In his structural analysis of Biblical Hebrew narrative, Jerome T. Walsh examines how verbal and non-verbal (thematic) repetitions function as a structuring device that creates different narrative patterns, such as concentric symmetry, parallel symmetry, and asymmetry of transposition. Concentric symmetry is a pattern in which two corresponding repeated elements (terms or verses) occur in reverse order on either side of a center. In parallel symmetry, corresponding repeated elements appear in the same order in each sequence. Asymmetry of transposition is created when the order of corresponding elements in one sequence does not match that of the other. Walsh maintains that the two patterns provide avenues of interpretation. Concentric symmetry often reveals a dynamic of reversal and contrast between states or actions, whereas parallel symmetry may indicate succession or cause and effect. These patterns work in the case of the Quran as well, such as in Sura 10:12, where concentric symmetry underscores the time of ease as a turning point in man’s relationship with God; and in Sura 26: 153-155, 185-187, where a parallel symmetry underlines the act of accusing a messenger of lying as a recurrent behavior. Whereas Walsh maintains that asymmetry of transposition does not provide an interpretive dynamic, this paper rather demonstrates that asymmetry of transposition in the Quran, unlike the Bible, shows signs of interpretive dynamic, a change of emphasis and focus. In Sura 10:13-14, 73-74, for example, the transposition of the words khulafa’ and bayyinat serves to guide the audience to change their perspective; they should not be distracted by the respite time they still have, but consider instead the opportunities they will lose when the respite ends with their destruction. This suggests that the tools which Walsh developed for the study of the Bible are better suited to the Quran.

Among the Al Yahudu texts two legal documents stand out because of their content. They record the marriage between a woman of West Semitic, perhaps even Judean descent and a Babylonian man, and the division of an inheritance among five brothers of definitively Judean descent. The documents will be presented, and the issues that are raised by them discussed in more detail. Thus we will elaborate on the question of mixed marriages and inheritance practices among the Judeans in Babylonia, orphaned immigrant children and the tendency of immigrant families to draw up legal documents concerning family affairs in Akkadian rather than in their native languages (and scripts), Hebrew or Aramaic.

It is a well recognized theme in Genesis 1-11 that God resists any attempt to breech the boundaries between the divine and human worlds. Thus, in Gen 3:23-24, God expels the already god-like Adam from Eden lest he eat from the tree of life and gain immortality; in Gen 6:1-4, the sons of gods’ mating with the daughters of men results in God curtailing humanity’s lifespan; and in Gen 11:1-9, God thwarts the humans’ plan to build a tower with its top in the heavens by scattering their assembly and babbling their tongues. It is perhaps less often noted, however, that in the first of these episodes, God uses supernatural intermediaries to safeguard the now off-limits Garden of Eden: “Flame” and cherubim (see, though, Ronald S. Hendel, “‘The Flame of the Whirling Sword’: A Note on Gen 3:24,” JBL 104 [1985], 671-74). Intermediate beings are likewise used elsewhere in the ancient Near East to perform analogous (albeit not identical) safeguarding functions: for example, winged bulls protected the entryways of neo-Assyrian palaces from, apparently, demonic forces. Just as a king’s palace needed this sort of protection, moreover, so did a god’s temple, and presumably from the same sort of demonic threats. This paper, drawing especially on the increasingly rich corpus of Iron Age model naoi, explores the use of such intermediary guardians in the biblical and West Semitic realm, in order to suggest that not only is monotheism an unhelpful concept within biblical studies but that our census of the biblical world’s divine beings needs to be expanded to incorporate more the supernatural safeguards who protected gods’ sanctuary spaces.

The wisdom poem in 1 Baruch 3:9—4:4 is one of the most original parts of Baruch and is strategically located at the turning point of the narrative. Prior to this section, the characters of 1 Baruch were deep in lament, acknowledging their role in causing their dispersion to Babylon and petitioning God to hear their prayers and return them home (2:8). It is at this point that there is a radical shift in perspective. Not only is the theme of wisdom introduced, but there is a recognition that the scattered Jewish people are not helpless, but can, through there acquisition of wisdom, facilitate their recovery. It is at this point that 1 Baruch makes use of Job 28 as a platform for the discussion of wisdom. Drawing on the theme that inquires into the location of wisdom, 1 Baruch reaffirms the concept that wisdom derives from God, but explicitly roots it in the “book of the commandments of God” (4:1, cf. Sir 24:23). This paper seeks to tease out how 1 Baruch’s appropriation of Job 28 and the grounding of wisdom in the Torah can provide hope for the scattered Jewish community. Accordingly, for the people of 1 Baruch, the wisdom needed for the future can only be found in its past.

The nature of Galilean Judaism in the first century CE has been a topic of debate for over a century. One particularly salient question is whether the Jews of Galilee were as scrupulous in their observance of halakhah as were their counterparts in Judea. This issue has potentially crucial ramifications for understanding the socio-religious background to the birth of the Jesus movement in Galilee. Many have described a first century Galilee populated by a peasant class neglectful of the strict observance of halakhah, and hence a region where the message of Jesus was readily received. Others have denied such a claim, insisting that no substantial differences existed between Galilean Judaism and Judean Judaism. In light of the synoptic gospel accounts of the critical stance taken by Jesus toward the ritual purity practices of the Pharisees, scholars have been particularly concerned with the extent that the rural population of Galilee actually observed the purity regulations current in Judea and Jerusalem. In recent years, scholarship has focused much attention on two important archaeological indicators of ritual purity observance during the late Second Temple period: chalk vessels, valued for their imperviousness to ritual impurity, and ritual baths (miqwa’ot). Recent archaeological surveys and excavations throughout Israel (many as yet unpublished) have produced hundreds of new finds of ritual baths and sites with chalk vessel remains. Our present study introduces the most up-to-date archaeological data on the geographical distribution of these finds, and proposes the existence of significant regional variation in the prevalence of these finds between various parts of the country. Significantly, the data indicate a stark dichotomy between rural Judea and rural Galilee in the distribution pattern of Early Roman period ritual baths, and suggest the existence of important differences in the nature and extent of ritual purity observance between these two regions.

The aim of this paper is to elucidate the relationship between the morning light and divine justice revealed in Job 38:12-15. I will undertake three tasks as follows: 1.Literary significance of customary expressions of rxv; 2. Textual usage of morning or dawn in the Hebrew Bible; 3. Theological meaning of the morning light in the book of Job. Job 38:12-15 unfolds the power of light which is the first creature of God in the beginning. The voice from the whirlwind envisions Job appreciating the beauty as well as the justice in God’s created world. This imagery of light mollifies Job’s agitation and enlightens him how the creation still works in Job’s declared world of darkness (3:4). There is no place of the wicked under the sun, and yet the entire elimination of the evil remains to be done.

A newly launched website ‘Artefacts of ancient Judaism’ aims to harness the increasing body of digitised materials in libraries and museums for educational means. The project aims to test how we can encourage students to use material objects in their understanding of the biblical world through interactive engagement with images of the objects. Given the limited time students are able to see the objects in reality, the website allows them to explore for themselves the artefacts and ask a range of questions, from their historical importance to their reception history. The presentation will discuss some of the issues pedagogical issues arising from such a project, and demonstrate the methods used.

This paper will compare jar handles from Judah which bear both lmlk and 'private' stamps with bricks from Babylon, recently made available in a publication by B. Sass and J, Marzahn, which also bear royal stamps and 'private' imprints. The Babylonian sources also expand knowledge of the use of Aramaic in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon.

During the twentieth century and the beginning of the present century, there has been an ongoing scholarly interest in the tradition concerning the Last Supper of Jesus, especially in the institution narrative and the interpretation words. A plethora of studies has dealt with various aspects of the Last Supper tradition. In this paper the discussion will be limited to only two questions: How did the narrative about the Last Supper originate and what function did it have in the context of the early Christian ritual meals. The earliest evidence shows that the Last Supper was not related during the Eucharistic meals of the first generation of Christians. Though some scholars consider the Last Supper as aetiology of the ritual meals of the earliest Christians there are not many sufficient explanations on how this tradition originated. On the basis of the evidence of the earliest Christian texts this paper attempts to explain the origin and function of the Last Supper and its relation towards the Lord’s Supper ritual. This paper also seeks to argue that the alternative view, according to which the Last Supper story reflects an historical episode that took place on the last evening of Jesus’ life, is indeed much less plausible.

One of the noticeable innovations Relevance Theory has brought to hermeneutics debates is the distinction between the notion of ‘cognitive context’ and ‘context’ traditionally defined as social and historical settings, cultural environment, Sitz im Leben, etc. This ‘socio-historical context’ which RT would call ‘cognitive environment’ has been used by historical criticism (‘the pillar of New Testament Scholarship’ ) to reconstruct the ‘original meaning.’ Using Relevance Theory, this paper argues that the accuracy of an author’s meaning cannot be established without a clear distinction between ‘cognitive context’ and ‘socio-historical context’. A case study of the metaphor of ‘light’ in Mathew 4:12-17 will demonstrate that what scholars consider as ‘context’ (i.e. RT’s ‘cognitive environment’) is too broad for a specific interpretation. The implication is that the meanings so far offered by historico-grammatical criticism are inferences from potential ‘cognitive contexts’ of readers of the primary audience. They are virtual, not factual given the fact that recovering first century ‘cognitive context’ is a titanic task. Secondly, the paper develops the idea that even in the first audience setting, meaning was an individual inference, depending on the reader’s cognitive context. The meaning reconstructed by historico-grammatical criticism is a generalization based on cognitive environment, not cognitive context. The inference every reader draws is determined by his cognitive context. The community reading is the synthesis of many individual meaning. The paper highlights the virtuality of ‘objective reading,’ and makes a case for reader-response reading in the primary communication. At the bottom line, it aims at critically investigating the efficiency of RT for analyzing ancient texts versus the possibility, by historical criticism, of pinning down the original communicative intention of a biblical author.

Much has been written about the tantalizing claims regarding a connection between Judea and Sparta. For the most part, the extensive scholarship has focused on the exchange of letters between Jerusalem and Sparta appearing in I Macc. 12:1-23, and on the question whether all, or some, of these letters form an authentic correspondence or a conscious forgery. I my paper I propose to approach the issue from other perspectives, which have received less scholarly attention. To begin, the “Spartan narrative” of I Macc. will be examined within its own literary context, focusing on the mention of special prayers in the Temple for Spartan well-being and on the role of Abraham in the story, in addition to the story of Jason’s flight to Sparta (II Macc). Next will be adduced little noticed evidence from both Hasmonean and later contexts, implying that the relation between the two polities was widely celebrated and of long duration – much more so than would be expected if the story had been a mere fabrication intended to gain a specific and temporary goal. Finally I intend to examine Bickerman’s suggestion, that the source of the connection is not to be looked for in a Jerusalemite (or Spartan) fabricator, but rather in more organic process of familiarization between Spartan culture and Judaism taking place in the Libyan polis of Kyrene. I shall try to buttress this suggestion using: (a) evidence from Gentile sources on the antiquities of the Jews; (b) analysis of Abraham’s role as a mediator between the Jews and Mediterranean (and other) communities; (c) parallel examples of Greek identity adopted by barbarian communities; (d) the methodology of social network analysis, to show how intercommunal connections are born out of initial contact in a third locale, shared by the two communities.

Twenty five years ago the location of Bethsaida, the third most frequently mentioned site in the Gospels, was not even known. Today, we not only know its place but we have added 13 centuries of history to this site. The city of Bethsaida was founded in the 10th century BCE and flourished as a capital of the kingdom of Geshur until it was conquered by the Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III in 734-2 BCE. The extraordinary state of preservation of the city enables us to visit a monumental capital city in the region where some scholars claim there were only chiefdoms. The presentation will shed light on the formation of statehood of this southernmost Aramean kingdom and its application to the study of this statehood in this region. Bethsaida of the New Testament appears as a Jewish humble fishermen village. This is a surprising discovery, since many scholars speculated that Bethsaida being elevated into a Polis by Philip the son of Herod, would display spectacular Greco-Roman features. This unexpected discovery shed light to a place where most scholars believe the ministry of Jesus took place and enables us to learn about the audience of Jesus in the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

This paper approaches Galatians from the metaphor of architecture, seeking to integrate various insights from the past three decades of research (e.g., rhetorical analysis, epistolography, oral/aural structuring, the ‘apocalyptic Paul’)—a methodologically diverse period, fruitful but fragmented. It is my belief that, amid the myriad proposals of rhetorical outlines for the letter propounded over these years (e.g., H. D. Betz. G. Kennedy; R. Hall; J. Smit), the fundamental structures of Galatians may at points have been obscured. During this same period of research, however, signs have been uncovered which provide new insights and concrete, unparalleled guidance in this very regard—i.e., the identification of the fundamental linguistic structures of the composition, the central features of the letter’s linguistic space. To illuminate and underscore the interlocking character of these signs is the singular purpose of this paper.

The pervasive nature and importance of categories in human perception lead to exploring what contemporary cognitive science can reveal about how categories function in cognition, and, in particular, how categories governing knowledge and the socio-cultural context impact translation understanding. The primary aim of this paper is to present a functional approach to categorization people use as the basis for understanding and arranging reality and to explore how both cultural exegesis and biblical exegesis are necessary to identify salient categories of meaning specific to a target audience of a translation. A suggested paradigm highlights the central role categorization plays in communicating translation meaning by using theoretical principles to explore the ways culturally specific cognitive factors influence perception. Three significant areas in the function of cognition are considered in regard to language and mind in biblical exegesis and the translation product, these are: 1) Issue of Cognitive Interpretation, 2) Issue of Cognitive Efficiency, and 3) Issue of Cognitive Organization. The Akwapim Akan people of West Africa are chosen as the example target audience with two biblical passages from Zechariah and Revelation as source text examples. The Akwapim Akan have a complex world view which uses color categories as key organizing and meaning based cognitive structures. The function of these color categories and the possible consequences for translation highlight the role of categorization for interpreting and understanding the biblical text by the Akwapim Akan audience.

Common to previous studies on marriage and spousal roles in New Testament and in antiquity in general is that they have not paid attention to the husband. This paper aims to find out what the ideal role of the husband was. The main sources from the New Testament are the Household Codes and Pastoral Epistles, as well as Paul’s instructions to the married couples. The views presented in New Testament will be compared with Plutarch’s treatise Advice to the Bride and Groom, which offers an example of what the ancient Greco-Roman philosophers considered as the ideal. The paper studies the ideal qualities, roles and behavior expected of the husband as well as sexuality in marriage.

Isaiah 31 has been a source of great difficulty for interpreters throughout the centuries. The chapter contains multiple examples of unusual syntax, as well as unusual vocabulary. These include the unidentified actor in verse 2, as well as the strange phrase “he will bring evil.” Furthermore, the “house of evildoers/friends” (bet mere’im) and the “alliance of offenders” (‘ezrat po’ale ‘awen) are unusual phrases. The unusual vocabulary continues in v. 3, with the repeated mention of “ally” (‘ozer and “recipient of help” (‘azur). And in verses 4 and 5, the metaphors of the lion and the birds require clarification. The recent publication by Andreas Fuchs of the royal inscriptions of Sargon II allows us to decode many of the references in the chapter. The chapter can be dated to the period between 722 and 712, and the repeated mention of the root ‘zr (vv. 2-3), are plays on the name of Azuri, the anti-Assyrian Ashdodite king, while the forms of the roots ra’/ro’e (appearing in vv. 2 and 4) are references to Re’u, a Egyptian military leader. The metaphors in verses 4-5 subvert motifs from Assyrian royal inscriptions, which mock Re’u and compare the Assyrian king to a lion, and his enemies to birds. The explication of the specific points of syntax and vocabulary allows for a fuller understanding of the chapter’s message. Drawing on the experience of the rebellions of 720 and 716, the prophet dissuades the elite of Jerusalem in 712 from joining another anti-Assyrian rebellion led by Ashdod and Egypt. Assyria will indeed fall, but not through a human sword. The prophet suggests an alternative to the binary paradigm of Assyria vs. local anti-Assyrian coalitions: The Israelites ought to return to the one to whom they ought to maintain loyalty, against whom they most deeply rebelled (v. 6): YHWH.

Two centuries of scholarly research both affirming and denying the literal, bodily resurrection have yet to be reconciled. That which can be affirmed is not the physical resurrection itself but the reaction of the disciples: the spectators’ individual transformation through the reported experiences in the gospel texts and the Acts of the Apostles. Given the limited reliability of available sources, how then do we determine the nature of the disciples’ experience of the risen Christ? The logic of Sigmund Freud gave credence to religious belief as an appropriate subtopic of psychology, and though he often confined it to be no more than a vehicle for wish fulfillment, his desire to rigorously authenticate historical belief with contemporary reason was novel. To examine the Risen Christ again under a more illuminating Jungian lens potentially parallels the Gospel ideations of resurrection; after all, the death of an object for Jung does not denote the end of its psychological life. Freud’s ambivalence is nevertheless a microcosm of the ongoing dispute between the historians and the psychologists of religion. Many New Testament historical scholars unearth more psychological truth in the resurrection accounts than they perhaps intend by responding to the motives and purposes of the gospel authors; to ask, ‘What are the evangelists trying to say?’ is to divulge their conscious and unconscious intents. These psychologies of the resurrection narratives accentuate the need to account for the rapid conversion of Jesus’ disciples from a scattered and frightened community to a competent nucleus church in the period following his crucifixion. Yet must these christophanies be reduced to psychical emanations? The only appropriate response is perhaps from the perspectives of the evangelists themselves, for whom the reality of the risen Christ was not mere spiritual survival, but a physical reality.

The debate over the portrayal of women in the Dead Sea Scrolls has long attracted much controversy and speculation. Some texts, such as the portrayal of Dame Folly in 4Q184, as well as the description of a woman’s physical defects in 4Q415 11.6 and 4Q418 167 6, suggest that their authors espoused negative views towards females. However, other documents, such as the equation of Wisdom and Torah in 4Q185 and 4Q525 imply the opposite. The mention of “Mothers” in 4Q270 1.13-15, and the participation of women in communal assemblies in 1QSa, moreover, suggests that some females apparently held positions of authority. The problem is how to determine which, if any, of these texts emanated from a sectarian community that may possibly be identified with Qumran. This presentation seeks to understand these different images of women in the nonbiblical Dead Sea Scrolls by focusing on their portrayals of Queen Shelamzion Alexandra. The first part examines the perceptions of her in the Scrolls, especially the Nahum Pesher and Hosea Pesher A. It focuses on their use of language to describe her body. The second section examines these depictions in light of Josephus, George Syncellus, Moses of Khoren, and the Talmud. These witnesses show that the Scrolls focused on Shelamzion’s body to portray her unfavorably. However, this depiction should not be taken to represent the opinion of the writers of the Scrolls since they clearly recognize that Shelamzion was the greatest Hasmonean ruler. This suggests that the authors of these texts distorted historical events in light of their negative reading of scriptural texts regarding women. The conclusion briefly discusses the implications of this presentation for distinguishing sectarian from non-sectarian texts that describe women, and the possible implications for understanding their presence, or absence, at Khirbet Qumran.

Abner son of Ner was Saul’s and Ishbosheth’s commander-in-chief of the army (1 Sam 14:50; 17:55; 2 Sam 2:8 etc.). The purpose of this paper is to compare the biblical account of Abner with that of Flavius Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews, trying to answer the following questions: What are the differences between the two accounts? How is Abner presented in Josephus’ retelling of the biblical story? Do the difference between MT and Josephus stem from hellenization of the Biblical narrative or rather from exegetical reasons? A comparison of the MT and the Septuagint will accompany this paper, trying to understand whether some of the differences may stem from Josephus having a similar Voralge to that of the Septuagint.

Over the last one hundred years scholars have debated the correct interpretation of Paul’s personification of sin. Some have found it best to understand it as an apocalyptic or demonic entity who has invaded the hearts and minds of people, enslaving them in immorality. On the other hand, some scholars have questioned this view, proposing that Paul’s use of sin is better understood in terms of transgressions against God. While most of the attention in this area has been focused primarily on Paul’s personification of sin in Romans, it will be the goal of this treatment to examine the Pauline understanding of sin in the book of Galatians. I will explore Paul’s own arguments in two sections of Galatians that deal with sin in a personified manner. For example, when Paul states in Galatians 3:22 that “Scripture has consigned all things under sin,” many interpreters have seen, here, evidence that Paul believed sin was a personal entity. I will argue that Paul's personification of sin in Galatians is best understood in terms of transgression and not as an expression that Paul viewed sin as an apocalyptic entity, at least so far as Galatians is concerned. I will attempt to demonstrate that the structure of Paul’s arguments concerning sin in Galatians lend more credence to the position of sin interpreted as transgression, as opposed to sin as an actual apocalyptic or demonic being. This interpretation of “hamartia” provides a coherent understanding of Paul’s arguments in Galatians, and affords Paul the liberty of using metaphorical literary constructions to take advantage of his full rhetorical ability. In addition, disavowing the entity perspective seems to fit better with Paul’s theology in Galatians of personal responsibility for sins/trespasses.

The notion of “idolatry”, which first appears in the first century Epistles of Paul (alongside other sins and vices attributed to the Gentiles) is a fundamental category of religious discourse. The “idolater” is paragon of the Other in Christian perception, from Antiquity to the early modern period. Starting with its very coining, this notion forms part of a certain way Christian intellectuals have constructed otherness, be it the religions of the Ancient Mediterranean world, or the customs of the inhabitants of newly discovered ones, more than a millennium later. It is however in the context of Hellenistic Judaism that the transformation of the biblical polemic against cult images into a discourse on alien religions definitively took place. The notion of “idolatry” itself derives from the idiosyncratic use of eidôlon (“phantasm”; “ghost”) in the Septuagint, to translate a wide range of Hebrew words, all referring to erroneous objects of worship. The worship of eidôla is thus opposed to the worship rendered to the one true God. From this specific case, we wish to apprehend how the Septuagint forms part of a broader process, within Hellenistic Judaism, of defining the boundaries of Jewish identity in the context of the Hellenistic world; a process one can also see in the diverse Jewish discourses or polemics with respect to alien religions of the Ancient Mediterranean world, and on the tentative emergence of a narrative regarding the origins of “idolatry”, be it a euhemeristic or a demonological discourse.

The revelatory experience accounts in Mark are an important resource for uncovering the christological tendencies of the evangelist. These events—divine disclosures of visionary or prophetic means—offer a window into the details of the author's perspective on Jesus and have been largely neglected in the scholarship of the last century. This paper will first survey Mark's treatment of religious experiences as a whole, which are a prominent part of the Gospel and function in a peculiar way in the narrative. Then, the baptism, Transfiguration, and crucifixion accounts will be examined discretely for their contribution to the author's views of Jesus, as current scholarly works are discussed. Researchers have long thought of these three pericopes as "pillars" in Mark. Therefore, the evangelist's development of Gospel themes in these sections will be the primary focus of this paper.

With few exceptions, such as the notable attention given to being ‘born again/from above’ from John 3, the bibliography on the New Testament’s conversion and repentance tends to focus on Paul and to leave aside the Fourth Gospel. The question hence arises as to whether and how such a concept can be assessed, given that the expected conversional vocabulary is missing from the Fourth Gospel. It might be then more convenient to assume a literary criticism approach rather than one subscribed to historical criticism. The focus will be here on the characters of John, since in Jesus’ dialogues there is a sharp contrast between what even the most benevolent interlocutor says or does and what is really expected from him. The underlying question will therefore be whether – and if so, how – the benevolent characters in the Fourth Gospel form models for conversional exigencies.

The concept ‘monotheism’ is a mere anachronism when it comes to describing the period in the history of religion in Ancient Israel when only one God was supposed to be venerated. The idea was coined first, as far as I can see, by the British Platonist Henry More around 1660. It had been part of the theistic discourse in systematic theology. This discourse alienates the image of God from the lived religion in Ancient Israel. In my opinion we should therefore abandon this term. I would propose to use the concept of monolatry for the period mentioned above.

David promised Jonathan, his ally and friend, that he will always bestow his kindness upon his house (1Sam.20, 15). He mourned bitterly the heroic death of his friend and expressed warm emotions towards him. David's betrayal is soon reflected in the way he treated Jonathan's only child - the disabled Mephibosheth. In a close reading analysis I examined the four episodes in which David and Mephibosheth were involved (2 Samuel 9, 1-13; 16, 1-4; 19, 25-31; 21, 7-9). The conclusion of this literary reading unveils David's hypocrisy and disloyalty towards his deceased friend. Although he brought Mephibosheth to stay close to him in Jerusalem, fed him and gave him back his family's estate, it was never an act of kindness. Furthermore, his verdict concerning Mephibosheth's field, as I will try to demonstrate, was wrong and unjust.

Prophetic books were read, at least in part, to evoke the memory of the prophetic characters of old. These characters became sites of memory within and for the community. This paper focuses on one such site of memory, namely the prophet Hosea. The paper deals with the question of evoking and remembering Hosea through reading and rereading the book of Hosea within its relevant Sitz im Diskurs among the literati of the period and the significance and implications that remembering the prophet in such way had in terms of their shared mindscape, social memory and constructions of self-identity.

Any successful learning of a language, either modern or classical, demands constant repetition. Our task as teachers is to offer our students diligent many-sided language practice based on a wide variety of exercises exploiting a stock of frequently used words which is gradually enlarged and repeated. A comprehensive workbook completed and enhanced by netbased material for individual and blended learning is the future tool for effective and inspiring introduction to Biblical Hebrew. The project the Bergman eLearning of Biblical Hebrew for Beginners (http://3bm.dk/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=64&lang=en) is tailored to constitute a thorough netbased introduction to Biblical Hebrew. It is based on the exercises and learning concepts developed in Nava Bergman’s book The Cambridge Biblical Hebrew Workbook, Cambridge University Press 2005 (http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521826310). The Bergman eLearning of Biblical Hebrew for Beginners aims to supplement The Cambridge Biblical Hebrew Workbook by complete grammatical charts for each section together with introductory supporting material, sound files, interactive exercise and test material, a seperate module with complete grammatical synopses and verb charts and last but not least a variety of optional enrichment modules of cultural and historical nature which will enable students to experience the language of the Bible in its authentic context and of which each teacher/student may choose according to his/her needs and interests. The netbased course, which is planned to be further elaborated within The EuroPLOT plan in 2012, has been available in Swedish since 2007. In my paper, the pedagogical rationale of The Bergman eLearning of Biblical Hebrew for Beginners will be presented through a sample of different types of exercises.

Recent scholarship on Philippians (Oakes, de Vos, Tellbe, Wright) has drawn attention to the political vocabulary in 1:27 and 3:20. Simultaneously the ethical function of the hymn in chapter 2 has been re-discovered. Various contributions suggest that Paul constructs the Philippian church as an alternative political community which stands over against the political communities of polis and empire in direct challenge to the claims of the Roman emperor. Chapter 3 has been read as an appeal to counter the Greco-Roman values of proud self-assertiveness by embracing humble suffering instead. The biographical section about Paul which starts chapter 3 is seen as Paul’s renunciation of Jewish privilege which imitates Christ’s kenosis and must be imitated by the Philippians in turn. 3:20-21 is seen as the logical summary and conclusion of this train of thought. But this is not the most convincing reading. This paper identifies major difficulties and flaws in the readings mentioned above. It will argue that the dominating structural element in Philippians 3 is not the triple structure of kenosis/imitation but the forward striving, heavenward looking attitude. Paul does indeed make use of political metaphors but he does not use them in any antagonistic sense, confronting and challenging existing structures of political authority. This however does not make Paul’s narrative apolitical in the sense of individualistic and inward looking faith. Paul uses the metaphor to strengthen the corporate identity of the Philippian church as a community under authority, whose allegiance is oriented towards the ultimate authority of Christ. The Philippians’ rootedness in a heavenly reality both adds force to the binding character of the Christian pattern of ethics and inspires hope. It also enables the community to negotiate loyalty to penultimate authorities and value systems in a discerning and critical way.

The point of departure between Lyon and Nag Hammadi is not fundamentally procedural. Both appropriate Christian apocalyptic. Both evidence parallels in interpretation. They depart from each other over systemic concepts of God, Cosmos, Self, Church, Christ, and Economies. Perhaps diversity in early Christianity in this regard is manifested just as much in the frameworks brought to Jewish and Christian texts, as in that which is taken from them. The harmony between prophet and the seer of apocalyptic visions constantly distinguishes Irenaeus from Nag Hammadi as does his constant attention to the unity between texts old and new, Tabernacle and Temples, that worldly, this world, and the next. Reading apocalyptic literature is Lyon required a vision of unity; one that was never quite shared by those who composed the tractates of Nag Hammadi already in the deserts of Egypt the sun of deconstructionism beat down with an intensity not experienced in France for another sixteen or seventeen hundred years. Michaelangelo once said that “My soul can find no staircase to heaven unless it be through earth’s lovliness.” Irenaeus would have run to embrace the artist. The Gnostic would not have been quite so eager.

Linguistics was the first field in humanities that took a cognitive turn, and in the earliest days of the cognitive revolution, at that. Therefore, linguistics not simply adapted to the cognitive sciences, but also influenced the cognitive enterprise. In my talk, I shall review different research strategies for doing linguistic research within a cognitive framework. Psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics focuses on 'language in vivo', language technology on 'language in silico', whereas theoretical linguistics combines century-old linguistic scholarly traditions with the modelling methodology of the cognitive sciences. Within the latter, I shall briefly compare three approaches to language vs. cognition, namely, that of Noam Chomsky, Ray Jackendoff and Paul Smolensky. While reviewing linguistics within the cognitive sciences, we shall keep a constant eye on the lessons derivable for the emerging field of cognitive approaches in Biblical Studies.

In the current debate concerning Paul and Empire, much of the discussion situates Paul’s language in contrast to the imposition of Roman imperial ideology (especially through the emperor cult). Since Paul does not explicitly mention Caesar in his letters, the analysis of his anti-imperial rhetoric is shown primarily from implicit meanings of key terminology (e.g., euangelion, kyrios, pistis, dikaiosyne, eirene, etc.), often drawn out by recourse to post-colonial criticism and Scott’s hidden transcripts. However, there has been no sustained discussion of the earliest non-canonical biography of Paul which sets his martyrdom explicitly in an anti-imperial context. As a result, this paper will consider what light Paul’s interaction with Nero as expressed in The Acts of Paul (AP)—a second century account of Paul’s life, ministry, and death—sheds on the debate about Paul and Empire. In this account Nero’s anger is provoked as a result of the following central themes: Christ is the ‘king’ (basileus) who will destroy all other ‘kingdoms’ (basileiai), and believers as ‘soldiers’ (stratiotai) who serve in his army. This type of language appears infrequently in Paul’s undisputed letters, though it has some affinity with the Pastorals. Accordingly, I argue that although the church held in its memory that Paul’s message stood in contrast to imperial ideology, the AP did not find his undisputed letters particularly important for documenting his supposed anti-imperial rhetoric. As a result, the author may not have considered the supposed anti-imperial language to be as transparent as many scholars argue today.

After a brief analysis of the passage, I look at the explicit allusions to the incident in the Second Temple period. I then discuss the principal issues arising from the narrative read as paradigmatic of situations during that time: marriage alliances between Judean and foreign (especially Moabite and Midianite) partners, sectarian zeal for ritual self-segregation represented by Pinhas (Phineas), the priest in the narrative, the role of Balaam and the part played by prophets with respect to these issues, and the degree to which the sectarian attitudes and policies represented in Numbers 25:6-18 prevailed.

The moment Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge and realized that she and Adam were naked she consigned herself and all women to an eternity of spinning and weaving (after Barber 1995:252). Biblical references to spinning and weaving and to textiles in general are rather few. The use of textiles is a fundamental necessity, adding color and warmth to the lives of people. It is known that women performed spinning and weaving. Production of textile in fact implied the organization of the whole economy and society (Braudel 2002:73). All these different elements make it interesting to reconstruct the use and production of textiles in biblical archeology. Around the start of the Iron Age a major change in textile technology was visible in the archaeology of the Southern Levant. Loom weights of the sort long used in Anatolia and the Balkans suddenly were used in Israel and Transjordan. From Greece, Anatolia and Assyria texts and visual representations about textile production and trade are at hand enabling a reconstruction model. Archaeological data from sites along the north-south trading route between Transjordan, Syria and Anatolia revealed interesting material associated with textile production. Artifacts such as loom weights and spindle whorls from Tell Deir ‘Alla and Tell Mazar in the Eastern Jordan Valley show resemblances to finds from Ebla (Tell Mardikh), Qatna (Tell Meshrifeh) and Tell Afis in Northern Syria. Tell es-Sa’idiyeh in the Jordan Valley yielded buildings used for textile production. The building plan and the artifacts found within the small units show a striking correspondence to artifacts and architecture found in Gordion the capital of the Phrygian king Midas. Textile remains, texts and economical models help glue the fragmentary data back to a coherent picture of the production and use of textiles in Iron Age Levant.

Modern scholarship remains undecided as to the fundamental questions concerning the Letter of Aristeas. Some see the text as a Jewish apologia to a Hellenistic Greek audience, others see it as a defense of the Jewish law in the face of growing apathy and opposition to the Torah among the Alexandrine Jewish community, still others argue that the Letter of Aristeas intends to secure the validity of a Greek translation of the Jewish law before a resistant, perhaps reactionary, Jewish community. In addition to these questions, the unity, integrity, and historicity of Aristeas are also questioned. This paper attempts to provide a recommendation that may alleviate several of the concerns raised. We argue that an analysis of the contents and relative attention paid to each subject in the letter suggest none of the previous hypotheses by themselves are correct. Rather, rhetorical analysis reveals that a Jewish identity is being constructed by the letter based on several different points, including but not limited to a strong identification with Judea as a Jewish homeland, a universal acclamation of the power and person of the high priest, international respect for the particular customs of the Jews, the priority and preeminence of Jewish wisdom, and most famously, the high value of the divine law among the Jews and the Greeks. We will attempt to show that this identity is not only a resuscitation of dying Jewish individuality in Alexandria, but represents a new Hellenistic Jewish identity that institutionalizes some older concepts and introduces novel arguments for what it means to be a Jew in the Hellenistic milieu.

Between 1838 and 1852 a group of Afrikaans speaking farmers (often referred to as the "Jerusalemgangers" or "Jerusalem travellers") under the leadership of JA Enslin was set on travelling all the way to Jerusalem, using the maps in the back of the Dutch Bible translation called the Statenvertaling. Scant research has been done on this peculiar group and up till now a few incidental remarks have been made about them in 19th Century travelogues; studies related to South African church history and a single Masters thesis by JP Claasen. Alhough the name of the group suggests an obvious association with Israel of old travelling towards the Promised land, some authors like FL Lion Cachet (1882) is of the opinion that the prime reason for their intended journey to Jerusalem was to get away from “Engelands overmacht” (“England’s overwhelming power”). This view that the “Jerusalem travellers” was the manifestation of strong anti-imperial sentiments is corroborated by a number of incidents that will be discussed in the paper: Enslin’s speech in the Volksraad referring to England as the “verdrukker” or “oppressor” on May 4, 1850; the attempted stoning of a visiting minister from the Cape Province (Andrew Murray jr) who was considered to be "too British" etc. Today the influence of the “Jerusalem travellers” resonates in place names like a town called “Nylstroom” (a misguided reference to the Nile River due to its size during a flood and an abundance of [Nile!] crocodiles).

It has been often pointed out that the Samaritans are a subject of special concern to John; this interest is most obvious in John 4: 4-42. The passage relates Jesus' encounter with a Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob next to the city of Sychar. In the course of their conversation, Jesus succeeds in overcoming the obstacle of the controversies between Jews and Samaritans by expounding the faith he brings. Thus, by the end of their dialogue, the Samaritan woman expresses her belief in Jesus and alerts her fellow Samaritans that the Messiah has come. The origin and significance of this passage have sparked off an intense debate among scholars. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the community within which John 4: 4-42 was composed comprised both Jewish and Samaritan members. A careful study of this account reveals that it was intended to define a modus vivendi between the two elements of this mixed Jewish-Samaritan Church, in the late first - early second century CE. Indeed, it appears that the passage in question had a twofold aim: in the first place, it was designed to overcome the Jews' reluctance to deal with Samaritans. In this respect, it is noteworthy that John 4: 4-42 address questions that were cardinal in the eyes of the Jews, such as the origins of the Samaritans, their denial of Jerusalem and their dubious state of ritual cleanness. Secondly, it was intended to make the Christian faith accessible and relevant to the Samaritans without betraying its fundamental principles. This discussion will prompt us to address the question of Samaritan Christianity, which has received very little attention in modern scholarship up to now, and will lead us to consider the borders between the categories of Samaritans, Jews and Christians at the beginning of the Common Era.

On many occasions, the Bible describes the king as judge. The woman from Tekoa came before King David to be tried (2 Samuel 14:5 ff). Both King Solomon (1 Kings 3:16 ff) and King Jotham (2 Kings 15:5) hold trials. Wisdom literature also describes the king as judge (Psalm 72; Proverbs 16:10-13). What is the relation between the king as judge and the judicial authority? Does the king’s law serve as an alternative to the law entrusted to the judges? Many have addressed these issues, foremost among them R. Nissim of Gerona (Ran), of 14th century Spain. Ran discusses these matters in his book of homilies, based on a philosophical inquiry of Torah cases. In Homily 11 he reveals his political theory, which many consider to be daring and unusual thinking. It is claimed that Ran recognizes a secular, “political” legal system, headed by the king, alongside a religious, halakhic system of law operated by the judiciary. In the proposed paper we attempt a reevaluation of Ran’s political outlook. We propose that what Ran sketches in his homily is an ideal model that cannot be implemented – neither in theological-philosophical terms nor at the practical level. The autonomous, expansive legal realm of the king becomes a narrow framework that is subservient to the rulings of the judges. This exegetical hypothesis is based on a comparison between the content of the homily and Ran’s other teachings, both philosophical and halakhic. Our conclusion is bolstered by a new reading of the homily against the background of the Jewish social-political reality. We also examine the homily from the point of view of European Christian political thought in the 14th century.

There is much ado about the Gnostic or pregnostic character of the Gospel of Thomas (GosThom). One thing we know for sure: this text has been read by Gnostic readers. In this paper I will focus on the Gnostic reception of this writing. Through the representation of different kinds of disciples (the disciples, the women, Thomas), a gradual growth of Gnosis is expressed. How did Gnostic readers respond to these characters, with whom did they identify themselves? How does the text function for a Gnostic public?

The emphasis on eternal covenants in Gen 9 and 17 arises from P’s assertion in post-monarchic times of a higher divine sovereignty under which political sovereignty is a secondary issue. Israel can be seen, quite properly according to P, either as gerim in a land owned by Yhwh, or as gerim in foreign lands. In the development of priestly theology, it is not so much that the keeping of divine laws makes no difference to the quality of communal life, but rather, that both the keeping and the breaking of Israel’s law (with whatever consequences that ensue), are seen as theologically secondary to the underlying providence of the Creator and the divine promises to Abraham. Accordingly, P and H are engaged in a debate with Deuteronomistic theology about the conquest traditions and their associated constructions of ethnicity and political sovereignty. At the same time, the Priestly tradition addresses the competing sovereignties of the Babylonian and Persian empires.

One of the most important debates in ancient economic history at present is about the nature and extent of economic growth in the Roman Empire. One view holds that the Roman imperial economy was capable of a little more than aggregate growth, i.e., per capita output remained essentially the same but because the population of the Empire grew, so did the size of its economy (Saller, and to a lesser extent Scheidel and Friesen). The contrary position argues that the Roman Empire had a market economy that may have been smaller but had much the same characteristics as a modern (capitalist) economy. The Roman imperial economy was dynamic and capable of intensive economic growth (increase in per capita output) up to the level of early modern, pre-industrial economies (Temin and the more cautious approach of the Oxford Roman Economy Project). I will concentrate on two aspects of ancient economic growth that are especially pertinent to questions of the social status and economic position of early Christians. If there was intensive economic growth in the first two centuries of the Common Era, how were its benefits distributed among the social groups of the Empire? What was the role of trade and technology in expanding the economy? If intensive economic growth derived in part from the activities of traders and artisans and they were able to retain some of the wealth that this generated, then early Christians (some of whom belonged to this group) may have improved their economic position and even enhanced their social status. In the second century there are some Christians of substantial economic means, while for the first century this is more open to dispute. I will explore if upward economic mobility occurred in early Christian communities and its consequences for their social identity.

