1st EnochFest

<<< WORK in Progress! (only a draft)>>>

EnochFest: Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins — A Year in Review (Feb 15-16, 2027)

EnochFest 2027: Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins — A Year in Review (Feb 15-16, 2027)

Since 2001, the Enoch Seminar has served as an open global forum promoting the study of Second Temple Judaism and Christian, Jewish, and Islamic origins. The goal of EnochFest is to offer an annual overview of the most significant recent developments in the field by inviting scholars whose recently published work has made particularly important contributions to our understanding of these subjects.

Speakers

1. Gabriele Boccaccini (University of Michigan) & Giulio Mariotti (ISSR-Trento), authors of Paolo di Tarso, un ebreo del suo tempo (Carocci, 2025).
2. David Cielontko (Charles University, Prague), author of The Visions of Enoch the Prophet: On the Function of the Book of Parables (De Gruyter, 2026).
3. Marcello Fidanzio (Lugano Faculty of Theology, Switzerland), The Great Isaiah Scroll (Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht, 2026)
4. Rebecca L. Harris (Messiah University), author of Religious Experience and Divinization in the Sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls: Living in the Liminal (Brill, 2026).
5. Jamal-Dominique Hopkins (Baylor University), author of Cultic Spiritualization: Religious Sacrifice in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Gorgias Press, 2026).
6. Sabrina Inowlocki (Australian Catholic University), author of Ancient apologetics and the bibliographic imagination (Cambridge University Press, 2026)
7. Jesse Mirotznik (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), author of The Portrayal of Pagan Worship in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism (Cambridge University Press, 2026).
8. Hindy Najman (University of Oxford), author of Scriptural Vitality: Rethinking Philology and Hermeneutics (Oxford University Press, 2025).
9. Carmen Palmer (Stetson University), author of Gentile Women in Qumran : Female converts in the Dead Sea Scrolls (De Gruyter, 2026).
10. Markus Tiwald (University of Vienna), author of Early Judaism and the Beginnings of Christianity (Kohlhammer, 2026)
11. Jason Wendel (Regent College), author of Luke and the Law: A Defence of Christian Law-Observance (Mohr Siebeck, 2026).
12. John Van Maaren (University of Vienna), author of The Gospel of Mark’s Judaism and the Death of Christ as Ransom for Many (Mohr Siebeck, 2025)
13. Jordan Henderson (St. Athanasius College), author of Defeat and Deliverance: Prefigurements of the Jewish Revolt Against Rome in Josephus’ Depictions of Past Invasions of Jerusalem (Brill, 2025)

Tentative Schedule

Time is EST (New York Time). It will be afternoon or evening in Europe)

FIRST DAY (February 15, 2027)

• 8:45 - 9:00 -- Welcome and Introduction

1^ Session (Chair: Isaac Oliver, EnSem Director)

• 9:00 - 9:40 -- 1. Gabriele Boccaccini et al. (EnSem Founding Director), 25 Years of Enoch Seminar Publications
• 9:40 - 10:20 -- 2. Markus Tiwald (University of Vienna)
• 10:20 - 11:00 -- 3. Rebecca Harris (Messiah University)

2^ session (Chair: Angela Kim Harkins, EnSem Vice-Director)

• 11:20 - 12:00 -- 4. Marcello Fidanzio (Lugano School of Theology)
• 12:00 - 12:40 -- 5. Carmen Palmer (Stetson University)
• 12:40 - 1:20 -- 6. Jamal-Dominique Hopkins (Baylor University)

3^ session (Loren Stuckenbruck, EnSem Vice-Director)

• 2:30 - 3:10 -- 7. David Cielonko (Charles University Prague)
• 3:10 - 3:50 -- 8. Jesse Mirotznik (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), "The Pagan Religious Experience: An Ancient Jewish Perspective"
• 3:50 - 4:30 -- 9. Sabrina Inowlocki (Australian Catholic University)

SECOND DAY (February 16, 2027)

• 8:45 - 9:00 -- Welcome and Introduction

4^ session (Chair: Karin Zetterholm, EnSem Vice-Director)

• 9:00 - 9:40 -- 10. John Van Maaren (University of Vienna), "The Nations on the Margins in the Gospel of Mark"
• 9:40 - 10:20 -- 11. Jason Wendel (Regent College), "Situating Luke’s Legal Discourse: Teaching, Apologetics, Legitimation?"
• 10:20 - 11:00 -- 12. Gabriele Boccaccini / Giulio Mariotti (University of Michigan / ISSR-Trento) -- "Paul of Tarsus, a Second Temple Apocalyptic Jew"

