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 Stuckenbruck and Jason Zurawski)

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

Registration: In order to virtually attend the meeting and the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Awards, you must register via the online registration form here: https://forms.gle/2VfgpsT3EBYDjDt9A.

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

10:00pm-11:30pm -- Welcome and Opening Remarks. "Awards Ceremony"

• "Enoch Seminar Life Achievement Award" to honor Paolo Sacchi, George Nickelsburg, Robert Kraft, Michael Knibb, Michael Stone, Devorah 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

12:00pm-1:30pm [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: Matthew Goff, Matthias Hoffmann, Alexander Kulik

2:30pm-4pm [Chair Lorenzo DiTommaso] -- 2. 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: Jason Silverman, Harold Attridge, Lorenzo DiTommaso
• Respondents: Vicente Dobroruka, Pierluigi Piovanelli,

Tuesday, June 30, 2020: Three sessions

10am-11:30am [Chair Kelley Bautch] -- 3. 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: Carol Newsom, Loren Stuckenbruck, James VanderKam
• Respondents: Matthias Henze, Lester Grabbe, Anathea 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, Benjamin Wright, Samuel Adams

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: Kelley Coblentz Bautch, Ryan Stokes, Archie Wright
• Respondents: Michael Morris, Lorenzo DiTommaso, Angela Kim Harkins

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, Elisa Uusimäki, Benjamin Wold

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: Jim Davila, Eric Noffke, Benjamin Reynolds

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: Matthew Thiessen, Jutta Leonhart-Balzer, Craig Koester

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, Mika Ahuvia

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

2:30-4pm - Wrap-up session

• Panelists: Gabriele Boccaccini, Kelley Coblentz Bautch, Loren Stuckenbruck, Lorenzo DiTommaso

Confirmed Participants

• Elisabetta Abate (University of Gottingen, Germany)*
• Samuel Adams [respondent]
• Mika Ahuvia (University of Washington, USA) [respondent]
• #@ Paul Anderson (George Fox University, USA) *
• Joseph Angel (Yeshiva University)*
• Giancarlo Paolo Angulo (Florida State University, USA)*
• Luca Arcari (University of Naples, Italy)
• # Kenneth Atkinson (University of Northern Iowa, USA)
• #@ Harold W. Attridge (Yale University, USA) [panelist] *

• # Florentina Badalova Geller (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany)
• Kyung Baek (Trinity Western University, Canada)*
• John Barton (University of Oxford, UK)*
• #@ Albert I. Baumgarten (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) [panelist] *
• Kelley Coblentz Bautch (St Edwards University, USA) [panelist]
• Leslie Baynes (Missouri State University, USA) [panelist]
• Giovanni Bazzana (Harvard University, USA)
• Jason BeDuhn (Northern Arizona University, USA) [panelist]
• Luca Bertolino (University of Turin, Italy)*
• Laura Bizzarro (Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina, Argentia)*
• @ Gabriele Boccaccini (University of Michigan, USA) [panelist] *
• # Darrell Bock (Dallas Theological Seminary, USA)
• Francis Borchardt (Lutheran Theological Seminary, Hong Kong)*
• Andrew Bowden (LMU Munich, Germany)*
• Daniel Boyarin (University of California Berkeley, USA) [panelist]
• Miryam T. Brand (W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Israel) [panelist]
• Lucas Brandon (Florida State University, USA)*
• Tom de Bruin (Newbold College, UK) *
• Dylan Burns (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany) [respondent]

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

• James Davila (University of St Andrews, Scotland) [respondent]
• April DeConick (Rice University, USA) [respondent]
• Nicola Denzey-Lewis (Claremont Graduate University, USA) [respondent]
• Kindy De Long (Pepperdine University, USA)*
• Michael DeVries (University of Birmingham, UK)*
• Magdalena Díaz Araujo (Universidad Nacional de La Rioja / Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina)*
• Devorah Dimant (Haifa University, Israel) [awardee]
• Lorenzo DiTommaso (Concordia University Montreal, Canada) [respondent] *
• Vicente Dobroruka (Universidade de Brasília, Brazil) [respondent]
• # Jan Dochhorn (Durham University, England)
• Rachel Dryden (PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge, England)
• Oliver Dyma (WWU Münster, Germany)*

• Florence Abimbola Egbeyale (Florida State University, USA)*
• # Torleif Elgvin (NLA University College, Norway)
• Jason von Ehrenkrook (University of Massachusetts at Boston, USA)

• Yael Fisch (University of Oxford, UK)*
• Crispin Fletcher-Louis (University of Gloucestershire, UK)*
• @ Deborah Forger (Dartmouth College, USA)
• Paula Fredriksen [panelist]
• # Steven Fraade (Yale University, USA) [panelist]
• Ida Frölich (Catholic University Budapest, Hungary) [panelist]

• Bonifatia Gesche (University of Saarbruecken and Vetus Latina Institute, Germany)*
• John Goldingay (Fuller Theological Seminary, USA)*
• Lester Grappe (University of Hull, England) [respondent]
• Emmanouela Grypeou (Stockholm University, Sweden) [panelist]
• Matthew Goff (Florida State University, USA) [respondent]