Recent scholarship on 4 Ezra 4:13-21, a complete parable (interpretation included) that envisions a conflict between forests and sea waves, understands this text in light of its own interpretation as an illustration of the natural boundaries between earth and heaven (cf. 4:21). However, the distinction between forests and sea waves is not explained away in this interpretation, but on the contrary, it simply illustrates a second, larger opposition within the cosmos, between heaven and earth. The first argument of this paper is that 4 Ezra 4:13-21 is best understood as an occurrence of the motif attested in other Jewish texts about an ontological antagonism between sea and earth. This motif is further attested in 4 Ezra in the conflict between Behemoth, the dry land monster, and Leviathan, the sea monster (4 Ezra 6:49-52; cf. also 1 Enoch 60:7-8). Second, this paper contends that this motif is best explained within the broader framework of ancient Jewish cosmologies in which the created order is structured into pairs of opposite and conflicting elements. This worldview may well originate in the ancient Near Eastern imageries of cosmogony battles between earth gods and sea monsters, but it marks a clear departure from these roots: the conflicting forces are no longer judged on a moral compass of good and evil, but rather constitute natural elements of God’s creation. Nevertheless, within this Jewish worldview these cosmological partitions will be surmounted in eschatological times. The festal consumption of Behemoth and Leviathan (4 Ezra 6:52) in the messianic kingdom represents the dissolution of these boundaries.

Does it make any difference whether Peter, as opposed to a pseudonymous author, wrote 2 Peter? Philosophers concerned with aesthetics have long debated how much an artist’s identity influences, and should influence, an observer’s appreciation of his or her artwork. Some argue that to truly appreciate an artwork it must stand on its own, and that ignorance of the artist’s identity is advantageous. Others argue that knowledge of the artist’s identity enhances one’s appreciation of the object. Though this matter is perhaps unresolvable, what is broadly acknowledged is that the identity of the artist affects interpretation. Similarly, knowledge of the author behind a letter can influence its interpretation. When we approach 2 Peter with this in mind, however, we strike a problem. Debate concerning the author’s identity has absorbed much of the scholarly attention given to 2 Peter over the last 150 years, yet has failed to provide a consensus. This paper seeks not to resolve the authorship debate, but to consider the hermeneutical implications of it. This is a significant issue because 2 Peter commentators on both sides of the authorship debate rarely express cognizance of the consequences of their position on authorship for their interpretation. Furthermore, on a rhetorical level, the authorial self-references throughout the letter (in 2 Peter 1:1, 2, 13-15, 16-19; 3:1, 15) may suggest that reflection on the life of Simon Peter had an important hermeneutical function.

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Comparative theology has been described generally as a new method of interreligious dialogue as a sub-discipline of systematic theology that attempts to produce a more fruitful and manageable approach to the dialogue between religions. While it is predominately used as a method within Christian interreligious discourse, this paper aims to demonstrate how engaging with the method can benefit the teaching of Biblical Studies, in this case in a Christian context. The case study which will be discussed is the teaching of the Genesis creation accounts and how using comparative theology to study the view of the deity as creator in Judaism, Christianity and Islam can enhance a student’s understanding of the text, as well as the images (and theology) of the deity which it presents. This is conducted principally through examination of the use of the image of God as creator in the texts of the Hebrew Bible and the names associated with creation in the 99 Most Beautiful Names of Allah and their use in the Quran.

This paper offers evidence that translators unwittingly instantiated into the English Bible their own early modern inclinations towards interiority, thereby replacing the alterity of Semitic thinking with the sensibilities of Tudor England. The paper focuses on the English words 'inward', 'inwards' and 'inner', whose usage to translate Greek and Hebrew words results in the construction of a uniform and repeated trope of human 'inwardness' in the KJV. The paper begins by showing how the meanings of inner and inwards began to be broadened in the religious literature of the 16th century from physiacl space to human nature. the central portion of the paper considers two eaxmples, Psalm 51:6 and Romans 2:28-29. The Bishops Bible (1568) interpreted two difficult Hebrew words not as the secrets of divine wisdom but as the interior space of the Psalmist. Roms 2:28-9 uses inwardly and outwardly where a more lietral translation of the Greek would use hidden and visible. The effects of such readings on Jews in English society will be explored.

Two recent contributions make it timely to raise an approach to Paul’s Judaism not prevalent in scholarly debates. Since the publication of E.P. Sanders’ PPJ over thirty years ago, there have been various reactions to this epoch-making work. The Swedish scholar Magnus Zetterholm, Approaches to Paul (2009), charts three trends in reaction to the PPJ thesis on ancient Judaism and Paul’s relation to Judaism. A second study is a collection of scholarly essays, Common Judaism: Explorations in Second Temple Judaism (2009), editors W.O. McCready & A.Reinhartz place the study of common Judaism on more secure footing; its appearance is sixteen years after the first publication of EPS’s Judaism: Practice and Belief. These contributions give new impetus to mapping out an approach to Paul’s relation to common Judaism. In over thirty years of critical Pauline scholarship there has not been a treatment approaching Paul as Jew in relation to common Judaism - shared features, differences and tensions. Such a study raises a variety of methodical issues. But if the approach is deemed viable for the quest of the Jewish Paul, it does promise to infuse the discussion with a neglected approach to date. This paper is methodological in focus and will sketch how the project would be pursued. The paper will (i) investigate the notion of a common Judaism during the time of Paul’s writings (ii) sketch problems, challenges, and difficulties in determining levels of Paul’s connection to his Jewish past from his letters (iii) determine what may be the thought substructure and ideals of Paul’s Jewish past and present in his letters (iv) utilize these approaches to offer pointers for an argument to present Paul as inheritor, internal critic and transformer of common Jewish ideals of second temple Hellenistic Judaism. Prevalent in this task is use of Flavius Josephus.

In his 1730 edition of the Prolegomena to the Greek New Testament, Johann Jakob Wettstein devotes to the issue of conjectural emendation a large part of the Observations and Cautions necessary to the examination of the variant readings of the New Testament. Drawing support from the Church Fathers as well as from renowned modern predecessors, the Amsterdam theologian justifies in this work the reasons for and against the use of conjectures in New Testament Textual Criticism.

The paper looks specifically at Max Weber and William Dubois and contrasts the way in which they made use of and interacted with biblical traditions and texts in their sociology. Weber engages in both analysis of the impact of biblical ideas, as transmitted by particular social carriers, on cultural development and utilises biblical themes and images and texts to analysis aspects of modernity. William Dubois tends not to use sociology to critically reconstruct biblical history or thought, but rather uses biblical imagery and texts to create a sense of shared identity and fate between the 'biblical Israel' and Black Americans in the period 1865-1905. In both cases, sociological imaginaiton and expression interacts with biblical language which can serve to both reinforce biblical notions and disenchant them. Whilst Weber is most often concerned with Luther's translation of the Bible, Dubois shows more continuity with English translations and the impact of the KJV and the RSV.

The overarching purpose of the paper is to investigate the receptions of ancient Christian apocalypses in a new media. This reflects the trend of Biblical Studies in a non-western, public university setting. Special attention will be focused on the 21st-century Chinese e-context(s) in comparison with western Websites. “21st century is the Chinese century” is a view widely accepted, particularly in Chinese circles. WTO entry (2001), Beijing 2008 Olympics, Expo 2010 Shanghai and many other public events keep trying to portray China as an emerging superpower of our century. However, the counterintuitive online fantasies of the end and scenarios of personal as well as world disaster, which are frequently fueled by Chinese apocalyptic fundamentalism, challenges the mainstream, ideological portrayal. Indeed, such a fundamentalist apocalypticism was introduced into China by missionaries (Liang 2000) and it impacted the formation of “religious right” in Chinese societies until recently. Apart from commentaries in print or live sermons, now in Chinese cyberspace, both Mao and the Chinese Communist Party are named as “666”, which is a very typical apocalyptic icon. This paper intends to make contribution to the understanding of online verbalization and visualization of social anxieties in a so-called “Chinese Century”. A pioneering online qualitative research of biblical studies will be undertaken, which entails social semiotics, discourse analysis, and visual semiotic-content analysis to interpret and analyze the apocalyptic multimodal (hyper)texts @ 21st Chinese websites.

The overarching purpose of the paper is to offer new perspectives for the study of transmission and cultural selection of early Christian thoughts in the form of apocalyptic languages. Special research attention will be paid to iconicity e.g. gematria, sound, which is articulated in the Apocalypse of John. Cognitive Linguistics is adopted to explain how minds of early Christiains acquire, generate and transmit “iconic” futures by means of their ordinary cognitive capacities. Undoutedbly, those iconic futures entail religious beliefs, emotions, rituals, moralities and social networks. Building on the pioneering research insights of John Haiman and Ghilard Zuckermann, this study aims to analyze the apocalyptic usages of language by critically applying the three iconic principles, namely quantity, proximity and sequential-order. Due to closer connectivity with the Apocalypse of John, three amongst numerous extracanonical apocalypses, i.e. the Apocalypse of Peter, the Apocalypse of Paul and the Apocalypse of Thomas are selected for comparative research along with the canonical one. The findings about conceptual organization and language use will shed light on the study of religious transmission and cultural selection of the Christian apocalypses.

The Testament of Job, an early Jewish retelling of the biblical book of Job, reduces Job’s combatant challenge to God’s justice to a test of Job’s endurance of suffering inflicted by Satan. In the Testament, the restoration of Job at the end of the book is a prize for his having successfully endured Satan’s physical challenge, but one aspect of Job’s restoration is qualitatively different from that found in the biblical book of Job. In the biblical book, all of Job’s possessions are restored in double their original quantity. Only Job’s family is restored without doubling. In the Testament, Job’s endurance of suffering is rewarded not only with a quantitative doubling of his wealth, but also with a qualitative doubling of his family, which is restored not as foreign but as Israelite. This paper will examine the kinship strategies employed by the author of The Testament in order to make the restored Joban family Israelite, and in so doing double Job’s reward for defeating Satan through enduring suffering.

Three separate traditions about the Sea Event are preserved in Exodus 14–15. Exodus 14:30, originally authored by J, becomes a part of P’s narrative. In J, the Egyptians die on the seashore: “And Israel saw Egypt dead on the seashore.” But in P’s account, the Egyptians drown to their death in the Sea and the Israelite witness this drowning safe from upon the seashore: “And Israel saw Egypt dying from on the seashore.” My paper will argue that the appearance of the Israelites on the seashore is an important Priestly innovation, on par with P’s reimagining of the Sea Event as a Sea Crossing, that focalizes later Israelite meditation on the Sea Event through the perspective of the Israelites on the seashore and thereby encourages self-reflection and empathy with the Egyptians: (1) later Israelites stand in genetic continuity with the Israelites who stood on the seashore and witnessed the Egyptians die in the Sea and (2) the Israelites stand in empathetic contiguity with the Egyptians who perish in the Sea while attempting to cross it, as had the Israelites. Thus who is where, whether the Egyptian are dying on the seashore (J) or the Israelites are watching the Egyptians die from there (P), has important implications for the way Israel understands herself at this foundational moment in her history. I will argue that Israel’s appearance on the seashore pushes against the danger of mythologization (as defined by R. Barthes in “Myth Today”) in Israel’s understanding of herself and her historical neighbors.

The meeting places of the earliest Christian communities were inhabited houses. The space of these house churches is usually characterised either as sacred – a holy place sanctified by ritual – or neutral – an empty space housing the true church, composed of its members. In the case of the former, the nature of the sacred space is rarely explained; it carries with it only the assumption that Christian sacred space would be free from the pollution of pagan cults. The latter case is predicated on the mistaken notion that a domestic space in the Roman world could be neutral at all, an idea which fails to recognize the intrinsically religious nature of the Roman house. The spaces of Roman houses, especially those of the wealthy, reflected their owners’ status and political affiliation, but also their ritual piety. This piety was writ large in many elite households through the presence of domestic shrines, votives, and ancestor busts, essential markers of Roman identity. In this paper, I will discuss the relationship between the religious character of the Roman aristocratic house and the Christian community which met within its walls in the first four centuries C.E. An examination of the Lullingstone Villa (Kent), its Christian chapel flourishing alongside evidence of domestic ritual and polytheistic piety, will demonstrate that a shared ritual space does not necessarily indicate a lack of sanctity. This recognition of shared space also demands an exploration of the impact this coexistence of pagan and Christian elements would have on the formation of identity in early Christian communities, especially in Roman Britain. Other pagan-Christian sites (including Hinton St Mary and Frampton) will be engaged with a view to presenting a new characterization of sacred space and community identity in the early Church.

The nature of the relationship of between Abrahamic and Christian faith in Romans 4 has regularly eluded traditional readings. Recent re-readings (e.g., Campbell) make advances, explaining Paul’s theocentric focus of faith, Paul’s emphasis on the patriarchal couple’s biological incapacity and the miraculous birth of Isaac, its relevance for ethnic Israel, etc. Yet these advances sacrifice critical features of the text, not least the question of the fulfillment of Gen. 15.5. My paper will sketch a reading that provides a compelling description of the relationship between Abrahamic and Christian ‘faith’, addressing revisionist critiques of traditional readings, maintaining their advances, but without making their sacrifices. I begin with two observations. First, Abraham is inseparable from his seed: together they are ‘the heir’ (v. 14). Second, there is only one realization of one divine promise for all: epaggel- terms occur 7x (twice elliptically) in vv. 13-21, always referring to the same promise. These observations provide clarity/direction in discerning continuity/discontinuity between Abrahamic and Christian faith: CONTINUITY in (1) a shared promise (both in content and recipients); (2) a shared incapacitated condition, preventing all from assisting in the promise’s realization: both the patriarchal couple and believers are characterized by nekr- terms (vv. 17, 19, 24, elided 25); and (3) a shared faith in God’s ability to realize that promise. But DISCONTINUITY in their particular exposure the promise’s realization, which began with the Isaac’s birth and was completed in Christ’s death/resurrection. Hence, faith in Rom. 4 is theocentric but it is directed at a God who proves/reveals his faithfulness in Christ’s death/resurrection. Implications for Paul’s conception of the relationship between Abrahamic and Christian ‘faith’ will then be further unpacked.

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According to many scholars, the first two chapters of Kohelet comprise one complete unit. However, the inner organization and overarching meaning of the chapters is widely debated. Most scholars argue that the question, "What profit is there for people in all the toil that they do under the sun?" is a rhetorical question and that the unit has a weak structure. This paper will conduct an analysis of that unit’s structure and meaning. I will suggest that the unit’s main pursuit is actually to examine the purpose of man’s toil. In the first section of the unit, written in poetic form (1:2-11), Kohelet illustrates his perception of reality, which serves as the basis for his experimental research on life. The following nine sections open with the first person pronoun, highlighting Kohelet’s personal involvement in this stage of experimentation. He ends this nine sections with the determined conclusion that all is “hevel”. (1:12-2:26). In this first section, man is described as an integral component of the world’s natural cycle, which ultimately lacks any greater meaning. Man and nature share the same cyclical, meaningless existence with one another. This cycle naturally oscillates between movements of rising and setting, waxing and waning, birth and death. This perception of reality causes Kohelet to question whether there is any greater purpose to man’s toil. Kohelet’s research conlcudes that man lives a complex existence. On the one hand, man is an integral part of the natural, repetitive cycle which allows no room for individuation and free choice. On the other hand, he is distinct, he exists outside of the cycle and is fully aware of his separateness. Man possesses free will, and therefore can break free of this cycle, choosing to find meaning in life’s toil.

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The latter part of Solomon’s reign (1 Kings 9-11), including his accumulation of gold and horses (9-10) as well an explicit condemnation of his numerous foreign wives and apostasy (11), presents a number of historical and literary challenges. To begin, given the considerable emphasis that the entire narrative places on Solomon’s obedience to the law, one must carefully consider how Solomon’s accumulation of gold and horses functions given both the absence of any moralizing on this issue and their explicit condemnation in Deuteronomy 17. Adding to this challenge, one must further account for the events of chapter three wherein YHWH bestows on Solomon in great measure the very things that the law of the king (Deuteronomy 17) outright forbids. If the view is held that there is an implicit critique of Solomon in chapters 9-10, then one must not only account for the above omissions, he or she must further explain why Solomon is explicitly condemned for a different set matters in chapter 11 and how this critique of Solomon relates (if at all) to the implicit critique of him in chapters 9-10. Towards a solution to these issues, I will argue that whether or not Solomon’s accumulation of gold and horses is a critique of him or not, such ideas miss the point. The function of Solomon’s gold and horses is rather to point us back to the law and to what Solomon has failed to do. That is, Solomon has failed to write for himself a copy of the law and to read it all the days of his life. This great failure helps resolve the above questions and challenges and furthermore accounts for the narrative’s central themes of Solomon’s ‘heart’ and ‘wisdom’. This view regarding the function of Solomon’s gold and horses also has profound effects for wider discussions of historiography.

In both his 1980 article on 1 Cor 8-10 and his 1987 commentary on 1 Corinthians, Gordon D. Fee argues that Paul prohibits eating sacrificial food in a pagan temple (1 Cor 8.1-7; 10.23-11.1), while allowing for the eating of marketplace food (1 Cor 10.23-11.1), a position that Ben Witherington also advances in several articles and in his 1995 commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians. In this type of interpretation Paul is especially concerned with the location in which one eats (sacrificial) food. In his 1989 article on 1 Cor 8-10 Bruce Fisk challenges the argument of Fee, claiming that “Paul’s intent was not to declare all temple meal attendance off limits; the nature of the meal, not its location, was the issue” (69). Similarly, in explicit criticism of Ben Witherington, David Horrell’s 1997 article affirms Fisk’s claim that “the issue in 10.1-22 is neither what one eats (idol meat or other) nor where one eats it (temple, home, etc.). Rather Paul is concerned about the nature of the meal” (Fisk 63; Horrell 101). In this second type of interpretation then Paul’s concern is with the nature of eating rather than with its location. Building on Fisk’s perceptive suggestion that “both sides in the debate may have something to learn”, my paper argues that while Fisk and Horrell are right to claim that Paul’s central concern is with the nature of the eating in question, they do not do full justice to the importance of location in Paul’s argument, which is rightly perceived but wrongly assessed by Fee and Witherington. In other words, my paper aims to show that Paul is concerned with both the nature and location of eating meat (sacrificed to idols) and to provide a more precise account of the multi-faceted relation between the two.

Although the figure of Samuel receives extensive treatment within Josephus and Pseudo-Philo, Samuel is relatively neglected in other writings from the Second Temple period. Among the Qumran texts, a retelling of the call of Samuel (cf. 1 Samuel 3) appears in the first fragment of the Vision of Samuel (4Q160), while Ps 151:5 in the great Cave Eleven Psalms Scroll mentions Samuel’s anointing of David (cf. 1 Samuel 16—17). By way of contrast, Ben Sira devotes a significant section of the Praise of the Ancestors to Samuel (46:13-20). The Greek text of this passage has been discussed in a fine article by Johannes Marböck in the Festschrift for Georg Hentschel (Würzburg, 2006). My paper will instead focus on the Genizah Hebrew text, which (though incomplete) can mostly be reconstructed fairly satisfactorily. The poem falls into three stanzas: Samuel’s birth and achievements (46:13-15); Samuel as intercessor (46:16-18); circumstances surrounding Samuel’s death (46:19-20). Ben Sira’s treatment of Samuel has interesting features. The length of the poem on Samuel and the judges (16 bicola in 46:11-20) corresponds exactly to the length of Ben Sira’s poems on David (16 bicola in 47:2-11) and Solomon (16 bicola in 47:12-22). The Hebrew text calls Samuel a nazirite, as does the Qumran scroll (but not Masoretic Text) of 1 Sam 1:22, as well as the Talmudic tractate Nazir. Ben Sira’s Hebrew text also sees Samuel as a priest (as may be implied in Ps 99:6), though this is not explicitly stated in the Masoretic Text of First Samuel. In addition, Ben Sira describes Samuel’s role as an intercessor (cf. Jer 15:1), and this theme is taken up in later rabbinic texts.

“Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8.” In the fall of 2009, this seemingly kind-spirited slogan was printed on bumper stickers and t-shirts in what seemed to be an expression of goodwill for the newly elected president. Of course, when one reads Psalm 109:8, one can no longer assume that this encouragement of prayer was in any way an offer of goodwill; Psalm 109:8 says, “May his days be few in number, may another take his office.” What seemed to be an expression of support was in fact a violent prayer for, at the least, the end of President Obama’s presidency, and at the most, the end of President Obama’s life. The verses immediately following are the psalmist’s prayer to God for further violence to fall upon the psalmist’s enemy. In fact, this particular psalm is one of the most infamous in the Psalter because of its extended fifteen-verse curse against the enemy. This particular use of Psalm 109 in public political discourse raises important questions for students of the Psalms interested in ideological criticism. Though we may reject the use of this psalm in this way as undemocratic hate speech or simply bad theology, this bumper sticker isolates a particularly violent voice within the Psalms that scholars have not adequately discussed. Recent ideological criticism recognizes that texts do not speak with one unified voice, but are sites of ideological struggle and contention. Psalms scholars have treated violent psalmic language as a whispered voice in the text, but the bumper sticker demands that we examine the violent wishes of the psalms as a loud voice, one capable of overwhelming other voices. This paper analyzes the psalms as sites of ideological contest, a rhetorical location of struggle between voices of violent rage and resistance to violent theology.

The Christ hymn of Philippians 2:5-11 figures prominently in modern discussions of New Testament, and specifically Pauline, Christology. The significance of this text to Christological thought is nothing new. In fact, the passage was a central text, perhaps the central text, in the Christological debates of the early fifth-century. Cyril of Alexandria, best known for his emphasis on the unity of the person of Christ, quoted Philippians 2:5-11 more than any other Greek father prior to him. Not surprisingly, the interpretation of this text became a primary point of disagreement between Cyril and Nestorius in the controversies that led up to and culminated in the Council of Ephesus in 431. In this paper I examine the respective interpretations of Cyril and Nestorius, place them in the context of the prior Eastern tradition, and present a case for Cyril’s reading as superior to that of Nestorius. In short, Nestorius emphasizes the distinction in the text between the ‘form of God’ and the ‘form of a servant’, while Cyril notes that the passage presupposes a single subject acting throughout the drama of the humiliation and exaltation.

Satan appears in chapters 1 and 2 of Job. Why is he not brought back for judgment once he is finally beaten by Job? If we are to answer that question, we must be prepared to read the book of Job as carefully as we read a novel by Nabokov. Every word matters. [I'll use English Bible references in what follows.] Job sacrifices on behalf of his children (1. 5), but his wife does not. Job's first wife is unconcerned about her children, and in her only recorded speech (2. 9) she speaks 'as one of the FOOLISH women speaketh' (2. 10). For its part, the ostrich is 'hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers.....because God hath deprived her of WISDOM.....neither hath he imparted to her UNDERSTANDING' (39. 13-17). Job's first wife is represented by the ostrich, and other characters are represented by other beasts. Aside from its literal identity, BEHEMOTH is Job before his testing. 'The chief of the ways of God' (40. 19) is 'the greatest of all the men of the east' (1. 3). The 'hedge' which Satan accuses God of making about Job (1. 10) is denoted by 'the shady trees', 'the covert of the reeds', and 'the willows of the brook' (40. 21-22). Testing is something for which the behemoth must be ready. 'He that made him can cause his sword ( = Satan) to approach unto him’ (40. 19). LEVIATHAN is a beast of much greater substance. Aside from its literal identity, leviathan is Satan, the most powerful created being. When God speaks about leviathan, Job understands him to be talking about Satan, his real enemy. At the same time, Satan realizes that God is talking about the undefeatable Job. 'Skin for skin,' Satan had said derisively (2. 4). Now he hears an extended description of Job's unpierceable skin (41. 15-17). The 'boils' of 2. 7 are referred to in 41. 7. 'Touch his bone and his flesh,' Satan had said to God (2. 5). Now he hears about Job's immoveable flesh (41. 23), and about more besides: for while the behemoth's bones were 'as strong pieces of brass', and 'like bars of iron' (40 18), Job-the-leviathan 'esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood' (41. 27). Job lying on the kitchen midden, scraping himself with a potsherd (2. 8), is represented in 41. 30. 'Jagged potsherds are under him.' At the very climax of his degradation, Job is shown to be impregnable. The potsherds become the squamous armour of a creature which has no soft underbelly. Four lessons emerge from the book of Job. First, God sometimes allows Satan to heat the crucible in which human character is refined. Secondly, a man or woman who trusts in God will never be defeated by Satan. Thirdly, God has created an adversarial universe of behemoth-matter and leviathan-antimatter, but he has weighted that universe in favour of good. Fourthly, Satan is the Great Loser, and whenever he loses he is not available for comment.

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There are two aspects to this question. One is whether there is such a concept as 'monotheism' in the Bible. Should we try for a more precise description of the various conceptions of deity? The other is whether our discipline should operate within a monotheistic paradigm and continue to talk about 'God' rather than the various divine names and identities that the text presents us with. In both cases I am inclined to answer that the concept should not have a future within Biblical Studies, though the matter is complicated by the fact that so many scholars operate within the institutional climate of a seminary in which the existence of 'God' is a cultural assumption. So the whole issue of whether we can as scholars talk about 'God' (or even worse, 'G*d' ) will be contested. At the moment, however, there is not much of a contest: we all easily slip into 'God'-talk, and perhaps it is time some of us made an issue of it. Even atheists often talk about 'not believing in God' when they really mean they don't believe that gods exist!

This paper focusses on God’s principal opponent in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a writing, consisting of twelve testaments, and one of the primary foci is the exhortation of the double commandment: love/fear of God and love of neighbour. In this exhortation the opponent plays a vital role, as he represents not keeping the commandments of the Lord. The prince of darkness is supported by his spirits, who together influence humankind. Their influence leads people away from God, and thus from the double commandment. Humankind, then, lives on the battlefield between God and his opponent. In this battle, humans have intellect – the spirit of rational understanding – with which to choose between the spirit of truth and that of deceit. This paper analyses the role and characteristics of the forces of evil in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and attempts to place these in the broader temporal context. The teachings regarding the opponent are, therefore, compared to those in other Jewish and Christian writings. Conclusions regarding the context and setting of the Testaments are given.

Since the SBL is meeting this year in London, it seems appropriate to reexamine a much-discussed numismatic item from the British Museum. The coin is known as TC 242.5 because of it's initial publication in Tayler Combe's 1814 'Veterum Populorum Et Regum Numi Qui In Museo Britannico Asservantur'. This paper focuses on the reverse of the coin, which has given the coin one of its common names: "Gott am Flügelrad" (Kienle 1975). Before 1933 it was known as the Jaho-coin and later it was referred to as the Yehud Drachme, among other monikers. Although much has been written on the coin, there are still a lot of questions. This paper reconsiders a few iconographic elements of the reverse of the coin, including the mantle of the male figure, the bird in his hand and the two elements that have together been called the 'winged wheel' since Combe's initial publication.

Biblical citations in both Syriac and Hebrew appear in several Arabic works of Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, a major Isma‘ili author under the reign of the Fatimid Imam-caliph al-Hakim (996-1021). A first preliminary study of these quotations was presented by Paul Kraus (1930) and subsequently by Anton Baumstark (1932), at a time when modern research on Isma‘ili texts had not yet begun. In our paper we will reexamine this issue in the light of new source-material and try to identify the origins of this Biblical material in order to understand why an Isma‘ili author of Persian origin writing in Fatimid Egypt would quote the Old and New Testaments in Hebrew and Syriac respectively.

In the early days of Dead Sea Scrolls research, a considerable number of theretofore unknown compositions have received the label ‘apocryphon’, which most of them still carry today. Since then, however, our knowledge about the development of the Scriptures during Second Temple times has been significantly altered: the word ‘pluriformity’ has come to take centre stage. As a result of this change in perspective, scholars have justifiably begun to wonder whether works once intuitively identified as ‘rewritten Bible/Scripture’ may actually represent the latter stages of the same literary tradition from which the ‘scriptural’ texts crystallised. Thinking in terms of a ‘sliding scale’ (George Brooke) or ‘spectrum’ (Sidnie White Crawford), a historical perspective on the living scriptural tradition of Second Temple Judaism thus entails a reassessment of the works classified as ‘apocrypha’. At the same time, the label may be a useful hermeneutical device for the modern scholar – not to mention the present-day lay reader of the Bible – in that it immediately reveals the relationship of these compositions to the text that eventually became enshrined as ‘canonical’. In other words, the designation ‘apocryphon’ is entirely legitimate from one perspective, while it should be jettisoned from another. This paper seeks to illustrate the problems involved by a discussion of two ‘apocrypha’ discovered at Qumran, viz. the Genesis Apocryphon and the Joshua Apocryphon/-a, which are both indicative of Second Temple Jews’ ongoing dialogue with their ancestral traditions. Bearing in mind the two perspectives on the scriptural texts from Masada outlined by Eugene Ulrich in his contribution to Emanuel Tov’s Festschrift, it will be argued that these two compositions can only be set apart from their ‘scriptural’ counterparts if MT is taken as the yardstick to measure all other texts with, which reflects only one of the two perspectives to look at them.

Samson is well known for his strength. This strength resided in his long hair – at least that is his version. But in the narrative, neither the angel nor Samson’s parents nor the narrator have drawn this connection. Most commentators seem to have overlooked this (cf. Block 1999; Niditch 2008; Schneider 2000). The answer to the question of the source of Samson’s strength can be provided by reading the Samson narrative (Judges 13-16) from a queer perspective, which shows how sex, gender, sexuality, race and relations of power are constructed in mutual dependence.

The forthcoming book is the second volume recording biblical period Hebrew epigraphic material from the Josef Chaim Kaufman collection. The first volume published by the author: "Biblical Period Hebrew Bullae", printed in 2003, consists of 516 seal impressions. The forthcoming volume includes 387 specimens: 88 seals dated to the end of the 8th century B.C.E., through the beginning of the 6th century B.C.E. The seal collection was formed during the last four decades, since 1967; the seals were purchased from licensed antiquity dealers, mainly in Jerusalem. The seal impressions (bullae) are all Hebrew dated also to the end of the 8th - through the beginning of the 6th century B.C.E. All are previously unrecorded. Their possible provenance is Khirbet Qe'ila, biblical Keilah (Josh. 15:44), located 13.5 Km. north-west of Hebron. Out of the 51 handles, seven are of the lmlk type, impressed by seven different seals. They are to be dated to the end of the eighth century, before 701 B.C.E., in the time of Hezekiah king of Judah. The question of authenticity has been addressed in the first volume (pp. 11-12), nevertheless, some additional remarks can be added. All the items presented in this volume were meticulously examined by the author and were found genuine beyond any doubt. The recent tendency, expressed by some scholars, to declare all unprovenanced epigraphic materials "questionable" and therefore worthless, is an approach which is to be unequivocally rejected. Such an attitude is rather destructive instead to adopt a constructive approach. The corpus of west semitic epigraphic material unearthed in controlled excavations is significantly smaller than that from unprovenanced sources. Avoiding most of the historical information just because the material was found by non professional plunders is inconceivable. Such documents can not be ignored simply because were not found in methodological excavations. The importance of this volume is self-evident and are to be considered as rescue publications. Their permanent value will increase as time will pass and they will serve as valuable reference books.

A custom of high society life in late fifteenth century Florence was strategically arranged marriages, between families of influence and wealth, creating alliances of mutual interest and securing wealth within a small exclusive clan. Elaborate wedding chests or cassone were a popular gift to the marrying couple and the successful commissioning of a renowned artist, to paint the panels, a marker of a family’s status. Moreover, the story illustrated on the chest, which may have been taken from biblical, mythological or historical sources, often bore a deeper message about the link between those families aligning in marriage. The story and character of Esther became a frequent theme on these panels and Filippino Lippi was one of those esteemed artists commissioned to create a series of panels illustrating the Book of Esther for a wedding chest. This paper is primarily interested in the character of Queen Vashti, deposed in the opening chapter of the Book of Esther, and her reception, within the context of the commissioned wedding chest, most particularly Lippi’s unusual painting Vashti Leaving Susa. This painting communicates an unmistakable and deliberate didactic purpose as a panel on a cassone. Vashti, the antithesis of the ‘biddable woman’, summarily deposed for her wilful disobedience of the King, has not featured large in biblical art and, indeed, only a few relatively unknown works come to mind, although her popularity as subject, despite her brief appearance in the text, is increasing among contemporary female artists and biblical scholars. This paper revisits Lippi’s rendering of Vashti’s deposition and considers an alternative interpretation.

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Scholars have often found great value in comparing New Testament concepts with Stoicism in general and the thoughts of Seneca in particular. Admittedly, most of this work has focused on the Gospels or the letters of Paul. In his work on Hebrews 12, however, Clayton Croy reveals striking parallels between this passage and Seneca’s De Providentia. This paper seeks to continue this comparison by heuristically examining the ethical imperatives of Hebrews 13.1-8 with similar commands in Seneca. Do such striking parallels between the letter to the Hebrews and the writings of Seneca stop in Hebrews 12, or do other remarkable similarities between the two authors continue into the next chapter? Moreover, do any resemblances found in the writings reveal respective differences more clearly so that one can understand Hebrews and Seneca better? If so, then how so? In addition to answering these questions, this paper will attempt to demonstrate that a study of Seneca’s ethical instructions can help scholars fill out the pithy imperatives found in Hebrews 13 by raising new interpretative options and evincing further possible details either implied by the author or assumed by the audience.

Haverut is a Jewish approach to reading Scripture which acknowledges that the meaning of a given text can only be found with a partner or a friend (haver). According to levinas, this amounts to “understanding the very plurality of people as an unavoidable moment of the signification of meaning” (JRS 109). While this pluralism is a necessary component of the apprehension of meaning of the Hebrew scriptures, it goes without saying that for Levinas the community engaged in haverut must necessarily be Jewish. The purpose of this paper will be to interrogate Levinas’ concept of haverut in the light of his own philosophy of dialogue and otherness and discuss the promises and pitfalls of broadening of the concept of haverut to “other seekers” beyond the Jewish community.

This paper explores the Haustafel in Didache 4:9-11 and parallel versions of the Two Ways, against the background of the 'Moral Economy' (Scott, Moxnes). These texts insist on "generalised reciprocity" and reject the "balanced reciprocity" practised by the elite in the Greco-Roman context and the "negative reciprocity" they meet out to the underclasses. For this reason, the intrusion of the patriarchal ethic of the Haustafel, with its uncompromising one-way instruction concerning children and its support for the institution of slavery are surprising, as is the absence of instructions concerning husbands and wives. Less surprising, perhaps is the absence of instructions concerning emperor. The background and implications of the instructions are examined to try and reconstruct the social situation in households in the Didache community.

Genesis 1 presents a number of tantalizing questions for many generations of the interpreters. Why is the creation of both heaven and earth mentioned twice within one story? Was the cosmos created ex nihilo or out of a pre-existing chaos? What is the meaning of the plural of the noun designating the Creator? What does Elohim's "image" in adam mean? This paper considers these questions in complex, as pieces of a single puzzle. The analysis of the story shows that all its major elements, namely the Who?, the How?, and the What? of the creation – in other words, the Creator, the process of creation, and the building blocks/final forms of creation – may follow the same pattern of structural binarity. On the one hand, the world is not only based on a set of four carefully selected pairs of binary oppositions, but it emerges in a process of successive doubling of some initial cosmological units. On the other hand, the binary nature of Elohim's top creatures, i.e. humans, must both correspond to the nature of the world under their care and reflect some essential characteristics of their creator. Based on linguistic, semantic, narrative, and sources studies, such approach opens a way to a dipper understanding of this Priestly author's masterpiece.

Disquisitions on this subject since Ludwig Traube enunciated the term nomina sacra (NS) more than a century ago had largely been on the genesis of the system. No proposal on its origin, nevertheless, has yet commanded general assent; discussions continue. The prevalent view, however, is that there are fifteen words that have been consistently treated as NS across manuscript tradition, and have come in a three-tiered developmental timeframe. This schema results from comparative analyses of surviving manuscripts using mainly the criterion of consistency (or inconsistency) in the application of the system, in terms of referents, i.e., sacral or profane. A number of methodological problems, however, can be raised against this perspective, foremost of which is the presentation and analysis of manuscripts as evidence for this schema. A more sustainable methodology, I submit, is to approach the subject from the standpoint of particularly more extensive (earlier) manuscripts, in conjunction with their establishable scribal practices, based on palaeographical, codicological, and textual evidences. It is along this path of discussion which this paper seeks to pursue using evidentiary details from the Chester Beatty Papyrus II (P46). This paper attempts to show how its scribe used and understood the system, not only at the level of the text of his exemplar (textual properties), but also at the aesthetic levels (palaeographical and codicological properties). Using this model will consequently show whether there is indeed any justifiable ground to the claim that the scribe of P46 had a difficulty in comprehending the system, as some students of P46 have already proposed.

In 1903 Alfred Seeberg published his work, Der Katechismus der Urchristenheit, in which he attempted a detailed reconstruction of the ethical and theological catechism of the early church (further supported in 1905, 1906 and 1908). His work was appropriated by scholars like Martin Dibelius, Anton Vötgle, Ehrhard Kamlah, Edward Selwyn and others in further explorations of the preaching and teaching of the early church. While this largely form-critical approach ruled the day for about sixty years, by the time that James Dunn wrote his influential Unity and Diversity in the New Testament, he was able to dismiss their conclusions with little discussion. According to Dunn, these works provided nothing but disparate texts bonded together by scholarly ingenuity; there was no early Christian kerygma (or Christology, etc.) as such. From then on, with few exceptions (who will be discussed), the quest to identify the content of this preaching and teaching was abandoned. Yet, even as the question of identifying the teaching of the early Church has not been taken up again for full-scale treatment for 30 years, the conclusions so easily dismissed by Dunn resurface time and again often without much justification or discussion. This paper will trace some of the important ways the quest for the early Christian teaching and preaching has been approached in the 20th century (using Seeberg as a starting point as well as using his influence as a limiting factor). I will suggest that although the answers provided by Seeberg (and others) are not satisfying––though they perhaps deserve more credit than they received––the question itself is an important one that should be revisited on more sound methodological grounds taking account of insights from rhetorical criticism and sociology, to name just two.

When defining the term "memory" as including the "collective memory", the Book of Tobit with its Diaspora story gives interesting insights into some aspects of the Jewish ideas on memory and exile during the Hellenistic period. By reading the book carefully, it becomes clear that the Book of Tobit presents the life in exile as a time of endangerment as well as a time of solidarity among the people of God´s protection. Finally, exilic existence also seems to be regarded as significant and meaningful since it gives Israel the chance of being witness to God´s graceful deeds for the righteous among his people.

One of the limitations facing historical Jesus studies has been the lack of unequivocal first century testimony, outside of the New Testament texts. The most common explanation for this has been that Jesus probably was less important in his own time than the gospel narratives suggest. The lack of agreement between sources is, however, not limited to descriptions of Jesus. Although various names of people in authority appear in the New Testament, their activities almost never correlate with that found in other contemporary sources. This adds to the confusion. However, when a comparison of the New Testament with the works of Josephus was extended beyond the 30s CE, a number of distinctly similar events were revealed, that in Josephus’ writings occur with a consistent delay of fifteen to twenty years, i.e. in the mid-40s to early 50s. Among them is the rebellion of Theudas, the presence, activity and crucifixion of robbers, a conflict between Samaritans and Galileans, the attack on a man named Stephen outside Jerusalem, two co-reigning high priests, and, not least, one messianic leader displaying distinct similarities to John the Baptist, and another such leader with distinct similarities to Jesus. In fact, this exercise increased the number of close parallel events from a single one – when comparing the NT narratives with descriptions by Josephus of the 30s – to fifteen, when comparing the New Testament with the mid-40s to early 50s. It will be discussed whether these parallels really are depictions of the same events and people, and, if so, if the delay is the result of errors, or if it is, in fact, the result of a deliberate time shift in the New Testament narrative, perhaps implemented to avoid competing accounts of the same events and people.

Artifacts from Qumran and the Dead Sea Region in The Schøyen Collection have been sampled and tested in different ways over the last three years. Articles scrutinized include a scroll jar asserted to come from Cave 1, the Temple Scroll wrapper and cord, a palm fiber pen, pottery shards from Khirbet Qumran, and ink from an inkwell. Some of the tests conducted represent new pathways in Qumran research, and will hopefully inspire similar research on artifacts owned by IAA and other institutions. In some cases, infrared photography of ’uninscribed pieces’ or leather straps gave surprising results, revealing new and unknown texts. Among the 19 biblical scrolls in the collection, 13 will soon be published for the first time. The distribution of proto-masoretic and Septuagint-related scrolls, non-aligned texts and products of the Qumran scribal school among these texts are worthy of consideration. A ’new’ fragment from Cave 4 is written by a high-quality scribe also represented in Cave 1 and by a text from Masada. This identification firmly demonstrates that sectarians from the settlement at Qumran (not only from the Yahad in general) joined the rebels at Masada in the early years of the Jewish revolt.

