The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha course blog has now been going for a while and includes a number of entries on apocalyptic literature:

Apocalypse of Abraham: Online Translations of the Apocalypse of Abraham, Apocalypse of Abraham Abstract, Summary of The Apocalypse of Abraham Seminar

Apocalypse of Elijah: Elijah Materials Online, Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah Abstract, Summary of Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah Seminar

The Bible Films Blog has an interesting post on how Satan is depicted in Jesus films. As he mentions, Satan and personified evil have also played an important role in many other film genres, including horror as I discussed briefly in The horrifying Nosferatu, personified plague and death (Satan 9).

Spoofing the earlier apocalyptic frenzy of Y2K, the Jon Stewart show has a funny video piece on Aclockalypse now. Avoid complete and utter annihilation by changing your clocks!

There is a very interesting new academic discussion list begun by Zeba Crook and Bill Arnal which looks at Christian Origins from an academic-study-of-religion perspective (setting aside modern theological and philosophical or faith-based issues). The following is the description:

We’d like to announce the formation of a new list on Yahoo Groups entitled “Christian Origins.” The list is intended to be broader in scope than lists such as Crosstalk (which at least in theory focuses on the historical Jesus), Gospel of Thomas (whose focus is self-evident), Corpus Paulinum (whose focus is also self-evident), etc. Like these other lists, the list will be moderated and is intended for an essentially scholarly audience, but its scope is broader, and could provide a forum for issues of only marginal relevance on these other lists, particularly when their discrete subject-matters overlap (e.g., the relationship between Pauline theology and the Gospel of Thomas), as well as for matters which strictly do not belong on any of those lists (the theology and literary shape of the canonical gospels, for instance, or the historical provenance of 1 Clement, or the Johannine epistles). At the same time, this list is distinctive in its exclusive commitment to exploration of ancient Christianity from a non-confessional and secularist perspective. The list is being formed with the explicit intention of providing a forum for the discussion of ancient Christianity that is not informed by faith commitments and in which philosophical discussions of the import of faith commitments is not permitted. The intent is not to replace or compete with existing lists, but to provide an additional forum for the discussion of the whole scope of Christian origins, and this from an exclusively secular perspective.

Following is the list’s “official” description , and the relevant e-mail address to subscribe.

“This list focuses on the social and historical location and the earliest Jesus communities, the development of their thought concerning Jesus, the development of their writings, the spread of their movement, and related topics: in other words, the stuff of Christian Origins. This is a moderated and scholarly list: lurking is welcome, but contributors to the list will either have knowledge of the languages, methodologies, and history of scholarship pertinent to the academic study of Christian Origins, or a willingness to become conversant in these. Contributors to this list attempt to understand the various phenomena of Christians Origins exclusively from an humanist perspective: to explain the rise of Christianity and the development of Christian beliefs without invoking or relying upon such assumptions such as the existence of God, the reality of miracles, foreknowledge of the future, resuscitations of the dead, or any unique status accorded to Jesus, his earliest followers, or Christianity as a religion. This list takes the following quote of Jacques Berlinerblau with the utmost seriousness: “[T]he academic study of the Bible . . . desperately needs an infusion of learned critics who are willing to draw blood . . . Such an endeavor would not necessarily be exclusionary. All researchers would be welcome to participate as long as they pronounce something approximating a secular shahada, or profession of faith: to love critique more than God.” (The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers must Take Religion Seriously [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005], p. 139).”

To Subscribe: christian_origins-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

List owner: christian_origins-owner@yahoogroups.com

(I’m told that if I advertise it, I am allowed to join. I’m not so sure I’m enthusiastic about the drawing of blood or the professing of a creed, but I think I’ll join anyways–but it sounds like you are not allowed to joke about this.  Can I approach anything with “utmost seriousness”? might be the question.)

Inscriptions have played a key role in my own research and you may remember that a while ago I began a series of posts on Greek epigraphy (I really should do more posts now in that series).

Now there is a brand new blog that focuses on sharing news regarding inscriptions or epigraphy: Current Epigraphy (Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King’s College, London). As the editors of that blog note, they are seeking to fill the sort of role that the blog What’s New in Papyrology does for that other area.

The most recent edition of the Society of Biblical Literature’s Forum includes an informative article on biblioblogging by Tyler Williams: “Welcome to the Biblical Studies Carnival“. Earlier Jim Davila had offered an article on: “Assimilated to the Blogosphere: Blogging Ancient Judaism“. Articles like these can only help to bring more readers to our blogs and make our work on the blogs even more worthwhile. Thanks!

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets” (attributed to Jesus in Matthew 7:12 [NRSV]; cf. Luke 6:31).

As you may know, rabbi Jesus was not alone among those in antiquity in advocating that ethics and treatment of others should be based on how one would like (or not like) to be treated. Thus, for instance, in a story involving another first century rabbi, rabbi Hillel, like Jesus, summarizes the ethical basis of the Torah in speaking to a Gentile convert:

“What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow neighbor. That is the whole Torah, while the rest is an elaborate commentary on it; go and learn” (Shabbat 31a; trans. by Moshe Gold, “Ethical Practice in Critical Discourse: Conversions and Disruptions in Legal, Religious Narratives,” Representations 64 [1998], 21).

And the book of Tobit in the apocrypha preserves a similar concept (Tobit 4:15). This was by no means a solely Jewish (or, later, Christian) way of thinking, however.

Despite what you may have heard about the “pagan” Greeks or Romans (a friend of mine — perhaps representative — thought they were all about wild orgies), “pagans” too were very concerned with proper behaviour as they defined it, and sometimes they defined it in similar ways. Educated philosophers, in particular, focussed their attention on questions of what behaviours were most fitting, desirable, or appropriate in particular circumstances. Such philosophers were often very concerned with “family values”, and so they spent considerable time thinking about what were the appropriate relationships among members of the household: husband-wife; parent-child; sibling-sibling; master-slave (the so called household codes which also appear in variant forms in Christian writings such as Colossians 3:18-4:1 and 1 Peter 2:18-3:7).

Among these “pagan” philosophers is Hierocles, who wrote a handbook in the second century that incorporated many ethical ideas from Stoicism (partially preserved in the works of Stobaeus). In the midst of discussing proper relations among members of the family and in society generally, Hierocles has this to say:

The first bit of advice, therefore, is very clear, easily obtained, and common to all people. For it is a sound word which everyone will recognize as clear: Treat anybody whatsoever as though you supposed that he were you and you he. For someone would treat even a servant well if he pondered how he would want to be treated if the slave were the master and he the slave. Something similar can also be said of parents with respect to their children, of children with respect to their parents, and, in short, of all people with respect to others” (Hierocles, On Duties 4.27.20; translated by Abraham J. Malherbe, Moral Exhortation: A Greco-Roman Sourcebook [Library of Early Christianity; Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986], 93-94. ).

Think of that bit of Greco-Roman wisdom the next time you’re watching some modern film or show depicting those supposedly wild Roman “pagans” with their orgies and gladiatorial slaughter.

Want more on “pagan” ethics and family values?:  See my earlier post on Paul and Philemon, in which I discussed the views of Galen and Seneca, both philosophers, on the proper treatment of slaves.  Also see my articles on the use of familial language including  “brothers” and “mothers or fathers”, within associations.

The following recent carnivals are now up:

Biblical Studies Carnival no. 15, at Awilum;

Carnivalesque no. 24 (early modern edition), at The Long Eighteenth;

History Carnival no. 49, at History is Elementary.