Then and Now
I am delighted to announce the publication of my new edited volume, The Gift in Antiquity, published by Wiley-Blackwell. The official description: The Gift in Antiquity presents a collection of 14 original essays that apply French sociologist … [Continue reading] about The Gift in Antiquity
"You shall not bring the fee of a whore or the pay of a dog into the house of the Lord your God in fulfillment of an vow, for both are abhorrent to the Lord your God," the Bible declares (Deuteronomy 23:19; translation NJPS). This cryptic verse, … [Continue reading] about Fee of a Whore
Yesterday and today Israeli news has been abuzz with a story that dare not speak its name. In 2010 a mysterious prisoner committed suicide in an Israeli prison. The Australian press is reporting that this prisoner was actually an Australian citizen … [Continue reading] about The Disappearing Spy
The Bible is an incoherent document. This is not news. It was noticed long ago and has spawned some two centuries of biblical criticism that has focused on answering the very simple question of how the biblical texts came to be incoherent - that … [Continue reading] about Biblical Criticism and the Human Element
As is well-known, the Jews of Palestine largely refrained from using figural art from around the 2nd century BCE (or a bit earlier) to the third or fourth century CE, including the creation of statues. There were, of course, exceptions to this … [Continue reading] about The Second Commandment… Not