Hebrew Bible/"Old Testament"

The “Curse of Eve”—Is Pain Our Punishment? Part 2 by Stacia Guzzo

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published in the Feminism and Religion project

In the first part, I posed the question about whether or not the so-called “Curse of Eve” could be interpreted... more In the first part, I posed the question about whether or not the so-called “Curse of Eve” could be interpreted alternatively from the traditional understanding of Genesis 3:16a (the result of Eve’s disobedience being the punishment of painful childbirth for all generations of women). I considered an alternate interpretation of “sorrow” rather than “pain” for the verse, a lens through which the punishment could then be seen as impacting the God-human relationship rather than as a condemnation of pain.

Hagar: A Portrait of a Victim of Domestic Violence and Rape by Michele Stopera Freyhauf

by Feminism and Religion

Originally posted on the Feminism and Religion Project

This week Twitter has been a flurry with information for victims of  domestic violence and rape.  This... more This week Twitter has been a flurry with information for victims of  domestic violence and rape.  This ranges from the U.S. redefinition of rape to include men to Nigeria’s first anti-rape toll free hotline for women.  There is even a male movement to stand against rape.  This problem is an ongoing issue, one that shows no sign of diminishing or going away.  According to Amnesty International, one in three women worldwide have been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused and their abuser is normally someone they know.  As I contemplate this very difficult issue, I am reminded of the Biblical Hagar in Genesis 16. The story of Hagar and Sarai is abundant

Men Can Stop Rape (http://www.mencanstoprape.org/)

in ethical situations that draw in the reader and presents complex issues that can be very troublesome.  If you take the text hermeneutically, through an ideological examination in its English translation, we have an Egyptian woman, who is also referred to as slave or concubine, forced to engage into sex with her owner’s husband for producing an heir.  Here the abuser is a woman with a docile and obedient husband portrayed by Abram.  What can we  glean from such a story for today’s battered women?  Hope or horrific defeat?

From Joseph to Moses: The Narratives of Exodus 1-2

by Joel Baden

Vetus Testamentum 62 (2012): 133-58.

Injustice under the sun? The deconstruction of solar mythology in Qohelet

by Jaco Gericke

"Sixteen Strong Identifications of Biblical Persons (Plus Nine Other Identifications) in Authentic Northwest Semitic Inscriptions from before 539 B.C.E." [forthcoming]

by Lawrence Mykytiuk

This revised, updated conference paper presents the strongest results of the author’s dissertation, Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200-539 B.C.E. (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004). It was presented at the SBL International Meeting, Vienna, 2007, then revised and updated in accordance with the same author's article in the journal _Maarav_ (labeled 2009, that actually appeared in 2010). Later it was updated using a 2011 essay by Eran Arie in _Fire Signals of Lachish_. The present paper has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in Meir Lubetski, ed., New Inscriptions and Seals Relating to the Biblical World (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, forthcoming).

In Northwest Semitic inscriptions which are known to be authentic, using sound protocols, one can identify with... more In Northwest Semitic inscriptions which are known to be authentic, using sound protocols, one can identify with certainty at least ten persons from before the Persian era who are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Another six such persons can be identified with virtual certainty for a total of sixteen strong identifications (IDs). Five other authentic inscriptions offer an additional seven IDs which, while not quite certain, are at least reasonable IDs and can be used as hypotheses. A plaster wall inscription offers two other IDs which are of uncertain historical value. Inscriptions in other languages and of later time periods increase the number of IDs of persons in the Hebrew Bible.

The Song of Hannah in Arabic from Vat. Barb. Or. 2 and Other Sources

by Adam McCollum

Pre-publication draft. To appear in a volume on the Song of Hannah.

The Witness of Ms. Vat. Barb. Or. 2 to the Song of Hannah in Gǝ‘ǝz

by Adam McCollum

Pre-publication draft. To appear in a volume on the Song of Hannah.