5^ session (Chair: Gabriele Boccaccini, EnSem Founding Director)

• 11:20 - 12:00 -- 13. Hindy Najman (University of Oxford)
• 12:00 - 12:40 -- 14. Jordan Henderson (St. Athanasius College)
• 12:40 - 1:20 -- 15. Isaac Oliver et al., "Enoch Seminar Forthcoming Events & Publications"

6^ session

[TBA]

Abstracts

Mark Tiwald

• Early Judaism and the Beginnings of Christianity

Abstract

Jesus and his first followers were Jews who never intended to form a new religion apart from Judaism. The so called "parting of the ways" between Jews and Christians was long and by no means monolinear. Rather, it was a complex process that stretched over five hundred years, occurring in different places at different speeds and under a variety of circumstances. Highlighting the pluriformity of early Judaism (300 BCE - 200 CE) shows that what we today call the "beginnings of Christianity" was in fact an integral part of multifaceted Judaism. Consequently, the “within Judaism” paradigm is gaining an increasing number of adherents and serves as a useful umbrella category for interpretations that regard New Testament texts as expressions of early Judaism. Nevertheless, an encompassing use of this attribution lacks precise criteria for categorising texts as “within Judaism”. A precise definition of the terms “early Judaism” and “within early Judaism” appears to be a matter of urgent importance for further New Testament studies.

John van Maaren

• John Van Maaren -- The Nations on the margins in the Gospel of Mark -- Many readings of the Gospel of Mark intuit a prominent, if mostly implicit, theme of the good news going to the nations. This presentation critically examines prominent versions of this construct, concluding that most data thought to refer to the inclusion of the nations refer rather to the ingathering of scattered Israel and opposition to Roman occupation. It concludes the writer depicts, at best, a peripheral role for the nations who are not entirely absent from their ideal vision of the future.

Professional biography: My research has focused especially on the New Testament texts as part of early Judaism and, more recently, on Pauline Christ-groups in the material, urban, and institutional contexts. I wrote my dissertation at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario and have since worked at the Catholic University of America (Washington DC, USA), the University of Heidelberg (Germany), and the University of Vienna (Austria).

Jason Wendel

• Jason Wendel -- Situating Luke’s Legal Discourse: Teaching, Apologetics, Legitimation? -- Building from questions raised in the conclusion to Luke and the Law: A Defence of Christian Law-Observance, this presentation considers what Luke’s treatment of the Law of Moses reveals about the socio-rhetorical setting of his writings. Various interpreters have asserted that Luke writes as a Gentile for Gentiles, presenting the Law of Moses positively only in service of an apologetic agenda: portraying the nascent Christian movement as following an ancient, virtuous Law. I challenge this reconstruction in two ways. First, I note that if Jewish authors such as Philo and Josephus engaged in this kind of “outward-facing” legitimation of the Law of Moses within the Graeco-Roman world, then the same rhetoric in Luke-Acts provides no grounds for asserting a Gentile provenance. Second, I demonstrate that discourses of divine Law in Luke-Acts resemble the legitimation strategies of texts defending their own group’s distinctive interpretation of the Law, in which the authority of Moses is assumed, rather than the “outward-facing” legitimation of Moses against some other standard. Having challenged the apologetic agenda many interpreters assign to the author of Luke-Acts, I briefly consider what alternative socio-rhetorical settings might better account for Luke’s legal discourse.

Jesse Mirotznik

• Jesse Mirotznik -- The Pagan Religious Experience: An Ancient Jewish Perspective

In my monograph, The Portrayal of Pagan Worship in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism, I argue that a decisive change took place in ancient Jewish portrayals of the Other around the 3rd century B.C.E. In Israelite/Jewish literature composed up to this point, the worship of other gods and the reverence of their icons is consistently depicted as sincere, and its appeal, whether to Israelites or non-Israelites, is, as a rule, not questioned. At some point around the end of the 3rd century B.C.E., however, a new form of argument arises: that the worship of other gods and the reverence of their icons is, in fact, an entirely unattractive practice, and that even its practitioners must inwardly reject it. Put differently: while the devotees of 'false gods' appear to take these deities seriously, even they must know, on some level, that their gods are nonsense. In this lecture, I will attempt to demonstrate some elements of this shift in ancient Jewish portrayals, in particular focusing on greed and sex, and their relationship to idolatry."

