Early Islamic-period mosaic with elaborate floral and Nilotic mosaics | Church of St. Stephen, Umm ar-Rasas | Image Source
On AJR
Book Note: Moshe Lavee, The Rabbinic Conversion of Judaism: The Unique Perspective of the Bavli on Conversion and the Construction of Jewish Identity (Leiden: Brill, 2018)
Nadiv: “Lavee’s focus on conversion is a case-study that brings to light the gradual process of institutionalizing and legalizing the ritual of conversion, bringing the determination of Jewish identity under rabbinical authority.”
Our August Pedagogy Month forum begins! Sara Ronis: Lamenting a Broken World: Student Learning through Creative Writing
Ronis: “At the end of the semester, I gave students an in-class evaluation that asked students to reflect on the effectiveness of various pedagogies they encountered in this course. Students consistently ranked the “Creative Lamentation” as the least effective pedagogical activity they engaged in this semester. And yet, on the quizzes and final exam, students had clearly learned a great deal about the genre of Lamentation, its historical context(s), the scholarly debates about its authorship and authenticity, and the ways that later communities can and have used the genre to process trauma.”
Articles and News
Adele Reinharz and Paula Fredriksen in conversation at the University of Helskinki.
BAR piece summarizes recent work on the important Papyrus Amherst 63, and its possible extra-biblical Israelite Psalms.
Online edition of inscriptions and commentary from excavations of late antique Aphrodisias.
Mira Balberg reviews a new reading of the curious chain of stories in Bavli Kettubot 62b-63a.
Online library of more than 500 Syriac books uploaded to archive.org in collaborative project headed by Beth Mardutho.
e-Clavis Christian Apocrypha site updates to include the (Apocryphal) Epistle of Titus.
The Katz Center in memoriam of Yaakov Elman z’’l.
Katz Center summer newsletter rounds up recent colloquia, events, journal articles, and its own mini-MOOC.
Bullying and jealousy in late antique Egyptian schoolrooms.
Alba Fedeli addresses the “Birmingham Qur’ān” and its place in the larger group of early manuscripts.
Did you know we have 3D models of some of our items? 🤩🤩 Play with them and read about the digital life of Hebrew manuscripts here: https://t.co/sCn34w019M pic.twitter.com/E1H4qQtpbu
— BL Hebrew Project (@BL_HebrewMSS) 8 August 2018
The church of Sts. Cosmas & Damian is one of several churches located in the Roman Forum. Dedicated int he 6th cent. it occupies the sites of several pre-existing Roman structures dating back to the first cent. https://t.co/BZULWXWphX #photography #Rome #LateAntiquity #travel
— Arthur Urbano (@arturoviaggia) 8 August 2018
We’re kicking off a month-long series on Pedagogy @ancientjew : “But my students have never had the opportunity to think in a sustained and critical way about the ways that biblical texts mirror, differ from, and shape their own experiences in this borderland.” https://t.co/2FnGJw90wW
— Erin Galgay Walsh (@ErinCGW) 8 August 2018