Pleasant surprise

I was taken by surprise when P. Borgen called my last night, telling me that I had been voted in as a member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas at their last meeting this August. I was not even aware of that I was on the list of prospective new members this year, though I had some hopes for the future!
I have attended some meetings in the past as a guest; now I am looking forward to participate as a member, hopefully already next year in Aberdeen. As for the meeting of this year , Philip Harland did attend as a guest, and have some blogging on it here and here.

More Philo at the SBL Annual Meeting

I don't know how it could happen, but my previous search in the SBL Annual Meeting program did not reveal that there is going to be another quite interesting session in which the works of Philo will play a major role. Just look at this:

S 20-62 Hellenistic Judaism
11/20/2005 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Independence I - Marriott
Theme: Boundaries and Limits in Diaspora Judaism

Tessa Rajak, University of Reading, Presiding
Lester L. Grabbe, University of Hull
Edgy under Greek Rule? The Question of Jews on the Margins in the Ptolemaic Period (20 min)
Erich S. Gruen, University of California, Berkeley
The Jews of Rome: Alienation, Toleration, or Integration? Or None of the Above? (20 min)
Discussion (20 min)
Break (5 min)
Jed Wyrick, California State University, Chico
Animal Allegories and Animal Worship in the Literature of Alexandrian Judaism (20 min)
Sarah Pearce, University of Southampton
Philo on Atheism, Judaism, and Egyptian Identity (20 min)
Abraham Terian, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary
Philo's Definitions of Israel in Relation to Historical Realities in the Greco-Roman World (20 min)
Discussion (25 min)

Everyone is invited to remain after the session for a brief discussion of possible topics for future annual meetings and other business related to the Hellenistic Judaism Section.

Philo at the SBL Annual Meeeting

Skimming the program for the SBL Annual Meeting, I find that Philo is mentioned in the following lectures/topics listed:

S19-23: Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Early Christianity
11/19/2005
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Room 409 - Marriott
Theme: Towards a Definition and Description of “Experience” of the Divine: Texts, Methods and Religious Experience

Frances Flannery-Dailey, Hendrix College, Nicolae Roddy, Creighton University and Rodney Werline, A _Not Found
Religious Experience (10 min)
Alan Segal, Barnard College, Columbia University
Religiously Altered States of Consciousness, the Afterlife, and the Construal of the Self in Ancient Judaism and Christianity: (25 min)
Celia Deutsch, Barnard College
Text Work and Religious Experience: Philo and Clement (25 min)
Break (5 min)
Robin Griffith-Jones, Temple Church
Transformation by a Text: The Gospel of John (25 min)
Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis, St Mary's Bryanston Sq., London
Religious Experience and the Modern Study of Apocalyptic Literature (25 min)


S 19-72: Religion in Roman Egypt
11/19/2005
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Room 106-A - Pennsylvania Convention Center
Denise Buell, Williams College, Presiding
Flattery, Quotation, and Slander: Rhetoric and the Negotiation of Religious Difference
Steven Weitzman, Indiana University at Bloomington
Philo on How to Befriend an Emperor (25 min)
Judith L. Kovacs, University of Virginia
Clement of Alexandria on Faith and Knowledge: Quotations of and Responses to Valentinian Ideas (25 min)
Ellen Muehlberger, Indiana University at Bloomington
How to Avoid Gossip: Angelic Appearances and Heresy in the Ascetic Literature of Egypt (25 min)
Discussion (15 min)
Texts of Power: Writing and Religious Ritual
Lynn LiDonnici, Vassar College
Black Magic: Ink and Ink Recipes in the Greek Magical Papyri (25 min)
AnneMarie Luijendijk, Harvard University
“When You Find Yourself in Times of Trouble…”: Answers through Mother Mary in the Sortes Sanctorum (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)



S19-73: Rethinking Plato's Parmenides and Its Platonic, Gnostic and Patristic Reception
11/19/2005 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Room 409 - Marriott
Theme: Patristic Use or Lack of Use of Plato’s Parmenides

Kevin Corrigan, Emory University, Presiding
Mark Edwards, Christ Church, Oxford
Christians and the Parmenides (30 min)
Jean Reynard, Institut des Sources Chrétiennes
The Influence of Plato’s Parmenides upon the Cappadocian Fathers (30 min)
Daivd Runia, Queens College
Early Alexandrian Theology and the Parmenides of Plato (30 min)(According to the Abstract, Philo is supposed to be included here.)
Serge Cazelais, Universite Laval
Platonic Receptions of the Gospel of John: Marius Victorinus and his Predecessors. (30 min)
Discussion (30 min)

S 21-29: Philo of Alexandria
11/21/2005 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Room TBD - Hotel TBD
Theme: Linguistic Border Crossing: Philo of Alexandria and the Dead Sea Scrolls

