Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism
A Society of Biblical Literature Section
Who are we?
This unit was launched in 1996 to explore mystical themes in literature of the Second Temple Period and the Hekhalot. Over a ten year period, members of the group offered papers on topics including "Vision and Knowledge of God," "Esoteric Temple Traditions," "The Body of God," "The Chariot," "The Use of Scripture in Mystical Texts and Practice," "Angelology and the Heavenly World," "Ritual and Practices," "Death and the Afterlife," "Gendered Images," "Cosmology," and "The Problem of Rabbinic Mysticism." The work from scholars participating in these sessions is included in the publication which I edited, Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006).
The Program Chair is Kevin Sullivan who can be contacted here.
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What are we doing now?
This year in San Diego, the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Section is launching a new multi-year project to determine possible
provenances of early mysticism in Judaism and Christianity. We are
operating in rough chronological order beginning with the Ancient Near
East in San Diego, 2007. We wish to create a forum to discuss how, why, and in what forms
mysticism emerges at various times, locations, and communities prior to
500 CE. Papers from the sessions will be collected for inclusion in
series of volumes called After Paradise Now: Essays Exploring the
Provenances of Mysticism in Early Judaism and Christianity.
In 2008, we
will look for papers in Hebrew Bible and Enochic literature. Paper submissions should be made to Kevin Sullivan, the chair of the unit.
Contributors to the EJCM Group
Ron
Afzal, Philip Alexander, Daphna Arbel, Matthew Baldwin, Kelley Coblentz
Bautch, Adam Becker, Ra’anan Abusch Boustan, Bogdan Bucur, Elizabeth
Clark, Jim Davila, April DeConick, Kindalee Pfremmer DeLong, Celia
Deutsch, Nathaniel Deutsch, Jonathan Draper, Rachel Elior, Frances
Flannery-Daily, Crispin Fletcher-Louis, Charles Gieschen, Alexander
Golitizin, Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Bob Hall, David Halperin, Larry
Hurtado, Rebecca Lesses, Andrea Lieber, Mark Kinzer, Jonathan Klawans,
Jonathan Knight, Kathryn Muller Lopez, Edmondo Lupieri, James McGrath,
Dan Merkur, Philip Munoa, Andrei Orlov, Birger Pearson, Catherine
Playoust, Seth Sanders, Jane Schaberg, Alan Segal, Michael Swartz,
Jonah Steinberg, Kevin Sullivan, John Turner, Michael Williams, and
Elliot Wolfson.
Schedule for San Diego Sessions (November, 2007)
S18-12 Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
11/18/2007
Edward B
Book Review Session
Jonathan Draper, Presiding
Kevin Sullivan, Illinois Wesleyan University
Review of Andrei Orlov, From Apocalypse to Merkavah Mysticism: Studies in the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha (Brill, 2006) (15 min)
Andrei Orlov, Marquette University
Response (15 min)
Catherine Playoust, Independent Scholar
Review of Frances Flannery Dailey, Dreamers, Scribes, And Priests: Jewish Dreams In The Hellenistic And Roman Eras (Brill, 2004) (15 min)
Frances Flannery-Dailey, James Madison University
Response (15 min)
Break (15 min)
Silviu N. Bunta, Marquette University
Review of Kelley Coblentz Bautch, A Study of the Geography of 1 Enoch 17-19: No One Has Seen What I Have Seen, (Brill, 2003) (15 min)
Kelley N. Coblentz Bautch, St. Edward's University
Response (15 min)
James D. Tabor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Review of Jane D. Schaberg, Resurrection Of Mary Magdalene: Legends, Apocrypha, And The Christian Testament (Continuum, 2004) (15 min)
Jane D. Schaberg, University of Detroit Mercy
Response (15 min)
Discussion (15 min)
S17-60 Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
11/17/2007
Columbia 1
Possible Provenances for Mysticism: Ancient Near East and Hebrew Bible
Kevin Sullivan, Illinois Wesleyan University, Presiding
Silviu N. Bunta, Marquette University
Sitting in Heaven: An Ancient Near Eastern Pre-Merkabah Reading of Ezekiel 1 (30 min)
Kelley N. Coblentz Bautch, St. Edward's University
Ezekiel as Precursor to the Divine Vision in Merkavah and Hekhalot Literature (30 min)
Break (15 min)
John J. Collins, Yale University
Ascent to Heaven in the Dead Sea Scrolls? (30 min)
Daphna Arbel, University of British Columbia
Crown, Name, Robe, and Throne (30 min)
Discussion (15 min)
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