How imagined “bizarro worlds” invite us into the real worlds of ancient Israel and Egypt
Looking at ancient texts' "topsy-turvy" visions of the world can reveal a lot about the authors' assumptions, writes grad fellow Forrest Martin.
Mosaics of the Abraham & Isaac story show how Jews in late antiquity used art to connect with religion and community
Countering misperceptions, grad fellow Abby Massarano explains that Jews in the 6th century CE embraced visual art, and shows what we can learn about these communities from their depictions of the key story of Abraham's Binding of Isaac.
2/11 TALK | Outside of the Frame: Enslaved Persons in New Testament Ethics
Bernadette Brooten (Brandeis University) will give a virtual talk on the ways early Christian authors sought theologically to form gender and other relationships.
2/2 STUDENT EVENT | Ancient Perspectives on Same-Sex Relationships
How has the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as related in the Qur'an and Hebrew Bible shaped the ways Jews, Muslims and Christians thought and continue to think about same sex relationships. Explore this question with Cole Fellow Dr. Brendan Goldman.
VIDEO | Marina Rustow — Jewish Manuscripts in the Digital Age: The Cairo Geniza and the New Materiality
Dr. Marina Rustow of Princeton University will deliver the 2019 Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies.
From ancient Jewish practitioners to Google searches, coping with our fear of “ugly” babies
Like people today, people in the ancient world were obsessed with having ideal children. And ancient theories of vision combined with fears around imperfect babies to create some funky beliefs about sex and conception, writes grad fellow Jennifer Hunter. But were they really weirder than our worries today?
Demonic femininity in the ancient synagogue: Dancing with the angel of death
Ancient synagogue poetry describing the magic "sotah" ritual for women evoked common fears around demonic forces and women's sexuality, writes Dr. Laura S. Lieber.
Us vs. them: Challenging stereotypes about Judaism in the wake of the Pittsburgh shooting
Christian myths about Judaism both feed anti-Semitism and misrepresent the reality of a religion based on the love of God and the other.