Sunday Morming at the Brown Symposium

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Location:Waterman St,Providence,United States

At Brown University

Just arrived at Brown for a Moskow Symposium, where I'm giving a paper tomorrow on the Levites and Social Theory. I'm looking forward to my long-weekend here. It's getting dark, but here are a few snapshots I just took:






Here's the quad outside my hall:


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Location:George St,Providence,United States

The 2010 Mid Atlantic Regional SBL Meeting

Just a reminder that the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature is coming up soon: March 11-12, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency, New Brunswick, NJ. Among the many great things going on, the SBL Plenary Address looks well worth hearing: Dr. Benjamin Sommer, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, "Dating Biblical Texts and the Perils of Pseudo-Historicism?"

To see the complete schedule of the conference, and to access registration information, click here.

Eisenbrauns 2010 Valentine's Day Contest

Valentine's Day was over a week ago, so this post is seriously delayed; but here is a link to the winning entries in Eisenbrauns 2010 contest: click here. First Prize and a $75.00 Eisenbrauns gift certificate went to Olivier Lauffenburger and his creation of an Old Babylonian Love Poem.



Click on the image to go to the Eisenbraun's site for a full translation. Enjoy! And belated Valentine's best wishes!

Mini-lecture Video: LGBT in Ancient Egypt

In this YouTube video, John Johnston, who is pursuing a PhD in archaeology, describes a few of the objects on display at the Petrie Museum in London to celebrate LGBT History Month. He describes some of the mythology and stories that construct ancient Egyptian sexuality. Of particular interest is a papyrus from ancient Egypt's 12th dynasty (1991-1782 BCE), relating the tale of Horus and Set's encounter (see image above). HT: Agade listserv.

Lent 1: Deuteronomy 26

I received a fascinating question on my post on Deuteronomy 26 (click here), which is the OT reading coming up this Sunday (Lent 1). The question is about a traditional Jewish rendering of v. 5, which reads, "an Aramean sought to destroy my ancestor." Most English versions read something along the lines of "my ancestor [Jacob] was a wandering Aramean."

My reply runs as follows: The Hebrew term here for "wander" generally means "to perish" or the like (cf. KJV "a Syrian ready to perish"; also cf. R. E. Friedman's translation), but a meaning for this Hebrew term along the lines of "go astray" or "be lost" is also attested. B. Levinson in the Jewish Study Bible notes that the reading that you have found in the Chabad translation, "an Aramean sought to destroy my ancestor," departs from the Hebrew grammar of the verse, yet this reading was deployed in the Passover Haggadah as a midrashic reworking of the original. He thinks this early reworking of Deut 26:5 reflects the politics of the Second Temple period, when the Seleucid rulers of Israel were referred to obliquely as Laban, the Aramean. Just like Laban, they persecuted "Jacob" and eventually triggered the Jewish Hasmonean revolt.

SBL Survey: The World of the Bible

The Society of Biblical Literature has received an NEH planning grant to develop a website, “The World of the Bible: exploring people, places, and passages.” The site is intended for general audiences and will share scholarly views and encourage critical engagement with the Bible, including its ancient contexts and interpretive legacy. In order to begin to develop this site, they would like ordinary people who are not Bible scholars to take a survey to gain understanding of their intended audience and to assess their current level of familiarity with and interest in the Bible. Please share this link widely: Survey Link.

Blizzard Conditions Again

This is the view out my window right now:





The latest report is that blizzard conditions and near-zero visibility on the roadways has lead the City to temporarily suspend all snow plowing.

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Historic Snowstorm!

Well, the historic snowfall continues to be quite an experience here. The seminary is under about 2 feet of snow. We spent the day yesterday without electric power and heat. We were prepared to keep ourselves warm through the night by firewood, but fortunately the power came back on just as we were turning in. We are still without e-mail, and the school is completely closed tomorrow, Monday.








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New Bible Briefs: Proverbs and Jonah

As editor of the series, I am pleased to announce the online publication of two new Bible Briefs, Proverbs by Dr. Randall Heskett and Jonah by Dr. Karen A. H. Wacome. To read the VTS press release on the new publications, click here. Both booklets are rich and enlightening; please download them (they are free!) and spread the word about them.

Visit the homepage for accessing all the Bible Briefs by clicking here.
To download Proverbs directly as a PDF file, click here.
To download Jonah directly as a PDF file, click here.

Cook and Robert Wilson, Isaiah Videos Now Online

Now online: My Yale Bible Study Multimedia Project with Robert R. Wilson: “The Yale Bible Study: Second Isaiah.” There are eight 15-30 minute online video conversations with Bob Wilson, supplemented with a series notebook containing an introduction, interpretation essays, and supplemental materials (also free online).

For the Yale Bible Study Homepage, click here.
For the Video Resources by Cook and Wilson, click here.
For the Print Materials by Cook and Wilson, click here.

This material is intended for use in small-group Bible study sessions to promote discussion and reflection. The Series aims to engage educated lay audiences by offering the insights of biblical scholarship in a relaxed, informal, yet rigorous manner.

To see the videos on Yale University's YouTube Channel, click here.