TELA at #AARSBL19

Last updated on: March 12, 2020 at 5:32 am by James F. McGrath

TELA at #AARSBL19 2020-03-07T15:31:35-05:00 James F. McGrath

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Traditions of Eastern Late Antiquity was involved in multiple sessions at the American Academy of Religion annual meeting in San Diego in November, including the one with a panel focused on the Mandaean Book of John that I already blogged about some time ago, and from which Jim Davila shared his review of an important recent book by Michael Stone. Here is a brief glimpse of another of our sessions, based on notes I took during the presentations.

In our open session, Jason Mokhtarian presented on Talmud Bavli, which I had not realized is the largest collection of remedies from Late Antiquities, in addition to everything else it is. Approaches to illness include incantations, surgery, and a whole range of others. The approach leans more towards human treatments rather than focusing on seeking divine interventions. Plant-based drugs and the perils of relying on human doctors are illustrated and commented on. Yet this material is scattered throughout Bavli and so not always studied together. The material illustrates that the rabbis were first and foremost legal experts, not physicians. They represent a kind of medical eclecticism, adapting what they borrow. Jason has 11 possible sources enumerated in his book, including exegesis, non-Jewish medical systems, folklore and demonology, rabbinic innovations, surgery on animals, bull sorcerers, observation of nature, and etiological speculation. The focus of his paper was on knowledge borrowed from others.

Cuneiform therapies have a lot of “if not…” as does b.Shabbat 110b. It was an Akkadian tactic to put pig heart on the heart of an afflicted person, and this also appears in the Talmud.

I was struck by a passing reference to Tal Ilan asserting that “mother” was a title for an expert folk medicine practitioner. b.Shabbat 109b has a rabbi’s mother make a healing potion. I’m interested in women as preservers and practitioners of medicine and healing, from whom Jesus may have learned.

The Talmud doesn’t seem to want to admit the non-Jewish source of some of its therapeutic knowledge.

Laura Locke Estes presented on clothing and conversion in Persia. Dhimmi status depended on wearing certain accessories and avoiding others. She talked about the Pact of Umar, the zunar belt worn over one’s garment, and more generally about anxiety with respect to identity and mixing of religions. Slave of Christ (Abda da-Mshiha) compares baptism to the piercing of the ear of a slave in Deut.15 and Exodus. The main text Estes focused on claims that wearing earrings was rejected by Jews even though no there is no evidence of this from Jewish sources. In the text we get the impression that an earring was indicative of being a slave, whereas the boy who converts is a free person, and so that may have been at the heart of the controversy. He accuses participants at a meal of being guilty of the murder of Christ. The story of his martyrdom is followed by exploration of his relic, which is miraculously restored to his homeland, while the rest of him performs miracles in an unidentified Western location.

Ceremonial removal of the zunar (belt) was indicative of apostasy, cut off when someone is expelled from the Christian community. In the Q&A, Zsuzsanna Gulácsi mentioned Manichaean conversion formulas that mention garments, defilement of the garment of apostates.

Mark Leuchter gave his first AAR paper, being an SBL member. Abraham Kunin challenged the historicity of the Great Assembly. Leuchter sees it instead as reflecting a memory of a scribal guild. Ezra is turned into not only the promulgator and restorer of Torah but also one before whose arrival in Jerusalem the temple was not yet truly complete and functional. At one point as an illustration he mentioned the movie The Pawnbroker, which follows a Holocaust survivor and provides a perspective on his experience of trauma through brief glimpses of memory that break through into consciousness, often unexpectedly or without an obvious trigger.

On Babylonian medicine see also BabMed Corpora. See also the Daf Yomi on birth control and miscarriages.

Apologies that it took me so long to get around to blogging about this session! Hopefully we will not find that the annual meeting in November 2020 ends up being cancelled as a result of COVID-19. If it does, I’d suggest that we try holding a virtual conference. The main risk, of course, is that we might find that format so beneficial that we will be harder pressed to make the case for going back to the traditional way of doing things…

American Academy of Religion

AAR

Late Antiquity

religion

Previous Post

March 11, 2020

Inerrancy is for Slavery

Next Post

March 13, 2020 Keep Calm and Teach On (Moving Your Course Online on Short Notice)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy academia Acts of the Apostles afterlife Akhaten Alcatraz American Academy of Religion Amos Anglican Arabic Aramaic archaeology art artificial intelligence astronomy atheism atonement Babylon 5 Baptists Battlestar Galactica Bible Biblical Studies Carnival biblioblogging Black Mirror Blade Runner Book of Job book review Buddhism Call for Papers China Christianity Christmas Christology Chronicles Coptic creation Daniel Deuteronomy Doctor Who Dune Easter Ecclesiastes economics education Eldad Keynan Enoch Seminar Ephesians eschatology Esther Evangelicals evolution Exodus Expanse Ezekiel Ezra fantasy Fringe fundamentalism Galatians games Ge'ez genealogy Genesis Gnosticism Gospel of Jesus' Wife Gospel of John Gospel of Judas Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Peter Gospel of Thomas Greek Harry Potter Hebrew Hebrews Hinduism historical Jesus history Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Holidays horror Hosea humor incarnation India inerrancy information literacy inspirational Intelligent Design Ireland Isaiah Islam Israel Italy James Jeremiah John the Baptist Jonah Joshua Judaism Jude Judges Judith Lamentations languages Latin Leviticus libraries literature Lord of the Rings LOST Mandaeans Mandaic memes Methodism Micah monotheism morality Mormons movies music mythicism NASSCAL Nehemiah new perspective New Testament news Numbers Orthodox paganism panentheism pantheism Patheos Paul and his letters Pentecostals Philippians Philippians 2:6-11 philosophy physics Planet of the Apes podcast politics Progressive Christianity Protestantism Proverbs Psalms pseudoscience racism religion Revelation Roman Catholicism Romania Romans Ruth scams science science fiction Secret Gospel of Mark Society of Biblical Literature Song of Songs Star Trek Star Wars Stargate Swahili Syriac Taoism technology Terminator The Handmaid's Tale The Hobbit The Matrix theodicy theology theory Timeless Titus tomb Torchwood travel TRON Uncategorized United Kingdom Westworld X-Files young-earth creationism Zechariah

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 February 2007 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz