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Classical and Near Eastern Studies
cnes@umn.edu
612-625-5353
cnes@umn.edu
612-625-5353
News Archive
"The Word Made Flesh" Celebrates the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible at Wilson Library
The University of Minnesota Libraries are celebrating the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible with the following exhibit:
The Word Made Flesh
When: Monday, November 28, 2011 - Friday, February 24, 2012; Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Where: T.R. Anderson Gallery, Wilson Library
Free and open to the public
This exhibit will feature examples of biblical texts, including medieval manuscripts and facsimiles. Highlights will include two leaves from the 42-line Gutenberg Bible; the original New Testament portion of the King James Bible; other early printings such as the Geneva Bible and the "Breeches" Bible; and related works stemming out of the Reformation such as publications, broadsides, and pamphlets from Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, and others.
CNES Grads Shine at CAMWS
From our Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Nita Krevans:
Just back from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where our graduate students gavea range of wonderful papers. (I also heard presentations from severalformer Minnesota students, including Eric Fanning and Tom Kohn, andfrom Chris Nappa.) For those who were not at the meeting and could notmake the practice session, I've appended a list of the student papersand links to the abstracts below. Congratulations to all thepresenters; I hope you enjoyed giving your papers as much as I enjoyedhearing them in their official, public versions.
Cicero Reading Polybius: The Role of Polybius in the De Re Publica.Aaron L. Beek (University of Minnesota)
http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/01E1. BeekAaron.doc
Death, Friendship, and the Republic: The Dour Settings of Cicero's DeAmicitia. Andrew Willey (University of Minnesota)
http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/01E3. Willey.doc
Poetic Failure/Poetic Flight: The Myth of Daedalus in Horace's Odes.Cynthia A. Hornbeck (University of Minnesota)
http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/03C5. Hornbeck.doc
Sex, Lies, and Visual Aids: Longus and the Art of Deception. Don M.Burrows (University of Minnesota)
http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/05C4. Burrows.doc
The Cougar in Maiden's Clothing: Callirhoe as Phaedra. Anna E. Beek(University of Minnesota)
http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/05C6. BeekAnna.doc
Reflections on an Encounter: Hermaphroditus and Salmacis in Ovid'sMetamorphoses Book IV. Elizabeth A. Warner (University of Minnesota)
http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/06D3. Warner.doc
Purest Springs of Fire: Giants and Callimachean Poetics in Pythian 1and 8. Christine E. Lechelt (University of Minnesota)
http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/12C1. Lechelt.doc Text, Authority, and Interpretation in the worlds of Hellenism and early Judaism
A panel discussion in Classical and Near Eastern Studies
Friday, April 29th, 2:00-5:00pm, 140 Nolte
Literate societies, ancient and modern, produce texts of many kinds. Most texts exercise little cultural authority and are read only for brief periods of time, by small groups of individuals, and for limited purposes. But some texts achieve - or are accorded - broad significance and enduring authority. They cease to be merely writings and are transformed into scripture, which is read, studied, and attributed profound meaning of various sorts.
CNES brings together three influential scholars to discuss the phenomenon in early Judaism and the Hellenistic world during the centuries surrounding the turn of the era. Robert Lamberton (Washington University) studies how texts of Homer's poems were established, used, and interpreted in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Benjamin Wright (Lehigh University) examines the production, authorization, and reception of the Septuagint, the Greek Translation of the Hebrew Bible. Molly Zahn (University of Kansas) investigates the rewriting or reworking of biblical books as evidenced in the Dead Sea Scrolls. All three processes transpired more or less simultaneously in different parts of the ancient Mediterranean world. Each instantiates a phenomenon of establishing, authorizing, receiving, and interpreting texts that eventually attained the status of scripture.
Conventional disciplinary boundaries have tended to keep the study of ancient Greek and Hebrew literature separate. But these texts were all generated within the intersecting cultural frameworks of the ancient Mediterranean world, suggesting that new knowledge may be gained by examining them together. We expect that the panelists' areas of inquiry will not only prove mutually illuminating, but yield insights applicable to other literatures and other moments in history.
Panelists:
Robert Lamberton, Department of Classics, Washington University in St. Louis
Benjamin G. Wright III, Department of Religion Studies, Lehigh University
Molly M. Zahn, Department of Religious Studies, University of Kansas
Respondents:
Andrew Gallia, Department of History, University of Minnesota
Alex Jassen, Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota
The three panelists will each make a brief presentation based on their published work, selections of which are posted below. Participants and attendees are encouraged to read some of these selections in preparation for the panel discussion. For each panelist, one article or book chapter is highlighted as most important for apprehending his or her subject of inquiry.
Robert Lamberton
Lamberton, Homer in Antiquity.pdf
Lamberton Homer Encyclopedia entries.pdf6 other calamities blamed on divine retribution...
