Many of the papers and discussions at the recent Canadian Society of Biblical Studies conference (this past weekend) were very interesting, and I thought it would be worth saying a few words about some of the work that is being done there for those of you out of reach.

Tony Chartrand-Burke (Atkinson College, York University) presented a paper that will inaugurate a new continuing seminar on curses in the ancient world. His introductory paper surveyed evidence from the Ancient Near East to late antiquity. He pointed out how biblical scholars tend to neglect curses in the bible itself, partly due to the fact that cursing is not in line with modern sensibilities. Generally, we don’t want a God, or a Jesus, who curses. Tony also pointed to the cases of curses in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which is his area of expertise. Among the well-known curses in that gospel is the following:

After this again [the boy Jesus] went through the village, and a lad ran and knocked against his shoulder. Jesus was exasperated and said to him: ‘You shall not go further on your way’, and the child immediately fell down and died (4.1).
Translation from W. Schneemelcher, The New Testament Apocrypha (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1991) 1.444.

As a preview to their forthcoming work on the subject, Margaret Y. MacDonald (St. Francis Xavier University) and Carolyn Osiek (Brite Divinity) presented a very interesting paper on the education of girls and the role of women in educating within early Christianity and its world. Despite the sparseness of our evidence, they showed how we can indeed gain glimpses into this important aspect of the social history of early Christianity. In the same session, Harry O. Maier (Vancouver School of Theology) shed new light on the references to barbarians and Scythians in Colossians 3:11, showing how the author’s perspective on foreign peoples here intersects with Roman imperial notions of the subjugation and encorporation of foreign peoples as represented in art (e.g. the reliefs in temple of the revered ones [Sebastoi = emperors] at Aphrodisias).

The “Travel and Religion in Antiquity” seminar had its first two sessions, and the lively discussion that accompanied the seven papers suggested that this will be an intriguing and productive topic to explore in the coming years. Several papers focussed on realities of travel. Robert Jewett (presently guest Professor at the University of Heidelberg) discussed his exciting project, which will involve archeological work on the road network at Troas (north-western Turkey) and, perhaps most astonishing, constructing an ancient boat and sailing the seas as Paul did! Setting aside any possible implications for our view of the “we” passages in Acts, the re-creation of ancient travel will in itself be an important contribution to our knowledge in this area. Lincoln Blumell (U. of Toronto) discussed the realities of brigandage and Agnes Choi (U. of Toronto) discussed peasant travel from countryside to towns in the Galilee.

Several other papers began to delve into the intersection of religion and travel specifically. Following my introductory paper which surveyed some of the evidence, Ian Scott (King’s University College, U. of Western Ontario) focussed his attention on divinization and travel by comparing the narratives (or satirical literature) depicting the travels of Apollonius of Tyana, Pythagoras, Peregrinus, and others. He showed just how problematic the scholarly category of the “divine man” is, and drew attention to Apollonius’ roles as philosopher and cultic expert, which seem to outweigh his role as miracle-worker (thaumaturge). Steve Muir began to explore encounters with the gods (or God) en route, including the most famous narrated encounter of Paul with Jesus on the road to Damascus (according to Acts). He also spent some time discussing the Greco-Roman deities associated with travel, including Hermes (Greek) and Lares (Roman). Michele Murray’s (Bishop’s University) interesting paper looked at the ways in which the nomadic lifestyle of the Nabateans influenced their religious and cultural life. She also offered some comparative observations in relation to the burial practices of the Scythians, who were also nomadic.

There were many other sessions and papers that I was unable to attend.