tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112Tue, 06 Oct 2026 11:18:52 +0000Ancient IsraelAncient Judaism; Early ChristianityDavila 666ScriptureTenured professor Hebrew Bibleias<p><big><b>Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.</b></big> <p> E-mail: paleojudaica-at-talktalk-dot-net ("-at-" = "@", "-dot-" = ".")</p></p>http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)Blogger24481125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-7585783273499113339Tue, 06 Oct 2026 11:18:52 +00002026-10-06T12:18:52.419+01:00ANCIENT ARTIFACT: Boy finds ancient Roman treasure on show-and-tell hunt in southern Israel. Dor Wolynitz, 8, was hiking with families of reservists in the Ramon Crater when he spotted an unusual stone, later identified as a fragment of a 1,700-year-old statuette (Ynet News).The find is a small figurine fragment, measuring about 6 centimeters by 6 centimeters, depicting part of a human figure http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/fragmentary-figurine-found.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-7440381677099513694Tue, 06 Oct 2026 11:00:48 +00002026-10-06T12:00:48.932+01:00THE ANXIOUS BENCH: How An Explosive Book Rewrote The Study Of The Gospels (Philip Jenkins).I was researching the history of the discovery and reception of “alternative” scriptures in the nineteenth century, and I kept coming across this thing called Supernatural Religion, which initially meant little to me. It soon became apparent that orthodox clergy were describing it as something like a http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/anon-cassels-supernatural-religion-1874.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-1072231707501701908Tue, 06 Oct 2026 10:42:58 +00002026-10-06T11:42:58.693+01:00THE AWOL BLOG: Das Weisheitsbuch Ben Sira / Jesus Sirach. Notice of a New Book (open access): Das Weisheitsbuch Ben Sira / Jesus Sirach Synopse der hebräischen, griechischen, lateinischen und syrischen Texttraditionen mit deutscher Übersetzung Wolfgang Kraus (Hg.), Heinz-Josef Fabry (Hg.), Burkard Zapff (Hg.) Vetus Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus. Supplementa - Band 001 Vandenhoeck & http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/kraus-et-al-eds-das-weisheitsbuch-ben.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-3193803635657432406Mon, 05 Oct 2026 09:36:06 +00002026-10-05T10:36:06.820+01:00BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: An enchanted world: the shared religious landscape of late antiquity.Michael L. Satlow, An enchanted world: the shared religious landscape of late antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2026. Pp. xiii, 343. ISBN 9780691256597. Review by Ryan Denson, University of Silesia. ryan.denson@us.edu.pl ... Appealing to the perspective of lived religion, Satlow http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/review-of-satlow-enchanted-world.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-6129587715092209146Mon, 05 Oct 2026 09:24:07 +00002026-10-05T10:24:07.341+01:00SAD NEWS: Milestones: Yuval Goren (1956–2026). Archaeologist and scientist who debunked modern forgeries (Christopher A. Rollston, Bible History Daily).Yuval Goren, a professor of archaeology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, was a pioneer in the fields of archaeometry and microarchaeological research. Born in Petah Tikvah in 1956, Goren’s life was storybook, and his interests in both http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/yuval-goren-19562026.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-5192492877740945818Mon, 05 Oct 2026 09:07:47 +00002026-10-05T10:07:47.387+01:00SHEMINI ATZERET began on the evening of Friday, 2 October at sundown. In Israel, this was also the holiday of Simchat Torah (Simhat Torah). Outside of Israel, the latter holiday began on 3 October at sundown. Belated best wishes to all those celebrating! Last year's Shemini Atzeret post is here. Biblical etc. links are here. Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/shemini-atzeret-and-simchat-torah-2026.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-4992625228137134905Sun, 04 Oct 2026 09:41:00 +00002026-10-04T10:41:00.200+01:00NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK:Essen Ethische Perspektiven zum Speisen in Antike und Gegenwart. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik XV Edited by Dorothea Erbele-Küster, Esther Kobel, and Ulrich Volp, in collaboration with Andrew Bowden [Food. Ethical Perspectives on Food in Antiquity and the Present.] 2026. 259 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament (WUNT I) 549http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/essen-ethische-perspektiven-zum-speisen.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-2169323148283241014Sat, 03 Oct 2026 10:02:00 +00002026-10-03T11:02:00.115+01:00NEW BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS:Hidden Scrolls, Buried Bibles How We Discover the Sacred Past by Eva Mroczek 224 Pages, 5.50 × 8.50 in Hardcover 9780300250213 Published: Tuesday, 25 Aug 2026 $35.00 eBook 9780300292350 Published: Tuesday, 25 Aug 2026 $35.00 Out of Stock eBook 9780300292343 Published: Tuesday, 25 Aug 2026 $35.00 Out of Stock Description From the discovery of the http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/mroczek-hidden-scrolls-buried-bible-yale.