Esteemable figures throughout history have suffered enormously and unexplainably. Consequently, thoughtful persons, suffering or at relative ease, have raised questions about the problem of pain. These questions have tended to center around correllations between sin and suffering, virture prosperity. No correllation has ever been established. Virtue and vice seem to be their own reward. Philosophers and theologians have addressed the question of pain and suffering under a set of five standard rubrics: arbitrary predestination, divine providence, blind fate, chas-tisement, and purification. Suffering righteous men have tended to process their suffering against the background of one or more of such constructs and, therefore, tend to express their disposition regarding pain in one or more of five models: complaint, imprecation, lament, special pleading or consolation. The disposition expressed by each sufferer depends directly upon which of the standard rubrics prevails in that persons belief system and world view. This paper discusses the nature and function of the five rubrics of belief and the five models of its expression. This analysis is illustrated by five (or more) cases: Job, David (the Psalmist), Boethius, Gower, and Dante. In conclusion, Fox News broadcasting is used as a humorous illustration of the trivialization of the biblical problem of pain and suffering in contempory American culture.

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Biblical Hebrew alone among the Semitic languages (including epigraphic Hebrew) uses the verbal root š-k-h to mean “to forget.” In Aramaic, š?kah means “to find.” The root does not exist in Akkadian which expresses forgetting with the verb mašû. The underlying root of this Akkadian term is found with the meaning “to forget” as well in Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Ethiopic. Indeed in light of its attestation in all the cognate languages, it seems possibly that š-y-h is the more original root for the concept of forgetfulness. Yet in Biblical Hebrew š-k-h is clearly the preferred root for the idea of “forgetting.” Moreover, BH, particularly deuteronomic literature, attaches considerable theological weight attached to the idea of forgetting. Why and how did šakah come to express this loaded idea? This paper discusses the use of šakah in deuteronomic literature to establish its theological value. It then offers some hypotheses to explain how this verb gained both its meaning and its moral valence. Two possibilities are covered: one building on Nöldeke’s analysis of the phenomenon in Semitic languages wherein a single root denotes a meaning and its opposite, hence “find” versus “lose (an idea, thought or memory).” The second posits a more complex evolution that may explain the negative valence of BH šakah wherein through the process of metathesis, an original noun formed by the root *kšh (cf., Akkadian kušahhu (“famine”) [cf., the verb kašahu, to be in need or want” ]) enters Hebrew and Aramaic as k-h-š )“to be disappointing, deceive,” “to fail, grow weak”( )cf., theAramaic nominal form k?haša (“reduction, deterioration”). The denominative translates the concrete idea of famine (crops that fail or disappoint; promise of produce that is unfulfilled) into the abstract concept of deception and disappointment which is realized through secondary metathesis as šakah.

This paper will highlight the distinction between religious medicine and scientific medicine in antiquity in the Jewish society of Roman Palestine. Due to the influence of the Greek tradition, relatively rational medicine (based on the medical writings of Hippocrates, Galen and Soranus - the famous Greek and Roman physicians) was prevalent in Roman Palestine. Roman medicine, which was based on the Greek medicine, has long been held to be 'rational' in the sense that it tries to explain the workings and failings of the body, and to treat diseases, by reference to 'natural' entities. In this respect, Roman medicine was associated with the fundamentals of Greek philosophy and science. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that among the civilizations of the ancient Roman Empire it was widely believed that the health of a person was affected by supernatural forces, and the cure was in the power of the gods or the priests, their representatives. Thus, it is no wonder that in the ancient land of Israel magic and religious rituals were part of the folk medicine. Therefore, I will explore, according to the Rabbinical sources, what were the religious pagan rituals that infiltrated medicine in Jewish society and what was the scientific medicine that was accepted by Jewish society in the land of Israel.

For anyone who has read the Pauline Epistles, it becomes apparent rather quickly Paul employs the use of Scripture frequently to support his arguments. His use of the Old Testament is commonly employed out of the original context and surprisingly in a radically different way. This can aptly be exemplified in Paul’s use of Isaiah 45.23 in his two epistles to the Romans and the Philippians. This use in Paul can also be used as a means of showing Paul’s exploitation of the Septuagint because he capitalizes on the addition of tw thew at the end of Isaiah 45.23 from the LXX to serve his ends. What is most bizarre is Paul’s differing use of Isaiah in different contexts and the problems that arise due to these varying uses. My argument will thus proceed. I will first establish briefly the significance of the Septuagint and its use in the New Testament since it plays a pivotal role in understanding the tactics used by Paul. Then, I will focus on Paul’s use of Isaiah 45.23 in Romans 14.11 arguing that Paul has God in mind when using the title kurios. I will also argue that the purpose of this quotation is a call to ethics. The third part of my paper will focus on Philippians 2.9-11 arguing this time Paul has Jesus in mind. This will also entail showing a radically different use of Isaiah; for, instead of ethics, Paul seems to be stressing the importance of who Jesus is in relation to God. Lastly, I will examine the two uses in connection with one another establishing Paul’s dual use of kurios for both God and Jesus in order to resolve the surface paradox of his use of Isaiah 45.23

A number of scholars have noted the relative lack of petition in sectarian prayers found at Qumran in contrast to a preference for the mode of praise, and that this is probably related to a distinctive deterministic theology (e.g., I. Knohl, E. Schuller, R. Arnold). A notable example is the lack of petition in the confession of the covenant ceremony. Nevertheless, as Eileen Schuller has shown, this is only a relative lack: there are examples of sectarian petitions, and one of the most important examples is in 1QHa 4:29-37. I argue that the psalm recalls the structure and language of the major examples of penitential prayers attested in the Second Temple period (esp. Neh 9:5–37; Ezra 9:5–19; Dan 9:3–19; Bar 1:15–3:8; 4Q504 2 v 1–vii 2; 4Q393): praise, recollection of God’s mercies in the past; confession of sin and God’s justice; petition for mercy. That is, the psalmist is conversant with penitential prayer traditions, and models the psalm on them. Secondly, on the basis of parallels in motif and language to the entry into the covenant in 1QS, I argue that the psalm may in part be a reflection on the ritual and hence provide some clue to the affective experience of the covenant ceremony. If so, it would suggest that the member perceived the ritual as effecting penitential supplication for forgiveness: “to confess former transgressions, to p[rostr]ate myself and beg for mercy” (1QHa 4:29–31). The focus of the paper is not, however, on speculation about the social reality, but about the rhetorical function of penitential petition in the context of this psalm.

The inferential nature of communication has been an essential component of relevance theory’s view of the communication process. However, traditional exegesis does not provide a specific mechanism for either highlighting or incorporating inference into its interpretation. Inference is not ignored; it appears throughout the exegetical process but it is often incorporated in an informal manner. Given the importance of inference in communication, I propose that it should be added formally into the exegetical process in a comparable manner with exegetical “tools” such word studies, grammatical analysis, etc. Influenced by charts produced by individuals such as Ernst-August Gutt, Christoph Unger, and Harriet Hill, this paper will propose an inferential analysis exegetical “tool.” This tool is in some ways similar to other “tools” but it also has important unique attributes that must be considered for its effective use. It is highly dependent on the original context(s) of the text. Like all exegetical “tools,” it both informs and is informed by other “tools” in the exegetical process. This paper will describe this “tool” and demonstrate its value in the exegesis of Ephesians 1:3-14.

This paper explores the reworking of the Book of Deuteronomy in the scroll 1Q22 (Words of Moses). The four first columns of this scroll contain two speeches: God’s address to Moses (col. I) and Moses’ discourse to the people of Israel (II-IV). By dating God’s speech to the same day when Moses began his farewell address to Israel (Deut 1:3), 1Q22 assumes the temporal framework of Deuteronomy. It also adopts the overarching structure of this biblical book, where admonitions (col. II) are followed by an exposition of the laws (col. III-IV). Moreover, the scroll heavily relies on Deuteronomy for wording, especially in cols. I-III, 7. At the same time, 1Q22 also reworks Deuteronomic passages in various ways. Thus, it expands the statement that Moses spoke to Israel as God instructed him (Deut 1:3) into a full-blown divine address to Moses (I, 1-11). Modelling the recitation of the Torah on the Sinai revelation, 1Q22 depicts Moses as addressing Israel while standing on Mt Nebo together with Eleazar and Joshua. Whereas Deut 1:5 envisages Moses expounding the Law to the entire nation, in 1Q22 he explains the Torah to the tribal chiefs alone. 1Q22’s treatment of the laws (cols. III-IV) appears to have been selective, focusing on the commandments related to the appointed times of the calendar. At the same time, the scroll attempts to present a comprehensive exposition of a given legal topic, bringing together the relevant passages from the different books of the Torah. It further deviates from the Deuteronomic legal code by dealing extensively with the Day of Atonement. This section of 1Q22 contains several additions to the biblical data. Thus, the scroll seems to indicate that on this day Israelites abstained from collecting the Manna. This may suggest that in addition to refraining from work, they also fasted. Moreover, 1Q22’s description of the sacrificial procedures refers to the atonement for the land, a feature otherwise unattested in the ancient sources dealing with the Day of Atonement. Finally, 1Q22 seems to quote the confession of Israel’s sins uttered by the High Priest.

The threats / curses in Lev 26 and Deut 28 do not constitute the concluding message of these books. In both instances, there is a movement towards a renewed relationship with God. Jacob Milgrom, in his commentary on the Book of Leviticus, remarked with regard to Lev 26:40-45 that it "functions much like Deut 30:1-10" (p. 2329). His sensitive translation and interpretation will provide a starting point for a comparison of both texts. There are similarities in the sequence: Israel's infidelity - exile - God's new, undeserved graciousness. This, and the position of these texts, indicate a strong desire to conclude these two series of long, dark threats (Lev 26:14ff and Deut 28:15-68) with a note of hope. Yet, the way in which these expectations are described in Lev 26 and Deut 30, differs considerably and shows marked accentuations and emphases. The motif of the uncircumcised heart (Lev 26:41) receiving circumcision by God (Deut 30:6) seems to indicate that Deut builds on Lev, as also, later, does the Book of Jeremiah. Thus, Lev 26 with its movement towards a change in God's behaviour towards his people, serves as a reference point and inspiration for other texts and books.

Presentation of the project "The Bible and Women", a critically engaged Project in Cultural History. It studies the Bible as "The Book" of Western culture. It explores how religion has shaped gender roles, stereotypes and relationships in Western culture. It brings into interdisciplinary conversation areas such as biblical exegesis, cultural history, archaeology and art history, literary history and musicology. In academic contexts where less and less factual knowledge about religious traditions can be presupposed, the ‘encyclopaedia’ will provide useful tools for humanities research. It negotiates biblical interpretation from within contemporary societies based on ideals of democracy and gender equality. It questions, in a critical way, both the Scriptures and the later interpretive traditions. It demonstrates the socio-political consequences of particular interpretations of the Bible. It questions how gender inequality has been legitimised with reference to the Bible and T/tradition/s. With its emphasis on diverse interpretations, diversity among interpreters and diversity in approaches to holy text, the project represents a corrective to religious fundamentalisms. A Project that puts into practice the principles of interdisciplinary gender research, in that it is international, interdenominational, and multidisciplinary; not a supplementary or compensatory history but rather a new, gender-integrated conception of history.

Our argument that the two laws in Exod. 22:15-16 and in Deut. 22:28-29 also concern elopement and abduction marriages. It is reasonable to suppose that the verb "seduce" in Exod. is the key word for understanding the context and definition of the legal problem. We suggest that the protasis covers the wide spectrum of intimate relations outside the framework of marriage instigated by a man with a young, unattached woman still under the legal jurisdiction of her father In the law in Deut. the verb “seize” makes it clear that the man used force toward the virgin and then lay with her. Yet it also indicates that the deed was not necessarily rape in the accepted meaning of the term. If our proposal is correct, then there is another aim to the two laws: to discourage sexual relations outside of marriage. The sexual relations created a legal bond between the man and the woman. Besides placating the father in such a case, the payments by the seducer and rapist were meant to grant the girl’s father the current bride-price. The procedure reversed the order of the marriage process. In the case of seduction or rape, the intimate relations precede the payment. This is not a byproduct of the law applying to marriage; rather it is the limited versus the broader interpretation. Indeed, in cases of marriages of elopement or abduction, this is often the hoped-for result not only of the couple, but also of the parents of the girl whose behavior had offended them. The protases of these two laws exemplify classic cases of intimate relations between a male and unattached female. Even where marriage was not intended, the legal principle determines that a marital bond was created, and the act should be followed by payment of the bride-price and marriage. The biblical lawgiver, compels marriage following seduction or the use of force, and in effect legitimizes, though indirectly, marriages of elopement or abduction.

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In the past 25 years since excavations at Bethsaida began, the use of rabbinic texts in the assessment of archaeology has grown more and more sophisticated. Today, studies of pottery, glass, burials, coins, architecture, decoration, site orientation, oil lamps, and a host of other examples of material culture have been compared with rabbinic texts and Bethsaida has been at the forefront of many of these comparisons.. A generation ago archaeologists all but abandoned using biblical texts and standards to evaluate Bronze and Iron Age sites and artifacts because of abuses and yet this new trend emerged in the past 25 years among another group of archaeologists. The original biblical archaeology gave rise to a “New Archaeology” that tended to separate the material culture from comparisons with textual information yet the “New Rabbinic Archaeology” tends to find many new opportunities for comparisons. While attempting to identify the ethnicity of the residents of a site (in Galilee and Judea-especially in the Greco-Roman period) many researchers have resorted to “using” traditions they have found in rabbinic sources from varying periods and genres without critically evaluating the sources themselves. The results, therefore, are mixed. Rabbinics scholars do not gain from a poor use of the text and archaeologists do not gain because of their uncritical use of the sources. This paper will investigate how the Bethsaida research has consistently used a good text-critical understanding when parallels are drawn. In addition, this paper will investigate how textual scholars need to be more interested in the meaning and import of material culture parallels from sites like Bethsaida, in Galilee (and Judea, in the Greco-Roman period), that can be used to help deepen their understanding of the meaning of rabbinic textual references.

For many scholars in the late-19th, 20th, and early 21st centuries the Achaemenid Empire was viewed as instrumental in forcing the promulgation of the Pentateuch as prescriptive law for Judeans. This view has been summarized most recently in the Theory of Imperial Authorization of the Pentateuch (Frei 1996; 2001). Recent articles brought together by Knoppers and Levinson (2007) argue that Ezra 7 provides important historical evidence in favor of this theory even if the attribution of the letter to Artaxerxes is a complete fiction and even if the story of Ezra’s reading the law in Nehemiah 8 is also fictional. This confuses story and history. I argue that none of the putative supports for the theory can withstand scrutiny. I propose instead that the major influence for the authorization of torah law as prescriptive came not with the Persians but the Greeks. Sometime after 403 BCE, the Athenian Assembly passed a law that forbade judges and magistrates from enforcing any law or custom that had not been inscribed on the law boards on the wall of the Royal Stoa. This enforced the ideal of rule by written law in Athens. It was this understanding of written law as having prescriptive validity that soon pervaded the Mediterranean world and gave rise to the stories we read in Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

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It appears that Jacob Milgrom’s foremost legacy is his detailed demonstration of logically coherent ritual and ethical systems of instruction in Leviticus. He has inspired others to further explore potential systematic cohesion of this book in terms of aspects such as ritual meaning, legal concepts, literary structure, and strategies for rhetorical persuasion. The present paper investigates another cohesive element: didactic logic. In Leviticus, procedural and ethical rules are presented in such a way that they can be understood, remembered, and observed. Concern for effective teaching manifests itself in a number of strategies: building new instruction on prior knowledge, linking units of information through shared terminology or concepts, organizing ideas in recognizable sequences, reinforcing by repetition or summary, providing explanation, and illustrating through narrative. In the final form of the book, didactic logic is so important that it can even override the imperative of persuasion, as shown by placement of chapter 27 after the rhetorical climax in chapter 26. But the teaching approach of Leviticus supports its rhetorical thrust: The Israelites should know YHWH’s instructions and be motivated to loyally obey them so that they will enjoy his covenant blessings in Canaan rather than suffering curses that could culminate in exile.

Description is defined by Ciceron as the literary resource which enables the narrator to make the listener\reader see. The author of the Book of Revelation knows this technique only too well and turns to it at different stages of the story. This is especially marked in the case of the descriptions which are introduced by the formula of visual perception, kaì eîdon. These descriptions express the eye movement of the seer as he contemplates what is being shown in order to give veracity to what he is recounting. In this way, the author elaborates the description step by step following an ordered process. However, at times, he is forced to change the syntactic structure of the Greek language. The final result is that the listener\reader can see simultaneously what John sees and how he sees.

This paper applies techniques from stylometrics and stylistic and computational linguistics in order to support the hypothesis of multiple authorship of the Didache, with the aim of resolving contradictory depictions of religious instruction and community organization within the text. Didache 11:1-12:5 and Didache 13:1-7 offer contradictory instructions regarding the prophet-teachers who visit early Christian communities. Didache 11:1-12:5 warns against any prophet who requests donations, or asks to be supported in exchange for teaching, or tries to settle within the community. Such men are identified as Christ-peddlers (christemporoi) and false prophets (pseudoprophetai). Didache 13:1-7 directly contradicts this warning, suggesting that prophets are worthy of financial support, and should be enticed to settle within the community. Previous scholarship (Draper, 1995; van de Sandt, 2002) has attempted to reconcile the conflicting instructions of 11-13 by supposing three distinct classes of religious instructor: "apostle," "prophet," and "teacher." This classification system is problematic, since the Didache sometimes uses these terms interchangeably. Empirically-based authorship attribution will make this classification system unnecessary, if statistical analysis shows that the contradictory passages were authored separately. With the empirical basis for an outline of authorship established, a theory is drawn regarding religious instruction at the time of composition: in the mid-first century C.E., primary instruction was delivered by iterant apostles; some of these apostles solicited gifts from their congregations, while others condemned this practice. In time, the former method of instruction won out. That the two systems of financial support existed simultaneously is supported by evidence from the book of Acts and 1 and 2 Corinthians. The eventual dominance of the gift-based support system of Didache 13 may be supported by evidence from 1 Clement.

Both 1 Tim 6 and the rest of the New Testament suggest that the gospel appealed to a broad cross-section of first-century Greco-Roman society. Financial terminology, metaphors and directives appear more frequently in this letter than in the rest of the corpus. Despite copious attention given to the Pastoral letters, the socio-economic–historical context of 1 Timothy remains unchartered territory. This is particularly true in regard to the motive that informs the economic rhetoric employed and economic presuppositions targeted thereby, which presumably existed within the community addressed in this discourse. Additionally, environmental influences from the secular commercial world as well as from concurrent religious movements offer rich insights for our understanding of 1 Timothy. An analysis of the socio-economic rhetoric employed will shed light upon probable abuses being preempted, the perceptions about the religious use of wealth that needed to be altered, and the economic responsibility of the affulent within the first century church. This investigation into the economic rhetoric of 1 Tim 5-6, with special focus upon 6:17-19, advances our ongoing understanding of the Pastoral letters within their first century context

The coherence of the Book of Numbers is a long-standing debate in biblical scholarship. Martin Noth argued no coherent structure could be found in Numbers, while scholars such as Dennis Olson and Mary Douglas countered his argument by putting forward different proposals that did find structure and coherence in the book. With the exception of Douglas’ proposal, temporal structuring devices are the most common basis by which structure and coherence is sought in Numbers, be that by means of sources and their date of composition, time within the narrative plot, or the transition from one generation to another. What consistently is overlooked is that the first ten chapters of the book largely concern themselves with a space: the Tabernacle. The prominence of this space in these chapters, and the significant portion of Numbers devoted to the Tabernacle (almost thirty percent), suggest these chapters may provide an important lens through which to interpret the book. Drawing upon spatial theory and my previous work analyzing Israel’s Tabernacle, this paper explores the use of Tabernacle social space, and especially its spatial logic, as a means of identifying a structure in the book of Numbers. It argues that Tabernacle social space and spatial logic reflect and embody Priestly social understandings of Israel’s identity, both within the congregation and the larger created cosmos, and this spatial identity is being clarified throughout the book.

In the spring of 2010 modern day residential expansion led to the clearing of agricultural land on the slopes above the traditional site of ancient 1st century Cana. Prior to digging the foundations for the new house a small archaeological crew from Israel Antiquities Authority, headed by Yardenna Alexandre, was called in to first survey and then excavate the footprint of the proposed structure. What was revealed upon excavation was a small industrial complex containing three workrooms, a cistern, a small pool for mixing clay and three, possibly more, pottery kilns. During the few weeks that these 1st Century structures were once again open to our view, pollen samples were taken from first the plaster floors and then later from select pieces of the recovered pottery. Both of these projects were undertaken during my 2009-2010 sabbatical year at the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, and are the subject of this paper and an upcoming coauthored article. Eight of the pollen samples were taken from the workrooms, cistern and pool, which reveal the work patterns of the potters. Eight more samples were taken from a pile of small jugs found stacked in one of the rooms, which small jugs, along with some storage jars recovered in situ from the interiors of the kilns, were the only pottery types found within the industrial complex. This is in stark contrast to Kefar Hananya typology where we find primarily a manufacture of cookware. The results of these two small studies give us a window into the economy of 1st century Cana, as well as providing us with a more detailed analysis of the specialization and structuring of pottery manufacturing throughout the entire Galilean region.

Studies of language and texts opened up new ways of understanding and interpretation in the last decades. It was mainly impulses from the philosophical domain that lead to this renewal in thought. Terminology like “intertextuality”, “master narrative” and “contra narrative” (to name a few) played major roles in literature studies and related discussions. It became clear that texts are never in isolation but always in relation to other texts or in reaction against them. Texts are socially determined. Therefore no chronicle or history telling can be objective. The social context motivate the chronicler to retell the history with an own selection of material, an own nuance and an own emphasis. This paper compares Chronicles with its source documents. It becomes obvious that the authors of Chronicles selectively retell the history of Israel and Judah through omissions and additions with their own particular emphasis. The Southern kingdom receives a positive evaluation while the Northern kingdom is described adversely. David is portrayed as the ideal king and (in contradiction to Exodus) is credited as the founder of the religious cult. The cult in Jerusalem is legitimized and proclaimed as the only true religion. The books of Chronicles without a doubt secured the position of the temple elite by legitimizing their actions and functioned as a discourse of power within this community for as long as the temple existed. As a discourse of power it sets boundaries and excludes different groups that were traditionally part of the people of YHWH. The destruction of the temple though, disempowered this text and opened up the way for it to become part of the Hebrew canon.

In Against Heresies, Irenaeus argues that in order to stave off blasphemy, the reader of Paul is at times compelled to take a breath (3.7). Irenaeus advises the reader—who is of course reading aloud—to take a prophylactic pause, the better to parse Paul’s impetuous prose. Taking a cue from Irenaeus, I argue that the corporeality of culturally-specific reading practices affects interpretation. In making this argument, I highlight three moments in the history of corporal reading practices. First, I trace textual clues about ways that the ancient practice of reading aloud shaped interpretation. Second, I suggest that the corporeality of early modern reading practices colored the interpretations offered by early readers of the King James Bible. (Early modern reading practices were affected by, among other technologies, the printing press.) Third, I consider ways that the corporeality of reading in a digital age both expands and limits interpretive possibilities.

I suggest that the Elohist Tradition arose after the fall of Samaria in 722 BCE in various cycles of oral tradition, or “pools of Elohist tradition,” including narratives in both the Tetrateuch and the prophetic narratives in the books of Samuel and Kings. These traditions arose at the shrine at Bethel, which continued to function as a viable shrine throughout the seventh and sixth centuries BCE. After isolating those texts which I believe may be most securely identified as Elohist, I shall proceed to describe what I believe was the theological message of this material. Significant theological themes included: 1) promise of divine presence for the Israelite exiles from the north wherever they might be, 2) hope for a potential return to the land someday, 3) affirmation of the universal nature of God, a deity who can be worshipped everywhere and by all people, 4) placing blame on the kings of Israel and the calf cult at Bethel for the destruction of the nation, 5) emphasis upon Bethel as the primary shrine for the Israelite faithful, 6) characterization of God as a transcendent deity who can be manifest to people in a personal way, 7) concern with moral behavior and ethics, 8) emphasis upon themes such as the fear of God, obedience, a proper response to tests sent from God, etc.), and 8) concern with the re-establishment of traditional shrines in the northern state of Israel. These Elohist traditions would eventually be woven into the Yahwist Historian’s work in the late 6th century BCE.

Scholarship assigns four manuscripts to the work known as the “Apocryphon of Moses”: 1Q29, 4Q375, 4Q376, and 4Q408. This ascription is based on the shared occurrence of such expressions as “tongues of fire” and “a prophet … who speaks rebellion,” as well as a prayer common to 1Q29 3–4 and 4Q408 2. In the wake of his publication of 4Q375–4Q376, Strugnell noted these scrolls’ affinities with 1Q29, previously published by Milik. Steudel affirmed the association between 4Q408 and 1Q29 and 4Q376 when she published 4Q408. Strugnell proposed that 4Q375–4Q376 and 1Q29 1–2 could be reconstructed consecutively, linked by the common theme of the “false prophet”. A reexamination of the three scrolls indicates that no conceptual relationship exists between them and that each addresses a different subject. While 4Q375 relates to laws regarding the prophet and identification of the false prophet, 4Q376 discusses the ordinances regarding permitted wars. These two texts apparently belong to the same composition, which reworks various laws from Deuteronomy. In contrast, 1Q29 deals with diverse (unspecified) legal matters, the verdict on which is reached by the high priest’s inquiring of God. Since its reworking of the pentateuchal laws differs from the method adopted in 4Q376–4Q475 and the possibility of textual contiguity with 4Q375–4Q376 is not plausible, 1Q29 should be considered an independent composition. The majority of the intelligible fragments in the seventeen fragments of 4Q408 are prayers, primarily sections from the long prayer of praise to God for the creation of the luminaries preserved in Frg. 3. The extant state of the fragments prevents any unambiguous determination of whether this scroll is an additional copy of 1Q29 or constitutes a separate document.

It has too often been claimed that the ‘Gnostics’, in contrast to a supposedly patriarchal, and even misogynistic ‘orthodox Church’, espoused a positive estimation of the feminine and accorded women a prominent role within their group. In particular, the supposition that the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Phillip portray a close romantic relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, in which the latter is also accorded a special role amongst the disciples, is often cited as evidence that the ‘Gnostics’ were essentially pro-feminist. I argue, however, that this thesis primarily depends on a desire to see in the ‘Gnostic’ texts evidence of a counter-cultural group which presents a parallel to the counter-cultural arguments of feminist thought. I propose that a more responsible reading of these texts reveals that they say little which presents a positive evaluation of the feminine aspect, and certainly do not say anything that goes beyond the level of pro-feminist theology that might be read in the canonical New Testament. I argue that there exists little solid evidence regarding group or ritual organisation amongst those divergent trends homogenously referred to as ‘Gnostic’, and that reference to the figure of ‘Mary’ in certain texts tells us little regarding the attitudes and practices of any hypothetical ‘Gnostic Church’. Moreover, a close reading of relevant passages shows that the proposition that they depict a romantic relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene is somewhat untenable, not least because it is scarcely clear whether the ‘Mary’ referred to there is the Magdalene or the Mother of Jesus. In sum, whilst I generally applaud attempts to construct a feminist theology on the basis of texts from the history of Christianity, I do not feel that the ‘Gnostic’ texts can be validly utilised for this purpose.

The paper will deal with some lexical and exegetical problems in 2 Kings 6:8-23 in the light of Ancient Near Eastern sources. Offering a new lexical suggestion, it draws conclusions that have signficant implications on the meaning and dating of this special story.

The story of the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices in 1945 has attained near canonical status in scholarship of early Christianity. James Robinson's compelling narrative of how Muhammad 'Ali al-Samman and his brothers unearthed the jar containing the codices combines skilled investigative journalism with tales of intrigue and blood vengeance. Few appear to have noticed, though, that there are several different versions of the story, including a two person version (1977) and a seven person version (1979), with subtle variations including the identity of person who first found the jar. Now, newly unearthed footage from a 1987 television series, apparently unknown to contemporary scholars of Nag Hammadi, sheds new light on the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the documents. The Channel 4 (UK) series, The Gnostics, features Muhammad 'Ali himself, in his only known appearance in front of camera, offering his account of the discovery. Although there are several points of contact with the earlier versions, there are also several major points of divergence, which raise fresh questions about the reliability of 'Ali's testimony. [Note: I would like to show 3-4 minutes of the relevant footage of The Gnostics, which I will bring with me.]

The paper will consider two Wisdom books, the Song of Songs and the Psalms, focussing particularly on Psalm 63 and Song 3:1-5. It will set these texts in conversation with each other, and (more briefly) with contemporary popular love songs which use religious imagery, and contemporary worship songs which use romantic imagery. The chosen biblical texts will be examined in terms of similarities in the language of desire for the other/Other and shared imagery which could suggest intimacy. Differences between the biblical texts will be considered in the areas of mutual interaction between the two parties-in-relationship within each text, and the symmetry or asymmetry of power within their relationship. The image of patriarchal marriage will also be considered, with its emphasis on obedience. The paper will show how these biblical texts remind readers that a variety of metaphors have been used within the biblical canon, and in its history of interpretation, in order to depict the divine-human relationship. Tensions may be observed between some of these different metaphors. Eros/romance is a metaphor for the divine-human relationship which has been used over the centuries (particularly in interpretations of the Song of Songs), and which attracts some readers today. The paper will consider points of friction between this metaphor and those commonly used in the Psalms, in order to assess whether genuine fluidity may be found in the boundaries between desire for intimacy within human relationships (‘yearning for you’,) and desire for intimacy with the divine (‘yearning for You’).

The World Health Organization defines disability as a “complex phenomenon, reflecting an interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives.” Ancient historian Martha Rose, in writing on the issue of disability in the ancient Greek community, states that while the ancient community did not possess an overarching term for disability such as exists in the modern world, they did indeed possess an understanding of the concept of disability – that a physical bodily condition could lead to disablement and the experience of isolation or limitation within one’s community. It is this very concept of disability that is reflected in the Synoptic account of the woman with hemorrhage (Mark 5:25-34/Luke 5:42b-48/Matthew 8:20-22). Due to the nature of this woman’s condition, or rather, the stigma associated with her condition, the gospel writers highlight the disenfranchisement and isolation experienced by this woman within her own community. The desperation of her situation leads her to seek out Jesus as a source of healing even within the crowded marketplace, despite the potential to pollute others. What the Synoptic writers emphasize though, is in addition to receiving physical healing from Jesus, what she also experiences is an answer to her disablement – the means by which she can rid herself of her stigma and be restored and reconnected back in to her community.

“ It may be time to say farewell to the nomenclature ‘the Pastoral Epistles’”: this pronouncement comes from one of the most recent commentaries on the letters to Timothy and Titus (Towner, 2006) . It reflects the ongoing evolution of the research on these letters. At least three major trends can be observed. First, voices initially isolated, then more and more numerous, mostly in North America, have been raising in the last twenty years against the established “corpus approach” that has prevailed for two centuries in the study of the three letters considered as "Drillingen". Without contesting the obvious affinities between the three letters, these voices wish to account for the equally clear differences that exist between them. Why could the Pastorals not benefit, in the same manner as any N.T. writing, from the application of an elementary methodological principle according to which a given writing is read in itself, with its own internal coherence, content, accents and characteristics? Second, though still in a minority, the individual approach of the letters is effectively resulting in a new perception and evaluation of the affinities and differences between the three letters, and especially of the distinct character of 2 Timothy. Third, this research brings new insights concerning the relation of the letters to one another and to Paul, some even claiming the authenticity of 2 Timothy. The paper will first offer a presentation of those recent trends along with the proposed alternate readings and approaches. It will then critically assess the implications that flow from the new approach and finally propose a fresh hypothesis concerning the content and origin of 2 Timothy. If the three letters cannot be treated as a unity, the same appears to be true even of 2 Timothy itself.

The Akedah (Gen.22:1–19) is considered to be the ultimate spiritual moment when a man expresses willingness to sacrifice his beloved son to demonstrate fealty to his Lord. It is a central text in the formation of Jewish identity and has continued to horrify generations, just as the Holocaust arouses “fear and trembling”. The word holokaustos is associated with the burnt offering (olah) of the “akedah” or binding of Isaac in the bible in which Abraham is tested. Both raise theological problems, problems of an abusive God/father who demands sacrifice of his son/people. Theologians have noticed that at best there is an absent God; at worst, a God who is punishing his people for their sins. It is now a commonplace that Jews have viewed their historical persecution through the perspective of the Akedah. I will argue that Abraham himself is a victim of trauma and post traumatic stress, and following the theory that most abusers have suffered abuse in the past, I will show that Abraham’s greatness is that he breaks his cycle of abusive behaviour in not following orders and in not sacrificing Isaac. This is his real test. Until this point in his life, Abraham has only followed orders: lech lecha, shema be-kolah. At the decisive moment Abraham SEES the ram and sees that he has a choice to be a non-abusive father and that he can free himself from repeating the abuse that was done to him in the past. This is his real test, perhaps even the one God is giving him.

Since 1995, the iconic stela bearing a partially anthropomorphic and part criomorphic form, discovered at Bethsaida in its Iron II ruins, has challenged interpreters to identify the relief figure and its relationship to the religious paraphernalia also discovered in the city’s massive city-gate complex. While three previous attempts (Bernett and Keel, Arav, and Roddy) have pointed to the direction in which research should proceed, they have not succeeded in explaining the form of the figure, nor why such a figure exists or existed at all. This wider inquiry is the purpose of this paper.

It well known that a number of interrogative particles—specifically quousque in Latin, admi mati in Akkadian, and ‘ad matay in Biblical Hebrew, which seem to introduce questions eliciting information or explanations are best understood as introducing exclamatory sentences, which express complaints and should better be rendered "It is long enough that. . . " rather than "How long?" In the same vein, the Biblical Hebrew interrogative particle lamah and its synonyms should properly no longer be understood literally as calling for explanation but rather as exclamatory expressions introducing complaints. Consequently, Job 10:18, commonly rendered, "Why then did you let me come out of the womb?" should be understood as a complaint meaning, "You definitely should not have let me come out of the womb," which echoes what Job already said in Job 3:11, which is commonly rendered "Why did I not die at birth?" which also is not really a request for an explanation but a complaint, which means, "It is too bad that I did not die at birth?" The same usage of the particle lamah is found three times in Elkanah's complaint to Hannah that she is ruining his holiday in 1 Sam. 1:8. Recognition that many of the words which the dictionaries call interrogative particles actually are exclamatory particles introducing complaints may enable us more clearly to see that in Job 21 our hero does not in fact ask God for an explanation as to why despicable people succeed in life. On the contrary, Job simply describes reality. Consequently, there is no reason to expect that some long-awaited lexical revolution will find in the God-speeches (Job. 38-41) that which Bible readers have been expecting for many generations, namely, a detailed account of the various reasons as to why good things happen to bad people.

Notwithstanding the fact that some of the marked parallels between the story of Gideon’s campaign against the Midianites (Judg 6-8) and of Saul against the Philistines (1 Sam 13:1-14:46) can either be attributed to fundamental elements of biblical descriptions of battles, or to the literary convention of “holy” or “divine” war, this paper argues for direct literary dependence between these two stories. It proposes that in creating the story of the battle with the Philistines at Michmash, its author utilized building blocks from the story of Gideon’s campaign against the Midianites, especially in the construction of its protagonists. As modeled by the biblical author, the figure and actions of Jonathan were assimilated to those of Gideon. At the same time, by highlighting some distinctive differences between the two, the author enhanced the contrast between Saul and Jonathan in the context of the Michmash episode. As shaped here, the narrative places Jonathan in a more favorable light than Saul and also underscores Saul’s weaknesses, as a leader in particular, thereby justifying Saul’s removal from the monarchy. Moreover, the differences that set the two similar personalities of Jonathan and Gideon apart, placing Jonathan in a more favorable light than Gideon, were also intended to criticize certain aspects of Gideon’s behavior in making war on the Midianites: his lack of confidence in divine support and his testing of God (Judg 6:36-40). The paper focuses on how the various protagonists serve as a foil for each other and on the message the author of the narrative intended his readers to grasp thereby.

Isa 59 and 63:7-64:11 are some times seen as part of a chiastic structure of Trito-Isaiah. This lecture will examine these text units’ position within the structure of Trito-Isaiah, with particular attention to their interrelation; is there a significant relation between them, and if so, how is it and how should it be explained?

No matter which way I turn in studying Job, I bump up against another "Righteous Man": Abraham. There's no escaping it. Aside from the fact that the Sacrifice of Isaac is the shortest story in the text, and the Job story the longest, there are just too many parallels between the two to preclude a coincidence. To begin with, there's Satan, who started it all. He does not appear in the text often, but he is prominent in the traditions surrounding the sacrifice of Isaac, though this is not mentioned in Gen.22. (Come to think of it, neither is Isaac after the ram appears. For all we've been told, he might still be lying atop the pyre.) There's more. After their trials, both Abraham and Job have additional progeny. Job has 10, and as it turns out, Abraham also has 10 descendants--"by Keturah", as the text points out. Moreover, both men die when they are "old", and both die "content". Interestingly enough, Isaac, Abraham's son and a "righteous" man who suffered, also dies "old" and "content". None of the other prominent figures of the Hebrew Bible whose death is described--Moses, Miriam, Aaron, Jacob, Joseph--die "old" and "content," though Jacob at 147 was not much younger than Abraham, who was 175, when they died.. And what about the confrontations? Both Abraham and Job challenge God, and in both cases God answers mysteriously. In Job, he speaks out of a whirlwind, and with Abraham he speaks in a vision. ( I bypass the exchange between a "human" God and Abraham in Gen. 18; this episode seems to have been lifted from Greek mythology.) It is true that the words "whirlwind" and "vision" appear elsewhere in the text, but these two are the only instances I found in which God is the third-person instigator of the action. And, of course, the main point these two stories have in common is a somewhat capricious god--perhaps "cruel" is a better word--who in the end blesses and forgives. The question is not so much "Why does God permit suffering?" To me, the question in Job--and Genesis--is this: Why does God initiate suffering? I'll try to come up with an answer.

The Parable of the Rich Fool only occurs in the New Testament in Luke. Therefore it has just one literary context. However, it is likely that the parable is earlier than the Gospel of Luke, possibly originating with Jesus of Nazareth or the early Jesus-movement, which means it has at least two distinct social contexts. The first social context is that of the author of the Gospel, and the other belongs to the earlier stage(s), when it was probably performed orally somewhere within rural Galilee. Whereas the context of the Gospel of Luke was a Roman city and the audience consisted of rich, educated people (as can be concluded from the Gospel), the pre-gospel social context of the oral performance stage is that of the countryside of Galilee in little villages whose inhabitants were uneducated, poor peasants. The fact that the parable has most often been interpreted solely within its literary context, and by scholars who do not have first-hand experience of peasant village life, poses a problem. How would the Galilean peasants have heard the story? In 2010 I travelled to East-Africa in order to find a social and cultural context that was much closer to first century Roman Galilee than was my own. In the country of Tanzania, I visited a small village called Masukanzi whose people were living in absolute poverty. It was an agrarian society that in many ways still resembles the conditions of first century Galilee, as far as we can establish. There I performed the Parable of the Rich Fool and had the opportunity to discuss it with the villagers afterward. In the paper I describe the method I used in doing the field research and the results of the subsequent discussion. The villagers in Masukanzi live in a societal structure of big, close-knit families. Their lives are based on an honor-shame culture. Both of these aspects influenced the way they understood the parable. The discussion provided a unique opportunity to look at the parable within a social context much closer to that of first century Galilee and to gain fresh insights for interpretation.

