2020 Enoch Seminar Online

Title: Concepts of Evil in Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins

Participation is by invitation only. It is not a public conference (in streaming), but a workshop among invited specialists.

Chairs: Gabriele Boccaccini and Lorenzo DiTommaso (with Kelley Coblentz Bautch, Loren Stuckenbruk and Jason Zurawski)

Tentative Date : June 29 - July 1-2 (Monday - Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday)

Daily schedule (Eastern American Time): 10am-11:30am / 12:00pm-1:30pm / 2:30pm-4pm

Topics (to be decided): Suggested questions for each of the main sessions:

Description (by the Chairs)

Our Approach to this Online Seminar

Participants should keep in mind that the tenor of their presentations/responses ought to be prospective rather than retrospective. A survey of past work is not appropriate here, nor is the statement of an issue that has been “chewed over” for a long time. We seek, instead, new ideas, theses, or approaches. A statement of a major issue or question that has come to light in view of recent scholarship would be excellent, as well, especially if it is “thick,” in the sense that it contains ideas that could be unpacked and debated in group discussion for mutual profit.

Time Allotted for Each Presentation and Response

Each presentation is only 10-15 minutes and each response is 5 minutes in length. Unlike in-person Enoch Seminars, we do not require participants to pre-circulate their papers. Thus, the emphasis is on brevity, clarity, and, to a certain degree, generality, at least within the session parameters. Accordingly, participants should expect that they will be given ample time to revise/amplify their ideas for publication in the conference volume, ideally in dialogue with the formal responses (which, as discussed, will also be published) and informal group discussion.

The Nature of the Seminar

For this Online Seminar, questions posed are intended to be quite open-ended. On the one hand, this allows panelists and respondents maximum room for exploration within the compass of the session topic. On the other hand, we are issuing invitations to targeted specialists in the expectation they require the least in the way of guidance and have the most likelihood of sizing up the question and offering meaningful responses to it. For this reason, participation is by invitation only. It is not a public conference (in streaming), but a workshop among invited specialists.

A New Kind of Conference for this Distinctive Moment

This will be a new kind of conference experience for most of us. We've tweaked a few things in order to accommodate the new medium, according us maximum fluidity in the conference architecture without sacrificing traditional scientific rigour. We are excited that the Enoch Seminar is taking this initiative in light of the current moment and given the likelihood that online platforms will continue to be important and omnipresent in various academic contexts. The Seminar means to carry on despite these difficult times, not only to maintain continuity and connexions, but also because the Republic of Letters, of which we are citizens, may bend with stormy winds but will not break.

Schedule

Monday, June 29, 2020: Opening Session

12:00pm- 1:30pm -- Welcome and Opening Remarks. "Awards Ceremony"

• "Enoch Seminar Life Achievement Award" to honor Paolo Sacchi, George Nickelsburg, Robert Kraft, Michael Knibb, Michael Stone, Deborah Dimant, and James Charlesworth, "in gratitude for their exceptional contribution to the field of Second Temple Jewish Studies and their generous service in the Enoch Seminar."

• Presenters: Gabriele Boccaccini, Kelley Coblentz Bautch, Annette Reed, John Collins, Jonathan Ben-Dov, Lorenzo DiTommaso, Loren Stuckenbruck

2:30pm-4pm [Chair Lorenzo DiTommaso] -- 3. What was the nature and extent of Zoroastrian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Greco-Roman influences on the diverse notions of evil in Second Temple Judaism?

• Panelists: TBA
• Respondents: TBA

Tuesday, June 30, 2020: Three sessions

10am-11:30am [Chair Kelley Bautch] -- 2. Which are the different ways in which evil was understood to enter into the world? Which historical or social circumstances prompted the preference from one or the other? Was it a case of a religious development in response to fundamental changes in the religious environment? In both cases, where and why?

• Panelists: Loren Stuckenbruck, James VanderKam
• Respondents: Matthias Henze, Lester Grabbe, Thea Portier-Young

12:00pm-1:30pm [Chair Jason Zurawski] -- 4. How do non-apocalyptic texts of the period engage with the issue of the origin of evil and the theological problems it raises? Is there literary evidence, explicit or implicit, for contemporary debate regarding the existence of multiple explanations for the origin of evil in the world, particularly regarding the ways that each explanation addresses theological and existential issues?

• Panelists: Gerbern Oegema, Karina Martin Hogan, Greg Sterling
• Respondents: Hindy Najman, Ben Wright

2:30pm-4pm [Chair Lorenzo DiTommaso] -- 5. Are evil human or superhuman figures a necessary and functional part of the earliest expressions of evil, or did they develop later?

• Panelists: TBA
• Respondents: TBA

Wednesday, July 1, 2020 -- Three sessions

10am-11:30am [Chair Loren Stuckenbruck] -- 6. The origin of evil in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

• Panelists: John Collins, Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer, Miryam Brand
• Respondents: Timothy Lim

12:00pm-1:30pm [Chair Gabriele Boccaccini] -- 7. How is the problem of evil and its origin addressed in the Parables of Enoch and the Synoptics?

• Panelists: Leslie Baynes, Gabriele Boccaccini, Daniel Boyarin
• Respondents: Eric Noffke,
• Participants:

2:30pm-4pm [Chair Ben Reynolds] -- 8. Do Paul and John stand in line with trajectories already evident in the Synoptics and Jewish apocalyptic literature of the era, or do they represent a new direction? Do we have evidence of divergent notions on the origin of evil in the early Jesus movement?