• # Angela Kim Harkins (Boston College, USA) [respondent]
• Christine Hayes (Yale University, USA)*
• Charlotte Hempel (University of Birmingham, UK) *
• #@ Matthias Henze (Rice University, USA) [respondent] *
• Matthias Reinhard Hoffmann (Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany) [respondent]
• Karina Martin Hogan (Fordham University, USA) [panelist] *
• Kerwin Holmes Jr. (University of Virginia, USA)*

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

• David R. Jackson (Australia)*
• Jozef Jancovic (Comenius University, Slovakia)*
• Jutta Jokiranta (University of Helsinki, Finland)*

• 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) [awardee] *
• Craig R. Koester (Luther Seminar, USA) [respondent]
• Robert Kraft (University of Pennsylvania, USA) [awardee] *
• Alexander Kulik (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) [respondent]
• Un Sung Kwak (University of Oxford, UK)*

• David Lambert (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)*
• Peter Lanfer (Occidetal College, USA)*
• Natalie Lantz (Uppsala University, Sweden)*
• Nitzan Lebovic (Lehigh University, USA)*
• Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer (University of Aberdeen, Scotland) [panelist]
• # Mark Leuchter (Temple University, USA)
• Joseph Levi (Shemàh School of Jewish Studies and culture Margulies Levins, Florence, Italy)*
• # John R. (Jack) Levison (Southern Methodist University, USA)
• # Liv Ingeborg Lied (Norwegian School of Theology, Norway)*
• # Timothy Lim (University of Edinburgh, Scotland) [respondent]
• Fiodar Litvinau (LMU Munich, Germany)*
• Drew Longacre (University of Groningen, Netherlands)*
• Geert Lorein (Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven, Belgium)*
• Edmondo Lupieri (Loyola University Chicago, USA) [panelist]

• Paul Mandel (Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Israel) [panelist]
• Moses Matias (Morehouse College, USA)*
• Joshua Matson (Florida State University, USA)*
• Luca Mazzinghi (Pontificia Università Gregoriana, Italy) *
• Alexander McCarron (University of Oxford, UK)*
• Gavin McDowell (Université Laval, Canada) *
• James McGrath (Butler University, USA) [panelist] *
• Daniele Minisini (PhD candidate, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy) *
• Michael Morris [respondent]
• Craig Morrison (Pontifical Biblical Institute, Italy)*

• Hindy Najman (University of Oxford, England) [respondent]
• Mark Nanos (Lund University, USA)*
• Carol Newson (Candler School of Theology, USA) [panelist]
• George W.E. Nickelsburg (emeritus, University of Iowa, USA) [awardee]
• Ronit Nikolsky (University of Groningen, Netherlands) [respondent] *
• Eric Noffke (Waldensian School of Theology, Italy) [respondent]*

• @ Gerbern Oegema (McGill University, Canada) [panelist] *
• Isaac Oliver (Bradley University, USA)
• Jessica Ontek (Florida State University, USA)*
• #@ Andrei Orlov (Marquette University, USA)
• Juan Carlos Ossandón (Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, Italy)*

• Tali Partock (University of Cambridge, UK)*
• Hector Patmore (KU Leuven, Belgium) [panelist]
• Chad Pierce
• Pierluigi Piovanelli (University of Ottawa, Canada) [respondent]
• Anathea Portier-Young (Duke University, USA) [respondent]
• Kirill Porubaev (Pontifical Biblical Institute, Italy)*
• Jeremy Punt (Stellenbosch University, South Africa)

• Andrea Ravasco (Istituto Superiore di Scienze Religiose Ligure, Italy)*
• # Annette Reed (New York University, USA)*
• Adele Reinhartz (University of Ottawa, Canada) [panelist] *
• Megan Remington (UCLA, USA)*
• Benjamin Reynolds (Tyndale University, Canada) [respondent]
• Ishay Rosen-Zvi (Tel Aviv University, Israel) [respondent]*

• Paolo Sacchi (emeritus, University of Turin, Italy) [awardee]
• Eileen Schuller (McMaster University, Canada)*
• James Scott (Trinity Western University, Canada)*
• Joshua Scott (PhD Candidate, University of Michigan, USA)*
• Shayna Sheinfeld (Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, USA) *
• Jason Silverman (Winthrop University, USA) [panelist]
• Gregory Sterling (Yale University, USA) [panelist]
• Ryan Stokes (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, USA) [panelist]
• # Michael Stone (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) [awardee] *
• Loren Stuckenbruck (University of Munich, Germany) [panelist] *
• David Suter (USA)
• Carla Sulzbach (McGill University, Canada)*

• Balazs Tamasi (Budapest Jewish University, Hungary)*
• # Joan Taylor (King's College London, England)
• Hanna Tervanotko (McMaster University, Canada)*
• Matthew Thiessen (McMaster University, Canada) [respondent]
• Marcus Tso (Trinity Western University, Canada)*

• Emmanuel Ordue Usue (Benue State University, Nigeria)*
• Elisa Uusimäki (Aarhus University, Denmark) [respondent]*

• James VanderKam (University of Notre Dame, USA) [panelist]

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

• Jason Zurawski (University of Groningen, Netherlands)