A review of Karel van der Toorn’s Becoming Diaspora Jews: Behind the Story of Elephantine (Anchor Bible Reference Library). New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019. Pp xi, 270. Hardcover: $65. ISBN: 9780300243512.

Julius Wellhausen proposed a “sharp break” between ancient Israelite religion and early Judaism: for him, the eighth-century prophets were the “spiritual destroyers of old Israel” and the forerunners of early Judaism. The biblical theologian Brevard Childs rejected Wellhausen’s reconstruction and insisted instead that “very strong theological…[Read more]

Julius Wellhausen proposed a “sharp break” between ancient Israelite religion and early Judaism: for him, the eighth-century prophets were the “spiritual destroyers of old Israel” and the forerunners of early Judaism. The biblical theologian Brevard Childs rejected Wellhausen’s reconstruction and insisted instead that “very strong theological…[Read more]

Julius Wellhausen proposed a “sharp break” between ancient Israelite religion and early Judaism: for him, the eighth-century prophets were the “spiritual destroyers of old Israel” and the forerunners of early Judaism. The biblical theologian Brevard Childs rejected Wellhausen’s reconstruction and insisted instead that “very strong theological…[Read more]

As the Pāṇḍava brothers move through the forest in the third book of the Mahābhārata, they hear stories of fantastic transformations and journeys: a band of gods all masked as the same prince, dice that become thieving birds, a sage turned into a hunted deer, a woman who traverses Yama’s realm. These tales recast and elucidate the condit…[Read more]

n this chapter, I demonstrate that simulation models, and in particular system dynamics models, could be a cheap and efficient way of examining policies that could allow public servants and service providers to learn and evaluate the different scenarios they are facing in delivering transitional justice remedies. In particular, I concentrate on…[Read more]

Recent research demonstrates that maternal grief functions paradigmatically to epitomize despair and sorrow in the Hebrew Bible. These literary uses of maternal grief reinforce the stereotype of womanhood, defined by devotion to children and anguish at their loss. In 1–2 Kings, narratives about unnamed bereaved mothers are used politically to c…[Read more]

Recent research demonstrates that maternal grief functions paradigmatically to epitomize despair and sorrow in the Hebrew Bible. These literary uses of maternal grief reinforce the stereotype of womanhood, defined by devotion to children and anguish at their loss. In 1–2 Kings, narratives about unnamed bereaved mothers are used politically to c…[Read more]

Syllabus for a level 2 course on Health, Healing and Religion: Comparative Views. To be taught online Fall 2020.
Please contact me if you want more details of the online content (there are 4 short videos per module, plus other resources)

This first note introduces the need to flush out a robust interdisciplinary method to analyse fragmentary manuscript corpora in general and the Judaean Desert Scrolls and Cairo Genizah manuscripts in particular.

Slides for the paper’s companion presentation.

The Solid Rock Greek New Testament: Scholar’s Edition offers a reconstructed text of the New Testament based on Byzantine priority theory and expands upon the work of the SBL Greek New Testament by comparing the readings of over 10 major critical editions at nearly 8000 units of textual variation. In this survey, we will discuss the goals,…[Read more]

Supplementary material for the SBL Annual Meeting 2020 talk “The open-cbgm Library: Design and Demonstration.” This document presents a brief introduction to the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM), intended to bring newcomers and those in need of a refresher up to speed on the basics of the method. It is divided into sections organized…[Read more]

Interview with Martha Hennessy, the granddaughter of Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker, on her life, her anti-nuclear and peace activism, and ongoing trial as part of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7.

While World War II was still raging in Europe and the Pacific, the onset of the Greek Civil War in December 1944 marked the beginning of the Cold War. For the people of Greece, the civil war would continue the devastation that the Italian, German, and Bulgarian occupations had initiated. The civil war’s catastrophic cleavages in Greek society are…[Read more]

This article asks the question how post-exilic readers would have read 1-2 Samuel in Yehud. It answers the question by looking at ancient Mediterranean models of textual authority and education.

The relationship of the Hebrew Bible to the New Testament is explored by means of apocryphal and pseudepigraphical texts, using the ethical issue of interpersonal forgiveness as a test case.

The relationship of the Hebrew Bible to the New Testament is explored by means of apocryphal and pseudepigraphical texts, using the ethical issue of interpersonal forgiveness as a test case.

Contemporary aspects of consumerism are considered through biblical reflections (HB/OT and NT) on the analysis of Colin Campbell of five common critiques of consumerism.