Thursday, October 31, 2013

Intertextuality in Biblical Studies: A Core Bibliography

http://kolhaadam.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/intertextuality-in-biblical-studies-a-core-bibliography/

The author of this blog lists several works on intertextuality according to two subcategories: literary theory and biblical studies. Here's the author's introductory remarks:

Writing an “intertextual” analysis or using the “method of intertextuality” has become a veritable rite of passage for scholars in biblical studies, as though this were a well established critical practice in our discipline. Unfortunately this is not the case, and those who use the term are entering, often unwittingly, into an academic battleground for which they are ill equipped. Intertextuality is a contested term, and those who use it would do well to understand the nature of the controversy at hand. The literature on this subject is vast, spanning countless works in literary theory and biblical studies. Below, I have compiled a core bibliography that represents essential studies within the two fields.
Those whose interests concern literary allusions would do well to avoid the language of intertextuality altogether and focus on the more relevant theoretical literature.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

A Bibliography of Semitic Linguistics (1940-2010)

http://www.semiticbibliography.org/

This site offers a focused bibliography for Semitic linguistics. From the home page:

It seems obligatory at the beginning of this bibliography to set out its limits and justify its objectives. The aim of the bibliography is to collect and arrange systematically only those studies directly or mainly related to subjects of Semitic linguistics, namely, those centred on the study of languages and their phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic constituents, from both the comparative perspective (close and distant relationship) and the immanent perspective (grammar and lexicon). Consequently, all other studies dealing with the history of the societies which use or used those languages and with everything that is built on them (socio-political history, literature, religion and ‘culture’ in general), remain excluded. This limitation may seem impossible or at the very least without justification and minimalist, in some way resorting to ‘formalism’, giving up the basic element, whose development a language has to perform, namely, the shaping of a universe of social representations, which generates a particular way of communication and creativity. One could say that it means abandoning the ‘context’ in which every linguistic formulation has its meaning, being at the same time its outcome.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Greek Language and Linguistics

http://greek-language.com/

From the home page:

In addition to tools to support learning Ancient Greek, we provide resources to encourage the study of various forms of Linguistics and their application to Ancient Greek. Our objective is to foster the application of research methods from the field of Linguistics to the study of Hellenic and Hellenistic Greek.
Whether you are a Biblical Scholar, a Classicist, or a student of Linguistics, you will find something here of interest to you.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Books from ASOR

From AWOL:

Four ASOR books are available in open access:
An additional eleven ASOR books are available by license through JSTOR books

Archaeological Expedition to Khirbat Iskander and its Environs, Jordan 2009

Book
The Ayl to Ras an-Naqab Archaeological Survey, Southern Jordan 2005-2007 2012

Book
Humayma Excavation Project, 1 2010

Book
The Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima Excavation Reports 2009

Book
The Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima Excavation Reports 2007

Book
On the Third Dynasty of Ur 2008

Book
The Roman Marble Sculptures from the Sanctuary of Pan at Caesarea Philippi/Panias (Israel) 2012

Book
Shechem IV: The Persian-Hellenistic Pottery of Shechem/Tell Balât'ah 2008

Book
Tel Tanninim: Excavations at Krokodeilon Polis, 1996-1999 2006

Book
Texts from the Late Old Babylonian Period 2011

Book
The Textual Criticism of Sumerian Literature  2012

Book

Update: The Friedberg Genizah Project

An update to the post of 19 July 2011 regarding the FGP:


The announcement:

http://tinyurl.com/k9cm2ap
The Friedberg Genizah Project
Announcement 14

Genazim is pleased to announce the launching of a new version  -
version 12 - of the Friedberg Genizah Website.

This version contains thousands of new images, thousands of new scans
of catalog entries, tens of thousands of new records of cataloging
data and of transcriptions, and many additions and improvements to the
software system, among them a new module that can help researchers
find, in the Genizah world, potential joins to a given fragment.
 Which directs you to: http://www.jewishmanuscripts.org/ 

Monday, October 14, 2013

2 books from Lawrence Shiffman

http://lawrenceschiffman.com/?wysija-page=1&controller=email&action=view&email_id=24&wysijap=subscriptions

Lawrence Shiffman has made open access the following two (short) books:


The Jews in Late Antiquity

The Hellenistic period begins formally with Alexander’s arrival in the Near East in 334 B.C.E. However, this date should not be seen as the beginning of Hellenistic influence in this region. The Near East as a whole and the Land of Israel and its Jewish residents more particularly were subject to increasing Aegean influence beginning already in the fourteenth century B.C.E. Due to increased trade connections, this influence became much more extensive during the Persian period when Greek coinage became the standard in the Land of Israel. The cultural phenomenon we call Hellenism was a power which would have a lasting impact on Judaism and the Jewish people.