Yahweh nyilai

by András László Gér

Arrows of Yahweh – demons in the Deut. 32:19-25 in: Vallástudományi szemle, 2011/4: 20-37. (Title in Hungarian: Yahweh nyilai – démonok az 5Mózes 32:19-25-ben)

Review of Frances Flannery-Dailey, Dreamers, Scribes, and Priests. Jewish Dreams in the Hellenistic and Roman Eras. SJSJ 90. Boston/Leiden: Brill, 2004

by Carla Sulzbach

Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 17(2008)3: 233-236

“Fluid Stability in First Samuel 17”

by Mark George

Published in Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 64/1 (January, 2002), pp. 17–36.

Does Humor Have a Place in Religion? by Barbara Ardinger

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion Project.

Is there anything funny about the divine? Any joke-telling gods? From the days of Abraham until today, the gods and... more Is there anything funny about the divine? Any joke-telling gods? From the days of Abraham until today, the gods and their preachers are a very earnest lot intent on saving us from our sins and building congregations.

Like it or not, we neopagans are still children of the society we’re endeavoring to change. Some of us seem to want to switch patriarchy to matriarchy, but that’s just swapping Big Daddy for Big Momma. It’s still a hierarchical arrangement with the deity at the top of the mountain. Immediately below the “arch” are angels, men, eagles, lions, and other superior beasts. At the bottom of the mountain are women, mud, and matter. (In case you don’t recognize it, this is the 18th-century Great Chain of Being.)

Any humor in spiritual and religious writing? The Hebrew Bible (which Christians refer to as the Old Testament) is a collection of laws, canonically approved versions of history, prophetical preachings, and poetry. The Christian Bible (aka New Testament) give us different approved versions of history, plus further preaching, plus myth and mysticism. The writings of the medieval Fathers of the Church are famously grim and misogynistic. The Qur’an offers ethical guidance and moral preaching. In the Far East, the Tao is also profound, as are the preachings of the Buddha. The writings of Confucius present instructions for maintaining the correct social order (another version of that Great Chain). The great stories of Hinduism are filled with wonder, adventures, and philosophy. But they’re not very funny.

These are the standard texts of the standard-brand religions, and though I’ve greatly oversimplified them—no offense intended to anyone—I think it’s safe to say that while we can have conversations filled with humor, gentle or ironic, with followers of these religions, we are unlikely to discern anything funny in the holy books. From the beginning, spiritual writing has been unrelentingly and highly serious.

One of the blessings of the Goddess religion—spiritual feminism or feminist spiritualism—is playfulness. I know many neopagans who are extraordinarily creative. I’ve been to some truly inventive rituals. I have read hilarious jokes and postings in the social media.

Hagar: A Portrait of a Victim of Domestic Violence and Rape

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion Project.

This week Twitter has been a flurry with information for victims of  domestic violence and rape.  This... more This week Twitter has been a flurry with information for victims of  domestic violence and rape.  This ranges from the U.S. redefinition of rape to include men to Nigeria’s first anti-rape toll free hotline for women.  There is even a male movement to stand against rape.  This problem is an ongoing issue, one that shows no sign of diminishing or going away.  According to Amnesty International, one in three women worldwide have been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused and their abuser is normally someone they know.  As I contemplate this very difficult issue, I am reminded of the Biblical Hagar in Genesis 16. The story of Hagar and Sarai is abundant

Men Can Stop Rape (http://www.mencanstoprape.org/)

in ethical situations that draw in the reader and presents complex issues that can be very troublesome.  If you take the text hermeneutically, through an ideological examination in its English translation, we have an Egyptian woman, who is also referred to as slave or concubine, forced to engage into sex with her owner’s husband for producing an heir.  Here the abuser is a woman with a docile and obedient husband portrayed by Abram.  What can we  glean from such a story for today’s battered women?  Hope or horrific defeat?

Exploring Politics and Priesthood Associated with Deuteronomic Historian's Foundational Covenants

by Michele Stopera Freyhauf

This paper was written in fulfillment of my Master of Arts Degree at John Carroll University.

This paper explores the foundational covenants of the Deuteronomic Historian and how they were re-interpreted to... more This paper explores the foundational covenants of the Deuteronomic Historian and how they were re-interpreted to promote a political agenda by the ruling priestly group - Levites, Zadokites, and the Aaronites.