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-2375294950453477691Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:53:44 +00002026-10-02T11:53:44.548+01:00ARCHAEOBOTANICAL AMBITIONS: Ancient Negev Wine Was a Global Hit. Can Israeli Winemakers - and Scientists - Bring It Back? Once shipped from the desert to markets across the Mediterranean and beyond, the Negev's wines faded into history. Now, ancient grape seeds and surviving vines are helping researchers and vintner revive a lost tradition (Guy Bar-Oz, Joshua Schmidt and Gideon Avni).Today, the http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/bringing-back-ancient-negevs-wine.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-4188565735109956367Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:44:44 +00002026-10-02T11:44:44.748+01:00THE KIWI HELLENIST BLOG: Sibyls and Sibylline oracles. 1. The Sibyls. HT Rogue Classicism.The Sistine Chapel ceiling at the Vatican has paintings of seven ancient Hebrew prophets, but also of five Sibyls — non-Christian prophetic figures. How and why did pagan prophets came to have such a place of honour in the centre of western Christianity? The full answer is surprisingly long. We have to http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/on-sibyls.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-6370956658142652735Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:24:15 +00002026-10-02T11:24:16.016+01:00BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Dynamics of monotheism in late antiquity.Guy G. Stroumsa, Dynamics of monotheism in late antiquity. Oxford studies in the Abrahamic religions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025. Pp. 208. ISBN 9780198973386. Review by Matthew Kraus, University of Cincinnati. krausma@ucmail.uc.edu ... Guy Stroumsa has authored a work that will richly inform future study of http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/review-of-stroumsa-dynamics-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-1157386862340399749Thu, 01 Oct 2026 09:13:00 +00002026-10-01T10:13:00.114+01:00PROF. SHAWNA DOLANSKY: Five Ancient Near Eastern Myths Behind the Bible’s Three Creation Accounts. (TheTorah.com).The two creation stories in Genesis (1 and 2–3), and the hidden creation account in Psalms and the Prophets, can be read without their ancient Near Eastern context. But to understand what the biblical authors are responding to, revising, and arguing against, we need to read them http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/primordial-mythology-in-ane-and-in-bible.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-628165659229898701Thu, 01 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +00002026-10-01T10:00:00.117+01:00ANCIENT ORIGINS: Jude Quoted It as Prophecy but Most Bibles Left It Out (arismanus, Ancient Origins).In 367, Alexandria’s bishop Athanasius sent churches in Egypt a list of books for public reading. The Book of Enoch was not on it. Yet Jude, a letter preserved in the New Testament, calls words attributed to Enoch a prophecy. The wording closely follows 1 Enoch 1:9. [...]Always good to keep in http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/jude-quotes-1-enoch-as-prophecy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-171996541455723321Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:24:36 +00002026-09-30T10:24:36.501+01:00TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Monumental Second Temple Period ‘House of Mikvehs’ Discovered on Jerusalem’s Ophel. The fruits of our multi-year excavations go public (CHRISTOPHER EAMES, Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology).“Monumental Second Temple-Period Purification Complex Uncovered at the Foot of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem”—so reads the headline of a press release issued by http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/more-on-those-ritual-baths-at-ophel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-4828000399137277940Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:11:31 +00002026-09-30T10:11:31.627+01:00THE FEAST DAY OF ST. JEROME IS TODAY, 30 SEPTEMBER. Jerome was one of the few Church Fathers to learn and use Hebrew. The Latin Vulgate is his complete translation of the Hebrew Bible. I last noted his feast day in 2021. For more on him, follow the links there. Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/saint-jeromes-feast-day-2026.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-9079545150414400089Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:02:28 +00002026-09-30T10:02:28.851+01:00BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Elephantine in Its Persian Imperial and Administrative Context. Notice of a New Book: Moore, James D. 2026. Aspects of Judean Life. Elephantine in Its Persian Imperial and Administrative Context. Pennsylvania: Eisenbrauns. Available in hardback, paperback and (free!) ebook. Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/moore-elephantine-in-its-persian.