Chairs and Steering Committee Members:

Group started by April DeConick

Those who chaired the group (April DeConick, 1996-2002 [Rice University, USA], Andrea Lieber, 2002-2005 [Dickinson College, USA], and Kevin Sullivan, 2005-present [Illinois Wesleyan University, USA])

Those who have sat on the steering committee (Jim Davila. 1996-present [University of St. Andrews, Scotland], April DeConick, 1996-present [Rice University, USA], Jonathan Draper, 2003-present [University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa], Rebecca Lesses, 2004-present [Ithaca College, USA], Andrea Lieber, 2001-present [Dickinson College, USA], Chris Morray-Jones, 1996-2000 [Independent Scholar], Phil Munoa, 1996-2003 [Hope College, USA], Andrei Orlov, 2004-present [Marquette University, USA], Alan Segal, 1996-present [Barnard College and Columbia University, USA], and Kevin Sullivan, 2004-present [Illinois Wesleyan University, USA]).

Scholars who contributed papers or reviewed books included:

Ron Afzal, Philip Alexander, Daphna Arbel, Matthew Baldwin, Kelley Coblentz Bautch, Adam Becker, Ra'anan Abusch Boustan, Bogdan Bucur, Silviu Bunta, Elizabeth Clark, Jim Davila, April DeConick, Kindalee Pfremmer DeLong, Celia Deutsch, Nathaniel Deutsch, Jonathan Draper, Rachel Elior, Frances Flannery-Daily, Crispin Fletcher-Louis, Charles Gieschen, Alexander Golitizin, Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Bob Hall, David Halperin, Larry Hurtado, Rebecca Lesses, Andrea Lieber, Mark Kinzer, Jonathan Klawans, Jonathan Knight, Kathryn Muller Lopez, Edmondo Lupieri, James McGrath, Dan Merkur, Philip Munoa, Paulo Nogueira, Andrei Orlov, Birger Pearson, Catherine Playoust, Seth Sanders, Jane Schaberg, Alan Segal, Michael Swartz, Jonah Steinberg, Kevin Sullivan, John Turner, Michael Williams, Elliot Wolfson



Publications:

Arbel, Daphna, Beholders of Divine Secrets: Myth and Mysticism in the Hekhalot and Merkavah Literature (New York: SUNY, 2003).

Buckley, Jorunn, The Mandaeans: Ancient Text and Modern People, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).

Bucur, Bogdan, "On Climbing the Cosmic Ladder: Clement of Alexandria's Hierarchical Cosmology and Its Innovations," Vigiliae Christianae (in press).

Boustan, Ra'anan Abusch, From Martyr to Mystic: the Story of the Ten Martyrs, Hekhalot Rabbati, and the Making of Merkavah Mysticism (Möhr-Siebeck, 2005).

Flannery-Dailey, Frances, Dreamers, Scribes and Priests: Jewish Dreams in the Hellenistic and Roman Eras (Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplementary Monographs; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2004).

Davila, James R., Descenders to the Chariot: The People Behind the Hekhalot Literature (JSJSup 70; Leiden: Brill, 2001).

DeConick, April D., Voices of Mystics, JSNT Supplement Series 157 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001) pp. 109-132.

DeConick, April D., "The True Mysteries: Sacramentalism in the Gospel of Philip," Vigliae Christianae 55 (2001) pp. 225-261.

DeConick, April D., "The Great Mystery of Marriage: Sex and Conception in Ancient Valentinian Traditions," Vigiliae Christianae 57 (2003) 307-342.

DeConick, April D., Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas: A History of the Gospel and Its Growth, Supplements to the Journal of the Study of the New Testament 286 (London: T & T Clark, 2005).

Draper, Jonathan, "What did Isaiah See? Angelic Theophany in the Tomb in John 20:11-18," Neot 36 (2002) 63-76.

Draper, Jonathan, "Practicing the Presence of God in John: Ritual Use of Scripture and the Eidos Theou in John 5:37," in J.A. Draper (ed.), Orality, Literacy, and Colonialism in Antiquity, Semeia 47 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004) pp. 155-170.