CNES Professor Bernard Levinson weighs in the role of divine retribution in the Holocaust and the biblical floodView the CNN's BELIEF article featuring Professor Levinson HERE. (CNN.com)From "Original Text" to "Initial Text": the Traditional Goal of New Testament Textual Criticism in Contemporary Discussion
Professor Michael Holmes, Professor of Biblical Studies and Early Christianity
Bethel UniversityFriday, February 11th
4:00pm, 110 Nicholson Hall
will discuss current controversy over the goals and objectives of NewTestament textual criticism. Topics to be discussed may include: theon-going discussion of text-types and textual history; the shape andfuture of critical editions; NT textual criticism in the context ofJewish and Hellenistic literature; and doing NT textual criticism in apost-modern context.Professor Holmes has provided a modifiedversion of this chapter (see PDF below) which he will summarizeand highlight in 25 minutes or so, leaving ample time forinteraction/discussion with CNES colloquium participants.
Holmes From Original Text to Initial Text U of M version 1 Feb 2011-1.pdf
"They took their history in their own hands" - Professor von Dassow on the news
Antiquities expert and CNES faculty member Eva von Dassow comments on the preservation of Egypt's historical treasures.See video of the story and interview with Prof. von Dassow here. (From KSTP ABC 5)Congratulations Prof. Sellew for Winning the Motley Exemplary Teaching Award!
Philip Sellew, recipient of the Motley Exemplary Teaching Award, gently guides his students on a journey of discovery.
As a public university, Minnesota's religious studies offerings focus not on indoctrinating any particular belief, but in understanding the historical, cultural, and societal significance of religion.
Jesus and the Gospels
So when a first-year student here takes Philip Sellew's Jesus in History class, she might have her own faith or assumptions challenged--but in a good way. "Students in their first year of college are in a searching mode," says Sellew, an associate professor in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies. "It's not my job to tell students what to think, but to get them to start noticing things and thinking about what they believe."
Coptic and Early Christianity
He is also the U's Coptic instructor. Coptic was the language of Egypt during early Christian times, and is still used today in Coptic Orthodox ritual, much like how Latin was used in the Roman Catholic mass. It's an important language in the study of early Christianity, because many of the best preserved Gospel codices have been found in Egypt. Bury a book in Minnesota and in a few years you'll have mulch. "But bury a book in the desert of Egypt, and 2,000 years later you'll have a book with some dirt on it," says Sellew.
His work in Coptic is rewarding, both personally and intellectually. Every time he teaches beginning Coptic he has students from the local Coptic Orthodox community ("They come to class and can sing hymns in Coptic, even though they don't yet speak it."). And Coptic, unlike other Biblical-era languages, still maintains some linguistic mysteries that challenge scholars. "It's rich with possibility," says Sellew. A future publication project of his will be an anthology of Coptic literature and hymns.
Death and the Ancients-and Us
It's important to Sellew that his students make personal connections to the world of antiquity and early Christianity. This is perhaps best exemplified in his course Death and the Afterlife. College students are, in Sellew's opinion, fascinated with questions surrounding death and what may come afterward. Through grounding the class in the ancient world--Gilgamesh, Augustine--and layering on films, music, and poetry from today, Sellew's students examine their own beliefs about death and the afterlife. They consider why we care about this most mysterious of life's mysteries, and what the ancients were facing as they created their own death and afterlife myths and practices.
It's his gentle guidance, his respect for his students' varied beliefs, that has made him such a beloved professor and a recipient of a 2010 Arthur "Red" Motley Exemplary Teaching Award. The nomination letters from his former students were littered with words like influential, concerned, caring, and respectful. "My role is not to convince them of what version or another of the Gospels is correct," he says, as way of example. "Students should have an experience of self-discovery." And whether his students are exploring the 18 versions of the Gospels, learning the language and culture of Coptic Egypt, or exploring two millennia of death rituals, Professor Sellew will, in the words of a former student, "impart the inspiration and empowerment to pursue our own questions, in our own work."
Congratulations Professor Bernard Levinson!
Professor Bernard Levinson was recently recognized as a CLA Scholar of the College for the 2010-2013 award period.From the CLA website:The Scholar of the College award is presented annually by the College of Liberal Arts to acknowledge outstanding achievement by faculty in the college. Scholars of the College are chosen on the basis of past accomplishments and contributions in the areas of scholarship/creative activity, teaching, and service, and the promise of further achievement. Scholars of the College receive a stipend totaling $10,000 per year for three years to support their research or creative work. More...The college will honor the 2010 Scholar of the College Awardees and 2010 Dean's Medalist on Monday, February 22, beginning at 3:30 p.m. in the Mississippi Room (3rd floor, Coffman Memorial Union).Congratulations Professor Jassen!
Congratulations to Alex Jassen for winning a 2010-12 McKnight Land-Grant Professorship for his project Religion, Violence, and the Dead Sea Scrolls!CNES Award Winners!
During the last several months a number of CNES faculty have won awards. Oliver Nicholson received the Red Motley Award for Exemplary Teaching from the College of Liberal Arts for 2008 and Nita Krevans has received it for 2009. Andrea Berlin received the Archaeological Institute of America's 2009 award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education and Nita also won the 2009 award for Excellence in College Teaching from the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. On the research front, Alex Jassen has been awarded the John Templeton Award for Theological Promise for his first book Mediating the Divine: Prophecy and Revelation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple Judaism. Congratulations to our award winners!
