• Biblical Studies Carnival 30 by Tyler WIlliams.
• Biblical Studies Carnival 31 by James R. Getz.

Biblical Studies Carnival 29

Patristics Carnival 10

History Carnival 63, History Carnival 64

Carnivalesque 38

History Carnival no. 62 is available on Spinning Clio.

Biblical Studies Carnival no. 26 on Biblicalia

Carnivalesque no. 35 (covering medieval and ancient history) on Highly Eccentric

History Carnival no. 60 on Victorian Peeper

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.

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.

Tyler has now also uploaded his Best of 2006 in Biblical Studies  related blogs.  He has done a great job (and I don’t just say that because I’m mentioned).

History Carnival no. 44 is posted on Barista: Heartstarters for the Hungry Mind.

Carnivalesque no. 21, which alternates months between ancient/medieval and early modern historical topics, is available as well.

The indefatigable David Meadows has also posted his most recent ‘Best of the Classical Blogosphere’ Carnival.
Note the variations in my descriptions of each carnival, particularly the use of different vocabulary (even strange words like indefatigable), which is a sure sign that some creativity leading to my own postings may be on the way.

There is an extensive website on Paul by the late J. Peter Bercovitz (University of Edinburgh): “As Paul tells it . . . “. There you can read about a variety of important historical issues surrounding this self-proclaimed apostle (through the lens of one particular scholar’s historical interpretations, of course).

Another important issue in the study of Paul is the question of who were the followers of Jesus that Paul opposed. Jerry Sumney has done extensive research on the question of Paul’s opponents, and he has also done a brief web write-up for the Bible and Interpretation website: Who are those “servants of Satan”? There are many other useful articles on that same website, which I may come back to another time.

A third very useful site is The Paul Page: Dedicated to the New Perspective on Paul (by Mark M. Mattison).  There you will find brief discussions and many links to resources regarding Paul within the context of second-temple Judaism.  Scholars such as E. P. Sanders have been instrumental in revising our view of Judaism in Paul’s time and Paul’s relation to the various groups within Judaism; this view is known as the “new persepective”, which is very well explained on that website.

HEBREW BIBLE AND THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

Was there sex in Eden?: Both Stephen Cook (parts 1, 2, and 3) and Chris Heard have posts discussing the Genesis story of the garden of Eden (parental discretion is advised).

Exodus Decoded: Ever commented on what you thought about a flick (e.g. “I found the repetition of ‘nee’ particularly distracting from the plot-line”) and had the producer contact you directly in an attempt to refute your critique? Well, that’s what happened to Chris Heard over on his blog, Higgaion! Chris has a series of posts dealing with a controversial and slickly-produced documentary called The Exodus Decoded, by Simcha Jacobovici. The documentary claims to unearth “the true story of the Exodus” and Chris shows just how un-true key aspects of Jacobovici’s theory really are, despite how exciting it would be if they were true. (Part 1 is here, and then follow the links to following parts at the bottom of each post. There’s nine–make that eleven–so far!).

Listen to the tunes Abram heard before he listened to Yahweh: Francis Deblauwe discusses the success by a team of archeologists and others in reconstructing a playable Mesopotamian Lyre based on the so called Gold Lyre of Ur, dated to the third millenium BCE. If you watched Live 8, then you may have already seen and heard an unfinished version of the lyre. I wonder what the Edge would do with a Mesopotamian lyre?

Gathered to the ancestors: Stephen Cook has begun an interesting series on Israelite burial practices and conceptions of death, starting with Abraham’s burial of Sarah (part 1, part 2).

God’s crossword puzzle, or “cent, cent, quarter and dollars”: A post on דבר אחר (dawar akher, literally “another interpretation”) investigates and provides an interesting interpretation of the mysterious Writing on the Wall in the story of Daniel (chapter 5). The king won’t be too happy about the solution to this crossword puzzle.

Learning the a,b,c’s in Bronze Age Canaan: Duane Smith continues with his series of posts on evidence for scribal training and scribal schools in Canaan and the Ancient Near East: How to Recognize a Scribal School – Part 4: Evidence for the training of scribes in Late Bronze Age Canaan.

I do not like them (Hebrew and Greek, that is): For those learning Hebrew or Greek, Tyler Williams gathers together a couple of funny sketches in Abbott & Costello Learn Hebrew (written by Rabbi Jack Moline) and Dr. Seuss Learns Greek (written by someone).

SECOND-TEMPLE JUDAISM AND EARLY RABBINIC JUDAISM

Counterfeit prophecy: Torrey Seland discusses a recent article he has written on Philo of Alexandria’s views on “magic”.