The working assumption of this paper is that the communities that gave birth to and nourished the Hebrew Bible shared an experience of Israel's God that evoked profound theology. For their theology to become a biblical theology for today, for contemporary biblical theologians to enter into the experience of Israel's God with them, we may do more than learn to read the record of their experiences. We may look to the theologians of Israel and learn more of how they did theology. This paper suggests that the credos of YHWH found in the Hebrew Bible exhibit a theological dynamism apropos of the times that are brimming with suggestive strategies for theologians of today. In particular, as literary children of Exod. 34:6-7, Nahum 1:3 and Jonah 2:4, when examined in light of literary, historical, and canonical perspectives, suggest at least two trajectories for the development of biblical theology. First, theology takes place in the traditional nexus of revelation and confession. Second, the biblical paradigms of the Yahwistic credos speak of God's character in ways that reflect God's vulnerable involvement in history. The paper argues that both these trajectories should focus the attention of biblical theologians on the fact that the Yahwistic credos honor the voice of YHWH and coalesce around the conviction that YHWH speaks. Nahum and Jonah bear separate witnesses, influenced as they each are by historical, cultural, and ideological realities; yet they both keep faith with the important tradition of YHWH’s self-disclosure. Furthermore, Nahum and Jonah are not merely affirming allegiance to theological propositions revealed in YHWH's self-declaration; they are confessing the reality of YHWH in the midst of their own circumstances.

Recent pentateuchal scholarship has made the case for reading Genesis 11–25 as an exilic and postexilic narrative that reflects the situation of returning Jews in the Persian period. While a prehistory for the material should not be discounted, the final shaping of the material points to the collective memory about Abraham and Sarah in a later period; the chapters present a “meaningful past,” meaning that the narrative remembers the past in order to construct Jewish identity in the postexilic present. If the collective memory of a given group is the key to its sense of identity, what then do the wife-sister episodes in Genesis 12, 20 and 26 indicate about the construction of Jewish identity in the postexilic period? This paper will examine those chapters to ask: What is the memory of exile-forced migration that the episodes perpetuate? And what, based on this memory, is the paradigm for Jewish identity that they constitute? Finally, by considering the wife-sister motif alongside the book of Esther, this paper assesses Genesis 12’s contribution to the postexilic debate over the possibilities of diasporic existence.

Biblical traditions show discomfort with representing Yhwh in bodily form. Yet aniconism did not mean that texts could not depict the deity as possessing and using a body, for many liturgical texts from Psalms and elsewhere do so. To add to the puzzle, the mainstream of Jewish and Christian theology as early as Philo interpreted passages in the Bible referring to parts of God’s body as concessions to human ignorance or simply as anthropomorphism not to be taken seriously by the theologically sophisticated. To attribute a body to God was to imply serious limitations in the divine knowledge, purity, and otherness, in short, to impute to the deity a defect. By definition, God could not have a real body. This paper interacts with recent scholarship on divine embodiment (notably the recent books by Sommer and Wagner) to work out how the shift from an embodied to a bodiless deity occurred. It takes as a test case the use of bodily language in the Psalter to argue that, while the ancient Israelites did believe that God had a body, they were conscious of the limitations of the language and stood in a tradition of speculation about the body of the deity that they both accepted (see, for example, the Babylonian hymn Ludlul bel nemeqi and several esoteric speculations on the body of Marduk, all of which the paper will consider) and significantly modified by resorting to reference to Yhwh’s “majesty,” “glory,” “splendor” and such like terms. Thus the theological development that Philo and his successors represent did not mark a break with the tradition of Israel, but rather a logical (though not inevitable) development of it, rather than merely a concession to Hellenism.

Jesus’ saying that those who will rise from the dead will “neither marry nor be given into marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mk. 12:25 and par.) is frequently misunderstood as evidence that Jesus believed none of those who will be raised in the age to come will either have a physical body or be married. This misunderstanding often occurs because of insufficient attention to three considerations. In this paper I argue that a closer examination of the limits of Jesus’ response to the Sadducees’ question regarding the levirate law and the resurrection, the universal belief among Jews that the resurrected body would be physical, and the angelologies of Second Temple Jews require a different interpretation of this teaching. Jesus did not advocate that resurrected men and women would have non-physical bodies that resembled the bodies of angels. Instead, he shared the belief of other Jews that those who would be raised will have incorruptible bodies, like angels do, but these bodies will be physical and can experience sexual relationships in marriage, unlike angels. When these factors are taken into account, it becomes clearer what Jesus believed about the nature of the resurrected body according to this Synoptic saying.

This paper will explore the construction šãbu‘îm šib‘îm (“seventy sevens”) through its expressive imagery and inter-textual associations (Lev 26.40; Jer 25.10, 29.11; also Zech 1.12; 2 Chr 36.21), presenting itself, in the end, as an episodic summary of Sabbath unrest. “Sabbath unrest” sums up the theological and literary development woven through the passage: Yahweh will render a return on “the land.” Daniel recovers this point and implements a style of textual ambiguity in order to extend the Sabbath metaphor of unrest into the broader of exile. The paper divides into three sections. First, we will look at three literary aspects that play a role in this development: the use of time-imagery, inner-biblical association, and textual ambiguity. Each aspect reinforces the overarching narrative of Sabbath and exile in Daniel 9. Second, we will evaluate related sources from the near-eastern Umwelt that attest to a similar form of time-imagery, revealing an established typological motif (1 Enoch 91, 1QS 10.7-8, CD 16.3-4 and others). The final portion of the paper examines the phrase in the context of Dan 9.24-27 (and 9.1-23) and notes the shortcomings of some referential approaches to the numbers. Each case posits a different terminus ad quo and terminus ad quem. Therefore, the question arises: Is it appropriate to make Daniel 9 a quantifiable timeline? Both the intentional ambiguity of Dan 9.24–27 and his use of time-imagery indicate that Daniel intentionally made room for subsequent eschatological interpretation without recourse to a specific historical chronology.

Reams that have been written on the subject of wealth in the Third Gospel, but two particularly juicy passages seem to have remained largely untouched by investigators of Lukan ethics (even in the book of the author making the present proposal). It is generally agreed that the pericopae in Luke 12.41-48 and 57-59 (//Matt 24.45-51, and 5.25-26) use the threat of eschatological judgment to stimulate morally upright conduct. The present paper contends that these pericopae have been stitched into the dialogue of Luke 12 in a way that suggests concern for a specific behavior: care for the poor. Drawing on poignant parallels in the Parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16), I will argue that Luke 12.41-48 and 57-59 are rhetorically chilling exhortations to generosity, even though their apparent meaning in the context of Matthew has caused Lukan scholars to overlook the unique end to which they are deployed in the Third Gospel.

I intend to explore some of the tensions evident between masters and slaves in the Neo-Babylonian legal corpus and Mesopotamian literature, particularly those slaves engaged in peculium-related business outside of the master's home. Legal protections afforded to both masters and slaves suggest a level of tension between them not always imagined to be possible. We will then see how this relates to the description of, and rhetoric surrounding slavery in the Bible.

A careful analysis of the epigraphical sources from Mesopotamia (lexical lists, campaign reports etc.) and from adjacent regions, and of zooarchaeological data from the Ancient Near East, give fascinating insights into the use and the rôle of the camel in ancient times. These data may also help to evaluate the arguments of camel domestication more precisely. They also provide intriguing parallels to the camel's use in the Hebrew Bible.

The book of Proverbs is widely regarded as a major source for prosperity gospel type concepts, by scholars and preachers alike. In scholarly circles, this estimate is based on two assumptions: (1) proverbs work against the background of a so-called deed consequence nexus; (2) by their very nature, proverbs make totalizing truth claims. Many scholars are critical of this perceived aspect of the book. Among preachers, this estimate is based on similar assumptions: (1) the book of Proverbs teaches that God rewards the faithful and punishes the wicked; (2) the proverbs make straightforward truth claims, and since they are part of Holy Scripture, that are to be taken as literally true. This paper analyzes the key verses on which such assumptions are based and demonstrates two points: (1) Most relevant proverbs are more subtle and nuanced than commonly recognized. (2) The proverbs themselves allow for numerous exceptions to the apparent rule of divine reward and punishment. The paper shows that there is no prosperity gospel in the book of proverbs. Against this background, the paper evaluates what the book of Proverbs does say about prosperity and demonstrates that its teachings about integrity, generosity, and success may indeed become good news for those who heed its practical advice.

The vision in Ezekiel 10 presents a chaotic picture of cherubim, wings and wheels with the glory of the LORD and the person of Ezekiel found in the middle of the chaos. The chaos is illustrated further in the syntax of the passage in the Masoretic text. This is shown in verses 9-13 and verses 15-19. In verses 9-13 it is frequently not clear when the third masculine plural pronoun relates to the wheels and when to the cherubim. In verses 15-19 the identical verbal form of (way)ya'amod is used in verses 18-19. In verse 18, the subject appears to be the same as that of the previous verb: 'the glory of the LORD'. Verses 19-20 are an expanded version of verse 15, with 'the cherubim' being the clear subject. The question then is what the repeat of (way)ya'amod, with no identified subject, is doing at the end of verse 19. These examples raise questions about coherence, redaction and rhetoric in the text: questions which have not been systematically addressed by the literature. My argument is that by seeing the mainline in this text as being made up of not just one mainline but of multiple mainlines, one can see a rhetorical pattern in the text that also takes the syntax into account. Furthermore, this complexity in syntax, instead of hindering the reader, can actually reinforce the message of the text, which presents a confusing and complex vision.

Commentators unanimously assume that the incestuous union in 1 Cor 5:1 is morally unacceptable even in the culture surrounding Corinthian Christians. They usually quote the words of classical moral philosophers or legal literature showing the moral outrage against this kind of sexual union in the pagan culture. In this paper, I will show that the teachings of Paul against incestuous union mentioned in chapter 5 are as counter-cultural as his teachings against eating idol food: the audience would regard the teachings of Paul as stances against their common sense. I will first investigate how popular poems and plays in the first century evaluate incestuous union and the extent of influence of these poems and plays to the society in general. It concludes that this specific kind of romantic relation of a man with his stepmother is well-received or even appreciated in the emerging social ethos at the first century of Greco-Roman world. It explains why the Corinthian Christians literally boasts of this union (5:2) instead of mourning for it. As a result, the meaning of the phrase “not even among Gentiles” (oude en tois ethnesin) in 1 Cor 5:1b will be reinterpreted in light of this new cultural understanding. This study confirms John Barclay's conclusion after comparing churches in Thessalonica and Corinth: the Corinthian church assimilated too well with the social values of the outside world. The double standard that Paul clarifies in 5:9-13 can then be best explained by his expectation of a counter-cultural Christian community that will execute judgment against immoral insiders.

Biblical scholars, working mostly with the Hebrew text on its own, have identified forensic nuances of the common verbs of sight and hearing. However, because these verbs retain their basic, sensory meanings even in forensic contexts, one risks misinterpreting them by burdening these common words with technical meanings they may not actually have. The proposed paper will bring the language of the Neo-Babylonian trial records to bear on this problem. By considering the Hebrew evidence in light of the Akkadian texts, it hopes to confirm previous scholarship's intuitions regarding biblical forensic terminology.

This paper will examine the understanding of the concepts of canon and apocrypha in the early churches of the East in general, and in the Armenian Church more specifically. Focusing on Bible manuscripts, patristic commentaries and lists of canonical books of the Bible, the paper will elaborate on the tension that existed in the Armenian Church until the 19th century between the western concept of a "fixed canon" and the loosely defined collection of books considered inspired and beneficial for reading in the church. The paper will use the apocryphal "Repose of the Evangelist John" as a study case.

Thanks to the influence from Assyriology and the Sociology of Law, Hebrew legal texts have commonly been categorised in recent study as ancient law-codes analogous to the cuneiform codes recovered from the ancient Near East. However, the current interpretative models of the cuneiform texts, based on their supposed legislative or non-legislative functions, fail to provide a coherent explanation of their formation, legal status and function. This paper therefore attempts to uncover some conceptual and methodological problems in the field of Assyriology through reassessing the premises and analysis of recent scholarship, thereby shifting the debate from the old question of whether these ancient codes were “law” or “not law” to ask why and how these ancient law-codes could have been formulated, and have functioned, in their contemporary societies. In order to engage in a dialogue with legal history, the analysis will place the texts of the codes in their own legal and socio-political contexts and look beyond the codes to other early laws developed in different cultures, such as Athens and imperial China.

Even a brief glance through the Gospel of Mark reveals that its narration presents different images of Jesus that both explicitly and implicitly raise the question of how this Jesus is to be adequately understood. These different perspectives in turn raise the question of how these images are depicted and mediated by the text. A thorough narrative analysis indicates that Mark has clearly defined narrative roles: the narrating voice mediates the narrative world while the characters reflect and analyse the events. The evaluation of the narration thus takes place on the level of the characters and not on the level of the narrating voice. But how does that work itself out in detail? The paper examines the anatomy of perspectives in Mk 6:1-8:21 and interrogates whether the multi-dimensional fragmentation of this passage indicates an equal coexistence of perspectives or their subordination to a privileged viewpoint? Might that viewpoint indicate a preferred reading perspective that is then defined as “adequate”?

Recent scholarly discussion of Gen 5 scholars often focuses on individual problems like the differences between the main text witnesses (MT, Samaritan Text, LXX) concerning the age of various patriarchs or the relationship of the genealogy to the Sumerian “Kings List”. A resulting lacuna is careful analysis of the composition of the genealogy of the chapter as a whole. In each passage concerning the first nine patriarchs there is a three part scheme. In some passages, however, derivations of this scheme appear. The proposed paper examines these alterations of the scheme. A particular focus is laid on the assertions about the procreation of Seth by Adam (Gen 5:3) and also of that of Noah by Lamech (Gen 5:28-29). In contrast to the predominant scholarly view that these deviating assertions are due to secondary redactional activity, the present investigation argues that most of the respective sections should be seen as integral parts of the composition and offer important clues to understand the rest of the passage.

Elijah’s cave in Haifa is a holy site regularly visited by devout Jews. Its association with the biblical prophet Elijah is shrouded in the mists of time, although it no doubt harks back at the biblical tradition of the Elijan massacre of the Baal priests on the Carmel. The location of the site is a natural cave which was artificially carved to form a perfect quadrangle with an apse. Who undertook this architectural feat is unknown. The walls of the cave are scrawled with numerous inscriptions, mostly in Greek, attesting to pilgrims who visited the site in antiquity. Who where they? In this lecture answers to this question will be sought in association with the texts of the inscriptions and contemporary literary sources.

The first sub-project_the aspect of study: The institution of ‘peculium’ in the slavery system. ‘Peculium’, a de facto property of slaves, was one of the paradoxical elements in the slavery system of the Roman Empire. How can a slave, defined as property under the Roman Laws, own or administer property themselves? Why would slave owners be willing to offer such ‘freedom’ to ‘properties’ that they had the absolute right over them? Why didn’t they just use brute force? Many scholars, like Orlando Patterson and Keith Hopkins, recognize its paradoxical nature but fail to give a comprehensive explanation on its emergence and diversity among different slavery works. This paradoxical nature of ‘peculium’ may be resolved with the help of the ‘contract’ theory of New Institutional Economics. Theory from the New Institutional Economics views the ‘peculium’ as one form of contractual arrangement emerged to minimize the transaction cost involved in managing the huge and increasing number of slaves. The article aims at showing, firstly, how does the ‘contract’ theory explain the emergence of ‘peculium’ in the Roman Empire. Secondly, it will further explain how different economic factors, like increasing number of slaves and diversity of works, affect the transaction cost in different contractual arrangements and therefore explain the choice of different forms of contractual arrangement in the slavery system. The value of the research is to demonstrate an example how the New Institutional Economics can be applied to understand the Economy of Roman Empire on top of the neoclassical economic theory. On the other hand, it shows a new contractual view to understand the possible relationship among economic actors in the highly hierarchical Roman Economy.

I have argued that the story of the Canaanite woman in Matthew's gospel is a story of proselytism and conversion in contrast to Mark's exorcism of the Syrophoenician woman's daughter and that Matthew's version is derived source and form critically from the story of Ruth. I have also argued that the intertextuality between the book of Ruth and the gospel of Matthew plays a major role, not only in the story of the Canaanite woman, but in the genealogy and so-called Great Commission as well. In this paper, I will present a third methodological connection between Ruth and Matthew, i.e., that the economic context of the story of Ruth links her to the Canaanite woman and speaks to a hermeneutic of the poor.

Ezekiel 16 is an instance of shared cultural memory using figurative language to portray the YHWH-Israel relationship. The constitutive images in the memory reveal perspectives about each relationship partner and suggest a value system about the identity of the characters. Fundamental to the portrayal is that the Deity’s character ‘authors’ the female character and thus constructs her identity. As both author and character, the Deity presents a complex portrayal of the failed relationship. This paper proposes that the portrayal uses memory as a tool and with that use presents competing perspectives regarding the relationship and the identity of the characters. These competing perspectives within the text constitute its dialogical nature that both affirms and challenges the dominant perspective within Ezekiel 16. Without these perspectives the primary characters are not seen, heard, or perceived in the same way. To facilitate understanding, the discussion of Ezekiel 16 portrayal of the failed relationship includes an examination of the primary characters—Deity and the female (Jerusalem)—as displayed in the relational metaphor, the shared cultural memory regarding the relationship, and the identities portrayed through the shared cultural memory.

How aware were the biblical writers of ANE law and how did they integrate these laws into biblical legislation and literature? To explore this question, the paper will consider some narratives pertaining slave wives and transgressive unions and discuss how these interfaced with laws of the ancient Near East and legislation in the Bible. The paper will suggest that there are particular cycles dealing with authorised and non-authorised relationships that are key to structuring an overall framework of the Bible: that of the passing of the Covenant. The biblical literature, above all, paints human characters who subvert or test the laws on marriage and inheritance. In this way the reader also learns about the legitimacy and illegality of some forms of behaviour within a dramatic context. As a result of legal codes the individual characters’ lives are changed and the story arc twists and turns. I argue that the biblical writers were inviting audiences to make their own ethical judgements and to interact with the text. There may also have been a didactic purpose to the legalistic background and the reader would need to know ancient Near East and biblical legislation in order to fully appreciate and engage with the different layers of narrative. The legalistic aspect of many stories is explicated in the Book of Jubilees and other pseudepigraphal works. The relationships to be analysed will focus on Reuben and Bilhah, Judah and Tamar and Sarah and Hagar. The discourse will cover: ANE and biblical laws, pseudepigrapha and the Bible as literature.

Over the past 40 years archaeologists have questioned the assumption that after the destruction of Corinth by Mummius in 146 BCE, the city lay abandoned until the foundation of the Roman colony in 44 BCE. Using archaeological evidence, we can now clearly demonstrate the existence of a small, but thriving Greek community in Corinth composed of returned Corinthians and other local inhabitants during this “interim” period. On the basis of a persistent local ceramic tradition and continued contact with Corinth's neighbor Sikyon between the late 2nd and late 1st c. BCE, it can be argued that the new Roman colony integrated an indigenous Greek population of craftsmen and low level laborers who were already present in the region. The presence of these Greek Corinthians may have facilitated the survival of some local social, cultural and religious practices in the early Roman colony.

It is traditionally understood that David is "a man after [Yhwh's] own heart," (1 Sam. 13:14) meaning that he is a man whose character Yhwh somehow found most exemplary. This traditional understanding of 1 Sam. 13:14 has recently been called into question by a number of scholars who have argued that the phrase "a man after [Yhwh's] own heart" refers to David as a man of Yhwh's own choice. In this understanding the phrase says something about Yhwh's heart, not David's. This essay will take a closer look at the ambiguous phrase "after his heart" (klbbw), first in its own context, then within a wider set of texts in 1 Samuel that appear to be developing the concept or motif of the heart of Yhwh's chosen agents (1 Sam. 2:35; 10:9; 16:7). We will argue that while the phrase in question is potentially ambiguous, when it is read carefully in its immediate context and within the larger conceptual framework of 1 Samuel 1-16 it seems most logically to be stating something about the heart of Yhwh's chosen agent. We will conclude by exploring some of the implications of this study for understanding at least one aspect of the larger conceptual framework of 1 Samuel.

After a century and more dominated by the "new documentary hypothesis" in the service of historical-critical reconstructions, the emergence in recent decades of literary approaches focussed on "the text itself" has opened new avenues of interpretation. The contribution of British scholarship in pursuit of its own interests, in reception of, and in reaction to, Continental and American research, will be exemplified in connection with issues raised by the "bookends" of the Sinai pericope, Exodus 15-18; Numbers 10-21. The discussion will include a proposal: "the final form" of the text represents a radical redistribution of the version attested in Deuteronomy in the service of far-reaching theological and institutional programmes.

In his reworking of the Deuteronomistic historical traditions the Chronicler made some significant stylistic changes. Some terminological patterns that belong to the Chronicler's Sondergut show the unique theological emphasis of this work, but also relate to the socio-historical context of the time of writing. These patterns will be investigated in this paper in order to enrich our description of this literature type, as well as to determine the rhetorical function of the royal narratives.

Lamentations contains a number of distinct, identifiable voices, but in ch. 5 these individual voices retreat in favour of the ‘communal’ or ‘choral’ voice. What is this communal voice? How does it function within ch. 5 and Lamentations as a whole? Does the use of the first plural reveal anything about how we might read and interpret Lam 5? Does the use of the first person plural give us any insights into the theologically and philologically challenging ending if the chapter (and book as a whole)? Who is included and who is excluded by this voice? From a feminist perspective, to what extent does the use of the first person plural enable us hear the voices of both women and men in Lam 5? This paper will explore these questions, considering in detail the function of voice in this final chapter of Lamentations and the ways in which exploring the nature of the first person plural, in particular, may give rise to new ways of thinking about and interpreting this chapter. Employing both classical rabbinic hermeneutics and feminist questions I will attempt to bring my own contemporary feminist interpretation of the text rooted in the Jewish hermeneutical tradition.

In historical-anthropological studies of the Bible texts, the term “(social) values” is used referring to phenomena of different levels: ideology, certain types of practice, and models of behavior or moral/physical qualities, considered as “good” or “preferable” and encouraged by a given society. Yet the relations between ideology, practice and behavior are not clarified. That is why the term “value” can describe categories of different levels: “honor,” “maleness,” “wealth,” “courage,” “beauty,” “power” and so on. Such an approach, though helpful for historical and anthropological studies, fails for sociological analysis. The absence of proper definitions, so common for Biblical social-scientific approach, leads to the fact that the causes and the consequences of certain behavior and evaluation of it are also mixed up. When the social/cultural phenomena of different levels are lumped together and general concepts are not been separated from particular cases, then the nature of the conflict between ethnical and religious groups is misinterpret. E.g. early Christian groups are claimed to state new values, namely, to reject honor and appreciate humiliation. The author proposes to turn to sociology for clear and perspicuous definitions of the key terms like social value, social behaviour, culture and identity. One must distinguish between basic values and secondary values, between value-orientation systems (or basic values), which lie underneath the culture, and secondary expressions/practices of these values, which actually represent the culture of a certain social group. The author also demonstrates that the nature of conflict between the social groups is based on the conflict of identities, not values. Such clarification of the terms provides great help for understanding the nature and dynamic of social processes of early Christian groups’ formation.

Around the year 371 the bishop Epiphanius of Salamis wrote that certain women in Arabia, Thrace and Scythia -- “Kollyridians” -- acted as Christian priests by setting up a small altar and offering bread to Mary. Epiphanius criticized the idea of women as priests, and said Jesus did not choose Mary for his mother in order to make women priests. Recently Stephen J. Shoemaker has published (including in JECS) a ritual described in the earliest complete Dormition manuscript, a ritual that corroborates part of Epiphanius’ story. This manuscript describes how bread was offered to Mary on the altar in churches -- a surprisingly early witness to interest in Mary. Shoemaker suggests that if dated like other heterodox writings such as the Nag Hammadi texts, the original Dormition text might possibly be dated late second century. The purpose of my paper is to consider another aspect of the Kollyridian story that Ephipanius criticized -- Mary as an exemplar for women priests. The very earliest Dormition manuscript, dated to the late fifth century and discovered by Agnes Smith Lewis at St. Catharine’s monastery, depicts Mary as if she were one of Tertullian’s “heretic women.” This Syriac manuscript depicts Mary raising her arms and leading the men in a long prayer that she speaks -- and then the men prostrate themselves. In addition, Mary gives women “writings” and sends them back to their homelands so that others may “believe.” She heals. She exorcises demons. She sprinkles holy water. She carries a censer. Given the modern theory that the elevation of Mary accelerated after the Council of Ephesus in 431 called Mary “Theotokos,” we might expect this elevated depiction of Mary to increase in later manuscripts. The opposite in fact occurs. Subsequent scribes progressively omit these markers of Mary’s ecclesial leadership.

It is evident that the so-called ‘council’ carried out the political, juridical and administrative decision-making process in ancient West Asia. Its mythic/religious texts, including the Hebrew Bible, are a window through which an actual picture of the council could be observed. Methodologically the ‘mythic text’ represents ‘social reality’. This principle was applied by T. Jacobsen in his article, ‘Primitive Democracy in Ancient Mesopotamia’, in which he explored the council system in ancient Mesopotamia. This work became a monument for the subsequent attempts to investigate the council system in ancient West Asia (cf. G. Evans’ ‘Ancient Mesopotamian Assemblies’; J. Macdonald’s ‘An Assembly at Ugarit?’; L.K. Handy’s Among the Host of Heaven: The Syro-Palestine Pantheon as Bureaucracy; and R. Gordis’ ‘Democratic Origins in Ancient Israel-The Biblical ÊDÂH’). In the study of the council, I would like to pay a particular attention to an alleged ‘double-assemblies’ theory. 1 Kings 12 of the Hebrew Bible is an insightful text where a kind of double-assemblies plays a significant role in the royal court. The theory could be supported by some evidences from, such as, Tab. I 55-56 of Enuma Elish and King Agga of Kish and Gilgamesh of Uru. A broader investigation will be made in concern of the theory, and the historical information of the ‘double-assemblies’ will be reconstructed in the paper.

In this paper I will examine the social meaning of the concept of ‘firstfruits’ (bikkûri^m) as it occurs in worship and ritual practice in the Hebrew Bible, particularly with relation to consecratory offerings in the Pentateuch (Ex 23:16, 34:22, Lev 23:10, Num. 28:26, Deut 16:10). This study will seek to read this text from the perspective of the Hebrew labourer, with sensitivity to a possible relation between their labour and the worship offering inasmuch as it is designated as ‘firstfruits’. Translators have varied in their renderings of this term in these texts and my examination will seek to judge whether the identification of a ‘firstfruits’ offering as a token offering accurately represents the full force of the term and conversely whether ‘firstfruits’ may have invoked ancient notions of productive excellence. Further, I will suggest that wider study of this concept in the Hebrew bible (Ezek. 44:30) and in Rabbinic sources commends a reading which adopts a thick meaning for ‘firstfruits’. For an age where eucharist wafers are mass produced by machines, I will suggest that the concept of ‘firstfruits’ in worship may prove instructive.

The relationship of the Judah-Tamar story in Genesis 38 to the so-called Joseph story in Genesis 37-50 has been much discussed. Both historico-critical and literary scholars disagree among themselves as to whether it is connected to the preceding and following chapters or not. In this paper, I am attempting to suggest a new perspective on the structure of Genesis 38. Through a narrative approach, I argue that this chapter can be understood according to Binary Thematic-Symmetrical Patterns and posit what I call the Bucket-Shaped Structure of the Judah-Tamar Story. The story consists of two main episodes (Episode I, vv. 1-19; Episode II, vv. 20-30) which divide into six smaller sections (vv. 1-5, 6-11, 12-19, 20-23, 24-26, 27-30). It presents two leading characters, Judah and Tamar. They experience together three common themes; that is, building up one’s family, shame and deceit. The first theme looks positive (+), but the second and the third appear negative (-) to the reader. The topic of Genesis 38 starts with building Judah’s family and ends with building Tamar’s family from their own viewpoints. In both Episode I and Episode II, the character of Judah enters the first scenes (vv. 1-5, 20-23) and Tamar’s character occupies the ends of the episodes (vv. 12-19, 27-30). The narrator presents Tamar’s shame in section two (vv. 6-11) and Tamar’s deceit in three (vv. 12-19). Judah’s character is also shown in the same way (deceit, vv. 20-23, shame, vv. 24-26). These two episodes can be read as reflecting a dialectic procedure and could be represented as: Thesis (Episode I) + Antithesis (Episode II) = Synthesis (Establishing a Family). This symmetrical structure of the story of Genesis 38 highlights the significance of childbirth for both Judah and Tamar in securing the next generation within the larger Primary Narrative (Genesis – 2 Kings).

John was not written in the way of modern logic. It means that the structures and its literary styles in John cannot be properly detected, if we pay an attention only to the modern way of reading/writing-skills in its interpretive process, ignoring its own way of network of expressions. Meanings are not laid only in thematic contents but also in stylistic form. On the process of interpretation of the text, careful research on the textual style or structure appearing in the text is so necessary and even obligated, if we wish to understand the text better and correctively. John 5:19-47, the Jesus’ discourse part in John 5, is consisted of triple chiastic structures, consecutively and inter-relatedly: vs. 19-30, 31-37a, and 37b-47. Interestingly, each chiasm reflects similar chiastic pattern, A-X-A'. Each section provides the reader calculable repetitive effect with emphasis on certain ideas and expressions. Johannine style such as chiastic design here needs to be researched in terms of how this type of meaning-network could lead the readers to repetitively be impressed, in the Johannine way, by ideas that the text tells about. In John, repetitions are not the matter of producing literary repetition that simply emphasizes certain idea or expression twice or thrice, but rather they are the typical Johannine style of parallelisms or chiasms causing specific, relational meaning-network. This type of combined, repetitive phenomenon in John is so unique that may distinguish the author from others.

With this paper, I explore the possibility and challenges of hearing echoes of Homer in the Gospel of Matthew. I begin by arguing for the plausibility of any Classical or Hellenistic literary influence on the Gospel of Matthew by briefly making four uncontroversial observations: 1) Matthew was written in Greek, 2) it makes use of Greek sources including the Mark and the LXX 3) it was likely written in a cosmopolitan city, and 4) its literary genre closely resembles that of Greco-Roman bioi. I conclude that the ‘author’ of Matthew likely had a Hellenistic education and so would have had extensive exposure to Homer and rhetorical exercises. I continue this argument by showing that both of the Homeric epics can be detected in one of the Gospel of Matthew’s sources—the Gospel of Mark. Building on Dennis MacDonald’s work, I describe the hypertextual connections between Mark and the Odyssey as well as books 22-24 of the Iliad. While the lack of literary dependence of the latter on the former often relegates this kind of connection to the realm of imagination, Mark’s characterization of Jesus and his disciples as well as the elemental similarities between episodes in the epics and pericopae in the Gospel are compelling. These connections are extremely important as Matthew is dependent on Mark, replicating much of it with only minor changes. Using redaction criticism, I then argue that Matthew has largely—and quite surprisingly—removed the echoes of Homer which were present in Mark, implying an intimate familiarity with Homeric texts that is otherwise invisible. I conclude this paper by exploring just a few reasons as to why Matthew might attempt to remove the Homeric elements.

This paper will explore the overlooked significance of the allusion to Moses in Rom 9:3 (cf. Exod 32:32) and the overt reference to Elijah in Rom 11:3–4 (cf. 1 Kgs 19). It will be suggested that Exod 32, 1 Kgs 19, and Rom 9–11 all represent crisis moments within Israel’s history, provoked by the widespread unbelief and disobedience of God’s people. When reflecting upon Israel’s foremost covenant failure in rejecting its own Messiah, isn’t it reasonable to assume that Paul would have wrestled with other recorded episodes in Israel’s history in which they sinned so egregiously? Thus, this paper will attempt to demonstrate that the allusion to Moses in Rom 9:3 and the explicit mention of Elijah in Rom 11:1–5 tap into a series of canonically-connected “threatened national annihilation texts,” the theology of which has important implications for the faithfulness of God and the future of Israel in Paul’s argumentation in Rom 9–11. Though admittedly limited and selective, this paper will survey five such annihilation texts: Exod 32:30–35, Num 14:11–38, 1 Sam 12:16–25, 1 Kgs 19:1–18, and Ezra 9:1–15. A theological synthesis of these texts will then be attempted, forming what I will call an OT “crisis theology.” This crisis theology will then be applied to Paul’s arguments in Rom 9 and 11, demonstrating that Paul’s underlying covenantal theology has been shaped by the OT’s covenantal crisis theology. Simply put, the thesis of this paper is that reading Rom 9:3 and 11:1–5 as Pauline metalepses, whether intentional on Paul’s part or not, lends coherence to Paul’s argumentation and direction for its interpretation.

This paper seeks to establish how thoughts of genre and projected audience influenced the material chosen for citation and elucidation in al-Tabari’s (d. 310/923) Tafsir and historiographical works. Although there is a certain amount of overlap between the two sources, Tabari includes significantly more material in the version of the Adam and Eve story provided in his Tafsir than he does in his History; the vast majority of the anecdotes he apparently had at his disposal are omitted from the History, while the History in turn includes among its pages an amount of unique material that relates, directly or indirectly, to the Fall. This paper seeks to argue that the differences we perceive between the two sources are deliberate ones, in which material was consciously edited in order to suit its new environment in the History.

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Although a minority of scholars continue to defend the authenticity of 1 Peter, John Elliott’s thesis that the epistle was the product of a Petrine circle in Rome which included Silvanus and Mark (1 Pet 5:12-13) has garnered widespread support. However, David Horrell has issued a direct challenge to this theory. He observes that the epistle does not appear to be particularly “Petrine” but rather represents an amalgamation of diverse traditions that came together in the late first century Roman Christian community. It is understandable why a pseudonymous Christian writer would seek to legitimate his or her own work by ascribing it to an authoritative apostolic figure from the past, but the role of Mark (and Silvanus) as part of the pseudonymous framework of the epistle needs to be critically explored. Through a critical sifting of the earlier and later sources on “Mark,” this paper argues that Mark was transformed from a minor co-worker of Paul (Phlm 24; Col 4:10; 2 Tim 4:11) into a close associate of Peter in 1 Peter 5:13. The ideological agenda behind the placement of Mark under the aegis of the figurehead of the centrist Christian congregation in Rome, the Apostle Peter, was to construct Mark as a symbol of unity between the Pauline and Petrine factions of the early Jesus movement, a development that coincides with the depiction of John Mark in the Acts of the Apostles and the emerging tradition on the evangelist Mark in Papias (H.E. 3.39.15).

The major characters in the Book of Ruth, Naomi, Ruth and Boaz, are literary inventions with a purpose. An investigation of what is narrated about the three reveals remarkable similarities with prophetic texts from the exile. Memories of the exile and (forced) return are undoubtedly present in the Book of Ruth. In this presentation several similarities will be indicated, rendering it henceforth impossible to neglect the allegorical layer in this short story.

In the past two decades postmodern and postcolonial reflections have given important new incentives to the reading of the story of the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1–9), the famous account of the religious origins of ethnic and cultural diversity. They have highlighted the story’s recognition of differences (between nations, languages, cultures) and the divine predilection for diversity, over and against established theological interpretations that frame this story in terms of (original) sin, pride and disobedience. These new readings have raised the question of whether the reality of ethnic and cultural diversity that is addressed in this story should be conceived as divine punishment or as divine gift. Remarkably, up till now gender critical aspects of this story and its meaning have not been addressed in this debate. By exploring artistic interpretations of the Tower of Babel story in western visual culture I want to contribute to this debate from a gender critical hermeneutical perspective. This paper concentrates on the enigmatic drawing of the Christian martyr Saint Barbara in front of her (city) tower by the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck (1437), which will be discussed in the context of the Tower of Babel representations of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the Low Countries, and in the light of contemporary debates on gender difference and religious performativity. I will argue that the Christian (late) medieval legends and depictions of Saint Barbara and her tower offer an alternative interpretation of the ambivalence towards the recognition of ethnic and cultural diversity that marks the story of the Tower of Babel in Gen 11:1–9. In this interpretation diversity is not denied or destroyed, nor uncritically accepted, but confronted, and “incarnated” in vulnerable bodily existence.

This paper examines the relation between Beza’s New Testament editions and the King James Version. It can be shown that Beza’s views on text-critical matters deeply influenced decisions on the text of the New Testament taken by the KJV translators, both directly and indirectly. Earlier analysis, such as done by Scrivener, is brought up-to-date, for instance on the importance of Beza’s Latin translation.

Deu 22, 14-29 discusses the consequences of illegitimate sexual intercourse or rape of a woman by a man. The text only differentiates between a “guilty” and an “innocent” woman – the consequences of the sexual act of violence for the woman does not play a role. The paper shall demonstrate that the story of 2 Sam 13, 1-22 is a narrative re-reading of the juridical material of Deu 22, 14-29. 2 Sam 13, 1-22 uses the motifs- rape of an unbetrothed woman (Deu 22, 28; 2 Sam 13, 2.18), hatred of the woman after sexual intercourse/rape (Deu 22, 13; 2 Sam 13, 15), the “right” of the raped woman to stay in the house of the perpetrator/the refusal of this right (Deu 22, 29: 2 Sam 13, 15-17), the dress as evidence for the woman’s innocence/an illegitimate intercourse (Deu 22, 17; 2 Sam 13, 19), the obligation of the father/parents of the woman to save their innocent daughter or David’s inability to fulfil his obligation (Deu 22, 17; 2 Sam 13, 7.22), the special case in which the rape happens without witnesses i.e. in the field/inside the house (Deu 22, 25; Sam 13, 9f.), screaming of the raped woman as proof of her innocence or to emphasize her social destruction (Deu 22, 27; 2 Sam 13, 19). 2 Sam 13, 1-22 takes up the themes “hatred of a woman after sexual intercourse” from Deu 22, 3-21, and “rape of a betulah” within a city/without witnesses from Deu 22, 23-29. In contrast to its unemotional literary pattern in Deu 22, 14-29 the Tamar narrative tries to evoke the readers’ compassion for the social and mental consequences of rape.

Practice, halacha, normative standards—these have been often been created, observed, analyzed and categorized in homogeneous bodies of literature such as Rabbinic Literature. But such halachic attention has not been given to Greek texts written by Jews and originating in or intended for the Jewish Diaspora. This paper will further clarify and analyze semantic domains of nomistic terminology such as peripateo (walking) and odos (way) in later Second Temple period Judaism. This will be accomplished by analyzing these and other terms (such as paradosis and paradidomi) in texts such as the Pseudepigrapha, the Septuagint, Josephus, and the New Testament; and comparing the use of these terms by non-Jewish Hellenistic authors, such as Plutarch the historian and biographer, Strabo the historian and geographer, and Suetonius the biographer. Such a comparison will suggest whether these terms are solely of Jewish provenance or extant in both corpora. By showing the Jewish or Polytheist manner of describing religious practice, we will provide an important avenue of research for a relatively unresearched area of the Greek side of the otherwise burgeoning field of halachic studies in the late Second Temple period.

In the order of the Ketuvim in Baba Bathra 14b, the book of Job is preceded by the Psalms and followed by the “Wisdom” books Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The connections between Job and the latter books have been discussed extensively, but its affinities with the Psalms have been largely overlooked. Ambrose, however, noted a similarity between the two books in the way their main “characters” respond to suffering “in a fashion superior to the rest.” Calvin similarly interpreted Job through the person of David, often using the example of David to criticize the words which escape Job’s mouth “without advisement.” With the rise of higher criticism, and with it the categorization of Job as a “Wisdom” book, this emphasis on the proper faithful response to suffering was eclipsed by the more abstract concerns of theodicy and the doctrine of retribution. However, connections between Job and the Psalms were not ignored altogether. For example, Claus Westermann argued that Job follows the structure of a psalmic lament, and Katharine Dell adumbrated Job’s consistent “misuse of forms,” many of which appear in the Psalms. An intertextual approach to the two books reveals even more connections between them, as allusions to the Psalms litter Job’s dialogue with his friends (e.g. Job 7:17–18 and Ps 8:5; Job 12:21, 24 and Ps 107:40). These intertextual connections suggest that the traditional rabbinic order reflects this reading strategy, in which the prayers of Israel become a lens through which to understand Job’s struggle to hold onto faith in the midst of suffering. Thus, Job does not merely follow the Psalms in the traditional order, the book also follows its models for relation with God, pressing them to their breaking point.

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Even when fragmentary, the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls can shed new light on the Hebrew Bible. Using computer techniques unavailable to the first editors, it is now possible to propose new arrangements and improved readings for these fragments, as is the case for Joshua 10, the focus of this paper.

The fatherless child, together with the widow and the foreigner, constitute a specific category within Israelite law (Ex 22:21-24). They deviate from the normative subject of the law through ethnicity, gender and age. Lacking protection from an Israelite male, YHWH is stipulated as guarantor of their rights by personally meting out the death penalty to transgressors. What is the meaning and function of such a law? Is it possible to say anything about the impact of a law that hardly could have been implemented? The aim of this paper is to explore the function of the concept of “the fatherless child” within the context of deuteronomistic law and theology. What adjustments of the general concept (common in ANE material) have been made in the Hebrew bible? And what conclusions, if any, can be drawn from the law on the rights of “fatherless” to the historical situation of orphans in Ancient Israel?

