Judaism

Post-Doctoral Fellow in Jewish Studies

I am biased, but I do believe we have a great environment here at Penn State. If you are working in the areas related to the modern State of Israel please consider applying!

Jewish Studies Post-Doctoral Fellow

The Pennsylvania State University invites applications for a Post-Doctoral Fellow in its Jewish Studies Program. Research specialization in any area of Israel Studies pertaining to the modern State of Israel. The appointment will be for one year (Fall 2012 through Spring 2013), with possible renewal for a second year upon review. The incumbent will be expected to be in full-time residence at University Park, conduct research, offer one undergraduate course each semester, and participate in the intellectual life of the University Park campus. Enthusiasm for and demonstrated ability in classroom teaching is essential. Salary is competitive.

Applications received by January 31, 2012, will be given full consideration, though applications may continue to be considered until the search is concluded. In order to apply, please upload letter of application and CV to www.la.psu.edu/facultysearch/.

Please have three letters of recommendation sent to Sandi Moyer at sjm1@psu.edu

Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.

Proofs are here! New Book on Lamentations

Jun 14th, 2011

by Christian Brady.

3 comments

A year ago, almost to the day, I shared with you all that a new book was forthcoming on the topic of Lamentations and its interpretation in Christianity and Judaism. Yesterday I received the proofs and Great Is Thy Faithfulness: Reading Lamentations as Sacred Scripture should be ready for purchase at SBL! The publisher is now Pickwick Publications/Wipf and Stock. The book is edited by Robin Parry and Heath Thomas. The table of contents follows below.

You know I like wordle.net so here is the Book of Lamentations and below is Targum Lamentations.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness: Reading Lamentations as Sacred Scripture

Introduction—Robin A. Parry and Heath A. Thomas / xi

1 “Holy Scripture” and Hermeneutics: Lamentations in Critical and Theological Reflection—Heath A. Thomas / 1

2 Outrageous Demonstrations of Grace: The Theology of Lamentations —Paul R. House / 26

Soundings in Jewish Reception History

A Lamentations in Isaiah 40–55—Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer / 55

B The Character and Significance of LXX Lamentations —Kevin J. Youngblood / 64

C Targum Lamentations—Christian M. M. Brady / 70

D Lamentations Rabbati—Jacob Neusner / 77

E Introduction to Rashi’s Commentary on Lamentations —Mayer I. Gruber / 83

F Lamentations in Jewish Liturgy—Elsie R. Stern / 88

G Lamentations in Modern Jewish Thought—Zachary Braiterman / 92

Soundings in Messianic Jewish Reception History

H Holocaust Theology in the Light of Yeshua? Messianic Jewish

Reception of Eikah—Richard Harvey / 101

Soundings in Christian Reception History

I Lamentations in the Patristic Period—Heath A. Thomas / 113

J Christian Interpretation of Lamentations in the Middle Ages —David S. Hogg / 120

K John Calvin’s Interpretation of Lamentations—Pete Wilcox / 125

L Lamentations for the Lord: Great and Holy Friday in the Greek Orthodox Church—Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou / 131

M Lamentations and Christian Worship —Andrew Cameron-Mowat SJ / 139

Soundings in Artistic and Contemporary Reception

N Musical Responses to Lamentations—F. Jane Schopf / 147

O Lamentations in Rembrandt van Rijn: “Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem”—Heath A. Thomas / 154

P Psychological Approaches to Lamentations—Paul M. Joyce / 161 Q Feminist Interpretation(s) of Lamentations—Heath A. Thomas / 166

3 Wrestling with Lamentations in Christian Worship—Robin A. Parry / 175

4 Confession and Complaint: Christian Pastoral Reflections on Lamentations—Ian Stackhouse / 198

Appendix 1: A Translation of LXX Lamentations—Kevin J. Youngblood / 211

Appendix 2: A Translation of Targum Lamentations —Christian M. M. Brady / 228

Appendix 3: Lamentations Rabbati on Lamentations 3:1–21 —Jacob Neusner / 248

Appendix 4: Rashi on Lamentations 3:1–21 / 264

Appendix 5: Calvin on Lamentations 3:1–23 / 267

Conference: “New Perspectives on Jews and Judaism”

Apr 7th, 2011

by Christian Brady.

1 comment

Given my recent research on the Book of Ruth, rabbinic interpretation thereof, and rabbinic conversion I am very disappointed that I will likely be traveling on the West Coast during this conference. If, however, you are in the Philly area and have such interests you should not miss this.

