Sacrifice and Atonement within Second Temple and Late Antique Judaism

June 6-9, 2027 

Lugano, Switzerland 

Chairs: Angela Kim Harkins, Isaac W. Oliver, and Shlomo Zuckier

Conference Details

The Nangeroni Meeting on Sacrifice and Atonement within Second Temple and Late Antique Judaism will take place from Sunday afternoon, June 6, to Wednesday morning, June 9, 2027 in Lugano, Switzerland.

Thanks to the generous support of the Nangeroni Fund and our collaboration with the Associazione Biblica della Svizzera Italiana (ABSI), the Enoch Seminar will be able to provide the following accommodations for all participants at the approximate low cost:

     

      • Room (double-rooms available), breakfast, lunch, and dinner included: € 65–75 per day.

      • Enoch Seminar membership: $100 ($50 for students & emeriti)

      • Conference registration fee: $100 ($50 for students & emeriti)

    Participants should seek to cover their travel costs through their own institutions or other resources. Some travel funds, however, may be available to assist those in need. For inquiries, please contact Isaac Oliver at oliver.isaac_w@uqman.ca.


    Rationale of the Conference 

    Ever since the completion of Jacob Milgrom’s monumental commentary on the book of Leviticus (2000), new studies continue to appear that advance our understanding of ancient Jewish sacrifice and atonement (Klawans 2006; Harrington 2001; Botner, Duff & Dürr 2020; Wiley & Eberhart 2017). Nevertheless, conventional boundaries that split Jewish studies into separate (sub)fields mean that gaps in our knowledge about ancient Jewish views on sacrifice and atonement persist in many areas as certain texts, especially biblical, and topics (e.g., substitutionary death) are prioritized to the exclusion of others. As a result the vast corpora of non-canonical Jewish texts from the Second Temple period (so-called Pseudepigrapha, Apocrypha, sectarian texts from the Judean Desert, Philo, etc.) and related themes tied to sacrificial matters remain unexplored. The year 70 continues to function as a diachronic marker with powerful teleological symbolism, signaling the inevitable end, even the ritual supersession of sacrifice (celebrated by many authors) for those forms of Jewish expression that took shape after the destruction of the Second Temple. A resultant collateral damage of such apriorism has been the study of sacrifice and atonement in classical rabbinic texts in its own right—despite the detailed attention granted to sacrificial matters in the Mishnaic, Toseftan, Midrashic, and Talmudic corpora (Zuckier, forthcoming).

    This seminar is a collective endeavor that traces the expressions of Jewish views on and the observance of sacrifice and atonement. Toward that goal, this conference targets a broad terrain of literary and material evidence that cuts across the usual boundaries in our field that result from periodization and canonical borders. We welcome investigations of biblical, rabbinic, and other writings from the Second Temple and Late Antique periods. We also encourage the investigation of early Christian sources that can be effectively (re)configured within an ancient Jewish framework in the hope that such inquiry will illuminate our understanding of sacrificial practices and beliefs held by early Christ followers and enrich our appreciation of the rich and diverse mosaic of Antique and Late Antique Judaism(s). Finally, by extending the conference to the dawn of Islam, we hope to bridge the study of early Judaism and Christianity with early Islamic studies.

    Based on the above description, papers should attend to one or more of the following key questions:

       

        • In what ways does the latest research on sacrifice and atonement and other related areas (liturgy, prayer, purity, sin, temple, priesthood, covenant, charity, etc.) expand our understanding of ancient Judaism, early Christianity, and early Islam?

        • Are there new methods or approaches that can help us understand sacrifice and atonement in the ancient world?

        • What do texts that are not commonly engaged in the conversation of sacrifice and atonement add to the discussion of these topics? For example, non-canonical works from the Second Temple period and beyond.

        • What were alternative or additional means of sacrifice and atonement apart from those offered at the temple (animal, grain sacrifice, etc.)? Are there underlying issues and unexamined assumptions around the discourses and perspectives that posit the replacement or supersession of (animal) sacrifice?

        • To what extent did the experience of diaspora (and/or “exile”) shape Jewish understandings of sacrifice and atonement? What salient features were shared (and not shared) between diaspora Jews and their co-religionists from Judea?

        • Are there discernible lines of (dis)continuity in Jewish practices and perspectives on sacrifice and atonement before and after the destruction of the Second Temple period? What was the impact of the destruction of the temple in 70 CE? How do classical rabbinic texts and other forms of late antique Jewish expression configure within this diachronic discussion, and how can we appreciate them in their own right?

        • How do we make sense of the diversity of ancient Jewish views and practices on sacrifice and atonement, which included emerging forms of Christianity? In other words, how do early Christian representations of sacrifice and atonement complement our understanding of ancient Jewish perspectives?

        • To what extent are the Quran and the earliest forms of Islam informed by Jewish (and/or Christian) texts and traditions regarding sacrifice and atonement? Conversely, how does the Quran’s own distinctive approach enrich our understanding of the discourses and practices tied to sacrifice and atonement?

      In the spirit of collegiality and to promote meaningful exchanges, papers are circulated beforehand at the onsite conferences hosted by the Enoch Seminar. Rather than reading presentations, participants are asked to summarize the highlights of their paper for approximately five minutes before the floor is opened for discussion (approximately 30 minutes for each paper). This is done to allow a robust dialogue to unfold and for extensive discussion of each paper.

      As is the case for previous Enoch Seminar conferences, we hope to publish the papers as conference proceedings in a volume and/or an academic journal.

      Bibliography

      Balberg, Mira. Blood for Thought: The Reinvention of Sacrifice in Early Rabbinic Literature. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2017.

      Botner, Max, Justin Harrison Duff, and Simon Dürr, eds. Atonement: Jewish and Christian Origins. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020.

      Feldman, Liane. The Story of Sacrifice: Ritual and Narrative in the Priestly Source. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 141. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020.

      Goudarzi, Mohsen. “Worship (dīn), Monotheism (islām), and the Qurʾān’s Cultic Decalogue.” Journal of International Qur’anic Studies Association (2023): 30-71.

      Harrington, Hannah K. Holiness: Rabbinic Judaism and the Graeco-Roman World. London: Routledge, 2001.

      Klawans, Jonathan. Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

      MacClymond, Kathryn. Beyond Sacred Violence: A Comparative Study of Sacrifice. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.

      Meshel, Naphtali. Meshel, Naphtali S. The ‘Grammar’ of Sacrifice : A Generativist Study of the Israelite Sacrificial System in the Priestly Writings with a ‘Grammar’ of Σ. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2014.

      Milgrom, Jacob, ed. Leviticus: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. 3 vols. The Anchor Yale Bible. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998-2000.

      Moffitt, David M. Rethinking the Atonement: New Perspectives on Jesus’ Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022.

      Petropoulou, Maria-Zoe. Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Greek Religion, Judaism, and Christianity, 100 BC – AD 200. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

      Stökl Ben Ezra, Daniel. The Impact of Yom Kippur on Early Christianity : The Day of Atonement from Second Temple Judaism to the Fifth Century. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003.

      Stroumsa, Guy. End of Sacrifice: Religious Transformations in Late Antiquity. Translated by Susan Emanuel. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2009.

      Wiley, Henrietta L., and Christian A. Eberhart, eds. Sacrifice, Cult, and Atonement in Early Judaism and Christianity: Constituents and Critique. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2017.

      Zuckier, Shlomo. “Does the Burnt Offering Atone? Ancient Jewish Perspectives.” Journal for the Study of Judaism 56 (2025): 1-33.

      Zuckier, Shlomo. Theologies of Sacrifice and Atonement in Ancient Judaism. Forthcoming.