Within biblical studies postcolonial studies are applied in three main ways. (1) The role of empires and reactions to them in the composition of Hebrew Bible (HB) texts. (2) How colonial empires interpreted the HB and how indigenous populations reacted to colonial interpretations. (3) Interpretations from previously colonised populations (Crowell, 2009). Hence, in relation to the biblical text, most postcolonial approaches focus on the world “behind the text” or “in front of the text.” This paper aims to partially redress this imbalance. The first part of this paper adopts a postcolonial approach to reading the Ruth narrative with a particular focus on the “world of the text.” Intertextuality and identity are prominent elements of the postcolonial approach, and will be used to explore what ideologies or powers the literary world of the Ruth narrative might be resisting. The intertexts for this paper will be limited to HB texts that are explicitly referred to in the Ruth narrative and other canonical HB texts that probably would have been available to implied readers (esp. Genesis and legal texts). These intertexts will be mined for their contributions to the identities of the Ruth narrative’s main characters. The second part of this paper applies the observations of the first part to the Persian period. While scholars debate the provenance of the Book of Ruth, the narrative still remains highly relevant to the time of Ezra-Nehemiah. This paper will explore the core elements of Israelite identity in this period, and how they might be resisted or reinforced by the Ruth narrative.

This paper is based on a part of a forthcoming doctoral thesis where British and German academic commentaries on the Gospel of Mark have been analyzed contrapuntally with European colonial discourse. Focusing on the Markan passage about the tribute question (Mk 12:13-17), the paper shows that most commentators, to little surprise, build their interpretations on a spiritual/worldly dichotomy. The episode was by these interpreters taken as declaring that there is no conflict between the demands from Caesar and the demands from God. One commentary, however, sticks out in relation to the others. George Alexander Chadwick (1887), Dean of Armagh’s cathedral in Ireland, read the pericope in an oppositional way that opened for the possibility of resisting the demands of the worldly ruler. This oppositional reading, it is argued, is related to the commentator’s location in Ireland and to the fact that Irish history, since the seventeenth and eighteenth century, was stamped by resistance against English colonial rule.

Studies in Johannine characterisation have blossomed in recent years. In addition to a chapter in Alan Culpepper’s Anatomies of Criticism, scholars such as Raymond Collins, Francois Tolmie, and Colleen Conway have studied aspects of Johannine characterisation. Most notably, Cornelis Bennema’s Encountering Jesus (2009) argues that the Johannine characters are not simply types, but individuals in their own right. Most scholars use categories from literary criticism, including issues of whether the character is portrayed as rounded or flat, and whether there is any development in the character or he or she remains static. Narrative criticism is helpful in understanding Gospel characters but with three provisos. It needs to take account of how such presentation functions theologically within the text; it must allow for intertextuality and references to the same character in other Gospel traditions; and it should begin with the genre of the Gospels as distinct from (though overlapping with) fiction, whether ancient or modern. This paper discusses the characters of Martha and Mary in their Gospel appearances in the Johannine and Lukan traditions, and the issue of whether there is any coherence between the two portrayals, in terms of character and faith. What happens when we set the two characters, in two different texts, alongside each other? From this complex perspective, Martha and Mary emerge as consistent and key figures in early Christian tradition, possessing a cross-textual identity as distinctive and developing disciples of Jesus.

This paper focuses on the hybrid feature of Christianity manifested in Philippians 1:15-18 in which Paul deals with unification of conflicting groups for the proclamation of Christ. As a part of the epistle to the Philippians, Paul writes to his readers about his thoughts on the topic. In the letter, Paul tries to suggest the Christian way of resolving conflict or accepting factions within the Christian community. The rhetoric of the letter and the usage of words seem to follow the Greco-Roman style of wording and literary structure. This paper argues that, with the Greco-Roman rhetorical way of expression, Paul, as a hybrid person, reshapes the conventional concept of the language to show that the Christian community should distinguish habitus and field from the context of Greco-Roman culture. This paper first considers the social and cultural background of Paul and the Philippian churches. Second, it utilizes a socio-linguistic approach to Phil. 1:15-18 to show how the text reflects the social aspect and tries to identify the church as a Christian community which is distinct from the Greco-Roman social context. Finally, this paper analyzes Phil. 1:15-18 from an anthropological linguistic approach to show that the passage distinguishes Paul and the Christian community from the outer society and culture.

That there are biblical texts that claim that there is only one god is obvious. Though one is tempted to interpret these “One-God" texts as monotheistic, they may also suggest monolatry. This last interpretation is particularly obvious in sentences containing the phrase "Yahweh the God of Israel". There are therefore at least two concepts of divinity in biblical texts and, moreover, some "One-God" phrases apparently meant first monolatry but were read again later on as monotheism. To understand this diversity and the problem of the use of monotheism in biblical studies, a diachronic approach to the Bible and to Israelite religion is necessary.

The Babylonian exile is the central event in biblical construction of the past. Its historicity—or rather the historicity of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem—cannot be doubted, and the likelihood of an exile of people from the former Kingdom of Judah is most likely not something imagined. The second part, the return, is more difficult to describe. In some ways the exile never ended, at least not before 1952, when the Iraqi Jews left for modern Israel. There was not one moment in the history between 586/7 (some would say 722/1, and 597) BCE when there were not people living in Mesopotamia whose origins—real or putative—should be looked for in the former territory of Judah and maybe also Israel. We have many reflections on the reception of the exile in biblical literature, and we have a privileged story of a return which may never have happened, at least not with the dimensions envisaged by biblical writers. There are several ways of handling this problem of exile and return, and following the "Zeitgeist" the notion of Cultural Memory will have to be called upon in order to see if this concept is of any use in settling matters

Women have always engaged in activities like sorcery and soothsaying because of their marginal position in official religion. Such popular religious practices were secretly tolerated, and flourished in the shadow of official religion. This offered women possibilities to develop their abilities in ways they could not do in official religion. The necromancer of Endor illustrates how women might have exploited this avenue. The intriguing character called the medium of Endor found in 1 Sam. 28 has been depicted in art as everything from a young, seductive gypsy to a frightening old hag. Her character is included in many musical works. Unearthly, foreboding, and dramatic music set the stage for the woman’s ‘incantations.’ The necromancer takes on many new dimensions through music and librettos. Though ‘medium’ is the politically correct translation often used today in place of the older ‘witch,’ there is no biblical evidence that she was a real medium, through whose throat the ghost would have spoken. The term ‘necromancer’ more correctly describes what the woman does: necromancy is defined in the OED as ‘prediction of the future by supposedly communicating with dead people.’ One element common to all musical depictions, regardless of era or genre, is the attempt to create a particular mood through otherworldly, eerie music. This biblical scene was clearly inspirational for every composer who set it to music. The biblical narrative’s sparseness called out for elaboration and dramatization; the results breathe new, melodramatic life into the scene and the characters. The woman of Endor leaps off these pages variously as mysterious, compassionate, and powerful. Musical selections from several musical works will be played.

The Gospel of John contains only several occurrences of purity and purification terminology (John 2:6; 3:25; 13:10, 11; 15:2, 3; cf. 18:28). Yet, the “purity” of the disciples of Jesus is explicitly affirmed at two crucial junctures of the Gospel narrative, namely the footwashing and the vine-branches episodes (John 13:1-32; 15:1-17) in the Book of Glory. This paper investigates the significance and the function of the “purity” motif in John’s Gospel. Specific interest lies in how this motif serves the ecclesial purpose of buttressing the disciples’ legitimacy as the new covenant community. In the course of our investigation, the Jewish writings including certain Dead Sea scrolls that are concerned about the “purity” of Israel will receive attention. Viewed against this Jewish background regarding Israel's purity, the Johannine “purity” motif has the function of enhancing the portrayal of the disciples as the people of God.

Within the Deuteronomistic History and in the books of the “writing prophets”, “Baal” is seen as a foreign deity, the worship of whom is a clear betrayal of the God of Israel and his covenant. This betrayal is first mentioned in Judges 2:11 and runs as a major theme throughout the DH, as well as in the writings of Hosea, Jeremiah and others, and is cited as one of the leading reasons for the fall of Israel and then Judah. Outside of the Bible, Baal is known as a major Western Semitic deity, or rather as an epithet or title of such gods as Hadad/Adad. Literally, of course, “Baal” means “lord” or “master”. This paper traces the use of “Baal” in Israelite toponyms such as Baal-Hazor and Baal-Perazim and in personal names such as Baal, Jerubaal, Eshbaal, Mephi/merib-baal and Baaljada, both in the Bible and in epigraphic evidence. Most of these appear in contexts related to the pre-monarchial and early monarchial periods, and mostly related to characters who the Bible does not consider to be idol-worshippers. It is our suggestion that “Baal” in early Israel was considered by some to be a legitimate title for the God of Israel, rather than a foreign deity. Only in the 9th or early 8th century, perhaps because of increased exposure to the Phoenician “Baals”, was this divine title seen as illegitimate and foreign, as reflected by the DH, Hosea, Jeremiah and other sources.

Prof. Sang-Hoon Kim’s presentation at ISBL 2010, Triple Chiastic Structures in Romans 6, treated the parallelisms and chiasms of the chapter as primes, which led him to associate the rhetorical question of v. 15 with vv. 12-14, rather than with vv. 16-20. This paper argues that, to determine the argument structure of a passage, a number of other cohesive devices must also be taken into account. Of particular importance are the ‘constraints’ (Blakemore) on interpretation imposed by connectives such as oun, he, gar, de and alla, and by variations in constituent order. After reviewing the distinct constraint associated with each connective, the paper also insists on the need to distinguish between inclusio structures, characterised by parallel statements at the beginning and end of the same unit, over against ‘back-reference’, in which the second of the pair of parallel statements begins a new unit (Neeley). The paper concludes with a flow chart of the argumentation of Romans 6, which gives due weight to each of the cohesive devices discussed.

In his Corinthian correspondence, Paul draws on the temple imagery in addressing the conflicts and problems of his readers in 1 Cor 3:16-17; 1 Cor 6:19 and 2 Cor 6:16. The power in the use of imagery lies not only in the mind of the author but also in how the audience understands and interprets the imagery within their symbolic universe. If one were to live in such an environment where temple worship and rituals are closely associated with one’s symbolic universe, culture, and existence, and where its activities are clear demonstration of one’s social network and participation in the communal life, how would one, who comes from this social and cultural background, have reacted and responded to Paul’s use of temple imagery in the Corinthian letters? What function does temple imagery that represents the powerful expression of one symbolic universe and existence play in the identity formation of the audience? By drawing on the theory of social identity formation as part of the interpretative framework, this paper will offer a contextual reading of Paul’s use of temple imagery in light of the formation of Christian identity from the perspectives of a Chinese Malaysian who lives under the shadow of the Chinese temples.

Romans 13:1-7 is among the most-cited and most-debated passages in the New Testament, and yet despite the reams of material published on it, particularly within the last fifty years, most readings of the passage have tended to fall into well-worn grooves. Most problematically, interpreters have seemed unable or unwilling to convincingly integrate the passage into its context. Occasional proposals for doing so have generally been dismissed as “artificial” by leading exegetes, who have generally concurred in the judgment of Ernst Kasemann that the pericope reads like “an alien body in Paul’s exhortation.” Although most interpreters have resolutely denied that the passage is an interpolation, they have continued to proceed as if the burden of proof lay upon those claiming continuity with the context, rather than on those treating the passage as independent. The results, I suggest, have been deleterious not only to the exegesis of Romans 12-13, but also to Christian political ethics as a whole. While contesting the assumption that the burden of proof lies on those claiming continuity with the context, I shall nevertheless seek to meet that burden. To this end, I shall seek to synthesize the scattered insights of recent New Testament exegetes into thematic overlap between Romans 13:1-7 and its surroundings, along with a careful analysis of the literary structure of the passage. The latter, which reveals Romans 13:1-7 to be embedded in a larger chiastic structure, demonstrates conclusively the weaknesses of reading it as an independent unit. I shall conclude with a brief reflection on what such a contextual reading might mean for Christian political ethics.

The presence of the second dative article (tois) in Rom 4:12 has confounded exegetes for over a century. Despite the fact that the article is present in all extant manuscripts of Romans, the vast majority of Pauline interpreters opt to disregard it, justifying its omission as a scribal error. The absence of the tois, however, fundamentally alters the sense of the verse in that it changes the characteristics of the intended beneficiaries of God’s promises to Abraham. Without the tois, Abraham’s heirs are circumcised Jews who also have the kind of faith Abraham demonstrated before he became circumcised. With the tois, two distinct groups are in view: circumcised Jews and a second group comprised of uncircumcised Gentiles who have the faith that Abraham demonstrated when he too was uncircumcised (like them). By employing the interpretative techniques developed by Margaret Lee and Bernard Scott and detailed in their recent monograph Sound Mapping the New Testament (Polebridge Press, 2009), I demonstrate the appropriateness and intentionality of the tois. Auditory cues, as seen within a “sound map,” structure this verse and its surrounding unit (Rom 4:9-12) and reveal Paul’s repeated emphasis on uncircumcised persons, those designated by the often-neglected tois. This essay contributes to the on-going debates within Pauline studies on Paul’s overall mission and his addressees.

J. S. Bach’s St John Passion provided a radically new approach to the proclamation of the Passion Gospel. Where earlier composers used the traditional Good Friday Vespers for a musical performance to a passive audience, Bach’s libretto and musical setting engaged his hearers at a number of levels: musically, textually, and theologically. Bach’s first Great Passion is a hybrid work, making use of a range of musical and literary genres. Unlike earlier plainchant or polyphonic settings of the Passion narrative such as T. L. de Victoria's St John and St Matthew Passions, or contemporary oratorical paraphrases of the Biblical text such as G. F. Handel's Messiah, in his St John Passion Bach combined recitative texts from Luther’s 1545 German Bible with popular hymns and virtuosic settings of contemporary devotional poetry. For Bach music was a fundamental vehicle to communicate the Word of God and to effect a personal response in the listener. In the St John Passion, the composer invites the hearer not only to behold the events of the Passion ("Betrachte, meine Seel ... dein hoechstes Gut in Jesu Schmerzen" - "My soul behold ... your greatest gain: your Jesus suffers"), but to consider its impact on their lives and to make their own response of faith ("Zerfliesse mein Herze ... mein Jesus ist tot" -"Pour out my heart … my Jesus has died"). This paper considers the genesis of Bach's St John Passion by giving an insight into the composer's exegetical and devotional program and the aesthetic and cultural impact of the Bible on eighteenth-century Lutheranism and German Pietism as a whole.

The earliest Christian images appeared somewhere about the year 200. The earliest Christian relic - the manger of Jesus in Bethlehem - appeared about the same time. This means that during roughly a century and a half the Christians did without any figurative representation of a religious character and without the need of relic worship. As a physical object, divorced from a specific milieu, a relic is entirely without significance. Unlike manuscripts - which have a potential meaning to anyone capable of reading - a bone or a bit of dust carry no fixed code or sign of their meaning as they move from one community to another. A work of visual art can carry an intrinsect code comprehensible within a relatively wide cultural tradition. This sort of code lacks in relics. A relic cannot itself transmit any perception from one community to another, even if these communities share identical cultural and religious values. In order to effect this transmission, something essentially extraneous to the relic itself must be provided: a reliquary with an inscription or iconographic representation of the person, a document attesting to its authenticity or a written tradition. This is why, in an illiterate society, relics and reliquaries had a visual power: they were part of the earliest Christian art history.

The paper will describe and present online resources primarily for research into the Hebrew Bible. Databases and websites will be discussed. A handout with many resources will complement the lecture.

The phrase "Maranatha" appears once in the New Testament writings and again in the Didache. Historically, biblical scholarship has postulated its division to be variously "Marana tha" and "Maran atha". These have been understood in turn as "Our Lord, come!" and "Lord, come!" However, new evidence from Qumran Aramaic demonstrates that the proposed divisions and their respective translations are likely to be erroneous. Consideration of the phrase in its historic and linguistic context offers a historically verifiable form of the phrase that serves to suggest an echo of the term elsewhere in the Greek of the New Testament.

The development of Jewish coinage proper in Palestine from the time of the Hasmonaean rule from the second half of the 2nd century BCE was largely determined by the different coinages used and produced in this region throughout the preceding centuries, primarily by the Yehud coinage minted in Judea under Persian authority during the 4th century BCE and under the Ptolemaic administration during the 3rd century BCE. The fact that the Persian government did not impose the concept of a – culturally and above all religiously – centralized state upon the satrapies and the provinces left room for the unfolding of distinct local ethnic, cultural and religious differences, which is clearly mirrored in the iconography of the Jewish coins of this time. Many questions still remain concerning the proto-Jewish coinage issued during the Achaemenid and Ptolemaic periods and the intention with this presentation is to discuss which kind of information we can deduce from the ancient coinage during this time, especially concerning the administration of the Jewish Temple. Furthermore, the question if this actually had any consequences for the later implementation of Jewish coinage under Hasmonaean rule will be briefly examined.

This paper will explore some of the ways in which the metaphor of God as King changed with a particular focus on the Persian Period.

The traditional understanding of the transaction between Yahweh and the Satan in the prologue to the book of Job is that this constitutes a test of Job’s faith, one which the Satan initiates but Yahweh allows as the Satan’s superior. This understanding supports the omnipotence of Yahweh, but raises several other theological questions, as well as a number of literary and legal ones. For instance, this view may well challenge both Yahweh’s omniscience and his omnibeneficience. Moreover, this reading does not readily account for the presence of the dialogues, the plethora of legal metaphors throughout the book, and the distinct nature of the Elihu speeches. This paper will argue that the Satan brings a formal legal charge in the Divine Council against Job with which Yahweh must deal juridically in order to maintain his position as the creator and maintainer of cosmic justice. God does not impose the suffering on Job nor agree with its usefulness. This is the Satan's claim, and, once it is proven incorrect, Job’s fortunes are restored in a manner that does not support the idea of retributive justice, but rather restorative justice. The paper concludes that a reading of the book of Job that is sensitive to the legal materials of the book reveals that the book may well represent a far different theology and theological anthropology than has previously been thought. It may, in fact, disclose a profound divine trust in humanity that foreshadows the atoning work of Christ.

Controversies continue to surround the archaeology of Qumran. The scholarly debates concern two main issues: 1) Were the Dead Sea Scrolls deposited in the nearby caves by the inhabitants of Qumran, or is there no connection between the scrolls and the settlement? 2) Assuming there is a connection, were the inhabitants of Qumran Essenes or members of another Jewish sect? In this paper, we review the state of Qumran archaeology, focusing on some of the current controversies.

Rhetorical Criticism exists with the intention of describing and evaluating processes of communication. To date it has frequently been hampered, with respect to the New Testament, by assumptions, terms, and categories that do not exactly fit the New Testament documents. In this paper I will suggest ways of describing and evaluating the persuasive techniques of New Testament letters by paying attention to the distinctive environment in which they commonly arose. The documents of the New Testament arose in an environment in which Jesus was experienced and conceptualised as died-and-exalted Messiah and archetype. This experience-formed conceptualisation is evidenced in the arrangement and formulations of many New Testament letters, such that they might be characterised as exhibiting kerygmatic rhetoric. This is not to deny the adoption of Greco-Roman epistolary or rhetorical features in these letters; but rather to be attentive to the context in which such adoption or adaptation occurred: that of a cultural group decisively (and thus linguistically) transformed by the kerygma of Jesus Christ. In congruence with developments in linguistics and the study of discourse more broadly, this conception of New Testament rhetoric emphasises concept over form, and particularity rather than generality of sociocultural setting. It may be that this approach will provide useful questions and terminology for assessing the persuasion of both New Testament and early patristic writings – but especially those of Paul.

The ministering women of Exodus 38:8 have embarrassed ancient and modern translators alike. The Hebrew tsaba which describes their activity near the bronze basin in the court of the tabernacle has been variously translated women who “fast,” women who “stood guard,” or women who “prayed” in ancient texts. Later texts called these women “chaste” and translated tsaba as “assembled”. But tsaba was never used in the Hebrew Bible to describe fasting or prayer and in the context of the Tabernacle it was unlikely to have meant “guard”. Modern commentators also struggled with the role of these women. Perhaps they were a singing or dancing troupe, a cleaning service or involved in cultic prostitution. The same women are mentioned in 1 Samuel 2:22: “Eli’s sons slept with the women who ministered at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting”. Some commentators make a connection between this text and Numbers 25:6-15 because both describe inappropriate sexual activity at the door of the Tabernacle. Contra these translations and views this paper argues that there was only one piece of tabernacle furniture that was made from gender specific donations – the bronze basin with its mirrors donated by women. It further argues that as women were part of the skilled team of artisans chosen to make tabernacle items they most likely made this particular piece of furniture. Women’s service near the basin further strengthens the link between women and the basin and this paper argues that their service or tsaba is therefore best understood as the indentured service of Levites. This would resonate with the importance of the basin as evidenced in the never ending statute concerning priestly washing that was to continue from generation to generation, and the inclusion of the basin in the list of items which were anointed with holy anointing oil.

The portrayal of God in the Book of Job is troublesome for many readers of the biblical story. For instance, God sets his servant Job up for suffering, He is even manipulated by “the satan” to allow him free reign in attacking Job. Job’s children is sacrificed in order for God to prove a point, throughout the dialogue sections of the book God is hostile, cruel and inaccessible for Job, and when He eventually responds to Job’s suffering, he does so with two long speeches that doesn’t address the issue of Job’s suffering. The images of God in the Old Testament are of course very often extremely negative. Richard Dawkins (2006:51) describes Him as “jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully”. Dawkins is obviously biased in this description of God, but the fact remains that the images of God in the Old Testament are often extremely negative. The purpose of this paper is thus to investigate the negative, disturbing images of God in the Book of Job. Questions that arise from the perturbing portrayal of God in the Book of Job include the following: What kind of God plays chess with the satan for the life of one of his servants? Is this God trustworthy? Can He be manipulated? Does God really allow one of his own to suffer horribly, just to prove a point and win a bet? Is the God of Job a rhetorical-ideological construct? These questions (amongst others) will be addressed in the paper.

This paper investigates the prominence of toll collectors within the Baptist-blocks and elsewhere in the Synoptics, focusing mainly on material in Luke 3:1–20 and 7:18–35, but referring also to Mark’s Gospel in relation to Levi, and Jesus’ table fellowship. In the process I will offer some personal insights, particularly on Q7:18–35, and on other texts relevant to the key passages, including a suggestion for understanding Q16:16 as deriving from opposition slander. Attention will be given specifically to the motifs involving comparisons of: John vs. Jesus; their respective disciples; fasting vs. feasting; and lamentation vs. celebration. Considering the close correlation of these themes with the frequent contrasts made between the Pharisees and the toll collectors, it could well be considered that the toll collectors appear in the Synoptics merely as a foil over against the Pharisees, especially as they are not mentioned at all in John’s Gospel. Nevertheless, on the basis of authenticity criteria, particularly the criterion of embarrassment, I will argue for the historicity of the toll collectors featured along with the Baptist material, supporting the view of several scholars that some individuals who were originally John’s disciples subsequently became followers of Jesus. On that basis I will suggest that Mark’s description of the call of Levi (2:13–17) does not preclude the possibility of an earlier meeting with Jesus. In addition, by applying this finding intertextually, I will propose a non-traditional solution regarding the identity of the anonymous disciple in John 1:37, 40, and reflect on the possible correlation of John 1:39b with Mark 2:15b.

Since the time of Jerome, interpreters have sought to explain the reason why in the New Testament John the Baptist asks Jesus if he is “the one who is to come” (Matt 11:2–6 // Luke 7:18–23) after he had apparently identified him as “the lamb of God” (John 1:29-34). The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the function and meaning of this passage within the Lukan gospel and to examine how the results of this analysis contribute to the ongoing discussion regarding John’s question from a historical perspective. Since the so called Q source has been privileged in the analysis of the pericope (Matt 11:2-6 // Luke 7:18-23), scholars have not sufficiently taken into consideration the distinctions between the Matthean and the Lukan versions. Consequently, the way in which each Evangelist has used and understood the traditional material has not always been properly accounted for. After an analysis of the passage in the Lukan Gospel, the study argues that the prevailing explanation regarding the Baptist's alleged disappointment with Jesus' ministry no longer offers the best justification for John's question. It also posits that an analysis of the evidence in the rest of the gospels indicates that John's limited knowledge of Jesus stands at the root of the Baptist's question.

Numerous interpreters recognize a link between the affirmations about the Son in Heb 1:1-4 and the series of biblical quotations that follows in 1:5-14, but approaches vary widely. John Meier articulated a particularly significant interpretation in which he argued that the affirmations are paralleled and undergirded consecutively by the biblical citations. Building on Meier’s insights and basic assumptions, I argue instead that the relationship between the affirmations and citations is chiastic, not consecutive. This approach, with the new connections it presents between the affirmations and citations, illuminates several debated phrases in both 1:1-4 and 1:5-14.

The literary theory of Mikhail Bakhtin has been keenly applied to the book of Job by Carol Newsom in her monograph The Book of Job (2003) and by Stoerdalen in “Dialogue and Dialogism in the Book of Job” (2007). In these projects an articulate and creative foundation has been laid for the explication of the book of Job using Bakhtinian theory concentrating especially on dialogism and polyphony. In this paper I present some further insights on the book of Job using dialogism and polyphony focusing on the theological perspectives of each character; the way characters contend with each other and how each character articulates perspectives which are self-contending. In addition, I attempt to provide some instances where heteroglossia (canonical-intertextuality, Aramaean dialect, LBH vs. CBH, and mythological ideology) and chronotypes are (divine council setting, wisdom themes, legal language, mythological language) present in the book of Job. These features of the book of Job add further complication to its message(s), and lead to the unfinalizability of the text. By using Bakhtinian theory to present the complexities of the book of Job we can better appreciate the genealogy of its ideas and its place in the history of Jewish theology.

For Philo of Alexandria, the God of Israel's scriptures is a God who gives gifts. Reciprocally, this beneficent God is the God found in Israel's scriptures. Working from this double assertion, this paper will consider Philo's thinking about God and his gifts by attending to his interpretation of specific texts from the Septuagint. For example, in Quod Deus Immutablis Sit 86ff., Philo interprets Genesis 6.8 (‘And Noah found favor before the Lord God’) as being about Noah’s discovery of the way in which God’s gracious giving permeates all of creation, with creation itself indeed being the paradigm gift. Elsewhere, the interpretation of passages such as Numbers 28.2, Exodus 20.10, and Leviticus 25.23 lead Philo to ruminate on the way that the whole creation, and everything it contains, including the human body, belong solely to God, and how, therefore, God as a wise Demiurge has built the necessity of reciprocity and fellowship into the fabric of the creation (De Cherubim 84-119). Passages such as these quickly lead Philo to discourse philosophically on the nature of God’s being and attributes (God as immutable, transcendent, etc.), and vice-versa, Philo’s philosophy, heavily indebted as it is to Platonic and Stoic thought, influences the manner in which Philo interprets the LXX. In this way, I will show that Philo's theology and his theological ‘gift-economy’ are the product of a dynamic interplay between the septuagintal texts and Philo's Platonic and Stoic ideals about divine being and benefaction.

This workshop session will consider what it is that mentees seek, require, resist, or succeed in through a mentoring programme, asking whether the aims are met equally via same-gender or cross-gender partnerships. Two articles from 2007 and will be interrogated and their findings compared with the attendees' own experiences of mentoring.

Drawing some comparisons with the study of Shakespeare’s works or the tales of the Arabian Nights this paper will ask what biblical literacy might mean, and what it could reasonably amount to, and for whom. Thereafter the case for extremely well-clued-up biblical ‘guides’ will be made, people who can get to grips with the subtler nuances of the text and tailor their introduction/s to the Bible to the age, education and cultural—even cross-cultural—literacy of their audiences. Furthermore, the case for the process being regarded as a two-way collaboration will then be made because two-way respect is a fundamental necessity for any undertaking such as this.

For over twenty years we have been excavating at Bethsaida uncovering both an Iron Age and a Roman Age city. This paper relates how the findings at the Roman site in Bethsaida harmonize with the words of the gospels, and resurrect the men and women who inhabitant it at the time of Jesus, making it possible to reconstruct daily life in the first century.

The city of Corinth was conquered and raised to the ground by Mummius’ troops in 146 BCE. Although the literary sources recorded a dramatic scenario, the recent reassessment of the evidence from a century of American excavations in Corinth demonstrated that the Greek city was somehow continuously inhabited from the late second century BCE until the foundation of the Roman colony in 44 BCE. Only a few of the old Greek sanctuaries were frequented during the interim period following the destruction, and/or survived the dramatic political change leading to the foundation of the colony. This paper explores the reasons why the interim settlers, and later the Roman colonists, promoted the survival of sanctuaries such as those of Asklepios and of the Eleusinian goddesses over others, and suggests that the survival of certain Greek cults provided a factor of cultural, religious and political cohesion for the new resident population in the years of the colonial foundation. The pre-existing sanctuaries might therefore have contributed to the definition of the status of Corinth and its pantheon as a colonial creation, precisely in the manner seen fit by the Roman authorities.

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There seems to be an emerging consensus on the fact that the Holiness Code is later than the Leviticus 1-16. The latter is usually regarded as a part of P. In the European context Pentateuch scholars such as Otto, Grünwaldt and Nihan currently seem to agree on this later dating of H and they follow in footsteps of earlier scholars such as Elliger and Cholewinski. From a Jewish perspective the same seems to be true in the work of scholars such as Knohl and the late Jacob Milgrom. Both these groups would agree that the Holiness Code was written after P, but these groups differ on one important issue and that is the relationship with Deuteronomy. There are other dissenting voices from the European context (i.e. Blum and Ruwe) who are not convinced that H is that different from P and amongst these dissenting voices the relation between H and D is also crucial. In the light of this broader debate this paper specifically focuses on Leviticus 17 especially as a kind of hinge between P and H, but also the relationship with the book of Deuteronomy. The paper especially engages with the two opposing views of Milgrom and Otto. For the latter there are clear signs of reception of Deuteronomy 12 in Leviticus 17. For the former the relation is the other way around.

In this paper I aim to analyse the references to the departure of Christ and to draw some general lines of interpretation of the Ascension in the patristic writings of the second and third centuries. Making use of the 'Wirkungsgeschichte' model of analysis I intend to show how this 'finale' of Christ’s earthly life was received by the early Church and if its image was drawn from the narratives in Luke-Acts. Special emphasis will be put on early Ascension traditions and their impact on the biblical text and its interpretation. Furthermore, I shall explore the use of Old-Testament imagery, such as Ps 68, Ps 110, and Dan 7, in the early patristic interpretation of Jesus’ exaltation. There are few references to the Ascension in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, often implied rather than explicitly formulated. Their purpose was not to interpret the apostolic tradition but to affirm it. Subsequently, it is difficult to establish the reception of Luke-Acts in the second century, but it does not mean that the second-century authors did not use the Lucan writings. Beginning with the third century, though, the Ascension starts to be seen as one of the central events of the History of Redemption within the early Christian church. The treatment of the Ascension by the pre-Nicene Christian writers is almost always connected with the session 'ad dexteram Dei' and used with apologetic purposes. However, three writers are of special interest in the discussion of interpretation: Novatian associates the Ascension of Christ with the doctrine of incarnation, Irenaeus incorporates it into his theory of recapitulation, and Origen, making extensive use of the allegorical method, emphasises that too literal an interpretation of the Lucan narratives of the Ascension could lead to a false understanding of the event per se.

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The study of paradox has been controversial in the contemporary biblical and theological scholarship. This historical trend has been set by Russell in the study of paradox since the early 20th century, followed by Tarski and Wittgenstein to exclude or ignore the paradox (of circular reasoning) from the formal logic or to negate it as a valid reasoning. The consequence of this mainstream decision has been somewhat devastating, especially in the biblical scholarship. However, there has been a renewed interest by the innovative approach and breakthrough in the study of circularity and paradox, pioneered by Kripke since 1975. This paper explores and presents this new perspective and paradigm of the circular literary constructs found in John, its coinductive reasoning as a method of interpretation, and its theological implications. Two proof methods in John 8:12-18 are investigated and analyzed. One of the proof methods is distinctively based on self-reference (of circular reasoning) to validate the self-claim of Jesus as the light of the world. Here we notice one of the exemplary “I-am” sayings in John. Further we extend current analysis to examine the similar “I-am” passages of circular construct in John. One of the classical examples is the identity of Jesus in Father (John 14:10) which is a paradox of circular construct.

As part of a larger project on emotions in Judeo-Hellenistic literature, this paper will examine the emotions displayed in the book of 1 Maccabees. Except for studies by Charles C. Torrey (1902), Paul Joüon (1922) and Seppo Sipilä (2005), most scholars argue for a Hebrew original of 1 Maccabees on the basis of external evidences, especially in Origen and Jerome—see for example the summary by Jonathan A. Goldstein (1976). I will propose here that the expressions and metaphors used to describe emotions suggest a Hebrew original and a language of translation, especially when the emotion is related to a body part. Comparisons will be given in 2 and 3 Maccabees, which, by contrast, reflect a Hellenistic conception of human emotions.

The use of the word “body” in the citation of Ps 40:6 in Heb 10:5 has drawn a great deal of scholarly attention. In this paper I will focus instead on the form of the psalm citation in the context of Heb 10. Specifically, I will argue that the author of Hebrews has accurately cited the wording of Ps 40:6-8 as he knows it (including “body”). He has, however, stopped the citation of the Ps 40:8a just before the finite verb “I desire.” The effect of leaving the word “desire” out is significant because the infinitival phrase “to do your will, O God” is complementary to the verb “desire” in the psalm. Thus, when the writer of Hebrews places Ps 40:8a in the mouth of Jesus, he does not say (as the psalmist does), “Here I am, I have come …. To do your will, O God, I desire.” Instead, Christ says, “Here I am, I have come … to do your will, O God.” Jesus does not express a desire to do God’s will. Rather, he states the purpose for his coming before God—to do God’s will. This curious way of citing the psalm suggests first a deep commitment to the actual words of the Old Testament text, but also a willingness to recontextualize the words for the purpose of an argument. As will be shown, this kind of biblical citation has good parallels in other Jewish texts.

Plot analysis has often been performed with an inadequate definition of plot and methodology in biblical exegesis. Recently, this tendency has begun to change. This presentation—also indebted to recent literary studies—demonstrates how plot analysis can be used more effectively in biblical exegesis by advancing suggestions to improve both the theoretical basis of plot and the methodology for plot analysis. To this end, a working definition of plot is formulated that includes objective and pragmatic aspects. These elements are elaborated based on the view that ‘plot’ differs from ‘story’ in that plot lies in the telling and reception of the story assuming the presence of a consciousness outside the realm of the storyworld—the reader or the spectator—for whom the plot is raveled and unraveled and from whom the plot seeks a response. This dual teleological function of plot undergirds the value of plot analysis—especially useful for narrative criticism and reader-response criticism—namely, that plot concurrently works toward narrative closure and works on the reader through its development of narrative tension. Therefore, a description of the narrator’s artistic leading of the implicit reader to understand and experience the plot’s advance can also benefit the analysis of the experience of the narrative by other types of readers. Accordingly, suggestions are offered to improve plot analysis both for macro- and micro-narratives and for the evaluation of elements that enhance the plot, such as individual passages and characters, as well as figures of speech and rhetoric.

Milgrom’s interpretation of the dietary regulations of clean and unclean food of Leviticus 11 is being characterized as ethical, because it is based on the respect for life. He rightly claims that “the diet laws of Leviticus 11 cannot be comprehended in isolation” and that “they form part of a larger dietary system.” This is why the starting point for him is the blood prohibition of Gen 9:3-4. Nevertheless, this move is not sufficient. It is my conviction, supported by the early stand of Mary Douglas, that the explanation of the dietary code regarding permitted and forbidden animals has to be put within an even larger context, namely Creation itself. Douglas’s claim was done on anthropological basis and Genesis cosmology, and I have broadened it on exegetical, stylistic, structural, conceptual, and intertextual grounds (namely on connections among Genesis 1-2; Genesis 3; Genesis 6-9; Leviticus 11; and Deuteronomy 14). Milgrom’s rational for distinction between clean and unclean food related to the sacrificial system and to division of different groups within society is discussed and evaluated.

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Tobit, that oft overlooked early second century BCE apocryphal text, is no longer neglected. It has recently been the subject of a critical commentary and several published studies. Its charming tale of a blind Diaspora Israelite, whose misery is overcome through God’s angel, Raphael, has depths that scholars are exploring. Raphael merits careful examination. He depicts a stage in the development of Israelite notions of angelic mediation that can be significantly associated with early Christianity’s view of Jesus. Several scholars have addressed Raphael’s influence on Christology but there are several overlooked mediatorial threads that shed important light on early Christology. In 1998, Charles Gieschen, in his book Angelomorphic Christology, argued that Raphael was a meaningful Christological factor. Most recently, Susan Garrett’s No Ordinary Angel (2008) has enlarged upon his mediatorial distinctives with several perceptive observations. In this vein, Tobit sheds light on notions of deliverance that were emerging in Second Temple Judaism. However, with this intriguing character, Tobit’s author has produced a more provocative figure than previously imagined, who stands apart from angelic deliverers in other Jewish texts, and in doing so offers a fascinating perspective for Christian accounts of Jesus’ preexistence and incarnation. While there have been a number of studies on the book of Tobit in recent years, its unique standard of angelic mediation in relation to ancient Judaism and early Christianity remains to be explored. This paper seeks to address this oversight by setting early Christology in the context of Tobit’s savior, Raphael.

Out of the many heroes depicted in the book of Judges, only one speaks to the deity directly: Gideon of Judges 6-8. In fact, the depiction of the deity in the Gideon narrative is largely unique in the book of Judges. When Gideon is on the Cisjordan, the deity is actively involved in the narrative, visiting Gideon, speaking directly to him, providing a series of divine signs to convince the hesitant protagonist to act, empowering Gideon with his spirit, and winning the battle against the Midianite enemy. In short, the deity in the Gideon narrative is an on-the-ground deity, active in the affairs of humanity. Yet the narrative also provides a rare glimpse into the deity’s emotions, indicating that all is not well in the realm of divine-human relations: the deity is afraid that Israel will not recognize that their ensuing win over the Midianite enemy is a result of his involvement in human affairs. Once Gideon crosses into the Transjordan, the deity largely disappears from the narrative and his fears become actualized; the story takes on a mundane tone, the protagonist never invokes the deity’s aid, and the story no longer features divine signs. Through an examination of the diverse representations of the deity, this paper will argue that the portrait of the divine in Judges 6-8 corresponds to the importance of the Gideon narrative in the overall book, while the deity’s speech, actions, and the means through which the narrative develops these address Judges’ concern with power issues and the state of human-divine relationships in the pre-monarchic world it depicts. The diverse portraits of the deity provide a glimpse into the rich compositional history of the text and the different concerns that the narrative addresses. Through signs, speech, and silence, the deity is indispensible for Judges 6-8.

Leaving national worship aside, religious ritual in Israel and Judah related to life’s two primary stressors, dietary subsistence, and health and reproduction. Within towns and villages, a select group of elders and ritual experts oversaw rituals to ensure community survival, that is, success in fields and with livestock. These rituals were most often enacted at “shrines-of-the-elders” located within residential housing compounds and identified by their varied installations and specialized cultic contents. Rituals to ensure good health and successful reproduction, on the other hand, were enacted within four-room houses using personal religious ephemera. Both men and women worshiped at “shrines-of-the-elders” and men may have engaged in healing rituals within their own homes. However, given the intimate nature of women’s reproductive concerns, other aspects of family religion remained exclusive to women. Overall, these varied religious behaviors are not revealed by biblical analysis alone but become more apparent when viewed through the lens provided by archaeological data. This paper explores the evidence for worship at “shrines-of-the-elders” and within individual homes.

Classical scholars commonly describe the ancient concept of stylistic levels with the presupposition that it merely involves literary style, how a message is expressed in a text. A study of what the rhetorical treatises say about the stylistic levels shows, however, that they affected not only composition, but also delivery and audience reactions. The delivery and reception of a text was strongly influenced by how it was written and structured. There was a close relationship between composition, delivery and reception and this relationship can be understood with the help of the levels of style. This paper introduces a method of analyzing stylistic variation in New Testament writings. Identifying and assessing compositional features that are important in defining the stylistic level, e.g. word choices, rhetorical figures, and instances of hiatus, the paper will demonstrate how these features work together to build up the text’s stylistic intensity. That level of stylistic intensity in turn defines how the text should be accurately delivered.