Challenge and Transformation: Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism

The years of Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine rule in Judea and of Sassanian rule in Babylonia were years of great challenge to the ongoing continuity of Judaism, and, at the same time, years of great accomplishment which resulted in the successful meeting of these challenges. By the time the period of Late Antiquity drew to a close, Judaism had survived the challenges of Hellenization, sectarianism, violent revolution, and even anti-Semitism. In addition, the development of Israelite religion into the rabbinic tradition took place in these very same years. The many transitions that took place in this period are what effectively made possible the long-term continuity of Judaism as an exilic religion, able to enter the medieval period with a new consensus on how to face the future and explain the past.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Monday, October 7, 2013

Journal: NGSBA (Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology)

http://ngsba.org/en/ngsba-archaeology-journal

The journal is a publication of the Hebrew Union College. From the website:

NGSBA Archaeology is our platform for presenting the results of our fieldwork. The contents consist mainly of reports on salvage archaeology projects conducted by Y.G. Archaeology under NGSBA oversight. But from time to time reports of our community archaeology and research projects will also be published. We will also accept field reports of projects executed by other organizations. The journal is peer reviewed, edited by David Ilan, the director of the NGSBA, and is overseen by a board of editors. It will appear more or less annually—depending on the quantity of material available for publication—in print and digital form. The digital version can be downloaded from our website for free.

Volume I (2012)

From the "about" page:

The NGSBA Mission

The Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology is an academic institution with an active field research program. Our work focuses on the Land of Israel, asking both universal questions about the development of human society and more particular ones concerning the special nature of ancient Canaan and Israel and the world of the Bible. The universal and particular mesh well together; so much of modern history is determined by what occurred in antiquity. The ethnic and religious schisms of our region, and the attending political conflicts, have their roots in antiquity. Read More >
 

History of the School

The Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology was established in 1963 by Nelson Glueck, an ordained rabbi and respected field archaeologist and president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion at the time. The campus was initially called Hebrew Union College Biblical and Archaeological School, founded to provide a base for American scholars and researchers engaged in Near Eastern studies. Until the 1948 war the research center for such scholarship had been the American School of Oriental Research (now the Albright Institute) in east Jerusalem. When, following the war, it became difficult for scholars to move between east and west Jerusalem and between Israel and Arab countries, Glueck decided to create an alternative center in Israeli west Jerusalem. 
In the beginning an American scholar was appointed director annually, but in 1968 William G. Dever became its first permanent director; he was followed by Joe E. Seger in 1971.
At a time when Reform Judaism was not exactly welcomed by the orthodox establishment of Israel, archaeology was seen as a foundation for the realization of reform Judaism’s spiritual connection with the Land of Israel. Archaeological research was considered almost sacrosanct by Israel’s secular establishment, and it didn’t hurt that Glueck was well connected.
Read More >
 

What is Biblical Archaeology

Biblical archaeology, “is a branch of biblical studies, an interdisciplinary pursuit that seeks to utilize the pertinent results of archaeological research to elucidate the historical and cultural setting of the Bible” (W.G. Dever “Biblical Archaeology”, in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Ancient Near East, vol 1, p. 318). Biblical archaeology must carry out scientific archaeology according to international standards of best practice, but its research questions will be derived from the study of the biblical text. At the same time, professional scholarship and a nuanced academic approach to the biblical text must inform biblical archaeological research.
Read More >
 

Why does Progressive (Reform) Judaism sponsor archaeological research?

The connection between archaeology and progressive Judaism was initiated by reformed Rabbi and archaeologist Nelson Glueck (1900-1971). Most of Glueck’s work was carried out in the desert of the Levant--the Negev, Sinai and Transjordan. Glueck's aim was to illustrate and document the formative experience of Israelite-Jewish peoplehood. In his view, the bible preserved the historical memory of the Jewish people. At the same time he acknowledged that the bible was primarily a theological document and as such there was no point in trying to “prove the Bible” (Biblical Archaeologist 22/4 [1959]: p. 106).
Read More >
 

NGSBA staff

Name Position Telephone Resume
David Ilan Director 972-2-6203258
Rachel Ben-Dov Research archaeologist 972-2-6203252
Yifat Thareani Research archaeologist 972-2-6203220
Levana Zias Administrator/Research archaeologist 972-2-6203257
Noga Ze'evi Object illustration and presentation 972-2-6203223










 

Our founder: Nelson Glueck (1900-1971)

Nelson GlueckBorn in Cincinnatti, Ohio in 1900, Nelson Glueck was one of the foremost leaders in the field of biblical archaeology and Reform Judaism. He read the benediction at the swearing-in ceremony of President John F. Kennedy.

