I recently published a short piece on the Sadducees in Bible Odyssey. It was fun to do, if for no other reason than it gave me an opportunity to stake out my (controversial) position on the origin of the Sadducees and Pharisees. One thing about … [Continue reading] about Pope Francis on the Sadducees
Canonizing Scripture: Historical Simulation
We are just wrapping up my undergraduate course at Brown University entitled "How the Bible Became Holy." I have earlier posted a syllabus for this course, which can be found here. This was the third time I taught the course and was far larger than … [Continue reading] about Canonizing Scripture: Historical Simulation
Speaking in Baltimore
I will be giving four talks in Baltimore on April 1-2 on the holiness of the Bible. I am grateful to the Hoffberger Foundation for Torah Study and the consortium of Baltimore area synagogues for the opportunity to do this. The details are located … [Continue reading] about Speaking in Baltimore
Toward a New Model for Academic Publishing
I had a letter published in the New York Times the other day - it can be found on the Times website here and a I reproduce it below. While this letter was in response to an article that dealt specifically with the high cost of academic journals, I … [Continue reading] about Toward a New Model for Academic Publishing
On Jewish Betrothal
I recently wrote an essay for thegemara.com on the origins of Jewish betrothal. The primary but not only context for this essay is to provide a new, historical lens for those who, working through the "daf yomi" cycle of reading a page of Talmud each … [Continue reading] about On Jewish Betrothal