The experience of disability, while immensely confronting and even personal, has also shown itself capable of generating deep theological reflection on several levels. There is the level of reflection from people affected by the disabilities themselves (e.g., Nancy Eiesland, The Disabled God). There is the theological reflection by people who intimately know people with disabilities, such as relatives or care givers (e.g., Frances Young, Face to Face). Then there is the reflection from those who are not personally affected by disability, but are nonetheless so deeply impacted by the experiences of the previous two groups that they are spurred on to theological reflection themselves (e.g., David Ford, Christian Wisdom). In biblical scholarship, the injection of critical disability theory into biblical criticism has greatly contributed to the level of reflexivity in the study of disability in the Bible, moving studies away from simply diagnostic analyses of disability that used to characterize earlier studies. The editors of This Abled Body (2007) discern three approaches among the new disability studies of the Bible: the redemptionist (seeking to save the biblical text), rejectionist (critical of the Bible’s negative portrayal of disability), and historicist (descriptive but with a view to map out the ideological landscape encoded in disability). All three approaches are heavily informed by ideology criticism and confine themselves to the portrayals of disability in the Bible. My paper will explore a fourth approach: a cultural theory of disability borrowed from anthropology that offers the heuristic potential to examine biblical texts not normally associated with disability. I proceed through the designations of ‘stigma’, ‘liminal’, ‘interstitial’ to indicate the perceptual shift required by such a theory. I then examine, as test-case, Paul’s presentation of his sufferings in 2 Corinthians in light of the theory and investigate what new theological reflections it gives rise to.

The paper explores the relationship between 'exile' as testimony and memory in Ezekiel, suggesting that a shift to the concept of exile remembered plays a crucial role in nascent attempts to construct a post-exile/crisis theology.

Milgrom’s proposal that the term hatta’t, in Lev 4 and related passages, is not an offering for the atonement of sins (as per the traditional interpretation) but for the purification of the sanctuary is one of his most significant contribution to the scholarly study of Leviticus. The theory has considerable implications for several key aspects of that book, especially as regards the relationship between pollution, sacrifice, and purification rituals; between “biological” and “moral” impurities; as well as (more generally) between sanctuary and community. In discussion with recent critiques that seek to return to an understanding of hatta’t as “sin offering” (e.g., A. Schenker, R. Rendtorff) or to advance a revised account of the purification offering (e.g., R. Gane), it will be argued that Milgrom’s understanding of the relationship between hatta’t and the cleansing of the sanctuary in Leviticus remains the most compelling. On the other hand, it will also be argued that Milgrom’s attempt to entirely dissociate the hatta’t from individual atonement is unwarranted, and does not agree with the textual evidence in Leviticus. Rather, P’s hatta’t combines both functions simultaneously. This interpretation can be further substantiated when P’s hatta’t is not considered in isolation, but is read against the background of the tradition history of that offering in ancient Israel. The whole issue has some significant implications for the composition of Leviticus, which will be briefly addressed at the end of this paper.

The Animal Apocalypse (AA) describes figures and groups symbolized by white animals. These white animals appear in two periods. In the first period, they appear as bulls representing biblical figures: Adam, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (described as a lamb). Thereafter, throughout the First and Second Temple periods, the color white disappears. It appears again with the "white sheep" (90:6), that "began to open their eyes and to see", whose "wool was great and pure" (90:32), and remains till the manifestation of the Messiah, the "white bull" (90:37) with all humanity around him. The disappearance and reappearance of white is connected to blindness: when white vanishes, the sheep are blind, when white reappears the sheep's eyes are opened. I will argue that the meaning of the color white in the AA and its association with blindness and sight reveals the theological tendencies of AA and its eschatological-apocalyptic expectations. White symbolizes eschatological heavenly existence with its glorification and radiance, proximity to God, purity from sin, victory over death and the promise of resurrection in Paradise, the kingdom of God. The reappearance of white in 90: 6 opens the eschatological-apocalyptic part of the AA. The "white sheep" will replace the old group of sheep, the Jewish people, who became blind and are doomed to be condemned in the final judgement and thrown into the valley of fire. These new sheep are the elected remnant of the righteous, whose eyes were opened to understanding God's wonders at the end of time and the meaning of His eschatological plan: they will enter the heavenly Jerusalem, which was founded instead of the earthly Jerusalem and its profane temple (90: 29-36). The AA is ideologically close to the Qumran Scrolls, so it may be possible to identify this group with the Qumran sect or another similar group.

The book of Obadiah, while only 21 verses long, contains a significant number of literary tensions that have been explained as deriving from as many as seven different redactional strata. This paper, by contrast, will explore the composite nature of Obadiah differently. It will suggest that most of the tensions can be explained as the result of Obadiah’s Sitz im Buch within the Twelve. Recent literary analyses and redactional studies will be compared in order to develop the thesis that a Persian period compiler has adapted at least three independent sources to create Obadiah with an eye toward situating the writing adjacent to Amos 9. Further, the paper will explore several literary and ideological rationale for the placement of Obadiah in the developing corpus of the Book of the Twelve.

Unsere Forschungsfrage ist, ob wir Zeichen dafür finden können, dass es in dem vorisraelitischen Palästina eine ausgebreitete Ba’alsverehrung da war, d.h. Gott Ba’al eine wichtige Rolle in dem so genannten kanaanäischen Kultus in Palästina spielte. Frühere Forschung von mir und anderen hat gezeigt, dass Personennamen mit Ba’al im epigraphischen Material nur ausnahmsweise außerhalb Samaria verbreitet waren. Unsere Frage ist nun, ob das Dasein verschiedener Ortsnamen auf Baal ein Zeichen dafür sein, dass ein Gott Baal doch unter den südkanaanäischen Göttern verehrt wurde. Ein Durchgang des Materials zeigt dass fünf Ortsnamen auf Göttinnen anspielen. Dazu haben wir sechs Orte außerhalb oder an der Grenze des Israelitischen Gebiets. Die Bibel weist nur sehr wenige Orte mit dem theophoren Element Ba'al in dem zentralen Palästina auf. Die Orte sind nicht in den ägyptischen Listen zu finden und es ist nicht sehr wahrscheinlich, dass wir mit Ortsnamen der vorisraelitischen Zeit zu tun haben. Unter den Personennamen haben wir erstens vier oder fünf Namen auf bošet, die oft als Schimpfnamen angesehen werden, wenn auch einige Forscher, unter Vergleich mit amoritischen Namen auf baštu, sie als authentisch halten. Die übrigen sechs Namen auf Ba’al finden sich, mit Ausnahme von Jeruba’al und drei nicht israelitischen Könige, sämtliche in den Listen des ersten Chronikbuchs. Diese Namen beziehen sich alle zur Zeit Davis oder früher. Wie diese Namen in einer Geschichtlichen Perspektive betrachtet werden sollen, wird in dem Vortrag weiter bearbeitet.

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The epistle of James addresses itself to "the exiles in diaspora." This paper suggests taking this framing seriously. Using the psychology of migration developed by John Berry and nuanced by diaspora theorists like Avtar Brah, this paper demonstrates that James proposes a migrant stance of alienation vis-a-vis the community's relationship with home and host culture. Further, James creates a "diaspora space" (Brah) of an "alien nation," one that exists in but is "unstained" by the cosmos. The paper goes on to suggest the implications of the proposed migrant stances of James and of other New Testament authors for communities that use these ancient texts as scripture. It argues that the "scripturalization" of texts with different migrant stances as the central identifying referent of a community impacts the identity, political engagement, and world stance of that community, regardless of whether the community is, itself, made of migrants.

Isaiah 40-55 is often understood as a work bearing witness clearly and unambiguously to an incipient monotheism, the monotheistic biblical work par excellence. Yet this paper will reconsider this particular understanding of Second Isaiah’s work in light of texts such as Isa 40:1-8; 40:25-26; and 51:9-11. If the evidence of Isaiah 40-55 is better explained without recourse to the concept of monotheism, why retain the concept to describe the ideology of Second Isaiah?

This paper investigates Origen’s citations of Revelation in an effort to adduce the book’s contribution to his scriptural exegesis. 416 citations of Revelation are identified by Biblia Patristica in Origen’s extant corpus, a number which, at first glance, seems to indicate a substantial interaction with the text. However, as Bernard McGinn warns, many of the references included are “generic at best”, consisting of slight verbal parallels, and reveal little about Origen’s understanding and use of Revelation. An evaluation of the Biblia Patristica citations finds that Origen only rarely engages with the text’s fantastic imagery and the narrative of events leading to the eschaton. More frequently, texts and images plucked from their contexts in the narrative are employed to demonstrate the eternal, spiritual realities signified not only in those images themselves but in all Christian scripture. This practice is exemplified in Origen’s frequent citation of euangelion aionion (eternal gospel) from Revelation 14:6. Through an analysis of his use of “eternal gospel” at De Principiis 3.6.8, 4.25, Comm. Jo. 1.40 and Comm. Rom. 1.4, I argue that Revelation rarely functions in Origen’s thought as a cohesive whole, much less as an apocalyptic narrative. Rather, its images are invoked as a series of prophetic insights into the nature of God’s self-revelation in Christ, an eternal gospel that can be glimpsed behind the veil of the written word but will only be fully revealed at the end, when God will be all in all.

Assuming the proleptic function of the Identification of Recipient Unit (IRU) constituent of 1 Peter's Epistolary Salutation, this paper identifies the appositional adjectives 'chosen,' and 'parepidemos diaspora' (1:1) as establishing a controlling metaphor (Achtemeier 1996, 69) or symbolic universe (Thuren 1990). In addition to a traditional Haustafeln (2:18-3:7), Martin (1992) argues for the addition of 1:14-2:10 employing the polyvalence of 'oikos.' I conclude Christians are members of two households: die ewige and die zeitliche, corresponding to the appositional adjectives noted above. It is the interplay between these two households which 1 Peter seeks to re map and thus ameliorate the dissonance such membership attracts. Employing Wright's (1992, 132-133) worldview questions I deduce; 1. Who are we? We are the elect of God (1:1), newly born of God (1:3), those the prophets of old were serving (1:12), experiencing things angels long to understand (1:12). We are those who stand to secure the inheritance of God (1:4). 2. Where are we? We are in diaspora (1:1), protected by God (1:5), in the time of messianic woes (1:6 cf. 1:11 on one understood reading: cf., Davids 1990, 15) preceding the vindication and glory (1:7). 3. What’s wrong? We are parepidmos (1:1), our hope is faltering (1:3) because Jesus has not yet returned (1:7) and our salvation is not yet revealed (1:5), and we are suffering (1:6). 4. What’s the solution? We need to be obedient (1:1), when the genuineness of our faith is proved it will result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus is revealed (1:7). That we can rejoice even though suffering, proves we are already receiving the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls (1:9).

It is intricate to see the world and reality from the perspective, of Jesus, a Mediterranean Jewish peasant who lived in the first century, and whose culture was so dissimilar to ours. Yet, that is where our journey must begin, if we want to find the solution to the multi-national efforts to combat human trafficking. In the Gospel of Matthew 5.28, Jesus utters a phrase that not only goes beyond his contemporaries’ customary views but also shakes the postmodern reader: “I say to you that anyone who looks at a woman in order to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Such shocking but memorable words were unusual on the lips of a Mediterranean Jew, because for many ancient Mediterranean men lust was a healthy and honorable virtue (Achilles Tatius 1.4-6; Apuleius Metamorphosis 2.8). These words also conflicted with the prospect of many Jewish men who viewed women as sexual objects expecting them to wear head coverings to prevent lust (Sirach 25.21; Psalms of Solomon 16.7-8). However, in Matthew 5.28 not only that Jesus placed the responsibility on men, those that are doing the lusting, but he also unmasked the real root of the problem – the heart of men. As a biblical scholar, as a board member of MATTOO (Men Against the Trafficking of Others), the first-of-its-kind nonprofit organization that aims to get men involved in the anti-human trafficking movement, and most importantly as a man, I will seek to address ethical challenge of Matthew 5.28 by pointing to the big elephant in the room: what is the cause of the modern-day slavery that constitutes a direct assault on women’s freedom and dignity.

As a product of the Reformation, the KJV hit the presses just as the English were colonizing the Eastern Seaboard of North America. In large part, these colonists were Protestant; yet, a substantial number were also from the Established Church. For all these groups, the KJV was the sacred text then, and for many of their descendents, it remains so today. Indeed, one can say that whenever an American in a public forum quotes from the Bible, the citation more often than not comes from KJV, no matter whether the speaker is non-Protestant or non-Christian. In 1999, the American artist and book engraver, Barry Moser, undertook designing and illustrating the whole Bible, and for his text, he insisted upon using the KJV; as a former evangelical preacher, no other English translation meant as much to him. By his own admittance, however, Moser contends mightily against the faith represented by organized Christianity, preferring to call himself an “agnostic, atheistic, unrepentant reprobate”. Through Moser’s Pennyroyal Caxton Edition, this paper explores the historical and ongoing role the KJV has had in shaping and reflecting American religious identity, an identity which fluctuates between the piety of the Tea Party movement and the vision of Obama Democrats. Do Americans see themselves as Israelites whom the Lord God brought, “…out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Exo 20:2), do they see themselves as the prophet Jeremiah, calling out to all others, “Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit” (Jer 7:8), or do they see themselves as spectators of the crucifixion? The paper presents the thesis that the Moser Bible critiques the culture whose referent is the KJV, as it opens that same text to those outside the Anglo-Saxon frame of reference.

New evidence from c. 200 cuneiform documents confirms the presence of Judeans and other West Semites in the Mesopotamian agricultural landscape shortly after Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem and Judah in 587. As is known from the Murašû texts, Judeans may readily be identified in Akkadian cuneiform texts on the basis of the Yahwistic component of their names. The onomasticon preserved in the new text corpus supplements existing knowledge of the names borne by Judeans in Mesopotamia and expands the orthographic evidence for the transcription of West Semitic names (notably those containing the Yahwistic theophoric element) into cuneiform. To the degree that onomastic and prosopographic evidence may be considered an indicator, the new texts suggest that the Judean population of the small agricultural settlements retained their distinctive names and naming patterns and thus, perhaps, their cultural identification. Prosopographic evidence offers little indication that the Judean exiles and their descendants located in settlements outside the urban centers adopted Babylonian monikers. These routine administrative and legal texts attest both to the existence of a settlement heavily populated with Judeans and to their immediate assignation to and integration into economic and administrative roles known to have been assumed by other populations deported by Neo-Babylonian kings. Their economic standing and administrative roles provide glimpses into the initial stages of economic organization characteristic of Murašû period texts. This introduction points to many avenues of research that will benefit from this new evidence for Judeans and West Semites in the Mesopotamian exile.

The Book of Job discusses the question of human suffering vis-a-vis divine justice (theodicy) in the Deity’s supervision of the world via the story of Job. The Talmud says: "Job did not exist nor was he created, but is rather a parable" (Baba Batra). It can be assumed that the latter claim contains an apologia for those who would contend against the divine cruelty perceived in the story. The doubt as to whether the story of Job occurred in very fact does not detract from the importance of the messages which it contains. In this paper I examine the question of human suffering and divine justice in the Book of Job from the human point of view: that of Job and his friends on the one hand, and the readers on the other hand. Job’s friends believe that his suffering is punishment for his sins, while (unlike Job), the reader knows that his suffering is a trial by God whose aim is to prove Job's righteousness to Satan. Job responds to the disasters which befall him (chapters 1-2) in the prose tale framing the Book (the Prologue): "The LORD has given and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of LORD" (NJPS Job 1:21). Job accepts his fate and blesses God. On the other hand, in the poetic discourse which constitutes the debate between the hero and his friends Job expresses both criticism and rage: "It is all one: therefore I say, He destroys the blameless and the guilty […] The earth is handed over to the wicked one..." (Job 9: 22). How can we explain the difference between acceptance of judgment in the prose tale framing the story and the words of rage and criticism in Job’s poetic discourse? Are we presented with two different stories about two Jobs, created by two authors? In this paper I wish to offer a different solution to the duality in the "man-god" relationship, from man's point of view. Firstly, this duality appears in other places in the Hebrew Bible. In Genesis we witness man’s ability to understand God and therefore to debate with Him (Abraham in Sodom, Gen. 18:23-33). In the story of the aborted sacrifice of Isaac (Gen. 22), however, man is incapable of understanding God and therefore accepts and obeys God's word without asking questions or expressing doubts. Secondly, the change in Job's relationship to God comes after God's reply from the whirlwind (Chapters 38-42). Why did God's answer convince Job? I would suggest that the explanation of the meaning of Job's suffering is in the very revelation of God, and not in the Deity’s words. Job no doubt sought meaning in his suffering (see: Victor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning), but apparently needs to be bound to God on an emotional level. The very revelation of God, the actual connection with the Deity brought about by suffering, gives meaning to the suffering. The Book of Job teaches its readers that the nearness of man to God is not necessarily dependent upon our understanding of the ways of God. As Job himself testifies at the end: "I had heard You with my ears but now I see You with my eyes…" (Job 42:5). The Book concludes on a note of optimism: "Thus the LORD blessed the latter years of Job's life more than the former…" (Job 42:12). Can the closing optimism be sufficient cover for the irreversible damage and suffering of Job?

The narrative of Sibylline Oracles 1.387-2.44 moves from the destruction of the temple by a Roman king to the appearance of a tenth generation of men at a time when God will “break the glory of idols and shake the people of seven-hilled Rome”. God will save pious men from the ensuing turmoil; there will be “deep peace and understanding”; the world will no longer be under a shameful servitude; and finally a crown of immortality will be held out to all men who “strive in contest” to enter the heavenly city. At this point the Christian redactor introduces Christ as the judge, who, on the one hand, will award the martyrs an immortal treasure and, on the other, “will give an imperishable prize… to all men who perform justice and to diverse nations who live piously and acknowledge one God”. It is argued here that this narrative is generally relevant for understanding Paul’s thought, but that the distinction made between the martyrs and a pious humanity throws particular backward light on the development of Paul’s argument in Romans 2-3. Paul similarly speaks of “tribulation and distress” for every person who does evil, the Jew first, and then the Greek, but holds out “glory and honor and peace” for those who “by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality”. We are then left with the problem of reconciling such judgments “corresponding to works” with the argument about justification by faith. The Sibylline Oracles passage suggests a framework for resolving the conundrum historically. Against a backdrop of social transition determined by an apocalyptic narrative about Israel and Rome, Paul argues for an eschatological "faithfulness" by which the hard-pressed churches, whose members may well have pursued “the contest even to death”, may eventually be vindicated.

Qohelet opens with some kind of metaphor, but of a very peculiar sort: habel habalim. Let us call it a motto, one that introduces a main theme. But it is certainly not a thesis, (e. g. “Vanity of vanities”), because then we are held captive by the interpretation imposed upon it. Before any meaning can be imposed on a fact of discourse, however, there are two preliminary matters, typically bypassed and yet crucial to interpretation. The first is the pure artistic physicality of the text itself, its poetic effect produced by its rhythm and rime: Habel habalim / habel habalim / ha-kol hebel. A second casualty of our rush to interpret is even more serious: neglect of the pshat or simple literal meaning. Current translations of the hebel metaphor -- vanity, as something absurd, insubstantial, futile, ephemeral, incomprehensible, frustrating, ironic, to name only a few -- are only interpretative abstractions. Not only are they not metaphors, they neglect the first requirement of metaphorical expression. I mean that, while metaphorical extensions are common to poetry and also to discourse itself, it is important to insist, as did the Rabbis and Levinas, that a term never entirely departs from its concrete literal sense. Now the simple pshat of hebel is “breath,” yielding a quite different focus to the opening theme: “A Breath of breaths, a breath of breaths, it is all breath.” This paper reflects on the interpretative possibilities of the pshat of hebel, seeking avenues to expand its metaphorical reach, even to ask, as Levinas does, “whether the literal sense is not itself already metaphorical.” Levinas’ recently published Carnets de Captivité (Paris 2009) provide astonishing theoretical reflections on the pshat/metaphor nexus as well as on exegesis in general.

The clause “we are speaking before God in Christ” (katenanti theou en Christo(i) laloumen) appears only twice in the Pauline corpus, in 2 Cor 2:17 and 12:19. Such exact repetition within the literary context of a single letter might be expected to invite a reading of the phrase as an inclusio, framing the intervening material as primarily addressed to God, and only overheard by the Corinthians. The prevalence of partition theories for 2 Corinthians, however, has mitigated against the exploration of this possibility. The identification of an inclusio is supported by the presence in the context of 12:19 of allusions to the three principal topics treated in canonical 2 Corinthians: the character and goals of Paul’s apostolic ministry (12:12–15; cf. 2:14–7:16), the collection for Jerusalem he has organized as a part of this ministry (12:16–18; cf. chaps. 8–9), and the ministers whom Paul opposes (12:11; cf. 10:1–12:10). Recognition of this inclusio invites a reconsideration of arguments against the letter’s integrity, especially in light of research on ancient rhetoric and epistolography undertaken since partition theories gained ascendance.

Various items associated with the presence of women and children and/or clearly female activities have been recovered from the site (spindle whorls), cemetery (female skeletal remains and beads) and caves (a comb) of Qumran. The presence of these items challenges the so-called “Essene hypothesis” which proposes a solely male habitation at Qumran. This hypothesis, based on the sectarian documents and the writings of Josephus, receives some support from the predominantly male cemetery. This paper will review each of these find in its archaeological context (site, cemetery or cave), in dialogue with the immediately surrounding material finds (such as pottery, fabrics, baskets and coins), and in light of the larger picture of archaeological remains from the same period found at other sites in the Judean Desert (including Ein Feshkha, Masada, Wadi Muraba‘at and Nahal Hever). Significant errors in the labeling of some of these artifacts will be brought to light, which will impact the assessment of the presence of women at Qumran. Finally, the finds will be viewed against de Vaux’s proposed multi-phased stratigraphy of Qumran. Through this process, the nature of female presence at Qumran can be clarified without completely negating either the presence of the Essenes or of women at the site.

Comparative work in Biblical Studies has suffered from theories of diffusion, borrowing, and influence. These theories use language and structure for purposes analogous to genetic testing - to find enough similarities to propose that text-A is related to text-B. This serves the scientific and often apologetic impulses of the scholar, but what about the interests of texts and their communities? What is lost when a text is forced to be its brother’s keeper? Interesting comparison requires the postulation of difference and an exploration of the space between the objects of study. The job of the comparativist is to mediate a conversation between items being compared, guided by the scholar’s concerns, methodology, and particular understanding. However, before comparing objects one must describe them in such a way as to further that comparison. Clifford Geertz’s “Thick Description” (TD) is a particularly useful analytic approach from the field of anthropology. Its application results in an analysis of the object’s underlying structure, the interplay of its constituent parts, and what it all means. The first half of this paper explains what TD is, what its assumptions are, and how to apply this approach to textual study. The second half of this paper demonstrates how TD aids in comparison. Papyrus Amherst 63 XI:11-19 (XIb) and Psalm 20 provide a particularly helpful test-case because their comparison illuminates the subtle yet substantial differences that are lost when texts are only compared “genetically”. TD allows the objects of study to speak for themselves before being compared, enabling the postulation of difference. However, these differences comment on more than just themselves. In this case, difference gives us insight into how social and historical reality shapes theology. This insight is lost when genetic relationships alone govern the parameters of historically related texts.

The numerous intertextual connections between the poetic sections in Jonah and various other poems in the Hebrew Bible have been known for a long time. This paper focuses on the connections between Ps 116 and the poetic sections of Jonah. There are not only connections between the psalm and the prayer of Jonah in Jonah 2, but also connections between the psalm and the poetic section in Jonah 4:2-3. The connections do not concern superficial similarities of certain words and phrases, but include a significant similarity of contents, leading to the proposal that both Ps 116 and the poetic sections in Jonah can be traced to a common source or redaction. Members of this supposed redaction, it seems, propagated their own theological perspective by endowing biblical characters such as Jonah with first person pious pronouncements.

The historic-critical Method, very used in the protestant and catholic Biblical Theology, concern in the last decades also orthodox Theologians, biblical scholars which are confront with new ways of understanding of the Scripture. The Orthodox Theology has not developed a proper academic interpretation Method for the Scripture's text, but she remained anchored in the Patristic Exegesis. Are these two ways to the Bibel's Text very different? It means that the textual criticism exclude or suspend the old fashion of text interpretation, the so called patristic exegesis? Or the membership to a Church, the Orthodox Church in this case, means also a refusal of academic biblical studies? In this ecumenical landscape can we talk about unity based on the different exegetical methods?

Nehemiah attributed the primary significant attempt to cause him to fail and cease his activities, especially building the wall of Jerusalem, to the Jewish “nobles and prefects” of Yehud. These Jewish leaders had acted, hoping to demoralize Nehemiah’s loyal supporters. They deprived them of their homes, their property and their children so that Nehemiah would be considered by his loyal supporters – as well as by the upper echelons of the Persian Empire, and the king – as an agitator who was sending shockwaves throughout the sensitive region of Yehud and its environs. Consequently, Nehemiah would be removed from his post, and his separatist policy would be buried. The “nobles and prefects” failed, however, to achieve their goal. Nehemiah managed to resolve the economic crisis, and he succeeded in rebuilding the Jerusalem wall.

With support from the Subject Centre, the Department of Biblical Studies at Sheffield has been developing materials to help colleagues in a variety of disciplines e.g. English, History, History of Art and Music, to address the lack of biblical literacy among their students. What can biblical scholars do to help colleagues who feel they have neither the time nor the expertise to make up for the gaps in their students' education? Some of the materials developed in this project will be available for discussion and review at this session.

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For many years after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, text analysis and fragments attribution were the main concern of the scholars dealing with them. The uncertain archaeological provenance of a large part of the collection added an additional difficulty to the formidable task of sorting thousands of fragments. After 60 years of scholar research the questions of origin, archaeological provenance and correct attribution of the fragments are still debated. In many cases material characterization of the scroll writing media deliver answers to the questions stated above. Physical and chemical examination of the “parchment” of the Dead Sea Scrolls started shortly after their discovery. Subsequent studies dedicated to the long-term preservation resulted in a respectable body of knowledge about this material that differs in many ways from the medieval parchment. A new multi-instrumental approach, developed for an accurate characterization of the highly inhomogeneous “parchment” of the Dead Sea Scrolls, might leads to a reliable reconstruction of their history. The approach is illustrated by the case studies, in which we discuss the specific questions of origin (1Q Hodayota), archaeological provenance (11Q Templea) and post-discovery interventions (1Q GenAp).

In slave songs - the earliest African American poetry canon - 'the city' is typically non-terrestrial. References abound to City of God, Heaven, Jerusalm, Zion, God's Kingdom and Jordan. The apocryphal vision of the book of Revelation resulting in divine justice would have been politically safe and emotionally satisfying for the enslaved population. Allusions to northern cities would be dire. 'The city' was a metaphor for the creation of God's kingdom on earth and represented hope and the possibility of justice prevailing on earth. For Christians Jerusalem on earth would have had negative connotations as the place where Jesus died, as against the new Jerusalem to be established by God on earth. 'The city' as an imagined destination of migration for African slaves is a creative metaphor-blend, offering time and place for a wish fulfilemnt never visited. Slave songs are dominated by the two symbolic cities of Jordan and Jerusalem. Using the inter-disciplinary approaches of literary studies, postcolonial and critical race theories, cognitive poetics, cultural studies and religious studies, this paper will explain how their city, as encountered largely through the language of the KJV, enabled African American slaves to use the metaphors of 'city' as forces for hope and survival.

This presentation uses biblical and Greek creation myths as a crux from which to explore contested disciplinary issues. Since cosmogonic myths occur in virtually all cultures, an examination of the methods by which these myths are studied can disclose much about the ethos of a field. This comparison shall provide a focus for methodological assessment along the following axes: (1) distinguishing between arguments that seek to preserve textual authority and those that treat texts as data for inductive or interpretive inference about an ancient culture; (2) observing the use of post-modernism either to critique or to protect claims to textual and interpretive authority, and (3) elucidating any differences in the stances biblical scholars and classicists take toward modern science as it relates to the contents and meaning of cosmogonic myths. Overall, I argue that a properly academic biblical scholarship must abandon any “caretaking” function, to use R. McCutcheon’s term, and ally itself instead with thick historicism and productive self-critique. Major theorists whose work informs this study are J. Z. Smith, D. Weibe, and R. McCutcheon, in religious studies, and P. Davies, J. Berlinerblau and H. Avalos within biblical studies.

The Garden of Eden as described in the Hebrew Bible is an earthly place. There Adam and Eve lived before their first sin, which led to their expulsion from the garden. The early scriptures do not describe a human desire to return to the garden. This is also true for the Book of the Watchers and the Astronomical Book, two of the earlier sections of the Ethiopic Book of Enoch. A different picture is found in later apocalyptic literature and in some Christian and rabbinic texts. These writings place the Garden of Eden in heaven, and indicate that the righteous will dwell there after death or in the end of times as a reward for their deeds. The gap between these two perceptions can be filled by the Book of Parables, the second and latest section of 1 Enoch. The Book of Parables is composed of earlier sources—most significantly, interpolations from a very ancient work called The Book of Noah. In these Noahic texts the Garden of Eden, although still on earth, is the place of recompense for the righteous and chosen. Other parts of the Book of Parables portray a heavenly site for the souls of the virtuous. Combining both of these sources, sometimes even within the same chapter, the editor of this whole section creates a new text expressing a different view, in which the Garden of Eden is placed in heaven. The awareness of the editor as to the consequences of his actions is unclear. The change in function of the garden could possibly be attributed to the development of the belief in personal retribution in the afterlife that developed in ancient Israel during the Second Temple period, new interpretations of metaphoric verses in the Hebrew Bible, or different understandings of the garden and its contents during this time. Motivations for the shift of the garden from earth to heaven may include the identification of Eden with the garden of the Lord, and the view of souls as spiritual entities independent of the material body, entities that aspire to unite with God after death or resurrection.

This paper will discuss various theories as to why classicists have often neglected to fully integrate women into their analyses of the ancient Roman economy. It will then provide a few brief examples from the Augustan Age as to what we can learn from the economic situation of women in the Roman Empire, especially from women found in the lower echelons of Roman society. Essentially, this paper will demonstrate that the economic situation of women in the Augustan Age was much more precarious than it was for men. Finally, this paper will discuss a possible sociological model or two relating to gender that could be used to further the present state of research on women and the Roman economy.

In Ezra 9, having returned to Jerusalem, Ezra cries out in prayer, lamenting that ‘the holy race’ has been compromised by intermarriage with the neighbouring people and failure to separate from their ‘detestable practices’. Such crimes, as Ezra saw them, had also been committed by Levites and Priests. As a result of Ezra’s actions, the Israelite men ‘put away’ their foreign wives and children. This occasion has been retro-jected into the story of Numbers 25. Zimri, a prominent Simeonite and his Midianite wife, Cozbi are slain in the midst of their marital embrace. The murderer: Phinehas, grandson of Aaron (that is, a Levite) and guard of the sacral precinct. Phinehas emerges from this episode as a hero and Yhwh grants to him an ‘everlasting covenant of peace.’ Indeed, this everlasting covenant is the High Priesthood which is traced to him. Through the monarchical period, it is these twin covenants – that granted to David and this one, to Phinehas that regulates Israel’s civic and religious life. This paper explores the intersection of Priests and foreign women in this text, using postcolonial theories of ambivalence and fixity to understand the characterisation of Cozbi (who comes to represent all foreign women) as ‘the strange woman’ and the unusually zealous Phinehas, who becomes the model Priest. It explores the sexualised nature of Cozbi's abuse, that is, the control that Phinehas' actions impose alongside reports of other 'detestable practices' committed against Aboriginal men during the conquest of Australia in the 18th Century by invading Englishmen and more recent reporting of the lengths that aboriginal women continue to go to in the protection of their sexuality.

Hartmut Stegemann first pointed out what became a well known non-sequitur about the Dead Sea Scrolls. Despite being owned and/or produced by an apocalyptic sect, the ancient collection of texts seemed not to contain any previously unknown literary apocalypses. Further analyses of smaller and more fragmentary texts, catalyzed by Florentino García-Martínez’ Qumran and Apocalyptic, have revealed a slightly more nuanced picture. Most scholars can now comfortably refer to a modest body of texts, composed primarily in Aramaic, which may be (new) literary apocalypses. Their classification, nevertheless, remains tenuous. The reason these texts remain marginal cases is not that they possess features that are at odds with prominent definitions of the form and content of apocalypses. Rather, in most cases, their poor state of their preservation simply prevents definitive judgment. A common lacuna among many fragmentary Qumran apocalypses is the lack of a clear articulation of the “spatial dimension” featured in John J. Collins’ definition of apocalypse. In other words, they contain no clear representation of “another supernatural world.” In this paper, I analyze three fragmentary Qumran apocalypses and focus on a signature feature of the “spatial dimension” in many well-known apocalypses: the presence and activity of angels. First, I examine 4QFour Kingdomsa-b ar and argue that, although angels are not specifically mentioned in the text, one can have great confidence that an angelic interpres figures prominently. I then compare the function of other angelic/demonic figures found in 4QPseudo-Daniela-b ar and 4QApocryphon of Jeremiah C. I conclude that the role of angels in 4QFour Kingdoms, 4QPseudo-Daniel, and 4QApocryphon of Jeremiah C suggests that the texts are indeed best illuminated when read in light of Jewish apocalypses from the Hellenistic Period.

This paper argues that the reconfiguration of Genesis 22:1-19 plays a central role in Mark's literary and theological program. Three key Markan episodes (the Baptism, Transfiguration, and Parable of the Vineyard Tenants) evince numerous lexical parallels with the Greek version of the Akedah. The threefold use of agapetos in Mark (1:11; 9:7; 12:6)—to cite only one example—echoes the threefold use of the term in the Akedah (Gen 22:2, 12, 16). Multiple other lexical links suggest that each of these three episodes alludes to the Akedah, and points forward to Jesus’ death. Mark’s appropriation of the Abraham/Isaac narrative increases suspense regarding whether, like Isaac, Jesus will be delivered from his impending doom. Mark ultimately reconfigures the narrative arc in the Akedah to underscore the contrast between the divine deliverance of Isaac and Jesus’ ultimate execution. This contrast highlights the way in which God not only fails to rescue Jesus but is also complicit in his death. The reconfiguration of the Akedah illuminates other Markan episodes such as Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane (14:32-36) and Jesus’ cry from the cross (15:34).

It is well known that Philo received huge influence from his hellenistic environment including in his method of interpretation, the allegoresis. Nevertheless, he was not the first jewish writer in contact to this kind of hermeneutic. Is it possible to mention works from the Greek Bible as examples of texts produced before Philo which presents a similar method of interpretation? In this paper, I analyse passages from Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus and compare them to Philo's texts in order to verify if there is in these works something which could be considerated as a forerunner to the allegorical reading developed by the Alexandrian. In doing so, I observe passages of these works which, according to Émile Bréhier, present a kind of allegoresis similar to Philo's. I notice that there are similarities ideed, but that Bréhier had not studied each passage in its details. Therefore, he seems to have misunderstood the real nature of what he calls allegory. After that, I present one more comparison, bringing to the scene a text that is not present in the LXX, but that has its relevance to this Greek translation: the Letter to Aristeas. In this text, different from the other two, I do find a kind of reading close to Philo's interpretation, that I think should be called “philonica allegoresis”, because of its particularities. To sum up, in this paper I try to study part of the history of allegoresis in the Jewish Hellenistic context, by reading the original texts with attention and considering previous efforts of different scholars and philonists.

The most obvious characteristic of Herod’s philhellenism and his conscious behavior as Hellenistic king was his evergetism, or his generous gifts bestowed on Greek cities around the Greek world, or koine. Moreover evergetism, because of its own consecrating nature, was also one of the best ways to underline the evergetes prominence in the political arena, thus giving to Herod the possibility to show his preeminence and power of Hellenistic King, and displaying his wealth. Herod, however, was a faithful ally of Rome. Therefore, through his immense benefactions in the Hellenistic world he not only celebrated himself, but his overlords Augustus and Rome as well, as a member of Augustus’s ecumenical clientele and as friend and ally, socius et amicus of Rome. Moreover as Jewish king, his evergetism, political as well as material, was reflected in his support for the Jewish communities scattered in the Roman Empire Thus, as Hellenistic ruler, the most important act of evergetism was probably the restoration of the city of Olympia in Elis and of the Olympic Games. Herod showed as well his evergetism towards Athens and Sparta, as well as to other centers of Greek - Hellenistic culture as Pergamum, Rhodes, Samos, Chios, as well as Antioch in Syria. As faithful ally of Rome, and as the vicar of Augustus in the East, Herod erected most of the public buildings of Nicopolis, the city erected by Augustus at Actium, and of course he laid the foundations of the cities of Caesarea Maritima and Sebaste, named in honor of Augustus, within his kingdom. As Jewish king, Herod protected the political rights of the Jews living in Asia and possibly erected a synagogue in Rome. This policy of evergetism permitted to Herod to show all his might and power, was probably a substitute for an otherwise aggressive foreign policy, as previous Hellenistic rulers, including the Hasmoneans did in the past. However, by now, the new political situation created by the far reaching, all pervasive, and dominating Roman power made quite difficult an aggressive foreign policy.

Old Testament historiography has its own characteristics, especially when it is presented in a narrative form. Narrative historical work needs to write history selective, interpretative, dramatically and with special interest for the present situation of the readers. With narrative historiography biblical authors master crises and establish and strengthen identity. This paper makes some cases to the typical characteristics of Old Testament historiography. Furthermore it seeks to examine the theological dynamic of Judges 6:1-24 as an example of narrative historical writing and door to Judges 6-8. The claim “JHWH is peace” (Judges 6:24) becomes a programmatic witness in the midst of stories of wars.

In 1 Corinthians St Paul not only confirms that the believers have already received God’s gifts, but also criticizes the Corinthians for their false dealing with these gifts. This paper tries to prove that for Paul God’s gifts can reveal their true meaning only in their link (tension) with the final reward. For Paul, God’s gifts are not self-sufficient, nor are they the final point of God-human relations. The Corinthians should not neglect them nor consider them as the token of their already realized salvation. The gifts are an indispensable foundation for the striving for the reward. Through this striving, the believers give a response to God’s gifts, and receiving the final reward crowns this God-human intercommunion. In other words, God’s gifts and God’s reward cannot exist without each other, and the responsible reciprocity of the believers provides a cohesive link between the two. In this paper some conclusions from the modern discussion on the nature of ‘gift’ and ‘reciprocity’ are used. Though some thinkers (like, for instance, J. Derrida, J.-L. Marion and K. Tanner) doubt the possibility of making a response to (the divine) gifts, others (like, for instance, J. Milbank, D. Albertson) insist on the essential necessity for a gift to co-exist with the reciprocal reaction. According to this latter view, any gift loses its meaning if it does not find a response. On the contrary, all relations (and primarily God-human relations) achieve their fullness if they exist in reciprocal exchange. These ideas from the modern discussion help to understand Paul’s call to the Corinthians not to leave God’s gifts without response. Only the reciprocal participation of the believers can bring them to the ultimate eschatological relation with God, which is actually the reward.

During the Persian period traditional Judahite religion underwent important changes. Influential priestly and lay groups in the Babylonian Golah and in the province of Yehud wanted to transform the former national deity into the only god of Israel and of all nations. In order to do so, they had to address the problem caused by the disappearance of a female deity traditionally associated with Yhwh and if and how the only god, Israel's savior, could be held responsible for the existence of evil forces. The Hebrew Bible contains different attempts to resolve these problems. Interestingly in both cases some "solutions" give rise to divine figures such as the personification Hokhma and the figure of Satan. In this respect it appears difficult to apply a philosophical concept of monotheism to the Hebrew Bible.

The apparently amorphous mass of the classical rabbinic text known as the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael has been explicitly divided into more manageable portions known as Massekhtot and Parashiyyot in all the manuscripts and printed editions. My research into various aspects of the Mekhilta, such as its relationship to the book of Exodus, upon which it comments, and its thematic agenda, has convinced me of the value of a preliminary appreciation of a finer division of this exegetical Midrash. In this paper therefore I examine firstly the major text divisions and their historical significance. I follow this with an investigation into the implicit division of the text into smaller sections which I shall call “midrashic units” and how these units constitute what I term the Macrostructure of the Mekhilta. The midrashic units are defined as sections of text consisting of biblical quotations followed by rabbinic commentary. I will show that in the vast majority of cases (nearly 100%) the rabbinic commentary deals immediately and directly with the text referred to in the cited biblical verse, and thus justify my description of such units as forming the Macrostructure of the Mekhilta as a whole. I will also describe what I call the Microstructure of the Mekhilta – that is the regular structural patterns that are found within the midrashic units. I will conclude by arguing that such quantitative study of the text yields benefit for qualitative understanding thereof.