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-1764778768142436107Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:49:48 +00002026-09-29T10:49:48.957+01:00SAMARITAN WATCH: The Confusing Story of the Samaritans and the Jews: Who Split From Whom? Jewish tradition says the Samaritans descend from foreign settlers. The evidence says they are mostly what they claim to be: Israelites who never left (Elon Gilad, Haaretz).Even the scholars who stress the Assyrian upheaval accept that some Israelites stayed, so the Samaritans descend at least in part from http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/who-were-samaritans-and-where-did-they.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-6791324082615460320Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:26:11 +00002026-09-29T10:26:11.596+01:00THE ANXIOUS BENCH: A Renaissance Purge Of Ancient Scripture (Philip Jenkins).Renaissance thinkers were entranced by the idea of finding ancient manuscripts and texts that would illuminate the history of religion and of spiritualities broadly defined, and in many cases they invented the evidence they wished they could have found legitimately. Such activities became very intense at the turn of the http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/burning-apocryphal-scriptures-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-6630180947542043572Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:15:03 +00002026-09-29T10:15:03.750+01:00MODERN ARAMAIC WATCH: Maaloula preserves Syria’s ancient language and architectural heritage (N.J/ABD, SANA).A 2022 academic study titled “The Maaloula Aramaic Corpus” found that the language spoken in Maaloula belongs to the Modern Western Aramaic dialect group, which is also used in Jubb’adin and Bakh’a in Damascus countryside, as well as among some members of these communities living elsewherehttp://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/maaloulas-aramaic-and-architecture.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-5242641908816769173Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:57:52 +00002026-09-28T10:57:52.171+01:00ANCIENT JEW REVIEW has a new series on Jacqueline Vayntrub’s new book, Body Language: Voice, Embodiment, and Textuality in the Hebrew Bible (Yale, 2026), whose publication I noted here. I have fallen behind on AJR, so here are links to all the essays. Voices of Wing and Bone (Anathea Portier-Young) On Metaphors of Bodies and Archeology (Yosefa Raz) Speech, Efficacy, and Prophecy http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/ajr-on-vayntrub-body-language.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-7079653603439134487Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:43:43 +00002026-09-28T10:43:43.554+01:00SAD NEWS: In Memoriam: Hector Patmore (Jeroen Verrijssen for the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven).It is with immense sorrow that I must share the news of the sudden loss of my Doktorvater, Hector Patmore. In his many roles as husband, father, friend, priest, professor, and colleague, Hector left a lasting mark on those who knew him, and who now grieve his passing. Hector http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/hector-patmore-rip.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-979771913955442207Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:33:06 +00002026-09-28T10:33:06.136+01:00PHOENICIAN WATCH: Divers are returning to ancient Tyre’s submerged ruins, unscathed in Lebanon war. As shaky ceasefire holds, visitors are coming back to explore Roman and Phoenician remains off coast of southern Lebanese city (AP and TOI STAFF). For PaleoJudaica posts on the history and archaeology of the city of Tyre, start here and follow the links. Cross-file under Maritime (Marine, http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/10/underwater-archaeology-at-tyre.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-2065981429074100875Sun, 27 Sep 2026 09:40:00 +00002026-09-27T10:40:00.116+01:00NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:A Comparative Handbook to the Gospel of John Series: The New Testament Gospels in their Judaic Contexts, Volume: 4 Volume Editors: Bruce D. Chilton, Alan Avery-Peck, Craig A. Evans, Darrell Bock, and Daniel M. Gurtner John’s discursive and narrative techniques are targeted in this volume by means of a fresh translation, in order to assess how streams of tradition, http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/a-comparative-handbook-to-gospel-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-5110655619273340120Sat, 26 Sep 2026 10:06:00 +00002026-09-26T11:06:00.110+01:00NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:The Book of Numbers Composition, Reception, and Interpretation Series: Formation and Interpretation of Old Testament Literature, Volume: 202/10 Vetus Testamentum, Supplements, Volume: 202/10 Volume Editors: Christian Frevel, Benjamin Kilchör, and Craig Evans Over the past two decades, the Book of Numbers has increasingly moved from the margins to the center of http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-book-of-numbers-brill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5184112.post-3723962097217865468Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +00002026-09-25T11:02:57.512+01:00THE SEVEN-DAY FESTIVAL OF SUKKOT (BOOTHS, TABERNACLES) begins tonight at sundown. Best wishes to all those observing it. Last year's Sukkot post is here. See also here and here. For the biblical background to Sukkot, see here and here. Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2026/09/sukkot-2026.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jim Davila)