Those elusive Essenes by the Dead Sea: Over on Rogueclassicism, David Meadows highlights an article concerning the theory of archaeologist Yizhar Hirschfeld. This archeologist claims that the place where the Dead Sea scrolls were found is not an Essene site and that the Essenes mentioned by Pliny the Elder can be found and, in fact, have been found (by this archeologist). Balancing things out, the article also cites solid scholars who plainly reject this suggested new site for the Essenes mentioned by Pliny the Elder (Natural History, 5.15.17) .

Sects and violence: I’ve recently offered a couple of posts dealing with the diversity of groups in Judaism in the first century and with the tensions that culminated with the destruction of the second temple in 70 CE. And, as the latter post shows, if you thought that the practice of exposing one’s posterior area for comic-affect or insult was a modern cultural convention, you’ve got something to learn.

Come blow your horn: Menachem Mendel discusses Mishnaic and Talmudic traditions associated with Blowing Shofar on Shabbat in connection with the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashannah).

EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITINGS AND THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD

Is Wright wrong? (and, yes, I came up with that brilliant play on words myself): Jim Davila challenges several aspects of N.T. Wright’s claims regarding the Gospel of Thomas, including the question of whether that Gospel was originally written in Aramaic and whether it reflects early material traceable to Jesus himself. (The Gospel of Thomas is available in many translations online here, for you to decide what you think about it).

Blogen-what?: Blogentary, like commentary but on a blog. Michael Pahl is continuing his interesting series of posts that will add up to an online commentary (blogentary) on Paul’s first letter to the Christians at Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians). Michael’s most recent post deals with what is absolutely essential for understanding this or any letter by Paul, namely, the real life cultural contexts in which the members of the earliest Jesus-groups found themselves (the Greco-Roman city of Thessalonica, in this case). He links to and discusses several photos of the ruins at Thessalonica. On a related note (and thanks to a note on Roman Archaeology), there are recent plans to engage in further excavation of Thessalonica: “Drill aids digs in Thessaloniki: Large-scale metro excavation could illuminate Hellenistic and Roman periods.”

What time did Paul arrive in Corinth (and was he late)?: The perrenial issue of when Paul wrote what is occupying a number of New Testament bloggers. The whole discussion of Pauline chronology was re-started by Mark Goodacre, whose first post was Does Galatians post-date 1 Corinthians?. Several others have responded and they list links to all the relevant posts, including Loren Rosson, Michael Pahl, and Stephen Carlson. Loren in particular offers a post focussing on the the difficulties in dating Galatians specifically.

What a difference an epsilon can make: In Textual Criticism and the Antioch Incident, Stephen Carlson discusses the textual variant which changes the “they [some from James] came” to “he [Peter?] came” in Paul’s run-in with Peter over eating with Gentiles.

Lists: Over on Thoughts on Antiquity, Ben C. Smith has a series of useful posts on early Christian canonical lists, including an introduction regarding the importance of these lists of early Christian works and discussions of the Marcionite canon, the Muratorian canon, and Origen’s discussion of what that church father considers valuable Christian writings.

Bart on the text of the Bible: “The Bible is corrupt, man” (no, the other Bart). The Evangelical Textual Criticism blog has an interview with Bart Ehrman regarding his views of textual corruption and the impact of his works on public perceptions of the Bible.

Do not get drunk with wine: Pliny the Elder joins the author of Ephesians (5:18) in warning of the evils of drinking, but from a more practical perspective. This ancient description of a hangover may be a timely warning in light of forthcoming Oktoberfest.

Cult of the severed head: Moving into religions in territories conquered by the Romans, where Christian groups were soon to be established, Troels Myrup Kristensen has a fascinating post on the cult of the severed head in Gaul (France). He cites the Greco-Roman geographer and ethnographer Strabo, who wrote in the time of Augustus.

Just a final comment on the online “Nerd Test” that several biblical studies types have been completing, some claiming low nerd-levels: Only complete nerds would fill out such a test, so this is redundant and, when it indicates low levels of nerdiness, entirely inaccurate.

The November edition of Biblical Studies Carnival (no. XI) will be hosted by Michael Pahl over at The Stuff of Earth. So submit to him your suggestions of posts to include for the next round.

As Tyler Williams points out, you can also submit posts to biblical_studies_carnival@hotmail.com or via the Blog Carnival page: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_203.html.

I should be back soon with postings myself, but am still bogged down with various things.

I’m slotted to host the one for May, so I better get thinking of a way to do it that may compare to the high quality of Tyler’s.

In case you hadn’t noticed, David Meadows has an ambitious daily Classicarnival linking to the most recent posts relating to Greek and Roman topics. How does he keep up with it all?