The letter of James contains a number of instances of nominative or vocative forms of address in contexts where the addressees are already well established. These expressions often co-occur with what form criticism has labeled "disclosure formulas," and are sometimes associated with marking boundaries within the discourse. This paper examines the role that semantic redundancy plays in judgments about the discourse function of these expressions. It also considers the role location plays on these judgments, both with respect to the clause and the paragraph. It will be demonstrated that when these expressions are not semantically required, they serve as an alternative means to conjunctions for marking new developments within the discourse, and thus play an important role in delimiting pericope boundaries within the epistle.

While Cheryl Exum and others have recognized the “tragic vision” in the Deuteronomistic Historian’s account of David, only L. Daniel Hawk has ventured to suggest that the genre of Greek tragedy is consciously imitated by the writers or editors. This paper goes beyond Hawk in two ways. First, it demonstrates that the final form of the David story (1 Samuel 16 – 1 Kings 2) conforms to the plot structure of tragedy as outlined by Aristotle in the Poetics. Second, it argues that Jewish editors created this tragic structure – possibly in the late Persian period but more likely during the Ptolemaic era – by inserting the Bathsheba-Uriah episode (2 Samuel 11), which was modeled on the Egyptian Tabubu tale, as the crucial climatic turning point into a pre-existing historiographical narrative. The refashioning of an historiographical narrative into a tragedy raises a number of crucial issues about the method and manner by which editors transform literary texts from one genre to another. Primary among these are the social, political, and religious motivations which might lie behind such genre transformations.

Much has been written about Philo’s perspectives on the possibilities and constraints of human knowledge about and from God. Less attention however has been given to his interest in prayer as a means by which such knowledge can be accessed and actualised. In this paper I will offer as a case study of the role of prayer in Philonic epistemology an examination of the two prayer exhortations found in Philo’s De Agricultura (“Agr.”). This treatise is noteworthy because it features Philo’s definition of prayer (Agr. 99) and also provides evidence of his self-awareness as a practitioner and facilitator of group prayer (Agr. 44—45; 168). Following a brief survey of two of the more dominant themes in Philonic epistemology (migration and transformation), I will present the chain of exegetical contexts in which the exhortations are situated in order to show that both exhortations may be fruitfully understood as standing in proximate continuity with one another. Turning then to the form and content of each exhortation, I will attempt to show the ways in which Philo skillfully negotiates the active and passive properties of such knowledge, achieving this in part by exploiting the range of potentially subversive encoded meanings afforded by concepts such as shepherd (poimenos), democracy (demokratia), and statue (andrias). In exhorting his readers to pray in ways that do not sever the epistemological (noetic migration) from the ethical (personal/political transformation), Philo displays tendencies that not only seem entirely consistent with his broader perspectives on human knowledge of God but also seem to convey a sense of strategic ambiguity that may have afforded a spectrum of imaginative possibilities to his readers in first-century Alexandria. By way of brief conclusion, the last point on strategic ambiguity will be related to an important contemporary debate regarding the politics of Philo's interpretive techniques.

The story of Joseph in the Quran became the basis for an Islamic version that wove diverse traditions, including Jewish and Christian, together to become one of the most elaborate biblical narratives in the Islamic imagination. The shape of this Islamic version diverged from its counterparts in the Bible, Midrash and Christian exegesis. Al-Biqa`i’s Quran commentary Nazm al-Durr brings the Joseph of Genesis back into conversation with the Islamic Joseph. The juxtaposition of the two versions is remarkable in this genre of literature, in which the Bible was never used to interpret the biblical narratives as such. This paper will attempt to understand the reasons behind al-Biqa`i’s readmission of the biblical version and the challenge that biblical material posed to exegetes with biblical knowledge.

What is a crucifixion? A simple yet crucial a question. Numerous monographs, articles, dictionaries, and commentaries, which deal with Jesus or the Gospels, offer answers to the question. It does not take more than a glimpse to find a full blown and colorful depiction of the crucifixion punishment in general and the crucifixion of Jesus in particular. It does not matter whether the author is, e.g., conservative, evangelical, liberal, progressive, or agnostic. They all elucidate in detail what a crucifixion is. But from where do they acquire their knowledge? The common answer—ancient texts—could be seen as a three-step rocket. On level one are the passion narratives. Level two, brings the rest of the Bible, and on the third level is the pre-Christian Greco-Roman literature found. The present paper will argue for that these three groups are insufficient when it comes to deliver information about the crucifixion punishment. Their main contribution is the use of nouns such as stauros and crux, and verbs as (ana)stauroun and anaskolopizein. There is seldom any additional information beyond the use of these words, commonly assumed to mean “cross” and “crucifixion”. However, even a brief study shows that the ancient authors use them in a much wider sense. The majority of the texts is not possible to determine to what they refer, other that it is some kind of undefined suspension act. Thus, the information that could be acquired from these ancient sources does not match the vast information the scientific contributions offer.

It was Yehezkel Kaufmann who pointed out the striking lack of prayer in Priestly law: P's vision of the temple was a "Sanctuary of Silence." But scholars such as Milgrom, Greenstein and Fishbane argued that Kaufmann's is an *argument* from silence, pointing to the fact that no Priestly texts explicate an anti-language theology, and to the existence of possible exceptions. Knohl made an important defense of Kaufmann's theory based on an apophatic theology in which human prayer is avoided because its content risks ascribing actions and characteristics to God. I will suggest a different account of the Priestly sanctuary's silence, based on two nearly unexplored areas of evidence. First, the recent comprehensive edition of the Ugaritic ritual texts documents a West Semitic sacrificial cult where prayer was regularly prescribed, and recent study of Mesopotamian temple rituals from Babylon and Uruk demonstrates that prayer was ubiquitous: this reinforces the idea that there is something distinctive about P requiring explanation. Second, while P did not write a theology he did typify ideal language use. Priestly narratives demonstrate what happens when God, as opposed to even the holiest human being, tries to change reality through speech. These Priestly myths coincide with laws that restrict ritually significant human speech to highly marked exceptions. I will conclude with reflections on P's distinctive approach to mediating divine language and ritual, and the effects it may have had on the construction of the Pentateuch and its afterlife.

The aim of this paper is to find a balanced view on how the existence, contents, and interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the Qumran caves should affect the archaeological interpretation of Khirbet Qumran. This requires comparison with other archaeological sites where substantial sets of texts were found. Qumran might be special and even unique - in the same sense that any site has unique features. The theoretical and methodological approaches for studying the archaeology of Qumran should not, however, be any different from those applied in archaeology in general.

When did a monetary economy begin to develop in ancient Judah? What is the relation between coinage and 'money'? Was 'money' used in Judah before there was coinage? In what sense are coins 'media', and what does 'money' represent? The paper focuses on the earliest Judaean coins, their 'predecessors' in commodity exchange, and what they tell us about the economy of ancient Judah from the seventh century BCE onwards.

The socio-political scene and economic structure of the Neo-Assyrian Empire influenced the Ancient Near East in many ways. An interpretation of Neo-Assyrian records, in the light of archaeological evidence from Philistine and Judean cities in the Shephelah dating from the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E. may shed new light on the economy and trade in the Southern Levant during that period. More recent excavation results from Ashkelon, Gath, Gaza, Ashdod, Tell Batash, Tell Miqne, Lachish, Tell Beit Mirsim, Beth-Shemesh etc. reveal the importance of trade and the protection of trade routes through Neo Assyrian provinces, especially the trade route leading up from Arabia through Judea and Philistia. The paper is an attempt to demonstrate that archaeological data dating from the 7th and 6th centuries B.C.E. from the Levant area, opens new perspectives on Neo Assyrian socio economic policies and how effective they were.

The Men of God stories offer some rather singular glimpses into the ancient Israelite concept of the divine, ones perhaps considered even “unconventional” in the wider west Semitic religious sense of the term. The imagings of the divine in the Elijah and Elisha traditions will be explored as they are given expression both in the performative actions of the stories’ human and divine characters and in the narrator’s framing and editorial strategies.

The concepts of monotheism and polytheism as utilized in modern research are deeply rooted in the evolutionist paradigm of late 19th and early 20th century scholarship, which postulated a more or less linear development of religion from “savagery through barbarism to civilization” (Lewis Henry Morgan), or from polytheism to (Christian) monotheism. The paper examines the theoretical foundations of the concepts of monotheism and polytheism, in particular in the Deutsche Religionsgeschichtliche Schule, and its still strong impact on modern scholarship. It will be demonstrated that the universalistic theories of the evolutionist paradigm with its dogmatically biased views and artificial oppositions (polytheism vs. monotheism, magic vs. religion, Naturreligion vs. Offenbarungsreligion, etc.) cannot meaningfully be applied by contemporary scholarship to ancient Israelite and ancient Near Eastern religions.

It was once argued that the social setting of apocalypticism or millennialism was the fringes of society and those without power. However, this view has been severely questioned for some time now. In biblical studies this was done by Stephen Cook in his 1995 Prophecy and Apocalypticism (Minneapolis: Fortress Press), where after reviewing the literature, Cook focuses on the proto-apocalyptic texts of Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Joel. This paper will look at the same texts as well as Haggai and examine the high use of creation myth imagery, both explicit and implicit, in these texts. The high usage of such imagery supports Cook’s conclusions, and indicates the authors were most likely temple priests at the centre of power.

Howard Winant defines racism as the perpetuation of hierarchy, defining it in a way that facilitates the negotiation of power, privilege, and prejudice in antiracist discourse. When some in privileged communities maintain that they have little access to the levers of power, this definition of racism helps to identify the privilege that majority communities maintain as members of the dominant group in society. With hierarchy at the core of a conception of racism, an antiracist agenda is one that operates to undermine hierarchy and level relationships among diverse sub-groups. It is difficult to characterize Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman in Mt 15:22-28 as anything less than naked ethnocentrism; it thus seems to participate in perpetuating hierarchy. In this passage Matthew labels the woman a Canaanite, a group hated by Matthew’s own Jewish community. Jesus addresses the woman from a position of privilege and hierarchy, initially refusing to hear her and later implying that she is no better than a dog. When read in light of the universalist/particularist dialectic in Matthew, however, interpreters can use this episode to do antiracist work through an imaginative inversion of hierarchy. This paper pursues an antiracist inversion of hierarchy through a modern appropriation of the power dynamics operating in Matthew’s community in a way that juxtaposes modern majority culture with the Canaanite woman’s marginalized subject position.

Like any other legal system Qumran Halakhah had to develop rules of priorities to be followed in cases two legal instructions clash with each other. The most common of such clashes are between the prohibitions of the Sabbath and other commandments that involved activity normally considered “work” and thus should be forbidden on Shabbat. In this paper I will examine and analyze the scrolls’ position with regard to sacrifices on Shabbat (CD 11:17-18 revisited), circumcision on Shabbat in case an infant was born on Shabbat and thus should be circumcised on the eighth day – the next Shabbat and sprinkling the purifying water on an impure person in case the third or seventh day of his purification procedure fall on Shabbat. I will also relate in this context to the famous problem of saving life on Shabbat though it is not formally a commandment.

Theodicy traditionally treats the justification of Gd's ways to Man. This usually involves treating the complexities of Gd's justice and mercy. Justice involves Gd providing both reward and punishment, measure for measure, individual and collective, for Man's behavior. Mercy involves lessening, deferring, or cancelling punishment and reward. Mercy does not seem to require measure for measure, but rather to demand some kind of freely given love on Gd's part, undeserved often, and unrequited sometimes. Otherwise known as, I believe, Grace. After great catastrophes, there seems to enter into the discussion or presentation of theodicy, a justification of man's ways to Gd that seems to put Gd himself on trial, as in the book of JOB and JONAH, and in some sho'ah literature. Presuming of course that faith in Gd's existence, let along power, and interest in justice or mercy, continues in the survivors of the catastrophe. Theodicies are formally intellectual arguments, but these arguments at best crystalize the experiences and responses of human beings communal and individual to perceived injustice, lack of mercy, and general chaos. Not being either a philosopher or a rabbi, I shall present a selection of my poems written over the course of my life as a Jew in Israel over the past 40 years as they try to represent the above aspects of theodicy -- an activity I fear I am both unqualified to engage in yet unable to leave alone.

It is a commonly held view that biblical law’s attitude to the phenomenon of debt-slavery does not differs, basically, from that of other ancient legal systems. The main part of biblical laws of slavery, the manumission laws, are usually compared with Hammurabi laws 117-119, which state that persons who were enslaved due to debt should be released after three years. As this is even shorter term of servitude than that fixed by (some) biblical laws – six years – it seems that there is nothing unique in biblical manumission concept. This paper claims that the comparison between these laws is, in fact, essentially incongruous. It is based on the assumption that both refer to the same kind of debt-slavery. This assumption calls for reexamination since the common understanding of Hammurabi 117-119 raises many serious difficulties. It seems that the best solution to the cluster of interpretative dilemmas is that the Akkadian term kiššatu does not mean “status of a person given as a distrainee for a debt” (CAD), but rather “a person given as a replacement for a debt”. That is, it refers to an outright sale to slavery, done on the debtor’s free will, and with no right of redemption. A debt-slavery in the more natural sense – an enforced seizing of humans as a pledge for debt – obviously existed also in Mesopotamia, but under another term, nipûtum. According to the Hammurabi Code, the nipûtum remains in the servitude of the creditor until the debt is paid (if it is ever paid), with no time limit. The reasoning is that there is no justification of releasing a pledge without the debt being paid. Biblical law is unique in limiting the duration of such a situation to six years, out of humanitarian motives.

The relevant Persian king and governor of Yehud for the restoration of the Jerusalem temple evince strong debate. Edelman (2005) has challenged normal assumptions about the chronology by positing a temple restoration under Artaxerxes I, and her reasons for arguing Artaxerxes’s motivations are compelling. This paper further challenges the normal terms of the debate through exploring the ANE context of temple restoration and its royal ideologies. In so doing the paper questions whether scholars should speak of the restoration or should rather consider temple restorations. After examining some of the evidence, the paper then argues that part of the confusion behind the related traditions are indeed duplicate and similar claims.

Modern readers have expectations of direct speech being an exact representation of the original speaker’s words, but other cultures and older societies had no such presuppositions. Using Relevance Theory’s concept of close and loose resemblance I suggest that our modern Western presuppositions have shaped our interpretation of text, privileging literal accuracy over close resemblance. This hypothesis will be examined in relation to several parallel passages in Matthew, Mark and Luke as well as to the dialogues of John 21.

In the course of the struggle against terrorism, the legality of collective punishment has been addressed in a series of verdicts the by Supreme Court in Israel. Many of these verdicts, especially those written by former Vice-President of the Supreme Court, Justice Mishael Heshin, were based on Jewish values, which according to the Court, must guide the State of Israel as a democratic Jewish state. Heshin based his principled position against collective punishment primarily on the “law of Moses” (=Biblical Law). In this lecture I wish to question the conclusion Justice Heshin drew from the text of the Bible by a comprehensive review of Biblical sources and of the interpretation by the traditional rabbinical commentators. I will show that it is difficult to prove that the Biblical law unequivocally rejects collective punishment, as it is possible to contradict the verses quoted in the above verdicts with other verses that seem to indicate that collective punishment is acceptable. At the same time, there are other sources which seem to reject collective punishment that violates the principles of justice and law. In the lecture I review and analyze the various sources and reach the conclusion that the injunction of the Torah that “every man shall die for his own sins” perhaps reflects an ideal law, but it appears that at times the law was violated.

Bible interpretation constitutes a considerable part of patristic literature, not only in commentaries, but also in homilies, speeches, letters, and other writings. In particular, Old Testament prophecy plays an important role in early Christian exegesis. The interpreters do not restrict themselves to the male prophets, they are likewise concerned with the biblical prophetesses. Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, the nameless prophetess in Isa 8.3, the false prophetesses in Eze 13, and the daughters who will receive the prophetic spirit according to Joel’s promise (Joel 3.1f) often appear in patristic literature. (Only Noadiah–see Neh 6.14–does not.) On the one hand, they are seen as persons with divine authority who act in the name of God. On the other hand, the church fathers struggle with their speaking in the public – which appears to happen in opposition to Paul’s directions in 1 Cor (and elsewhere) and in contrast to the (male) ideal of women in ancient Greek and Roman societies. Although patristic interpretations are situated within the development of Christian dogma and practice, they are nevertheless influenced by the ancient Greco-roman image of “woman”, the specific cultural believes, and the exegetes’ personal approaches. So, the biblical texts are received and interpreted in specific cultural, religious, socio-political, and personal contexts which have an important impact on the image of the biblical prophetesses and also of women in general. Soon, certain traditions can be noticed, e.g. the interpretation of Miriam as a virgin (as a type of the Virgin Mary). Some of these interpretations were forgotten, some of them influenced the further development of Christian exegesis and the Church’s view of women.

Regarding the question of whether there was a prohibition on pronouncing the divine name (the tetragrammaton) in ancient Judaism, the evidence is mixed. In the period of the first temple there is evidence the name was pronounced (e.g., 2 Kings 2:24; Deut 6:13; 10:20; Jer 12:16). There seems to have been a development toward prohibiting uttering the Name that begins in Second Temple Judaism among some Jews but not all. By the time we get to the period of Hellenistic Judaism, the evidence tilts in the direction on a ban on pronouncing the divine name, as can be seen in the writings of Philo, the Qumran sectarians, and the renderings of Lev 24:16 in the Septuagint and Targum Onqelos. The Qumran Jews interestingly single out cursing in God’s Name as forbidden. But some Jews in the Second Temple period seemed to have limited the prohibition to outside the Temple. That is, for some Jews one could evoke the Name in the context of the temple. In the light of this mixed evidence, it becomes very difficult to determine the historical Jesus’ practice on the matter.

The paper will deal with a proposition for placement of a Temple of the Imperial Cult on the acropolis of et-Tell. Archaeological evidence considering the spot where such a construction has been proposed to be placed will be presented, then the numismatic evidence will be commented on in order to finely discuss the aspects of the Imperial policy of the Julio- Claudian dynasty, in particular the reign of Tiberius. The presentation will lead to the conclusion that the existence of a building identified as a Temple of the Imperial Cult, the cult of Livia-Julia in particular, on et-Tell is highly unlikely.

This paper summarizes the findings of a research project to apply the two main goals of textual criticism to the text of the Quran: first, to discern the earliest possible form of the text, and second, to illumine the history of the text. A selection was made of a small portion of text (Surat Ibrahim 14:35-41) which was surveyed across at least twenty manuscripts from the Quranic manuscript tradition, particularly highlighting manuscripts from the first four Islamic centuries. Three manuscripts from the Sana’a finds are represented, as well as early Qurans from Istanbul, Paris, and London. The kinds of variants observed were thoroughly analyzed, categorized, and examined in regard to recovering the earliest possible forms of the text and illuminating the history of the development of these texts into a standardized text-form. Intentional variants were given special attention. Also taken into account were differences in script style, the chronological development of Arabic orthography, the effects of oral tradition on written transmission, and the role of centralized ideological control on the texts. The paper concludes that the current version of the text of the Quran is the result of a long and complex development to create a precise form of the text supporting later Islamic tradition which has not preserved the very earliest authoritative forms of the text. I will show that the interplay of the oral and written traditions of the Quran allowed alternative interpretive text-forms to develop, and that the oral traditions were often dependent on orthographic reforms to the written text.

Any question involving "should," as in the title of this session, may suggest an intellectual issue (intellectually, is the term worth keeping?) and perhaps a moral problem as well (ethically, is it right to keep it?). Given the term's relatively modern development and role in assertions of western cultural superiority, not to mention its tendency to distort the ancient data, it might seem best to drop the term. On the other hand, its familiarity outside of academic settings suggests keeping it as part of a larger academic effort to communicate to the wider society in a critical manner about religion. The term's familiarity as well as its problems arguably provide a teaching moment about religion that should not be abandoned prematurely. Many terms in the study of religion, such as "religion," are problematic, but the field continues to use them. Such terms help people enter into the discussion, but the discussion then provides an opportunity for analyzing the prejudices embedded in them and to go past the terms and their difficulties and into the cultural and religious history that informed them in the first place. This paper will explore these problems as well as the merits that the use of the term, monotheism, may arguably provide.

Codex Alexandrinus is, but for a few lacunae, one of the three oldest complete texts of the Greek Bible. Dated to the fifth century, its place in the text tradition of the Gospels is unique because it represents the earliest example of a Greek witness to a Byzantine text form. Compared to Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, however, remarkably limited analysis has been performed on Codex Alexandrinus since its acquisition by England in 1627. Indeed, no comprehensive study of the document has been produced in the last century. In recent years there has been growing interest in the devices used to delimit units of text in the biblical manuscripts, as well as the meaning attached to those delimitation decisions. This paper presents an analysis of the unit delimitation used in the Gospels of Codex Alexandrinus in order to shed light on the use of unit markers at the headwaters of the Byzantine text tradition.

Three possible identifications of Jesus (9:7b-8) come up in the pericope discussed in this paper: he is supposed to be John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the ancient prophets. These identifications deal with the prophetic element as well as with the possibility of a prophet redivivus and an otherworldly appearance. Luke derives this material from Mark 6:14-16, which preserves these public opinions about Jesus, but modifies the story according to his own views and purposes. Although Luke avoids the association of Jesus with John the Baptist and the description of John as Elijah revived (9:7b, 9; cf. Mark 6:16), he retains most of the Markan material to which he adds the notion of an ancient prophet’s resurrection (9:8; cf. Mark 6:15). This paper will argue that the public opinions about Jesus stated in this pericope do not deal with christological issues or the special case of Jesus’ resurrection, but rather reflect specific Jewish views on the individual’s afterlife that were widespread in the time of Luke’s writing. They reveal Luke’s familiarity with such traditions and probably, in some way, his own view on the individual’s afterlife existence. This paper analyzes several Jewish traditions that may form the background of the identifications mentioned, such as 1 Enoch, CD (esp. VI.10-11), and Apoc. Elijah (esp. 4:14–15; 5:32), inter alia, and Luke’s attitude toward them. Besides, it discovers possible connections with other passages from Luke’s writings which reveal Lukan own views on the afterlife.

Using the intermarriage crisis within Ezra 9-10, the paper argues that in light of the literature relating to the effects of return migration on ethnicity, it is likely that what we find within the account of Ezra’s intermarriage crisis was more deep-seated than legitimization politics. What emerges is a greater recognition of the social significance of various migrations, even across the generations, which the group responsible for the text are a product of. The consequent sense of dislocation, most palpable through the expressions of diasporic identity, which emerged through returning to Yehud invoked the perception of foreignness. Likewise the sense of vulnerable ethnic identity provoked by such circumstances is likely to have played a pivotal role in the group’s emphasis of boundaries and on authenticity. Therefore, ethnic differences progress from being perceived, to being created, and even exacerbated upon return to the homeland.

Composed of the middle verb aitiaomai and the preposition pro, proaitiaomai is indeed a unique word. It does not occur in the known corpus of Greek literature before the first century C.E. – Paul appears to be its creator. In addition, neither the verb aitiaomai nor its derivatives occur in his so-called authentic letters. Despite the lack of parallels in use and meaning it is common to translate the aorist proetiasametha, which occurs in Romans 3:9, with confidence, “we have already charged [that Jews and Gentiles are all under sin].” Thus, the verb is viewed to function as a pointer to, and the verse as a summary of, the content that precedes it: Paul has previously accused Gentiles and Jews of sinning. This paper aims to advance our understanding of the meaning and function of proaitiaomai by reviewing (1) early explanations of the verb proposed by the first interpreters of Paul’s letter to the Romans; (2) composite verbs with similar meaning in the texts of Thucydides, Demosthenes, Hyperides, and Philo; and (3) composite verbs with similar function in Paul’s own literature. These observations intend to show that the meaning and function of proaitiaomai are not as obvious as insinuated by secondary literature on the verse in Romans. The central question concerns the object of the preposition pro, which Paul does not name.

Jacob Milgrom’s contribution to understanding the Priestly source of the Torah cannot be overestimated. Yet his work is arguably as valuable for its nuanced presentation of problems as for the conclusions that it offers. Milgrom’s engagement with Priestly texts began with ritual and cultic observance and rarely strayed far from them. He sought to understand what he saw as the real religious practice represented in the Priestly texts of the Torah. Accordingly, his consideration of Priestly texts as literature was oftentimes limited to stylistic and aesthetic features. Though he generally saw an earlier Priestly (P) source supplemented by a Holiness (H) stratum (or strata), he did not give adequate attention to P as a narrative composition characterized by plot and meaning. In this paper, I will engage the question of the strata of the Priestly Sabbath texts, using Milgrom’s analysis as a starting point. I will give special attention to Exodus 31:12–17 and 35:1–3, texts that Milgrom assigned to H, in an attempt to show that regard for P as a narrative composition is usefully combined with stylistic and theological criteria in separating the strata of the Priestly source.

During the 8th and 7th centuries BC the Assyrian army rolled over the lands of Aram, Israel and Judah, destroying cities and countryside alike. The Aramaic states and Israel were incorporated into Assyrian provinces and their capitals transformed into the seats of Assyrian gouvernors. Judah, Ammon, Moab and the Phoenician trading ports became vassal states and had to pay a heavy tribute. The Babylonian and thereafter the Persian empire took over the lands dominated by the Assyrians. Considering that the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persian ruled the southern Levant for some 500 years, it is amazing how little impact they left on the material culture of ancient Israel and its neighbours. Scholars are hard-pressed to find traces of Assyrian (and Babylonian and Persian) presence in the region. Is it not there? Are we not looking hard enough, or in the wrong directions? This paper will address these questions and trace the influence of the Assyrians, both on the material culture and the socio-economic fields, especially in the lands east of the Jordan.

Milgrom argues that Leviticus chapter 19 is a “miscellany of laws” that has “no common theme”—notions echoed to one degree or another in Magonet’s sense of the chapter as an illustrative collection, or Wenham’s remarks on the randomness of its contents. Milgrom’s position reacts in part to attempts to identify the chapter as the missing priestly Decalogue, dodecalogue or ogdecalogue (as with Elliger) spurred by readerly observations, as early as those in Leviticus Rabba, that it embodies the Ten Commandments. Despite the long history of this interpretation Leviticus 19 is often not considered in comparisons of the several decalogues. Internal evidence from its Sitz in der Literatur suggests its importance—set between two panels of sexual laws that echo each other, it is like the central panel of a triptych. It begins in verses three and four with a pastiche citation of Exodus 20:12a plus vv. 8a and 2a—neatly inverted as per Seidel’s law—and Exodus 34:17, suggesting that both the Exodus Decalogue and Minor Code of the Covenant are in play. Leviticus 19:2b may well take its holiness theme from Exodus 20:8a. These markers of allusion signal something that is not quite an inner biblical exegesis, but rather an inner biblical halakhic midrash. The citation of commands at the beginning of Leviticus 19 from the middle of the Decalogue in Exodus has posed a problem for commentators. Nevertheless, it is similar to the midrashic move of the Yahweh Speeches in Job. Offering an extended midrashic commentary on the creation story of Genesis chapter one, Job 38 begins with the events of days three and four.

Most studies of Ephesians 2:11-22 relate the “peace” (eirene), “far off” (makran) and “near” (eggys) language of 2:17 to Isaiah 57:19 and 52:7 (though recent works also argue for the influence of Solomon’s temple dedication speech (1 Kings 8 and 2 Chron 6) or Ezekiel 37). However, the fact that in Isaiah, in contrast to Ephesians 2:13, the “makran" are not explicitly said to be brought “eggys” raises the question of whether and how the Old Testament is being used in Ephesians 2:13. Is it merely incidental and drawing more upon Jewish proselyte terminology? Or is the language of 2:13 anticipating the use of Isaiah in 2:17? Alternatively, is it simply that the concept if not the language of the “far off” coming “near” is imported from the contexts of the Isaiah texts cited? This paper argues that the creative combination of Isaiah 57:19 and 52:7 in Ephesians 2:17 is consistent with observable 2nd Temple Jewish exegetical practices. Applying similar methodology to analysis of Ephesians 2:13 raises the possibility of the influence of Zechariah 6:13-15. These verses demonstrate not only lexical connections (“far off” and “peace” language), but also thematic coherence with Ephesians 2:11-22 - a Davidic priest/king who rebuilds the temple, brings peace and whose temple is built with the help of those who are “far off” coming into it. Furthermore, these theological themes of Zechariah 6 together with the Isaiah passages cited, have shaped the theological argument of Ephesians 2:11-22, though they have been Christologised in their appropriation. This approach to its Old Testament background draws methodologically on Jewish exegetical practices and makes sense of the flow of thought of Ephesians 2:11-22. The centrality of the theme of Davidic temple building is also suggestive for further insights into the message of Ephesians.

Biblical scholars committed to liberationist interpretations often assume biblical texts, or most of them, were written by elites to serve elite interests. They impugn such texts for being oppressive or for supporting oppressive practices. They speak about needing to resist the text, view texts as ideological products with ‘grain’, and advocate reading against this ‘grain’. The gospel of Luke, in particular, has often been read as an apologia to empire, a gospel that presents no threat to power and that softens Jesus’ radical message to accommodate the priorities and anxieties of the wealthy. This paper follows Daniel Smith Christopher’s example of interpreting biblical texts in the light of the life-experiences of contemporary communities whose situations and stories in some way parallel those related by the text. I draw on my own experience of living in rural Afghanistan and James C Scott’s work on ‘hidden transcripts’ to suggest that we read Luke’s Gospel as a hybrid transcript that may have been intended to be read from several directions and at multiple levels. It follows that readers who read with a presumption of resistance need not resist the text itself, nor read against the grain of the text, but may choose to read with the grain beneath the veneer. I use the question of taxation (Luke 20.19-26 // Matthew 22.15-22; Mark 12.13-17) to demonstrate how Jesus might be thought of as a practitioner of transformative resistance.

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In this paper I address a number of interrelated questions that illustrate the unique vision of “City” in apocalyptic thinking. The first part of the paper explores what makes a city a City and identifies specifically those elements that turn a conglomerate of physical constructions into a true built environment. With some insights from critical spatial theory in addition to the ancient Near Eastern and biblical image of the city functioning as guides, it will be shown that the pivotal elements consist of the material city, its inhabitants and its resident Deity. The intricate interaction between these three makes the city into a vibrant, living, organic whole. The second part of the paper asks what happens when one of these elements is eliminated and how that affects the others. Another question is whether any, and if so which, of these elements is vital to an enduring image of City. The paper proposes that the City constructs for its residents a lasting identity and that, reversely, the residents become the embodied City. It will further be demonstrated how Deity functions as the life-giving power source and that all these factors taken together transform the material city space into a mental space. These questions form an ongoing concern of many apocalyptic texts. It will be shown that the solution provided by these texts is rather surprising.

This paper considers the Book of Job, and especially Job’s lament at having been born, in light of the feminist concept of natality. In recent years, feminist theologians have lifted up natality as an alternative to what they view as the typically modern starting point for philosophical theology: the concept of death. Where the concept of death construes questions of human life and value in terms of with violence, sacrifice, disembodied minds, and afterworlds, the concept of natality directs attention toward the birth as signifying the value inherent in this life, our bodies, and the world. Read with an eye to birth rather than death, Job offers not only a deconstruction of theodicy, as David Burrell has recently argued, but also a hope-filled construction of life.

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Rezeptionsästhetik, as advocated by Hans Robert Jauss, is a particular strand of reception theory that understands textual history primarily as geschichtlich, rather than historisch, in keeping with Gadamer’s distinctions. In so doing, Jauss’ approach advocates a (post-) historical methodology in terms of both diachrony and synchrony. On the diachronic axis, Jauss aligns the interpretations of a text in order to reveal the interpretive developments throughout the text’s history. In terms of synchrony, Rezepstionsästhetik examines particular historical interpretations in order to perceive how they confronted the original horizon of expectation in which it arose. The diachronic element reveals to modern interpreters trajectories that have led to the current understanding of a text, while the synchronic aspect may confirm, provoke, challenge, or confront the modern horizon of expectation, potentially resulting in a shift in the interpreter’s horizon of understanding and, thereby, a change in his/her social behavior. This is particularly the case with the Rezeptionsästhetik of Scripture and examples from the reception history of 1 Thessalonians are offered to substantiate the claim. Supplemented with insight from Pannenberg on the philosophical and theological necessity of a universal history grounded in the person of Jesus Christ, Rezeptionsästhetik offers fruitful critique of historical critical methodologies. At the same time, this “historical” approach provides boundaries to the burgeoning Theological Interpretation of Scripture movement(s) and challenges interpretations offered therein, while still allowing for indefinite interpretation.

Like other first century Hellenistic Jews, Paul conceptualizes resurrection via concepts of VERTICALITY (e.g., upward movement, reversal of up and down) and PROXIMITY (e.g., nearness to the Lord), both of which in relation to a SOURCE-PATH-GOAL image schema (thus yielding notions of teleology and purpose). In addition to these rather common ways of speaking about resurrection, Paul also conceptualizes death and post-mortem life via concepts of CONTAINMENT while simultaneously placing strong emphasis on notions of change. For example, Paul describes the dead in 1 Corinthians 15:18 as having fallen asleep in Christ (i.e., CHRIST IS CONTAINER conceptual metaphor). Later on in the same chapter (15:53-54) the apostle also conceptualizes post-mortem somatic transformation as an instance of putting on clothing (i.e., CLOTHING IS CONTAINER conceptual metaphor). This latter example is certainly not unique to the apostle, though it does highlight the extent to which Paul structures notions of post-mortem transformation via concepts of CONTAINMENT (comp. 2 Cor 5:1-5). Existing along side these examples are those passages where Paul speaks of contemporary Christian experience using language of death and resurrection. It is curious that in such cases Paul frequently intermingles concepts of CONTAINMENT with more familiar descriptions of (for example) VERTICALITY (e.g., Phil 3:1-11). This paper explores the various ways that differing conceptual structures meaningfully cohere with one another in the undisputed Pauline epistles. Drawing on cognitive linguistic theories of image schemata, conceptual metaphor, and conceptual blending, this paper focuses specifically on the embodied grounding of Paul’s understanding of resurrection. It will be suggested that the Pauline emphases on both change and CONTAINMENT are interdependent, and further that the undisputed Paulines reflect a complex metaphor system whereby the concept of RESURRECTION is understood by differing (at times incongruent) image schemata and conceptual metaphors.

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An intertextual dependency between Jubilees and the Visions of Amram has been suggested (Puech, DJD XXXI, 2001) on the basis that both texts elaborate the motif of the Canaanite-Egyptian war. Recently James C. VanderKam (DSD 17, 2010) has questioned the proposed relation between the two texts arguing that the texts narrate the war incident independently from one another. While VanderKam does not think that one of these texts used the other in its description of the war, he accepts that the two texts share some themes of interest. For instance, apart from the war motif both texts emphasize marriage and women more than the Hebrew Bible. It has been recognized for a long that marriage with the right partner is of great importance in Jubilees (Halpern-Amaru, The Empowerment of Women in Jubilees, 1999). This theme is equally important in the Visions of Amram where the protagonist assures that while he was away for 41 years, he did not take another wife (4Q544 1 8-9). Amram also arranges his daughter Miriam’s wedding to his brother (4Q543 1a-c 4-6). The purpose of this paper is to study the portrayal of women in the Visions of Amram and to analyze its possible similarities with the depiction of women of Jubilees. After analyzing the female figures of these texts I will ask whether the conclusions of my study shed any new light on the origins of the Visions of Amram and Jubilees.

The ethical advice in Heb 13:1-6 is neither an imitation of Pauline paraenesis nor an unconnected appendix to the argument of the homily, but the expression of the communal ethos that corresponds to the identity of the listeners that the author establishes in the first twelve chapters. The author responds to the community’s outsider status (cf. 10:32-34), following the precedent established by Jewish teachers of the diaspora who appealed to communal identity as a basis for shared moral norms. The marginalized readers of Hebrews find their communal identity as heirs of the promise to Israel, as family members who anticipate their inheritance, and as participants in the heavenly worship service. The specific instructions in Heb 13:1-6 provide an insider ethic for outsiders, establishing community cohesion for listeners whose confession has taken them “outside the camp” of their surroundings. Appropriate conduct within the community is the sacrifice that distinguishes the community from those who offer sacrifices in the earthly sanctuary. The author derives the content of these norms from the summaries of the law that were current in the diaspora.

Eliphaz and Elihu are morally ambiguous characters within the tale of Job. Eliphaz, like his two companions, is condemned by God at the story’s end for speaking falsely, while Elihu’s chastisement of the suffering Job has divided post-Biblical commentators. This paper will focus upon three modern receptions of their words, two Christian and one Jewish. These commentators’ appeals to Eliphaz and Elihu, while each somewhat fleeting, share the common characteristic of granting significant authority to certain cherry-picked verses from the mouths of these biblical figures. This varies from giving these verses the authority to shape the Book of Job’s overall meaning to viewing them as authoritative examples of theological virtue. This paper will ask whether the three modern commentators on Job focused upon have themselves been tricked by the text. For in having been seduced by Elihu and Eliphaz’s words have these commentators unwittingly shown themselves to be problematic readers? Is one role given to Job’s interlocutors the task of ensnaring certain interpreters and showing them up to be worthy of doubt?

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This paper re-examines a NT proscriptive text (1 Tim 2:8-15) by applying insights gained from translation studies and literary criticism, locating the text within its literary polysystem and within its intertextual matrix. When such a text is situated, read consciously within the flow of its meaningful discursive poly-system—when both resonance and dissonance are appreciated—immediate or first messages may be problematized. This text’s intertextual gesturing, its silent but apparent “body-language,” produces waves of resistance to the first message. These are aspects of instability that force first messages to be reevaluated on the basis of the intertextual discursive web. In its theological and ideological frame, the resonance of the foreign author’s voice, its intentional harmonizing and disharmonizing with precursor texts and contemporary discourses, also creates a situation of cognitive instability in which to consider the conditions for the text’s relevance and application, on the one hand, and its built-in and inevitable eschatological obsolescence, on the other.

The cult of the so-called “Theos Hypsistos” (the Most High God) has been an intriguing and much debated religious phenomenon of the Graeco-Roman world because of its henotheistic trends and of its possible Hellenistic philosophical background and Jewish associations. In the present paper the archaeological and epigraphic data of this cult in Thessalonica of the second half of the 1st AD will be presented. These monuments will be compared to similar artifacts from the Eastern part of the Roman Empire and their possible connection to the Jewish presence in the city as well as the nature of the cult in Thessalonica and the identity (ethnic and social) of its members will be discussed. Finally, the results of this analysis will be used in order to reconstruct a fascinating part of the religious and social background of the first Christian community in Thessaloniki.

In the last few decades the iconography of the Levant has become increasingly important in OT scholarship. While archaeological material is typically used as illustration of the OT texts, this paper will work in the other direction, focusing on the symbols used by kings and their officials to demonstrate and enact their political power. It is an attempt to "read" these symbols first as they appear in their archaeological context, and then to consider their appropriation in the OT. How are these symbols of power presented and interpreted in both forms of media? What is the connection? How are they historical and ideological witnesses in their own right?

This interdisciplinary investigation proposes a solution to many textual and historical questions concerning the development of governmental institutions in the Kingdom of Judah. The first question is as follows: Why did biblical writers and redactors living in monarchical times, decide to apply the title shofet to the military and political tribal leaders who preceded them by hundreds of years and who were not called by that title in the stories that were passed down from pre-monarchical times? The second question concerns the nature of the "'Am ha'Aretz" in the Judean Kingdom. Research concerning this body produced two books and many dozens of papers in the last century. To this day there is a wide range of opinions concerning the meaning of this term, which occurs around sixty times in the Bible. Essentially, its origin and very basic aspects of it, remain unclear. In my opinion, combining research on the governmental institutions in Judah and Phoenician city-states can shed much light on these two questions. I shall propose a new approach to the political institutions in the Judean kingdom, which share many characteristic with the Phoenician governmental institutions. Until now the similarities have been largely unnoticed because of the dearth of interdisciplinary research. In my opinion the office of shofet existed in Judah in monarchical times as well as in Phoenicia before the abolition of the monarchy in the Phoenician city-states by the Ptolemies. I shall contrast and compare my approach with that of Noth in his famous paper "Das Amt Des 'Richters Israels'." Likewise, I shall shed new light on the institution of "'Am ha'Aretz" –by comparing this body to parallel institutions in Phoenicia.

