Mordechai and Esther | Painted wood synagogue panel, Dura-Europos (Syria) | Image Source
On AJR
Adam Silverstein and a new publications in time for Purim: What can pre-modern Muslims tell us about the Hebrew Bible?
Silverstein: “In the broadest of strokes, Jews and Christians appear to have left their mark on the writings of Muslim authors, for which reason some ancient ideas, which were originally circulating by and amongst these communities but are no longer extant in their original form, found their way into Muslim sources and are retrievable nowadays only by recourse to such materials.”
Book Note: Michael E. Stone, Secret Groups in Ancient Judaism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018)
Tucker: “The study is an excellent example that engages the methods of sociological sciences and biblical studies in a constant discourse with ancient sources. Stone’s expertise and erudition is on display throughout the study, and the footnotes are packed with excellent corollary discussion topics.”
Articles and News
Katz Center announces its fellowship list for its 2019-2020 year.
Matthew Gabriele at Forbes talks to Ellen Muehlberger about her new book on imagining death in late ancient Christianity.
Revisit Kevin van Bladel’s Mellon Sawyer seminar lecture on manuscript traditions in Sasanian kingdoms.
A neat piece from a couple of years back, Ilana Tahan on Purim and the British Library collections.
The medieval Italian Lombard Haggadah about to go on display in New York for the first time since 1900.
New forum at the Journal of the History of Ideas blog tackles the question of global history.
Check out the upcoming Frankel Institute Sephardic Identities Symposium schedule.
The Renewed Philology website launches, a collaborative project aimed to reshape how philology functions in Biblical Studies.
Chag #Purim Sameach! Scenes from Esther appear in a fresco at the 3rd cent Dura-Europos synagogue. Haman leads Mordechai on the left (Esth 6:11); Esther and Ahasuerus receive a report on Susa on the right (Esth 9:11) [via Wiki Commons]. pic.twitter.com/B7lxJftFYb
— Krista N. Dalton (@KristaNDalton) 21 March 2019
The Esther scroll Or 1047 has the most amazing illustrations, like this scene of the 'beauty contest' from ch. 2 of the book of Esther. The women do not look very excited about being stuck in a harem to please the King...#Purim #HebrewProject https://t.co/qvs1GJVOha pic.twitter.com/3nve8Lz8XN
— BL Hebrew Project (@BL_HebrewMSS) 21 March 2019
In future generations historians will posit, based on the astonishing number and details of #SFLA13 tweets, that @Dragases was a band of highly organized conference tweeters.
— ((Andrew Jacobs)) (@drewjakeprof) 15 March 2019