21-23 June: Nationhood and Religion in Hellenistic-Roman Judaea

Conference 21-23 June: Nationhood and Religion in Hellenistic-Roman Judaea

Celebrating 55 Years Qumran Institute (1961-2016)

This conference is made possible by generous grants from the European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), and the Nicolaas Mulerius Fund (University of Groningen)

Organisers: Steve Mason and Mladen Popović

Registration and costs

There are two options for registration:

• Registration with 3 lunches and 2 dinners, € 200
• Registration with coffee/tea breaks, € 75

Payments should be made in cash at the start of the conference. Please note that all registrations should take place before 10 June. Register with Mr. Eelco Glas . Should you require assistance concerning travel arrangements or finding accommodation, please contact Mr. Eelco Glas .

Programme

Tuesday, 21 June

• 12:30–1:45 Welcome Lunch
• 1:45–5:30 Nationhood and Religion in Hellenistic-Hasmonean Judaea
• 1:45 Welcome: Steve Mason / Mladen Popović
• 2:00 David Goodblatt, University of California—San Diego: “Where do you come from?  What is your country?  And of what people are you?” (Jonah 1:8): Questions of Identity in Jewish Antiquity
• 3:00 Jacques van Ruiten, University of Groningen: Jewish Identity and the Book of Jubilees
• 3:30 Coffee/Tea Break
• 4:00 Daniel R. Schwartz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Judea, Galilee and the ‘Land of Israel’
• 4:30 Open Discussion
• 6:30 Dinner

Wednesday, 22 June

• 9:00–12:30 Nationhood and Religion in Herodian-Roman Judaea
• 9:00 Tessa Rajak, University of Oxford: Writing and Re-writing Masada: Freedom, Faith and Nation
• 10:00 Sarah Pearce, University of Southampton: Jewish Life and Jewish Faith in Graeco-Roman Alexandria
• 10:30 Coffee/Tea Break
• 11:00 René Bloch, University of Bern: Tacitus on the Jews Reconsidered
• 11:30 Open Discussion
• 12:15 Greeting from Prof. Dr. Sibrand Poppema, President of the University of Groningen
• Lunch 12:30–1:30
• 2 :00–5:30 Implications of the Nationhood-Religion Question for Early Jewish-Christian Relations
• 2:00 Magnus Zetterholm, Lund University: Jews and Gentiles in the Synagogue: Revisiting the Birthplace of Christianity
• 3:00 Jan Willem van Henten, University of Amsterdam: Jewish and Christian Martyrs: National and Transnational Articulations
• 3:30 Coffee/Tea Break
• 4:00 George van Kooten, University of Groningen: “The present Jerusalem (ἡ νῦν Ἰερουσαλήμ) is in slavery, but the Jerusalem above (ἡ ἄνω Ἰερουσαλήμ) is free” (Galatians 4.25-26): Political Aspects of Paul’s Description of Roman Jerusalem and Implications for Early Jewish-Christian Relations
• 4:30 Open Discussion
• 6:30 Dinner

Thursday, 23 June

• 9:00–1:00 Nationhood and Religion in the Rabbinic Period
• 9:00 Adiel Schremer, Bar-Ilan University: Peoplehood, Covenant, and Religion: Rabbinic Thinking about Jews and Judaism
• 10:00 Katell Berthelot, University of Aix-Marseille and CNRS: The Gerim in Rabbinic Literature and Its Implications for the Definition of Israel
• 10:30 Coffee/Tea Break
• 11:00 Günter Stemberger, University of Vienna: Mishnah Sanhedrin 1–2: A Utopian Constitution of the Jewish State
• 11:30 Sacha Stern, University College London: Time and Social Identity: From Qumran Sects to Post-Nicene Heresy
• 12:00 Open Discussion
• 1:00–2:00 Farewell Lunch