When Manasseh ben Israel wrote his book Esperança de Israel in 1650 (with a contemporaneous Latin edition, followed by an English translation in that same year), he was trying to answer to the most inner hopes of the Sephardic community. He was also answering to some questions that had been asked by English millenarians. Later, when he uses the same work while appealing to Cromwell to consider Jewish readmission in England, his objectives, as the tone used, are slightly different. In this paper, it is our goal to explore the main differences between the Spanish and the Latin version of the Esperança de Israel, while examining ben Israel’s mission to Cromwell and the arguments he used to convince Cromwellian England of the importance that readmission of the Jews would play for reaching the times of the end. Additionally, we will examine some of the used arguments by English millenarian to support, or not, Manasseh ben Israel’s claim.

The author of 1 John refers explicitly (3:5; 3:6bis; 3:9; 5:18) four times, and implicitly (5:19) once, that “those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them”. The author links these assertions to the life of Jesus (1 Jn 3:5). Anyone reading these texts is likely to find them hard to bear, since the author appears to be discussing a doctrine of Christian perfection. However, in this research I shall try to show (using a socio-rhetorical approach) that, in fact, these assertions should not be interpreted too literally by the reader. Instead, these texts are part of the author’s rhetorical construction to designate just how phenomenal, radical and final he sees the salvation event. The author substantiates the meaning of these radical assertions in his depiction of Christian existence as existence in a family, the familia Dei. The author uses these expressions to explain his understanding of the multi-dimensional character of sin and salvation, a topic that he attempts to expound throughout the epistle.

The story of Tamar in 2 Samuel 13:1-22 formed the basis of a qualitative research inquiry that looked into the intricate functioning of the intercultural Bible reading process. It is a process theoretically based on the combined hermeneutical frameworks of Feminism and African hermeneutics. Although the research showed that the intercultural Bible reading process cannot avoid the complexities of an inherent power dynamic, it proved to be a space that promotes human dignity and has the inherent capacity to facilitate social transformation. The intercultural Bible reading space can thus be described as a dynamic meeting place: a space that facilitates the meeting of individuals from various cultural backgrounds and reading positions, but also the meeting between modern readers and the culturally removed biblical text. In this paper I will look at the reception history of 2 Samuel 13:1-22, describing the rape of Tamar in traditional scholarship as well as feminist and African scholarship. Special attention will be given to the feminist scholar, Denise Ackermann’s interpretation of hope. I will then discuss the interpretations that were given by the intercultural Bible reading groups that were constructed for the qualitative research inquiry. In doing so, I will show that the intercultural Bible reading space is a dynamic creative space that allows individual readers to draw on a wealth of personal contextual knowledge as a key to interpret Biblical text. In the intercultural Bible reading process a diversity of readers are thus brought together that find creative new ways to journey through old biblical landscapes by drawing on contextual knowledge and sharing interpretative gifts.

Job 3:8: yqqbhw ’rry-ywm h‘tydym ‘rr lwytn. With regard to Job 3:8, attention has especially been given to the translation of ywm as either ‘day’ (e.g. JPS, Clines 1989) or ‘sea’ (e.g. NRS, Greenstein 2003). Depending on this decision, scholars have speculated on the identity of the ’rry and the effects of ‘rr the Leviathan. Meanwhile, it is acknowledged that most words in Job 3:8 can be understood as double entendres: besides ywm, also yqqbh from qbb ‘spellbind’ or nqb ‘pierce’, ’rr from ’rr ‘curse’ or ’wr ‘light’, and ‘rr from ‘wr ‘arouse’ or ‘rr ‘to disgrace’ (Greenstein 2003; Habel 1985). Both the textual ambiguities and the fact that it is unknown what Job 3:8 exactly refers to, have led to a complex of entangled interpretations. In this paper, I will disentangle different interpretations with regard to their meaning construction strategies. By drawing on insights from cognitive linguistics, the construction of meaning will be traced down to cognitive processes such as categorizing, aligning, and mapping. It will be shown that in Job 3:8, different cognitive processes lead to competing readings, and that the different appreciation of these readings causes a variety of interpretations. Recognizing that Job 3 abounds with terms of light and darkness, I will propose that any interpretation of line 8 must take a starting point in establishing a meaning of ywm that fits within the broader textual context. As for terms of light and darkness in the book Job, ywm is – with 59 appearances – the most frequent lexeme, and with six occurrences (all in lines 1-8), chapter 3 has the highest numbers of hits. By analyzing the divergent conceptualizations of ywm in Job 3, it will be argued that ywm in line 8 refers to the whole of day and night and is best translated as ‘day’.

The Letter of Peter to Philip provides a different response to mainstream Christianity and the apostles than for instance the Gospel of Thomas (one apostle knew the truth the others are ignorant), the Gospel of Philip (the apostles lacked understanding but passed on some good things) and the Gospel of Judas (the apostles sacrifice their followers). The author calls other gnostic Christians to remain within the larger Christian community. Narrative analysis shows that the author does not criticize the apostles or their (proto-)canonical writings or creeds, but rather claims they contain the gnostic message. The only (mild) criticism in the document is directed against those gnostic Christians who venture out on their own.

3 John is the shortest book in the New Testament. It seems to lack specific doctrinal content and it is thus seldom preached from. This paper employs a socio-narrative analysis to place the letter within a broader narrative framework. It, then considers how the letter poetically restructures the original narrative sequence to serve its persuasive intention. The persuasive intention of 3 John is critically tested against certain compliance gaining theories. The way in which characters function within letters is considered and from this the symbolic world-view that forms the interpretative background to the letter is constructed. The paper shows that, at its core, the letter is doctrinal as the character of God and his purpose for the world ultimately determine its contents and intention. Missions is shown to be key factor by which the church is defined and Christians' commitment to this cause becomes a touch-stone reflecting their relationship to God.

From the very beginning of early cinema, the life and especially the passion of Jesus was a recurring theme. Unfortunately, a lot of this material has been lost, but enough has survived to give us a sense of the way in which the Jesus story was dealt with. In my paper I will focus on two films that originated in Europe, but had a wider impact beyond their country of origin. The first one originated in France under the title, ‘La vie et la passion de Jesus Christ’ (Ferdinand Zecca & Abraham Erlanger, 1905). The second film under discussion is ‘Leaves from Satan’s Book’ (Blade am satans bog, Denmark, 1921) from Carl Theodore Dreyer, Danmark’s famous director. This epic focuses on Satan’s involvement in four historical events: the betrayal of Jesus, the Spanish Inquisition, the French Revolution and the Russio-Finish War of 1918. It was based on ‘Sorrows of Satan’ a novel by Marie Corelli (1895) and inspired by D.W. Griffith’s ‘Intolerance’ (1916) in which the story of Jesus also plays a role. In this article I focus on the portions devoted to the passion story in both films. In my analysis both visual and textual forerunners will be taken into consideration, in order to show that representations of Jesus in early cinema are not simply visually literal renderings of the bible, but are mediated by its reception history in Western culture at large. Nevertheless, the images of Jesus in cinema go beyond these earlier representations as they also add new dimensions to his character, which are inherent to this new medium, such as motion and special effects. Jesus may still be silent, but he can now move the viewer in different ways.

In Deuteronomy 20:15-16 a distinction is made between the Canaanites (the seven nations) and the other nations. When entering into war, Israel has to offer terms of peace to its enemy. However, this does not apply to the nations of Canaan: they have to be exterminated (hrm). This paper deals with the special place of the Canaanites in the book of Deuteronomy. Three questions will be dealt with. Firstly, it will be demonstrated that the nations of Canaan are set apart from other nations. In Deut. 7, Israel is commanded to exterminate the Canaanites. Both the content of this chapter and its place in the structure of Deuteronomy demonstrate the special place of the Canaanites. This is confirmed by the requested attitude toward neighbouring peoples (Deut. 23:2-9). Amalek, however, is placed almost on a par with the Canaanites. Secondly, we will examine the relationship between the so-called ‘prehistoric peoples’ and the Canaanites. These former peoples have been destroyed and dispossessed (Deut. 2:10-12, 20-23). It has been stated (by C. Houtman) that the dispossession is legitimized by a negative qualification of of these peoples. In that way, these notes about the ‘prehistoric peoples’ would serve as a justification of the extermination of the Canaanites. It will be examined if this proposition is correct. Thirdly, we will investigate the reasons why the peoples of Canaan are set apart, according to the book of Deuteronomy. In Deut. 20:18 it is suggested that the Canaanites have to be exterminated because of their religion. This motif is not mentioned in Israel’s attitude toward other nations. We will examine what exactly is the relationship between the religion of the Canaanites and the command to eradicate them.

My paper will be concerned with Christian Arabic translations of the Pentateuch. The study of different versions of the Bible has always occupied an important place within the fields of exegetical and philological research. Arabic translations, however, have hitherto attracted scholars only to a limited degree. Although Georg Graf furnished a seminal survey in his epochal Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur (Vol. 1:85-195), it is no exaggeration to speak of this field as a terra incognita. In preparation of my dissertation, which I am currently undertaking at the University of Cambridge, I have collected and studied a variety of relevant primary sources. This preliminary research brought to light an Arabic version of the Peshitta Pentateuch of considerable age. It is likely to have emerged in the second half of the ninth century and therefore takes centre place in my paper. The translation is attested in three manuscripts, of which MS Sinai - Arabic 2 is the earliest dated. It was copied 939/40 CE and therefore holds the distinction of being the first dated manuscript copy of an Arabic Pentateuch of any provenance. I shall present a brief summary of this translation tradition, addressing available evidence for its dating and provenance. My closing remarks will concentrate on selected features of its translation technique.

By far the majority of modern critical scholarsship on the Gospel of John recognizes that the gospel bears the marks of editing. Nevertheless, there has been no proposal describing that process of composition (including those of Bultmann, Boismard, and Fortna) that has gained wide acceptance. The most common critique is that such theories are too subjective or that the criteria are not sufficiently rigorous, and that the one making the proposal simply makes the proposal on the basis of subjective preconceptions, i.e. that it is eisegesis not exegesis. The author of this paper has, himself, written a three-volume commentary on the Gospel and Letters of John (Eerdmans, 2010) in which he presents a detailed view of the composition of the Gospel and the Letters. Among other features, this commentary is the first to propose in any detail that 1 John was written before the completion of the gospel and in reaction to the earlier material. Because any such analysis of the language, narrative orientation, and theology of the Gospel in relation to the Letters is inevitably detailed, there is a reluctance to even engage in dialogue with such theories. This paper is intended to provide a brief review of the approach taken by the author and to suggest a number of criteria by which such a theory can be critiqued. It will be argued that the more the results of such compositional analysis intersect with (and confirm) each other, the more likely the analysis is to be correct . Hopefully, the paper will provide some sense of whether such detailed analysis is worth engaging.

A former student of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem recorded his journey through the Levant and his stay in Jerusalem in the mid-1950s by writing an account of his travels as well as taking photographs. This interesting document fell into oblivion for almost 55 years, and its existence finally came to light only recently. The record – which concerns Israel and Transjordan in particular – reflects the historical and archaeological state of affairs at the time and can therefore be considered to be valuable for scientific research in this area. This paper casts a glance at the document and reveals the significance of the account and the photographic material for the archaeology of Israel and Jordan.

Despite the predominantly negative usage of phthonos in Greek literature, including its NT usage, a long-standing consensus understands God to be the subject of the clause with pros phthonon in James 4:5. This paper, following a brief survey of proposed solutions, will present a viable alternative that makes better sense of the syntax of the verse within its immediate context (vv. 1-10).

This paper seeks to expose and examine dissonances within conventional readings of 1 Corinthians 13. In particular such dissonance that occurs between the hermeneutic of discourses of power and status within the Corinthian community, and the hermeneutic of developmentalism evident in readings of the ‘child’ metaphor in 1 Corinthians 13:12. I argue that the influence of developmentalist constructs exists as a pervasive hermeneutical lens. Yet, if located historically accurately, such a lens is shown to be inappropriate in much Pauline scholarship. Alternatively, I will suggest that re-orientation around Paul’s own rubric of the counter-claims of Christ Crucified as the inaugurated structural paradigm of the new community offers, not only a consonance, but a model of vulnerability, reciprocity and relationality which is positively paralleled in the metaphor of ‘child’. In doing so, I suggest that placement of the ‘child’ as metaphor in the midst of the Corinthian contests of spiritual elitism corresponds to Jesus own practice in Matthew 18.

This paper will discuss three important aspects of Ismaili doctrine relative to the Christians and Jews that involve direct attempts to influence both ritual practice and religious interpretation of Biblical texts. There is ample evidence that Ismaili teaching held that the law and scripture of the protected communities were subject to the interpretation of Ali b. Abi Talib and the imams after him. The imams in fact know the meaning of the sacred texts better than either Christians or Jews. A separate but equally interesting record indicates that the leading members of the Ismaili da’wa knew and could quote from the Hebrew and Syriac scriptures, often in the original language. A last area comprises the actual policy of imams, most especially of al-Hakim (d. 1021), to control and sharply restrict Christian and Jewish activities and observances.

The good old question about the relationship between Jesus and Paul is still on the agenda. What is at issue today is not merely the problem of Paul as a follower of Jesus, but also the real position of both Jesus and Paul in the cultural context of the first-century Judaism. What kind of Jews were Jesus and Paul? What was the impact of their personal religious experiences on their own way of being Jewish? And to what extent was the apostle’s Jewishness influenced by Jesus’ words and deeds? In order to find an answer to these burning questions, this paper will try to re-examine the problem of continuity or discontinuity between Jesus and Paul, starting from their actual practice of life. We will focus, especially, on their concrete attitudes toward ritual purity and dietary laws, as central aspects of Israel’s politics and piety. Why could Paul affirm to know and be persuaded «in the Lord Jesus» that «there is nothing unclean in itself» (Rom. 14:14)? In what sense and degree was the apostle’s thinking continuous with or dependent upon Jesus? And what can be said about Jesus himself? We will be forced, once again, to compare Rom. 14:14-20 with the puzzling sentence transmitted by Mark 7:15.19, in which Jesus denies that anything outside a man «can make him unclean». The discrepancy between Mark and its parallels has long been noticed by scholars, as well as the apparent irrelevance of this radical statement in the early Church. Combining the historico-exegetical approach with a fresh anthropological perspective, our analysis will attempt to show that the Markan account may reflect Jesus’ original intentions. If this is the case, Paul’s reference to the «Lord» can turn out to be more than a brilliant and personal insight.

Scholars have recently outlined the general value of examining New Testament literature in light of the Greek romances (Hock 1998, e.g.). Thus far, this scholarship has focused mainly on the Synoptic Gospels and Acts. John’s Gospel has been largely, though not entirely, neglected because it does not correspond as closely to the novel genre as do other NT texts; recent exceptions include Brant (1998, 2004), Larsen (2008) and Culpepper (2008). John begs comparison with the novels because of the importance of true identity to both John and the romances. Further, it is the identification of the protagonist(s) with a deity (Ephesian Tale 2.2; Leucippe and Clitophon 7.15, An Ethiopian Story 1.2, 1.21) which establishes the importance of viewing John in light of the novels. As in the romances, for the Gospel of John it is the hero’s identity that is at stake; Jesus’ identification with the divine is the end goal of John’s gospel. Though Brant has rightly suggested that the reinstatement of ‘true identity’ plays a major role in both the novels and in John, I argue that it is particularly the misidentification of Leucippe and her fellow heroines with goddesses that makes these novels an especially appropriate lens with which to view John. In the novels the protagonists are thought to be gods and goddesses in error; in John an identification of Jesus with God is the correct conclusion for the reader to draw. That is, while John’s Gospel is still concerned with the establishment of Jesus’ ‘true identity,’ this identity is in fact that of the god in question. This inversion of the identity resolution motifs found in the novels serves to emphasize Jesus’ divine identity.

Ambrosiaster's commentaries on Paul demonstrate the rich interpretive practice at work in the late fourth century. Though Ambrosiaster did not write a commentary on the Apocalypse (that we know), he participated in the reception history of the book by making use of it in his Commentaries on Paul's letters and his Questions on the Old and New Testaments. This study situates Ambrosiaster among other early Latin interpreters of John's Apocalypse (e.g. Victorinus and Tyconius) and examines how he drew on the Apocalypse to elucidate his interpretation of Paul. His discussions of Pauline eschatology seamlessly integrate ideas and exact wording from the Apocalypse. On these matters, the voice of Paul is in tune with the voice of the "apostle John," whom Ambrosiaster identifies as the author of the Apocalypse. Ambrosiaster tends to harmonize the two voices whenever possible since for him it would have been inconceivable for the two biblical authors to disagree. Thus, although Ambrosiaster resembles a modern critic for reading the Pauline letters in light of their first-century context, he has no interest in distinguishing the individual theologies of the biblical authors. He never addresses the issue of whether the eschatology in Paul's letters is somehow insufficient or secondary to the Apocalypse. For him, the wording might be different but the message is the same. Like Victorinus before him, Ambrosiaster's interpretation of the eschatology of Paul and the Apocalypse is primarily a literal one. Kevin Hughes calls Ambrosiaster's approach as apocalyptic realist exegesis, which emphasizes the nonallegorical, eschatological reading of antichrist and the end time. Thus Ambrosiaster would have been aligned with contemporaries Theodore of Mopsuestia, Pelagius, and Jerome and positioned against Tyconius. Yet as one finds in his exegesis of 2 Cor 11:2, there is also some room for a metaphorical interpretation of Revelation.

The Chester Beatty Gospels codex, also known as Papyrus 45, is one of the most important witnesses for the textual history of the Gospel of Mark. Earlier it was thought to represent a "pre-Caesarean text" together with Codex Washingtonianus; a text regarded by some as a primitive and unrevised text. Through the work of Larry W. Hurtado, however, the theory of a "pre-Caesarean text" received a deathblow. His quantitative analysis did confirm a textual relationship between P45 and W, but they in turn showed no particular affinity to other purported "Caesarean" witnesses. Further, his analysis of the readings of W (and P45) in Mark showed that this text was often secondary reflecting "a freedom to amend it in the interest of readability and religious edification." Whereas the Caesarean text has now sunk into relative oblivion, the fact remains that P45 and W represent a very early textual cluster in Mark, which still deserves close attention. Hurtado's study of P45 was based on 103 variation-units derived solely from the well-preserved parts of P45. This study examines the text of P45 in its other extant passages in Mark.

Joshua Berman has recently argued that treaty-covenant pattern in Deuteronomy is closer to the Hittite treaty pattern in CTH 133 than it is to the pattern found in the Assyrian treaties. This development renews and heightens interest in other possible connections between Hittite and Biblical laws. The provisions in HL 187-200 regarding incest and prohibited sexual relations offer another body of closely related materials that can be profitably compared with two similar stretches of laws in Leviticus 18 and 20 that also deal with incest and prohibited sexual couplings. After reviewing the relatively few places in scholarly commentaries where these prohibitions have been linguistically analyzed or anthropologically compared in noteworthy detail, my paper offers a structural analysis of these three text blocks. Factors such as length, sequence, inversion, association, framing, and setting are measured and used to identify the principal values and motivating purposes embedded in each of these sets of texts, as well as to assess the possibility of cultural transmissions or textual influences between or shared by them. In addition, I will structurally contrast those results with Laws of Hammurabi 153-58 before advancing some general conclusions.

Scholars seem to agree on a didactic purpose of the book of Jonah. Even though the didactic purpose is obvious, T. Desmond Alexander’s survey mentions an elusive diversity: history, allegory, midrash, parable, prophetic parable, legend, prophetic legend, novelle, satire, didactic fiction, satirical, didactic, short story. One of the reasons for this elusiveness is that the discussion of the purpose is tied closely to the identification of the genre of the book. The paper reviews briefly the interdependence of purpose and genre in the discussion of the book. In light of this review and in light of the significance of the verb jada‘ in the book the relationship between Jonah and the non-Jews in the book will be investigated. In comparing it to the respective dynamic in Genesis 20 and Exod 1,17-22 the purpose of the book is revisited. Additionally, the genre will be discussed by comparing the book to the prophetic stories of Elijah and Elisha. It will be investigated whether Nissinen’s References to Prophecy in Neo-Assyrian Sources and The Report of Wenamun offer insights for the discussion on genre. Perhaps the obvious reluctance of some scholars to be specific with regard to the genre is an appropriate reflection of its elusiveness.

In current New Testament research Paul’s motive for not accepting any form of remuneration from the congregation in Corinth is still an area of contention. One of the reasons for this lack of present consensus can be found in the evolving paradigm which views Pauline ministry from a socio-economic perspective, rather than from a position of social status. One of the new areas in Biblical research is the concept of reciprocity. Several studies grapple with the way in which Paul submitted to or ignored the unwritten laws of reciprocity. In this paper the concept of a triangular reciprocity is explored. The apostle Paul offered the gospel free of charge (1 Cor 9:18) without receiving a reward, but expected the Corinthians to give their lives to God in turn. By toiling hard and providing for himself, Paul compares himself to a slave, who “forwards” the profit of his labour to the benefit of everyone. Despite the lack of a central theme in 1 Corinthians, there are several indicators in the letter that the economic differences between church members played a major part in the problems in the congregation. It is argued that the poor would probably profit the most from Paul’s practice, by not having to contribute to Paul’s salary. Using the economic disparities in the congregation as an interpretative framework for the conflicts in Corinth does therefore deserve new attention. The results of such an investigation may also prove fruitful in understanding the relation of 1 Cor 9 to the rest of the letter.

Stephen Mitchell claims in his extended essay of 1999 that literary and epigraphic evidence proves the existence of a widespread pagan-Jewish syncretistic cult, called the “Cult of Theos Hypsistos. This cult was purported to be located in all parts of the eastern Mediterranean area; Greece, the Bosporus, the Black Sea area, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa, the islands of Delos and Crete, and to have remained in existence over many centuries of the Hellenistic and Roman eras. This paper takes the position that such a cult has never existed. It accepts the argument of Nicole Belayche that the use of the term “hypsistos” was a method of exulting one god over another within a pantheon. Mitchell provides no clear explanation of how the ostensible pagan-Jewish syncretism might have occurred. The paper’s contribution to the debate is an exploration and refutation of his apparent reasons for making the claim of syncretism, which appear to focus on synagogue use of the Septuagint. The paper will centre on the common language of koine Greek, the religious vocabulary of the Septuagint, and its use by Jews and pagans in literature and inscriptions. The limited archaeological evidence of supposed mixed worship is also evaluated. The conclusion is reached that no such pagan-Jewish syncretistic cult can be established to have existed.

The Epistle to the Hebrews contains abundant references to death but the theme has been surprisingly underdeveloped in New Testament studies. Its argument includes statements about dying, killing, martyrdom, and blood that may seem unremarkable in isolation, but through repetition throughout the discourse, they constitute a primary theme. This paper will first locate the references that are related to death by using the semantic domains that are associated with death and dying. Second, this paper will examine models the author offered the readers of those who successfully faced death: the exemplars in chapter 11, and the example of Christ who was one who faithfully endured in the face of suffering and the threat of death. Third, this paper will reconstruct the situation of the first readers through the author's descriptions of the readers’ circumstances combined with a consideration of the relevance that the specific references to death could have had for the readers. It will suggest that the readers are facing a lethal threat. Furthermore, it will suggest that the purpose of the Book of Hebrews was to help the readers navigate their life-threatening situation. Fourth, this paper will examine the range of possible threats that the readers could have faced, including persecution, martyrdom, and military destruction. It will be seen that the text offers abundant evidence that the Book of Hebrews was written to meet the needs of a church community that was threatened with destruction, a threat to which they probably succumbed.

In the study of the Hebrew Bible, one sometimes encounters so called doublets. An example of such a doublet is Ps 14 and Ps 53. These psalms have commonly been understood as reflecting a common written text, a conclusion that, in my opinion, is far too unsatisfactory due to the fact that it does not do justice to the textual evidence. The attempts to reconstruct an original written text bear witness of a too speculative reasoning. The thesis of this paper is that the similarities are better explained by an assumed oral tradition, and that the two psalms are separate modifications of that tradition in order to adapt the tradition to new historical circumstances. By an overview of three textual strands as represented by the Masoretic text; the Qumran scrolls 4QPsa, 4QPsc, 11QPsc; and the LXX, I conclude that the minor and major differences are best understood on theological, and not linguistic grounds. Each psalm seems to make some specific theological emphasis; while Ps 14 focuses on the tension between the fool and the righteous, Ps 53 focuses more on an “external” threat directed towards the people of God.

The reading orgistheis 'becoming angry' has become very popular amongst commentators and has received recent impetus through adoption in the SBL Greek New Testament and in the 2011 edition of the NIV. Despite the fact that external attestation is considerably stronger for splagchnistheis 'filled with compassion', scholars have tended to be swayed by the consideration that they cannot imagine how any scribe might change the text towards the allegedly 'harder' reading orgistheis. However, this paper will argue that it is far easier to conceive of someone replacing splagchnistheis by orgistheis than the reverse for a range of reasons, including the currency of the term orgistheis in contrast to the rarity of the term splagchnistheis. Considerations of morphologically related terms suggests that if splagchnistheis were to be corrupted by accident, the form ending is –istheis that it would be most likely to become is none other than orgistheis. Moreover, if orgistheis were the authorial text, the existence of such a convenient substitute as splagchnistheis is hard to account for by mere appeal to chance. This paper also considers methodological double standards which are sometimes applied in the advocacy of orgistheis.

A study seeking to expand our understanding of scribal habits in Greek New Testament manuscripts through an examination of singular readings catalogued using a combination of the following critical apparatuses: NA27, Tischendorf, Von Soden, Swanson, IGNTP Luke, the ECM in the Catholic Epistles and Hoskier's Text of the Apocalypse. The resultant evidence from over 4000 singular readings in 32 chapters of the New Testament text are compared against Colwell's and Royse's studies.

Described by Origen as a writing that “even the masses of believers have read” (Cels. 8.30), the Sentences of Sextus offers unique insights regarding popular Christian morality in the late second century. While the author draws extensively on canonical materials for the construction of his sayings, what makes this document particularly fascinating is its simultaneous reliance on two (and possibly three) generically similar collections of Neopythagorean maxims. This presentation will explore the dynamics of Sextus’ biblical hermeneutic with special attention to how its manner of re-presenting scripture has been shaped by these philosophical influences and what difference this interaction makes for the sort of biblically-informed praxis the text imparts to its readers. In keeping with the gnomic compositions on which it is patterned, the logic of the Sentences presents something of a rhetorical paradox in this regard, for while its ostensible purpose is to project a particular moral and spiritual order, the aphoristic progression of thought is actually fractured and unsystematic, jolting the reader from one judgment or topic to the next. The seemingly random character of the text’s organization underscores the underdetermined, even esoteric nature of the sayings themselves, compelling the reader to make connections, ponder relevant applications, and discern unifying patterns. In this manner, engagement with the text over time not only shapes moral comportment, it also fosters capacities of moral reasoning and imagination. The investigation of these particulars as they apply to the Sentences represents a distinctive contribution to the study of scriptural interpretation during the patristic era insofar as it reveals how biblical texts, concepts, and language could be appropriated within an aphoristically-determined Pythagorean-Christian milieu.

It is often assumed that Paul uses the word “covenant” primarily to mean “salvific relationship with God”. There is, moreover, a trend in some forms of Pauline scholarship to assume a single “covenant” as a ubiquitous key feature of the metanarrative behind Paul’s writings, which defines the unified corporate reality of God’s people. The aim of this paper is to question these assumptions, expanding the interpretative options for the plural word “covenants” in Romans 9:4 by exploring the various different kinds of covenant in the Jewish background to Paul’s thought. Following Hugenberger’s linguistic analysis of the word in the Hebrew Bible, “covenant” is defined as “an elected relationship of obligation under oath”. This is a precise definition, but it allows for a broad range of possibilities. Not all of the divine-human covenants in the scriptures are directly soteriological, in the sense that their primary aim is to bring salvation to the covenanted party. Rather, there is a pluriformity of “covenantal” concepts, especially in Genesis, Exodus, and Isaiah. A number of the covenants in these texts involve highly significant and specific vocational obligations, in which the covenanted party is required to perform a task relating to others who are not themselves parties to the covenant. Ben Sira highlights the vocational dimension of many of the scriptural covenants. In Romans 9:4, therefore, Paul may be referring not only to the soteriological dimensions of Israel’s covenants, but also to those covenants with a strong vocational element: for example, the glorious covenants of priestly ministry, and/or and the eschatological covenants whereby the redeemed Israel is made to be a light shining to the nations.

Hebrew language learning is under pressure in theological education, and use of educational technology may be the only way to retain Hebrew learning. The aim of a new project for Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies – or PLOT – is to develop technology that will persuade learners to engage with the Hebrew Bible in more effective and efficient ways in the 21st Century classroom (https://sites.google.com/site/europlot/). The setting for this new ‘plot’ for persuasive Hebrew learning is Amsterdam in the late 1970s when Eep Talstra started constructing a digital Hebrew Bible and wrote programs to do linguistic investigation. Around 2003 this database evolved into the Emdros storage and retrieval system (www.emdros.org). At this time the database of Hebrew Bible became commercially available as the Bible Software program Stuttgart Electronic Bible Study, or SESB. Students had new opportunities for digital learning through an electronic syntactic concordance, and we were also able to use the Linguistic Tree Constructor program for interactive learning from these data. Online learning material was developed and we saw the results from interactive exercises on Hebrew paradigms through the Paradigms Master Pro. The paper will introduce these tools and explain how they support learning of grammatical skills and persuade learners to engage in interpretation of the Hebrew text of Genesis. It will explain the prospects of new Emdros-based learning technology which we hope to implement in the EU funded EuroPLOT project constructing a new online application for data-driven and learner-centered language learning in 2011-2013 will (https://sites.google.com/site/europlot/project-definition/workpackage-5). We will set out the prospects of treating a complete corpus of the Hebrew Bible as an object of learning replete with its own inherent applications that will motivate and enable learning.

"Living Water" is a very prominent metaphor in the Gospel of John. It is explicitly referred to in John 4:10-14; 7:37-39, but it constitutes a christological line of thought, based on the reception of Ezek 47, that runs through the entire Gospel. The aim of this paper is (1) to trace this line of thought and (2) to clarify its tradition-historical relationship with the imagery of water/source/drinking as it appears in other early Christian sources, such as the Book of Revelation, the Gospel of Thomas and the Odes of Solomon.

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This paper focuses on a community of Judean deportees who were settled on newly-claimed arable land in rural Babylonia. They were allotted plots of agricultural land that belonged to the crown and were under the authority of the local royal administrators. Obligations included the delivery of a certain pre-estimated part of the harvest income of several commodities (barley, other grain, dates, sesame, chick-peas) and the performance of corvée service (at least for two months per year by some persons in some years) at locations far away from home. In this regard the situation of the Judean settlers was identical to the situation of other deportees, and, in fact, to a large part of the native Babylonian population as well.

Most of the history of the city of Samaria and its inhabitants during the Persian period lies in the dark. The written sources are largely silent and the archaeological evidence is scanty. However, the publication of the coinage of Samaria in the fourth century BCE by Y. Meshorer and S. Qedar in the nineties of the century past provided manifold new insights into the province’s state of affairs. The published material includes more than 200 coins. Its iconography is very varied and comes up with some unexpected motifs. One of the coin images that evoked surprise shows two females in a shrine (Samarian Coinage, No. 45). Meshorer and Qedar call it ‚one of the most intriguing of all the Samarian coin types’ (Samarian Coinage, page 47). How can the motif be interpreted? Is it a depiction of the Samaritan temple on the Mt. Gerizim as Meshorer and Qedar suggest (Samarian Coinage, page 48)? Could it refer to a – so far unknown – local cult of a goddess in Samaria? Or does it simply represent an imitating issue, as so many other Samarian coins do? To answer these questions the coin image will be presented as part of the Samarian coinage imagery, on the background of Ancient Near Eastern image tradition and with regard to archaeology in Persian and early Hellenistic Samaria.

The Babylonian Fürstenspiegel is one of the best known pieces of Babylonian wisdom literature. But a key idea expressed in the text seems to be neglected by previous research. In this presentation, I will argue for an overall chiastic structure of the composition and will propose thereof that the collectivity of the great gods served as a basic theological concept in the text. Despite the likely fact that the Fürstenspiegel was embedded in the social-political contexts of its time, as a piece of religious literature it has its place in the development of Mesopotamian religious thinking. The presentation includes a textual edition of the cuneiform text.

Deliberate change in the final clause of a literary unit especially within a literary unit that is characterized by patterns of repetition has been discussed frequently at least from the time of Aristotle's Rhetorika. Aristotle noted that the attention of the audience will be lost if patterns of repetition result in monotony. Therefore, deviation from a stereotyped pattern results in emphasis. In modern research a number of scholars noted the importance of the final clause, and they found a number of ways by which emphasis is achieved. Among these scholars, mention should be made of Robert Gordis, David Noel Freedman, Barbara Herstein Smith, Meir Weiss. However, these scholars did not cite a sufficient number of examples within biblical literature to make a sufficiently strong case. The aforementioned scholars stressed primarily the lengthening of the final clause and change in word order vis-à-vis previous clauses. In the proposed paper I shall analyze twenty rhetorical models, many of them not previously cited, for emphasizing the final clause within an aphorism containing at least three clauses. These examples will be taken from the Book of Proverbs and the Aramaic Proverbs of Ahiqar. I divide a number of the aphorisms both in Biblical Proverbs and in Ahiqar into three clauses contrary to the heretofore accepted understanding of those proverbs, which are commonly understood to have only two clauses. In these instances recognition of the rhetorical device of emphasizing the final clause uncovers the heretofore unrecognized structure of the proverb. Consequently, I shall show that recognizing the emphasis on the final clause is not only important for appreciation of the aesthetic aspects of ancient aphorisms but also for properly understanding their content.

Leviticus 11:24-40, the structural core of the chapter, has three salient exceptions (earthen vessels, spring/cistern, seed) for the regulations on the contamination by the contact of carcass. The hydrology in the unit shows an ambiguous feature of water as a source of either life or death. The most fundamental problem is that the macro schemes suggested by major scholarship do not cover all the individual cases with no exceptions. It is because the exceptions and immunities derive not from the theoretical systematization of the cultic life of the Israelites but from pragmatic consideration upon the Israelite real life. It is the issue of practicality prioritized to the logicality. The practical consideration associated with sustainability and reproducibility is needed for the communal survival and management. The most relevant suggestion for the overall rationale is made by Jacob Milgrom who focuses on the distance between the objects and the earth, i.e., the issue of embeddedness. However, his rationale of embeddedness does not fit in the three exceptions and needs to be complemented: (1) Regarding the exception of earthen vessels, his attention to embeddedness is to be complemented by the practical consideration of economic situation; (2) Regarding the exception of a spring or a cistern, his contrast between embedded (or flowing) water and isolated (or standing) water is to be replaced with the quantitative consideration rather than qualitative of water for the sustainability for the communal survival. (3) Regarding the exception of the dry seed for sowing, his contrast between embeddedness and looseness is to be modified to the contrast between rotting and budding for the reproducibility for the communal survival. It is the issue of life to be sustained and reproduced which underlies the basic system of the purity and the dietary law.

Joseph's decision to divorce Mary in Matt. 1.19 should come as a greater surprise than it typically does to the readers of this famous narrative, given the fact that there is no textual source prior to Matthew's Gospel that prescribes a get to dissolve a betrothal. Equally surprising should be Joseph's decision not to divorce his fiancée, given that he discovers her to be pregnant with another's child. The same mishnaic law that removes the surprise from a man divorcing a woman to whom he is not married stipulates that he has no choice but to divorce an adulteress: She is forbidden to her husband and she is forbidden to her lover (Sotah 5:1). The anonymous author of the Gospel informs his readers that Joseph is exempted from this requirement because "the child that is conceived in her is of a holy spirit," (Matt. 1: 20), but where is the case law that specifies the legal status of children fathered by spirits? The present paper attempts to make a small contribution to this latter question, to examine some pertinent cases, and to suggest what they might have to do with the Gospel of Matthew, "The Book of the Birth of Jesus the Messiah (Matt. 1:1).

Recognition of rewriting as one of the most significant ways that Second Temple scribes engaged with and extended existing scriptural texts stands as a major achievement of Qumran scholarship to date. Yet the lion’s share of the attention in discussions of “Rewritten Scripture” and related phenomena has focused on a rather small group of texts (in particular, the Genesis Apocryphon, Jubilees, the Temple Scroll, and the 4QReworked Pentateuch manuscripts). While other texts are sometimes mentioned as possible examples of Rewritten Scripture, most of these texts have yet to be analyzed specifically in light of the issues of textual reuse, hermeneutical stance, and authoritative status highlighted in the debate surrounding Rewritten Scripture. As part of a larger project on scriptural rewriting in the Second Temple period, this paper will examine the use of scripture in Pseudo-Ezekiel (4Q385–386, 388, 391) and the Apocryphon of Jeremiah C (4Q385a, 387–388a, 389–390), two compositions related by both their manuscript situation and their apocalyptic orientation. I will consider 1) the extent of scriptural reuse and the specific ways in which the scriptural text as presented in 4QpsEzek and 4QapocrJer C differs from other known versions; 2) the goals and purposes of the use of earlier scripture in the context of the compositions as a whole; and 3) the pseudepigraphic self-presentation of each text. I will show that, while both texts differ somewhat in the nature of their rewriting from more thoroughly studied examples of Rewritten Scripture, they also show important points of contact. Incorporation of 4QpsEzek and 4QapocrJer C more fully into the discussion on scriptural rewriting thus both broadens and nuances our understanding of the nature and role of this phenomenon in early Judaism.

In 18 of the nearly 40 narratives in Gen 1-34 and 36, irrespective of the documentary source(s), the key character participates in a ritual, and sometimes in more than one ritual in the end-section of the narrative. This study suggests that rituals are one of the closural conventions that biblical writers and editors regularly used; the rituals bring qualities of finality, stability, and integrity to their narratives. The Genesis rituals may precipitate the key transformation in the story, as treaty rituals often do, or they may occur after that point in the story. They suggest to the reader that the events of the narrative are over and the story is concluded. If a ritual is marked with formulaic language the mere presence of specific words can alert readers that the end of a story has arrived. If the divine is invoked, as in an altar-building ritual, it suggests that the deity will bring additional stability to the outcome. When a ritual articulates the hierarchy between people, it projects a stabilized society. King Abimelekh comes to Abraham and to Isaac to ask for a treaty; the patriarchs build altars and raise pillars but Lot does not. Rituals mark life-cycle events and complete a process: the wedding ceremony between Isaac and Rebekah ends their betrothal; the circumcision that Abraham performs brings himself and his people into the covenant with God. The “end-section” begins when the key destabilizing event or perception that precipitated the action in the story is re-stabilized; that, together with additional information that the writer adds forms an “end-section.” Knowledge that rituals are a closural convention provides a new vantage point from which to analyze the stories. It leads to additional insights within a particular story and offers new insights into the strategies of the authors.

The Gospel of Thomas is the most discussed and researched extra-canonical gospel from Nag Hammadi, yet there continues to be little scholarly agreement regarding its relationship to the Fourth Gospel. Almost fifty years ago, Brown published an influential article that examined the relationship between the Gospel of Thomas and the Johannine literature, however, his methodology has been regularly critiqued. More recently, Riley, DeConick, and Pagels have argued that the Thomasine and Johannine communities were in conflict, which is evidenced by the variant interpretations of common traditions and theological themes in their respective gospels. Firstly, this paper will provide a brief critique of the community-conflict thesis, which has already been instigated by Dunderberg and Skinner. Secondly, it will argue that four sayings from the Gospel of Thomas exhibit a measure of dependence on the Fourth Gospel (Gos. Thom. 1//John 8:52; Gos. Thom. 38//John 7:34; Gos. Thom. 43//John 8:25-27; Gos. Thom. 77//John 8:12), and the author/redactor has altered these texts to align with the theological concerns of the Gospel of Thomas. This paper will conclude that it is plausible the Gospel of Thomas provides evidence for the reception of the Fourth Gospel in the second-century CE.

This paper is a comparative analysis of Egyptian and Greek prescriptions for fertility testing. Similarities between the two prescriptions indicate a religious and philosophical supra-culture in the eastern Mediterranean that fostered an exchange of medical knowledge. Yet, the differences in the medical techniques also allowed for the regional sub-cultures of Egyptian and Greek religion to retain their particular characteristics. By investigating how ideas were adapted while crossing cultural boundaries, we are better able to understand the interplay of supra- and sub-cultures for the ancient Mediterranean.