Programme
Jewish Cultural Encounters in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern World
Sunday 8 December
Venue: Assen, Drents Museum
13.00 visit the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition made by the Qumran Institute, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Drents Museum; short introduction by Mladen Popović
15.20 Statenzaal, Drents Museum, opening of the symposium and welcome by Annabelle Birnie, director of the Drents Museum
15.30 Konrad Schmid, University of Zurich, Taming Egypt: The Impact of Persian Imperial Ideology and Politics on the Biblical Exodus Account
16.15 Bob Becking, Utrecht University, Exchange, Replacement, or Acceptance? Two Examples of Lending Deities among Ethnic Groups in Elephantine
17.00 Departure to Groningen
Monday 9 December
Venue: Groningen, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Old Courtroom
8.30 coffee/tea
8.50 opening and welcome by Kocku von Stuckrad, Dean of the Faculty
9.00 Jonathan Stökl, King’s College London, Netting Marduk: The Concept of Hidden Transcripts and the Transfer of Cultural Knowledge from Mesopotamian to Judean Texts
9.45 Caroline Waerzeggers, Leiden University, The “Nabonidus debate” in Babylonia, c. 200 BCE
10.30 break
11.00 Jörg Frey, University of Zurich, “Judaism and Hellenism” – Martin Hengel’s Work and the More Recent Perspectives from Qumran
11.45 George Brooke, University of Manchester, Choosing Between Papyrus and Skin: Cultural Complexity and Multiple Identities in the Qumran Library
12.30 lunch
14.00 Benjamin G. Wright, Lehigh University, What Does India Have to Do with Jerusalem: Ben Sira, Language and Colonialism
14.45 Judith H. Newman, University of Toronto, Hybridity, métissage, and habitus: Sirach 24 and the diachronic formation of Judean cultures
15.30 break
16.00 Anathea Portier-Young, Duke University, Constructing Imperial and National Bodies in Book of the Watchers, Daniel, and 2 Maccabees: monster theory, historiography, and Jewish identity
16.45 drinks
Tuesday 10 December
Venue: Groningen, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Old Courtroom
8.30 coffee/tea
9.00 Anne Lykke and Friedrich Schipper, Universität Wien, Iconographic Reflections of the Cultural Encounter between the Jews and the Greeks and Romans in the first century BCE to the first century CE in the Numismatic Evidence
9.45 J. Cornelis de Vos, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Jews, Galatians, and Paul: Encounter between Jews and Christians?
10.30 break
11.00 Hindy Najman, Yale University, Primordial Translation: The Miracle of the Greek Bible in Philo of Alexandria
11.45 Uri Gabbay, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Exegetical Encounters by the Rivers of Babylon: Literal and Non-Literal Exegesis in Akkadian Commentaries and in Early Midrash
12.30 lunch
14.00 Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Tel Aviv University, The Mishnah and Rabbinic Romanization
14.45 break
Venue: Academy building, main auditorium hall (aula)
16.15 Mladen Popović, University of Groningen, inaugural address
Wednesday 11 December
Venue: Groningen, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Old Courtroom
9.00 coffee/tea
9.30 Sacha Stern, University College London, Subversion and Subculture: Jewish Time-Keeping in the Roman Empire
10.15 Jürgen K. Zangenberg, Leiden University, Who Encountered What? Reflections on Finds from the Byzantine Synagogue of Horvat Kur (Galilee) in Their Context
11.00 Tal Ilan, Freie Universität Berlin, Elijah’s Cave in Haifa: Whose Holy Site is it Anyway?
12.00 lunch