John Collins, Yale University, Presiding
Florentino Garcia Martinez, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Divine Sonship at Qumran and in Philo (30 min)
Hindy Najman, University of Toronto
Revelation in the Desert: The Case of the Therapeutae and the Essenes (30 min)
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, University of Durham
To What Extent Did Philo's Treatment of Enoch and the Giants Presuppose a Knowledge of the Enoch-related Sources Preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls (30 min)
Business Meeting (20 min)


S21-68Hellenistic Judaism
11/21/2005 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Room TBD - Hotel TBD
Theme: The Cultural Context of Judaism in Alexandria

Allen Kerkeslager, Saint Joseph's University, Presiding
Marjorie Susan Venit, University of Maryland
Imaging the Afterlife: Decoration as Eschatology in the Monumental Tombs of Ancient Alexandria (20 min)
Christopher Haas, Villanova University
Late Antique Alexandrian Intellectual Life: An Archaeological Perspective (20 min)
Discussion (20 min)
Break (5 min)
René S. Bloch, University of Lausanne
"My Mother Told me Everything:" Ezekiel Exagoge 34 – 35 and Myth (20 min)
Ann Ellis Hanson, Yale University
Claudius' Letter to the Alexandrians: Those Interested in its Contents (20 min)
Sandra Gambetti, The College of Staten Island - CUNY
Borders inside Alexandria: The Situation on the Ground During the Jewish Persecution in 38 CE (20 min)
Discussion (25 min)

S21-78: Pauline Epistles
11/21/2005 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Room 113-C - Pennsylvania Convention Center
Alexandra Brown, Washington and Lee University, Presiding

Peter Oakes, University of Manchester
Paul and Popular Post-Mortem Divinization (30 min)
Brett D. Burrowes, Siena College
Paul's Letter-Spirit Contrast and Hellenistic Kingship Ideology (30 min)(deals with Philo)
Emma Wasserman, Yale University
Akolasia, Akrasia, and Self-Contradiction in Romans 7 (30 min)
John Martens, University of Saint Thomas
Fathers and Daughters in 1 Corinthians 7:36-38: The Social Implications for Children of Parents' Belief in Christ (30 min)
Jens Herzer, University of Leipzig
The “House of God,” Its Social Setting, and a New Perspective on the Interpretation of the Pastoral Epistles (30 min)

S 22-16: Philo of Alexandria
11/22/2005 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Room 109-B - Pennsylvania Convention Center
Theme: Interpreting Philo’s De Virtutibus

David T. Runia, Queen's College, University of Melbourne, Presiding
Walter Wilson, Emory University
Issues of interpretation in Philo’s De Virtutibus (25 min)
Gregory E. Sterling, University of Notre Dame, Respondent (25 min)
James R. Royse, San Francisco State University
The Text of Philo’s De Virtutibus (25 min)
David Konstan, Brown University
Philo’s De Virtutibus in the Perspective of Greco-Roman Philosophical Literature (25 min)
Discussion (15 min)
Break (5 min)
Editorial Board Meeting for the Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series (30min)

Papers can be ordered from runia@queens.unimelb.edu.au

SBL Annual Meeting 2005

I have finally registered, and thus intend to attend the 125th Annual Meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature in Philadelphia Nov 19-23 this year. I am even listed as a participant on a seminar Nov. 20:

S20-12
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Assisted Research
11/20/2005
9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Room: Room 411 & 412 - Marriott
Theme: The Pleasures, Pains and Prospects for Biblioblogging
The phenomenon of "blogging", the maintenance of a regular online journal or weblog, has proliferated massively in recent times. As in all areas of life, political, religious, cultural, art, entertainment and media, so too in the area of academic Biblical Studies, the blog is an informative, innovative, up-to-the-minute way of discovering more about the subject, discussing the latest developments, interacting on controversial topics and enjoying the lighter side of the discipline. These "biblioblogs" are now widely consulted by those in the guild, and are contributing something of interest and intelligence. But what is the future of the biblioblogs? What is their scope for development? This session gathers together a panel of pioneers in this area.

Mark Goodacre, University of Birmingham, Presiding
James Davila, University of St. Andrews, Scotland
Enter the BiblioBloggers (20 min)
R.W. Brannan, Logos Bible Software
PastoralEpistles.com: Biblioblog? Annotated bibliography? Or Something in Between? (20 min)
Panel Discussion
Discussion (80 min)
A.K.M. Adam, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Panelist
Tim Bulkeley, University of Aukland, Panelist
Stephen Carlson, Fairfax, VA, Panelist
Edward Cook, Cincinnati, OH, Panelist
Torrey Seland, Volda University College, Panelist
James West, Quartz Hill School of Theology, Panelist

Some recent book reviews

The following is some book reviews that were published during my summer vacation leave. Some of them have been noticed on other blogs, but these are some of those most relevant for studies of Philo and the Egyptian diaspora world of his times:

W.V. Harris, G. Ruffini, Ancient Alexandria between Egypt and Greece.Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition, vol. XXVI. Leiden:
Brill, 2004. Pp. 296. ISBN 90-04-14105-7. EUR 75.00.

