Then and Now
"Regular public reading of the Torah," Wikipedia (as of today) reports, "was introduced by Ezra the Scribe after the return of the Judean exiles from the Babylonian captivity." The original source for this claim was certainly not the books of Ezra … [Continue reading] about Did Jews in Antiquity Know Their Bible?
In the year between graduating from college and beginning graduate school, I stumbled on a book that profoundly changed the way that I thought. Gerd Theissen's Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity (Fortress, 1978) presented a way of reading … [Continue reading] about The New Testament in its German Context
Translations are intriguing. To translate a text - especially a large and complex one - is no small undertaking. A translation project originates as a potentially idiosyncratic perception by somebody (or a group) that their target … [Continue reading] about Mishnah in the mama lashon?
Think you have trouble? (Let me add, for the benefit of my wonderful wife and mother-in-law, that I do not!) In-law relations were just as complex and occasionally fraught in antiquity. Here is a recently published essay of mine (in … [Continue reading] about In-Law Troubles?
I recently wrote a reaction to two essays on the contemporary state of "rabbinics" for The Talmud Blog that can be found here. Below is a copy, although I urge readers to carry on any discussion at The Talmud Blog. In our line of work, the word … [Continue reading] about Rabbinics Must Die