Elior, Rachel, "You have chosen Enoch among human beings: Enoch 'the scribe of righteousness' and the scroll library of the priests the sons of Zadok," in Creation and Recreation A Festschrift in honor of Joseph Dan on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, edited by Peter Schafer and Rachel Elior (Tubingen: Mohr-Siebeck 2005) pp 15-65, in Hebrew.

Elior, Rachel, The Three Temples: On the Emergence of Jewish Mysticism (Oxford: Littman Library, 2004).

Fletcher-Louis, Crispin, All the Glory of Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Leiden, E.J. Brill, 2002).

Golitzin, Alexander, "'Earthly Angels and Heavenly Men': The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Niketas Stethatos, and the Tradition of 'Interiorized Apocalyptic' in Eastern Christian Ascetical and Mystical Literature," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 55 (2001) pp. 125-153.

Golitzin, Alexander, "'The Demons suggest an Illusion of God's Glory in a Form'": Controversy over the Divine Body and Vision of Glory," Studia Monastica 44 (2002) pp. 13-43.

Klawans, Jonathan, "Review of The Three Temples: On the Emergence of Jewish Mysticism," by Rachel Elior, Association for Jewish Studies Review 29.2 (2005), 376-378.

Lesses, Rebecca, Ritual Practices to Gain Power: Angels, Incantations, and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism, HTS 44 (Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1998).

Lieber, Andrea, "Angels that Kill: Mediation and the Threat of Bodily Destruction in the Hekhalot Narratives" Studies in Spirituality 14 (2004), 17-35.

Lieber, Andrea, "Voice and Vision: Song as a Vehicle for Ecstatic Experience in Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice," in Of Scribes and Sages, volume 2, Craig Evans, ed. Library of Second Temple Studies (London: Continuum/ T&T Clark International, 2004), 51-58.

Lieber, Andrea, "I Set a Table Before You: The Jewish Mystical Character of Aseneth's Conversion Meal," Journal for the Study of Pseudepigrapha 14.1 (2004), 63-77.

Morray-Jones, C.R.A., A Transparent Illusion: the Dangerous Vision of Water in Hekhalot Mysticism. A Source-Critical and Tradition-Historical Inquiry (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002).

Orlov, Andrei, "Titles of Enoch-Metatron in 2 Enoch," Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 18 (1998) 71-86.

Orlov, Andrei, "The Face as the Heavenly Counterpart of the Visionary in the Slavonic Ladder of Jacob," in Of Scribes and Sages: Early Jewish Interpretation and Transmission of Scripture (2 vols.; ed. C. A. Evans; Studies in Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity, 9; London: T&T Clark, 2004) 2.59-76.

Orlov, Andrei, Enoch-Metatron Tradition, TSAJ (Mohr Siebeck, 2005).

Orlov, Andrei, From Apocalypticism to Merkabah Mysticism: Studies in the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha (T&T Clark: London/New York, 2006).

Rowland, Christopher, "Apocalyptic, Mysticism and the New Testament, ed. P. Schäfer, Geschichte- Tradition - Reflexion (Tübingen: Mohr 1996), 405 - 421.

Schaberg, Jane, The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene: Legends, Apocrypha, and Christian Testament (NY: Continuum, 2002).

Segal, Alan, Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion (New York: Doubleday, 2004).

Sullivan, Kevin P., Wrestling with Angels: A Study of the Relationship between Angels and Humans in the Ancient Jewish Literature and the New Testament (Leiden: Brill, 2004).

Turner, John D. and Majercik, Ruth (eds.), Gnosticism and Later Platonism: Themes, Figures, and Texts (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001).

Ulansey, David. "The Transfiguration, Cosmic Symbolism, and the Transformation of Consciousness in the Gospel of Mark." No pages. Cited 15 February 2006. Online: http://www.well.com/user/davidu/transfiguration2.html

Citation: , " Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Section Celebrates Ten Years (1996-2006)," SBL Forum , n.p. [cited Sept 2006]. Online:http://sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleID=608