At the age of 23, Glueck was ordained as a Reform rabbi by the Hebrew Union College and four years later was awarded his Ph.d at Jena, Germany, for his dissertation on the biblical concept of hesed (the Hebrew term for goodness or divine kindness). Until World War II he worked with William Foxwell Albright at the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem (ASOR, now the Albright Institute) and at Albright’s excavation of Tell Beit Mirsim. Later, Glueck himself served as director of ASOR, as well as having a faculty position at HUC in Jerusalem.
Read More >
 

Past director: Avraham Biran (1909-2008)

Biran with
Avraham Biran (Bergman) was born in 1909 in Petah Tikvah, grew up in Rosh Pina and was educated at the Reali School in Haifa, where he also taught for a short while. In 1930 he moved to the United States where he received his MA at the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Between 1935 and 1937 he was a research fellow at the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem (now called the Albright Institute). During this time he participated in the excavations of Tell Jerisheh and Ras el-Kharrubeh in Palestine, at Irbid and Tell el- Khleifeh in Transjordan and at Tepe Gawra and Khafajeh in Iraq. Read More >
 

Directors Reports

Every year the NGSBA director submits a report to the president of approximately 4-5 pages in which he or she summarizes the activities of the previous year and makes projections for the coming year. These reports are a good indicator of the school’s strengths, successes and shortcomings. The most recent of these are available below as PDF files.
Read More >

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Open access language textbooks

Recently posted on AWOL are a number of language textbooks that are open access. To access them, click any of the links to the following, then the "live" URL that appears.

Open Access Textbooks and Language Primers relating to the ancient world
Additional resources of thus type are accessible through the  Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs) Project pages at the University of Minnesota.
And see also Lexicity
And see also  Smarthistory, a "multi-media web-book designed as a dynamic enhancement (or even substitute) for the traditional art history textbook"

Textkit has a huge library of Greek and Latin textbooks

Learn Ancient Greek

Listed below is Textkit’s entire collection of Ancient Greek textbooks. All books are made available for full and free download in PDF format.

Greek Answer Keys

First Greek Book Key, John Williams White
First Greek Writer Key, Arthur Sidgwick
Greek Prose Composition Key, North and Hillard
Greek Prose Composition Key, Arthur Sidgwick

Greek Composition Textbooks

First Greek Writer, Arthur Sidgwick
Greek Prose Composition, North and Hillard
Selections from the Septuagint, Conybeare and Stock

Greek Lexicon/Dictionary

Greek Reading Text

Easy Selections From Plato, Arthur Sidgwick

Greek Reference Grammars

Greek Grammar, William W. Goodwin
Greek Grammar, Herbert Weir Smyth

Greek Textbooks

A First Greek Course, Sir William Smith
First Greek Book, John Williams White
First Greek Grammar Accidence, W. Gunion Rutherford
First Greek Grammar Syntax, W. Gunion Rutherford
NT Greek in a Nutshell, James Strong

Learn Latin

Listed below is Textkit’s entire collection of Latin textbooks. All books are made available for full and free download in PDF format.

Latin Answer Keys

Latin for Beginner’s Key, Benjamin L. D’Ooge
Latin Prose Composition Key, North and Hillard

Latin Composition Textbooks

A New Latin Prose Composition, Charles E. Bennett
Latin Prose Composition, North and Hillard

Latin Reading Text

Caesar’s Civil War in Latin, Charles E. Moberly
Cicero Select Orations, Benjamin L. D’Ooge
Selections From Ovid, Allen & Greenough
The Phormio of Terence in Latin, Fairclough and Richardson

Latin Reference Grammars

A Latin Grammar, Charles E. Bennett
New Latin Grammar, Allen & Greenough

Latin Textbooks

Beginner’s Latin Book, Collar and Daniell
Latin For Beginners, Benjamin L. D’Ooge