Reviewed by Marjorie Susan Venit, University of Maryland (venit@umd.edu)

Ellen Birnbaum has an essay on Philo in this volume (see also my comments on this here). The reviewer presents her article thus:
"In "Portrayals of the Wise and Virtuous in Alexandrian Jewish Works:
Jews' Perceptions of Themselves and Others" Ellen Birnbaum explores the
self-perception of Alexandria's Jewish population and their view of the
other inhabitants of the city. She restricts her study to the qualities
of wisdom and virtue and her textual sources to the Letter of Aristeas,
the Wisdom of Solomon, and the works of Philo and determines that each
document yields a different portrayal of Jews in relation to the
dominant culture. The Letter of Aristeas incorporates the Jewish
Diaspora fantasy (a trope), portraying Jews as superior to non-Jews and
recognized as such by other Alexandrians. By contrast, in the Wisdom of
Solomon the wise and the virtuous are loyal Jews, and Egyptians are
seen as a "'a nation of oppressors'" (144). Philo, like the others,
sees Jews as wise and virtuous but, insofar as non-Jews are concerned,
limits that quality to those who inhabited the past and dwelt in lands
far from Alexandria. Concluding, Birnbaum suggests that the difference
in views, specifically that between the Letter of Aristeas and the
other two sources, reflects the social and political circumstances that
Jews encountered at the time when each document was composed."

Erik Christiansen, Coinage in Roman Egypt: The Hoard Evidence. Aarhus:Aarhus University Press, 2004. Pp. 208. ISBN 87-7288-964-0. $29.95.

Reviewed by Allen Kerkeslager,
Department of Theology, Saint Joseph's University
(akerkesl@sju.edu)

Francoise Dunand, Christiane Zivie-Coche, Gods and Men in Egypt. 3000 BCE to 395 CE. Originally published by Armand Colin, 2002. Translated from the French by David Lorton. Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
2004. Pp. 367. ISBN 0-8014-8853-2. $25.95 (pb).

Reviewed by Mehmet-Ali Atac,, Department of Classical and Near Eastern
Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College (matac@brynmawr.edu)

14th World Congress of Jewish Studies

The 14th World Congress of Jewish Studies is just now taking place in Jerusalem (July 31-August 4). I am not lucky enough to be a participant, but I would have loved to.
There was a session on Philo this very Monday, called simply Philo of Alexandria:

355 Philo of Alexandria
Chairperson: Daniel Maoz
Monday (1 Aug 2005) 15:00 - 17:00 Room: 2717
Naomi G. Cohen (E)
Proverbs 8:22-23 in Philo and in Gen. Rabbah
Yochanan Cohen-Yashar (H)
The Meaning of the Word Ether in the Works of Philo Alexandrinus: The
Cosmological Background of Biblical Exegesis
Arkady Kovelman (E)
Jer. 9:22-23 in Philo and Paul
Mireille Hadas-Lebel (H)
Philo's Universalistic Interpretation of Biblical Laws
Katell Berthelot (E)
Philo of Alexandria and the Conquest of Canaan

If any of you who reads this attended this session, please give some comments on it the comments field below.

Have a nice day!

A Brief Guide to Philo

My review of
Schenck, Kenneth, A Brief Guide to Philo
Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2005
pp. xi + 172. $24.95

was published on www.bookreviews.org early this summer.
It is still available here.

My final paragraph of the review looks like this:
"The author is to be congratulated for this fine introduction geared for students coming to the works of Philo for the first time. I find it to be well informed, fair in its presentations of various scholars and viewpoints, and well endnoted. The value of Philo for studying Judaism and early Christianity is well set forth. Schenck’s many brief definitions and explanatory text-boxes throughout the book will also, I presume, be valuable to students.
All in all, those wanting some preliminary initiation into the mysteries of Philo’s works will find in this book a trustworthy guide. Then they, one hopes, will want to proceed to some higher wisdom like Philo himself did."

Back again..

I'm back again, after three wonderful weeks of vacation in southern Norway; wonderful weather; could'nt have been better.

Since my former posting I have also moved to Stavanger, to The School of Mission and Theology, taking up my position as a professor in New Testament Studies. A quite new experience; it is 17 years since last time I changed place of living and of work.

I have skimmed the blogs I subscribe to; again it looks like som people have never some days off,- or- they are always close to a computer with an Internet connection.

I have to get updated, and will post what I find interesting from a philonic perpsective. If you have already read 'my news' on some other blogs or other announcements, pleaee forgive. I'll just try to add here what I as philo scholar find interesting.