridge, on the Cairo Genizah fragments | Cambridge, 1898 | Original photograph image
This Week: Christians in Sasanian Iran, the Jewish Paul, the Talmudic Second Temple, firefighting, graffiti, digital humanities up the wazoo - and more!
Read MoreThe Apostle Paul from St. Sophia of Kyiv (Wikimedia Commons)
The Apostle Paul from St. Sophia of Kyiv (Wikimedia Commons)
"Description and Redescription – the classic interrelated activities that animate critical scholarship on religion. This roundtable affords the chance to examine two books that push the descriptive and redescriptive envelopes in their sectors of biblical studies."
Read More"With careful attention to detail and broad usage of a wealth of sources, Payne systematically deconstructs this idealistic bifurcation between Christianity and Sasanian culture. However, Payne dismantles this historiographical narrative, while simultaneously offering a completely new perspective on Persian Christianity by examining the various ways that Christians participated in, transformed, and even claimed Iranian culture as part of Christian identity."
Read MoreMenorah relief from the Arch of Titus, Rome | Image source
Menorah relief from the Arch of Titus, Rome | Image source
This Week: Zoroastrianism, A Handmaid's Tale, pre-modern anti-Semitism, menorahs, Hypatia, Vindolanda discoveries - and more!
Read More"The Conversion of St. Paul" Benozzo Gozzoli on view in The MET 5th Ave Gallery 603 [public domain].
"The Conversion of St. Paul" Benozzo Gozzoli on view in The MET 5th Ave Gallery 603 [public domain].
"Ultimately, I believe that a full understanding of Paul combines both of these interpretations, though with one additional element. It is perhaps a function of my age that I am more cynical than our two authors, but I am inclined to agree that Paul’s offer of cosmic rule for gentiles of faith has the ring of a marketing ploy."
Read MoreFish swallowing soldier at the parting of the Red Sea | Fifth-century synagogue mosaic, Huqoq | Image source and credit to Jim Haberman
Fish swallowing soldier at the parting of the Red Sea | Fifth-century synagogue mosaic, Huqoq | Image source and credit to Jim Haberman
This Week: Helsinki, digitalized rabbis, Huqoq discoveries, reconstructing monuments, Mithra, Peter Berger – and more!
Read MoreThe SBL 2016 Pauline Epistles Review Panel including J. Albert Harrill, Christine Hayes, and Stephen Young with Matthew Thiessen and David Kaden responding.
Read MoreSaint Paul Writing his Epistles by Valentin de Boulogne (ca. 1618 - 1620) Wikimedia Commons
Saint Paul Writing his Epistles by Valentin de Boulogne (ca. 1618 - 1620) Wikimedia Commons
"Reading Thiessen and Kaden synoptically thus fosters debate over how best to relate globalization studies and biblical studies."
Read MoreEnamel plaque, St Paul and his Disciples | English(?), ca. 1160-80 | On display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Enamel plaque, St Paul and his Disciples | English(?), ca. 1160-80 | On display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
This Week: Digital Palmyra, maps on shields, the Temple Mount, holy women, micrography, ancient letters about wine – and much more!
Read More"While we cannot say that the text reflects actual debates that proponents of a virginal life were having, we can certainly point to it as an example of debates that they imagined they could or would have had similar confrontations. A close engagement with The Life of Saint Helia might therefore provide some insight into how the community—whether it be Priscillianist, Jeromian, or otherwise—attempted to locate themselves within the tradition of Scripture and its interpretation."
Read MoreGold leaf and glass bowl base, with Menorah, Shofar, and Torah Ark | Roman, ca. 300-350, currently on display in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
Gold leaf and glass bowl base, with Menorah, Shofar, and Torah Ark | Roman, ca. 300-350, currently on display in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
This Week: Dunhuang online, new journals, ancient Jewish sarcophagi, Chinese Christianity, intellectual history – and much more!
Read MoreSeasons sarcophagus with menorah in the clipeus. From the Vigna Randani catacombs, Rome. Musei Nazionale Romano, Terme di Diocleziano, Inv. No. 67611. (Photo: Author).
Seasons sarcophagus with menorah in the clipeus. From the Vigna Randani catacombs, Rome. Musei Nazionale Romano, Terme di Diocleziano, Inv. No. 67611. (Photo: Author).
"The use of sarcophagus burial by Jewish patrons was a highly variable mode of cultural interaction, representing an ongoing negotiation of Jewishness by different individuals from different communities in the context of enduring cultural exchange."
Read MoreZachary Domach with an overview of Wilson's translation and commentary of The Sentences of Sextus: "his commentary exemplifies how a study of Sextus—and wisdom literature in general—reveals the intertwining of Greek, Jewish, and Christian thought as “actual ‘life’” in Late Antiquity."
Read MoreLouis Armstrong, Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3c27236.
Louis Armstrong, Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3c27236.
Dr. Michael Swartz and Dr. Michael Satlow share a book that was an "unexpected influence" upon their academic work.
Read MoreMary and the Disciples at Pentecost | Rabbula Gospels, fol. 14b | Image credit: Everett Ferguson photo collection
Mary and the Disciples at Pentecost | Rabbula Gospels, fol. 14b | Image credit: Everett Ferguson photo collection
This Week: Heresy, Mithras, a Herodian fortress, race and polychromy, "#digitalhumanities galore, a double book note - and more!
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