A Horrific Bible Story - and Why I Read It by Dirk von der Horst

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion Project

There are smart, and there are polemical, ways to think about religiously-motivated violence. As someone who spent his... more There are smart, and there are polemical, ways to think about religiously-motivated violence. As someone who spent his seminary years thinking about Christian anti-Semitism, I was taken aback by the simplistic account of religious violence offered by Sam Harris some years back:

“Religion is the one area of our discourse in which people are systematically protected from the demand to give good evidence and valid arguments in defense of their strongly held beliefs. And yet these beliefs regularly determine what they live for, what they will die for and—all too often—what they will kill for. Consequently, we are living in a world in which millions of grown men and women can rationalize the violent sacrifice of their own children by recourse to fairy tales” (The Case Against Faith). In response, I’d like to explore some reasons I continue to engage with violent biblical stories, taking Judges 11:29-40, the story of Jephthah, who sacrifices his daughter in fulfillment of a vow, as an example.

No one has an innocent history

The Pteromorphic Angelology of the Apocalypse of Abraham

by Andrei Orlov

The Face as the Heavenly Counterpart of the Visionary in the Slavonic Ladder of Jacob

by Andrei Orlov

Why Does the Plague of Darkness Last for Three Days? Source Ascription and Literary Motif in Exodus 10:21–23, 27

by Jeffrey Stackert

Vetus Testamentum 61 (2011): 657-76

The Origin and Interpretation of sāra‘at in Leviticus 13–14

by Joel Baden

With Candida R. Moss. Journal of Biblical Literature 130 (2011): 643-62.

Elio Jucci, L’ambiente di Gesù e le correnti messianiche intratestamentarie." In Il volto di Cristo: Via verità e Vita. Atti del Convegno Diocesano. Marina di Sibari (Cosenza), 26-27 settembre 2008, ed. Diocesi di Cassano all’Ionio, 93-129. Gorle: Editrice Velar, 2008

by Elio Jucci

Elio Jucci, L’ambiente di Gesù e le correnti messianiche intratestamentarie." In Il volto di Cristo: Via verità e Vita. Atti del Convegno Diocesano. Marina di Sibari (Cosenza), 26-27 settembre 2008, ed. Diocesi di Cassano all’Ionio, 93-129. Gorle: Editrice Velar, 2008

L'articolo esamina gli sviluppi delle tematiche messianiche nella letteratura giudaica del cosiddetto periodo... more L'articolo esamina gli sviluppi delle tematiche messianiche nella letteratura giudaica del cosiddetto periodo intertestamentario, ovvero delle testimonianze della letteratura apocrifa anticotestamentaria (in particolare libri di Enoc, Salmi di Salomone, Libri Sibillini) e della letteratura qumranica. Inoltre si prendono in considerazione le testimonianze di Giuseppe Flavio relative ai movimenti di ribellione diffusi in particolare tra il primo sec. a.C. e il primo sec. d.C.

Identifying Sectarian Characteristics in the Phylacteries from Qumran

by Yonatan Adler

Published in: Revue de Qumran, 89 (2007), pp. 79–92.

The present study has examined the question of whether the Qumran phylacteries are to be viewed as representative of... more The present study has examined the question of whether the Qumran phylacteries are to be viewed as representative of practices generally observed by mainstream Judaism during the second temple period, or whether these exemplars represent customs peculiar to the Qumran sectarians. Two scribal characteristics have been identified as distinctive of biblical texts deriving from sectarian circles – vulgar orthography and non-Masoretic textual character. It has been shown that the vast majority of the phylactery exemplars from Qumran display at least one of these sectarian characteristics, and should thus be recognized as sectarian phylacteries. Only two exemplars, 8QPhyl I and 4QPhyl D-F, were found to have been completely compatible with Pharisaic scribal norms. While virtually all of the exemplars displaying sectarian scribal practices include “extended” scriptural passages not prescribed by rabbinic law, the two exemplars which are compatible with normative Pharisaic scribal practices contain only the four “abbreviated” scriptural passages prescribed by rabbinic law. As such, the phylactery exemplars from Qumran provide no evidence for the theory that the Decalogue was commonly included in phylacteries during the second temple period as part of “extended” scriptural portions.