Carmen Palmer, Stetson University

Carmen Palmer -- “Female Converts in the Dead Sea Scrolls”

Evidence mounts against any simple understanding of the presence of female gentile converts in the Dead Sea movement (the movement affiliated with Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, though not restricted to the site of Qumran). Josephus suggests that generally, the Essenes (if one were to affiliate the Essenes with the Dead Sea movement in some way) prefer to avoid marriage (J.W. 2.120–121). Certainly, there is a paucity of female gendered objects at the site of Qumran, itself. And even though the rulings within the Scrolls describe ample inclusion of references to women participating in both kinship and culture, a prohibition restricts marriage to a free, gentile woman (Temple Scroll 11Q19 LVII, 15–17). That said, the Damascus Document CD XII, 10–11 prohibits the sale of male and female slaves to gentiles because they entered the “covenant of Abraham” with their owner. Nearby, CD XI, 14–15 prohibits proximity to a gentile on the Sabbath. Surely these enslaved persons are not sent away on the Sabbath. Instead, the coexistence of such rules implies that gentile women are joining the movement and undergoing some sort of transformation, meaning a conversion. This presentation will argue that the case of the beautiful captive woman, as reworked from Deut 21:10–14 in 11Q19 LXIII, 10–15, exemplifies how the combined processes of marriage and timed integration function as a conversion mechanism for gentile enslaved women into the Dead Sea movement.

Jordan Henderson, St. Athanasius College

Prefigurations of Perfidy: The Typological Use of False Oaths in Josephus’ Antiquities

Josephus’ accounts of the invasions of Jerusalem by the pharaoh Shishak, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar in his Antiquities each have an added element of treachery which is not present in his biblical sources for these accounts. Each account in the Antiquities involves the king taking an oath of clemency towards the Judeans, then promptly breaking his oath. I have argued elsewhere (Defeat and Deliverance [Leiden: Brill, 2025]) that the foreign rulers’ treachery in each account corresponds literarily to the treachery which Josephus depicts on the part of the Jewish rebels of his own day in the Jewish War, particularly John of Gischala. This allows Josephus to reframe the typological relationship between these events of the past and Rome’s recent conquest of Jerusalem. Instead of Vespasian and Titus appearing as the latest foreign tyrants attacking Jerusalem, Josephus depicts these foreign invaders of the past as more similar to the rebels through the motif of treachery. In this paper, I will focus this typology more particularly on an event at the outbreak of the revolt when the Roman commander Metilius’ troops are massacred by Jewish rebels after the latter had taken oaths to spare the soldiers’ lives upon their surrender.

LETTER OF INVITATION

Dear Professor [Name],

It is my great pleasure to invite you to participate as a speaker in the inaugural EnochFest, an international online conference organized by the Enoch Seminar, to be held on February 15–17, 2027:

EnochFest 2027: Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins — A Year in Review

Since 2001, the Enoch Seminar has served as an open global forum promoting the study of Second Temple Judaism and Christian, Jewish, and Islamic origins. The goal of EnochFest is to offer an annual overview of the most significant recent developments in the field by inviting scholars whose recently published work has made particularly important contributions to our understanding of these subjects.

The presentation is not intended as a book presentation. Rather, we invite you to offer a scholarly paper that develops an argument, insight, or theme drawn from your recently published work, whether from the book as a whole or from a particular section or aspect of it.

Like all other invited international scholars, you will be given a 40-minute slot, consisting of a 20-minute paper, followed by approximately 15–20 minutes of academic discussion with the appointed Chairs and questions from the audience.

In light of your distinguished scholarship, we would be especially honored if you would consider presenting a paper on:

“[Suggested Title]”

This is only a suggested title, and you would of course be entirely free to modify or reformulate it as you wish.

The conference will be held online via Zoom, according to the following schedule:

February 15, 2027: 9am-4pm (EST) [Europe: 15:00–22:00) February 16, 2027: 9am-4pm (EST) [Europe: 15:00–22:00) February 17, 2027: 9am-4pm (EST) [Europe: 15:00–22:00)

We would be grateful if you could let us know whether you would be able to participate in the conference by August 31, 2026.

At a later stage, we will ask you to provide:

your final presentation title; an abstract of 100–200 words; five to eight keywords; your institutional affiliation; a short professional biography; and confirmation that you consent to the recording of your presentation.

It would be a great honor to have you contribute to this inaugural EnochFest, and I very much hope that you will be able to join us.

With my best regards,

Gabriele Boccaccini, PhD Founding Director, Enoch Seminar www.enochseminar.org

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EnochFest 2027: Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins — A Year in Review (Feb 15-16, 2027)

Since 2001, the Enoch Seminar has served as an open global forum promoting the study of Second Temple Judaism and Christian, Jewish, and Islamic origins. The goal of EnochFest is to offer an annual overview of the most significant recent developments in the field by inviting scholars whose recently published work has made particularly important contributions to our understanding of these subjects.