Taking Turns: New Perspectives on Jews and Judaism The 17th Annual Gruss Colloquium in Judaic Studies, May 2-3, 2011

A sampling of the schedule:

MONDAY, MAY 2
Ben Franklin Room, 2nd floor
Houston Hall
3417 Spruce Street

9:15 am Coffee and Light Breakfast

9:45 am Greetings

David Ruderman, Ella Darivoff Director,
Katz Center
Rebecca Bushnell, Dean,
School of Arts and Sciences

10:00 am Re-Reading Ruth

Chair: Sara Japhet, Hebrew
University/Katz Center

Adele Berlin, University of Maryland
Ruth and Jewish Identity
in the Persian Period

Jeffrey Shoulson, University of
Miami/Katz Center
“Grafting in Bad Stock”:
Ruth in Early Modern England

Sarah Gracombe, Stonehill
College/Katz Center
“Engrafted” or “Alien”?:
English Representations of
Ruth from 1830 to 1930

Respondent: Kathleen Biddick,
Temple University

“Inventory of Structurally Important Literary Features in the Anonymous and Pseudepigraphic Jewish Literatures of Antiquity”

Mar 11th, 2011

by Christian Brady.

No comments yet

This is an exciting project that our colleagues at Manchester and Durham have been working on. News from Alex Samely:
Dear Colleagues,

I have pleasure in announcing the availability of a new terminological framework for the analysis of ancient Jewish literature, the “Inventory of Structurally Important Literary Features in the Anonymous and Pseudepigraphic Jewish Literatures of Antiquity”.

This Inventory gathers together all the basic literary options available to ancient Jewish text makers and puts them into a systematic order. It is available in PDF and web-based formats from:

www.manchester.ac.uk/ancientjewishliterature

The Inventory identifies literary structures found in any one of the anonymous or pseudepigraphic works of ancient Judaism. The corpus on which the Inventory is based includes the Pseudepigrapha, the Apocrypha, the Dead Sea Scrolls (only near-complete texts are included), and rabbinic literature to the end of the Babylonian Talmud.

Several hundred features are defined and organized in a systematic order under twelve main headings. Each feature is illustrated by one or more ancient text containing it.

The categories reflect insights drawn from a large variety of modern disciplines, including philology, literary studies, text linguistics, discourse analysis, narratology and post-structuralism.

The Inventory is the first major result of a four-year research project funded by the AHRC which started in 2007 at Manchester and Durham Universities.

The website also has a discussion forum. Scholars are invited to share observations on, and experiences with, the Inventory or related questions.

A Database of literary Profiles is being prepared which applies the Inventory to individual texts from the Project corpus. Scholars may be given pre-publication access to the Database if they wish to create a Profile, under their own name, for a text with which they are concerned. Please get in touch with me if you are interested in this.

There will be a workshop on problems in the literary analysis of post-biblical Jewish literature in Manchester on 11-12 July 2011. The workshop will be discussion-based, but also introduce the use of the Inventory and of the pre-publication Database for sample texts, including texts suggested by participants. The workshop is open to colleagues, post-docs and postgraduate research students working on any ancient Jewish or related text. There is assistance with travel costs and accommodation is free. A document is attached containing further details and a registration form. It is also available from the Project website:

www.manchester.ac.uk/ancientjewishliterature.

Yours,
Alexander Samely

Alexander Samely
Professor of Jewish Thought
Co-Director, Centre for Jewish Studies
Middle Eastern Studies / Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, Samuel Alexander Building
The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
Tel. (0)161-2753072
Research Project: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/ancientjewishliterature/
Midrash Database: http://mishnah.llc.manchester.ac.uk/home.aspx

A stumbling block…

Feb 14th, 2011

by Christian Brady.

No comments yet

When I was being shown around Freiburg last week my guide actually stumbled and then stopped and pointed to be the “Stolperstein” upon which she had halted. This term literally translates as a “stumbling stone” and is a small concrete cube covered in brass that is etched with the name of a single Jew or other victim of the Nazi regime who was deported and killed. The dates of their deportation and death are also inscribed on the stone. It is placed on the sidewalk before the place that had been there home. These Stolpersteine are now found throughout Germany and in other countries as well.

I was struck by the word “stumbling block” particularly as it was just a few weeks ago that the Revised Common Lectionary, used by many Christian denominations, had as its reading 1 Cor. 1:18-31. The relevant passage is in the middle of that section.

For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

What the apostle Paul is saying here is that the notion of the Messiah being crucified made no sense to those Jews who were waiting and expecting God’s anointed one. Jesus’ death as a criminal on a cross was too big a hurdle for them to overcome to believe that he was actually the Messiah.

Given our English translation of the Greek σκάνδαλον (scandalon) you can understand why my ears were pricked to learn that this memorial to the victims of the Holocaust was called a Stolperstein. It seemed significant to me, as if to say that the death of so many by the Nazis and those who worked with them and failed to work against them is itself a scandalon to Christians. Or at least it ought to be. It ought to be a challenge to their fundamental faith.

Now, as it turns out, having had a chance to check a few German versions of this passage, it appears that completely different German words were used to translate scandalon. In the Hoffnung für Alle it is “eine Gotteslästerung,” “blasphemy,” and in the the 1545 Luther translation it is “ein Ärgernis,” “scandal.” The former certainly conveys the sense well and the latter is more literal, in both cases it is not Stolperstein. Still, it certainly made me pause and consider my faith.