When I think about the fact that universities are ALSO supposed to be repositories of knowledge and expertise you can't get elsewhere (and not just job training or even educational enterprises) I immediately go to ancient languages. I don't think ppl realize you can just lose them

A bad President, for instance, has the power to do what? What can he not do? If he wanted to revolutionize this government, he could easily do it with this ponderous power; it would be an auxiliary power. He could cry “havoc, and let slip the dogs of war,”29 and say to the conspirators: “I am with you. If you succeed, all is well. If you fail, I will interpose the shield of my pardon, and you are safe. If your property is taken away from you by Congress, I will pardon and restore your property. Go on and revolutionize the government; I will stand by you.” The bad man will say or might say this. I am not sure but we have got a man now who comes very near saying it. Let us have done with this pardoning power. We have had enough of this. Pardoning! How inexpressibly base have been the uses made by this power—this beneficent power. It has been that with which a treacherous President has trafficked. He has made it the means of securing adherents to himself instead of securing allegiance to the government.

very fun to read frederick douglass accurately describe the problem with the pardon power in 1867

Just wrapped up a fantastic week at #SNTS - thank you to everyone who stopped by!

Now our editors are heading to Berlin for #IOSOT, bringing along books, journal issues, and plenty of ideas for new projects. Will we see you there?

machine-like.

“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Samaritan Pentateuch: An English Translation with a Parallel Annotated Hebrew Text This new translation into English seeks to introduce the reader to the character of the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch, while emphasising the fundamental differences between it and the Masoretic ...

Open access!! www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116...

🙏🏽❤️

Thank you @evandeneykel.bsky.social !!

S/O @mattthiessen.bsky.social for the flow chart!!

First week of teaching Jesus and the Gospels! Students will learn quickly that “Pharisee” can’t be used pejoratively in this space. It is only to be employed descriptively for a Jew in or before the 1st century. University should be a place where harmful caricatures/inaccuracies come to die!

Are Εἴδωλα Idols? Abstract It has long been taken for granted that the use of εἴδωλον in the language of the Septuagint and its reception in early Jewish texts was unique within the history of postclassical Greek, imbu...

PUBLICATION DAY!

well, sorta. i forgot to post when my JSJ article was published, but it's now available online (open access).

i'm really proud of this one. it's my best attempt to show why εἴδωλον shouldn't be transliterated "idol" but translated "image" in early jewish texts, incl. LXX and NT.

Who are your favorite writers that are also biblical scholars (or adjacent field: Assyriology/Ancient Judaism/Early Christianity)? People that you enjoy *learning* from but also people who make for pleasurable *reading*? Add them below (oh and maybe briefly why): ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Allison doesn’t miss.

Is the syllabus posted anywhere?

My Favorite Reads of 2024 I read 100 books in 2024 and the old Socratic maxim still rings true...

If you want to read in depth check out the full blog here where I give brief summaries of each: open.substack.com/pub/keithpin...

Social Justice in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East and by Moshe Weinfeld

Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife by Bart Ehrman

Seconding Sinai by Hindy Najman

Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic by Frank Moore Cross

Inscriptions from the World of the Bible by Peter Bekins

The Dead Sea Scrolls by Florentino García Martinez

Minds and Gods by Todd Tremlin

The Resurrection of the Jesus by Dale Allison

Paul and Judaism at the End of History by Matthew Novenson

Writing on the Tablet of the Heart by David Carr

I finally reached a goal I’ve been going after for the past 6 years, to read 100 books in one calendar year. Here are my TOP 10 books 📚of 2024 in no order ⬇️:

Quick bio post: I'm mainly here to follow and find new (or new to me) scholars in biblical studies and adjacent fields. I'm an acquisitions editor for Baker Academic, acquiring mostly projects in HB/OT. (1/3)