• Panelists: Paula Fredriksen, Adele Reinhartz, Edmondo Lupieri
• Respondents: TBA
• Participants: Gabriele Boccaccini / Adele Reinhartz / Benjamin Reynolds / Harry Attridge / Paul Anderson ...

Thursday, July 2, 2020 -- Three sessions & Conclusion

10am-11:30am [Chair Jason Zurawski] -- 9. How is the problem of evil and its origin addressed in Rabbinic literature? Does it/they stand in line with trajectories already evident in the Jewish literature of the Second Temple Period, or does it represent a wholly new explanation?

• Panelists: Hector Patmore, Steven Fraade, Paul Mandel
• Respondents: Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Ronit Nikolsky

12:00pm-1:30pm [Chair Kelley Bautch] -- 10. How is the problem of evil and its origin addressed in "gnostic" (Valentinian, Sethian, Mandaean) literature? Do they stand in line with trajectories already evident in the Second Temple Period, or represent a wholly new explanation?

• Panelists: Jason BeDuhn, Alberto Camplani, James McGrath
• Respondents: April DeConick, Nicola Denzey-Lewis, Dylan Burns

2:30pm-4pm [Chair Loren Stuckenbruck] -- 1. If "apocalyptic is the mother of theology," is the problem of evil the mother of "apocalyptic"?

• Panelists: Ida Fröhlich, Albert Baumgarten, Emmanouela Grypeou
• Respondents: TBA

• 4-5pm - Wrap up session. Final comments.

Confirmed Participants

• #@ Paul Anderson (George Fox University, USA)*
• Joseph Angel (Yeshiva University)*
• Luca Arcari (University of Naples, Italy)
• # Kenneth Atkinson (University of Northern Iowa, USA)
• #@ Harold W. Attridge (Yale University, USA)*

• # Florentina Badalova Keller (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany)
• #@ Albert I. Baumgarten (Bar-Ilan University, Israel)*
• Giovanni Bazzana (Harvard University, USA)
• @ Gabriele Boccaccini (University of Michigan, USA)*
• # Darrell Bock (Dallas Theological Seminary, USA)
• Miryam T. Brand (W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Israel)
• Tom de Bruin (Newbold College, UK)*

• # Piero Capelli (University of Venice, Italy)*
• Alberto Camplani (University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy)
• Rodney Caruthers (Ashland Theological Seminary, USA)
• Kelley Coblentz Bautch (St Edward's University, USA)*
• # John J. Collins (Yale University, USA)
• # Sidnie White Crawford (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA)

• April DeConick (Rice University, USA)
• Lorenzo DiTommaso (Concordia University Montreal, Canada)*
• # Jan Dochhorn (Durham University, England)
• Rachel Dryden (PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge, England)
• Oliver Dyma (WWU Münster, Germany)*

• # Torleif Elgvin (NLA University College, Norway)
• Jason von Ehrenkrook (University of Massachusetts at Boston, USA)

• @ Deborah Forger (Dartmouth College, USA)
• # Steven Fraade (Yale University, USA)
• Ida Froelich (Catholic University Budapest, Hungary)

• # Angela Kim Harkins (Boston College, USA)
• Charlotte Hempel (University of Birmingham, UK)*
• #@ Matthias Henze (Rice University, USA)*
• Karina Martin Hogan (Fordham University, USA)*

• Giovanni Ibba (Istituto Superiore di Scienze Religiose S. Caterina da Siena, Italy)*

• David R. Jackson (Australia)*

• Jonathan Kaplan (The University of Texas at Austin, USA)*
• Paul Kim (Methodist Theological School in Ohio, USA)*
• Karen King (Harvard University, USA)*
• Michael Knibb (King's College London, UK)*
• Robert Kraft (University of Pennsylvania, USA)*
• Alexander Kulik (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel)

• David Lambert (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)*
• # Mark Leuchter (Temple University, USA)
• # John R. (Jack) Levison (Southern Methodist University, USA)
• # Liv Ingeborg Lied (Norwegian School of Theology, Norway)*
• # Timothy Lim (University of Edinburgh, Scotland)

• Paul Mandel (Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Israel)
• Luca Mazzinghi (Pontificia Università Gregoriana, Italy)*
• Gavin McDowell (Université Laval, Canada)*
• James McGrath (Butler University, USA)*
• Daniele Minisini (Sapienza - University of Rome, Italy)*

• Ronit Nikolsky (University of Groningen, Netherlands)*
• Eric Noffke (Waldensian School of Theology, Italy)

• @ Gerbern Oegema (McGill University, Canada)*
• Isaac Oliver (Bradley University, USA)
• #@ Andrei Orlov (Marquette University, USA)

• Tali Partock (University of Cambridge, UK)*
• Chad Pierce

• # Annette Reed (New York University, USA)*
• Adele Reinhartz (University of Ottawa, Canada)*
• Benjamin Reynolds (Tyndale University, Canada)

• Joshua Scott (PhD Candidate, University of Michigan, USA)*
• Shayna Sheinfeld (Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, USA)*
• Ryan Stokes
• # Michael Stone (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel)
• Loren Stuckenbruck (University of Munich, Germany)*
• David Suter (USA)

• # Joan Taylor (King's College London, England)

• Catrin Williams (University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK)*
• # Benjamin Wold (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
• Archie Wright (Regent University, USA)*
• Ben Wright (Lehigh University, USA)

• Jason Zurawski (University of Groningen, Netherlands)