Dialogues in Judaic Studies
This podcast features educational, informative and intellectually compelling conversations with authors of newly-published books and recently-released monographs on Jewish history, Jewish religion, Jewish philosophy and Jewish literature. The podcast intends to reach academic specialists, members of the reading public and beginners with entry-level curiosity.
Episodes
39 episodes
Getachew Metaferia, ed., *Ethiopia and the Judeo-Christian Tradition: Antiquity to Modernity*. Berlin: Logos Verlag, 2025.
Rich in historical significance and contemporary relevance, this monograph provides readers with a deep understanding of Ethiopia’s enduring role in the Judeo-Christian narrative—spanning from the past, through the present, and into the future....
Bruce Wells, ed., *The Cambridge Companion to Law in the Hebrew Bible*. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024.
This work offers a detailed overview of the history, essence, and impact of biblical law. It delves into the discussions surrounding the nature of biblical law, analyzing its historical backdrop, the importance of its regulations, and its effec...
Megan Roberts, *Memory Formation in Isaiah 40–55: Poetic Reimagination that Accomplishes Comfort*. Leiden: Brill, 2025.
Scholars agree that comfort and memory are key, interrelated themes in Isaiah 40–55; however, the notion of collective memory has not been specifically investigated to shed light on the link between memory and comfort. Sociological studies conc...
Eva Tyrell, *Strategies of Persuasion in Herodotus’ Histories and Genesis–Kings: Evoking Reality in Ancient Narratives of a Past*. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
In this scholarly work, Eva Tyrell undertakes a comparative analysis of narrative devices in two prominent ancient texts that reflect on the past. By fusing a narratological approach with perspectives from contemporary historical theory and bib...
Jacob Wright, *Why the Bible Began: An Alternative History of Scripture and its Origins*. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.
Why is the Bible considered a creation of ancient Israel instead of another ancient culture? The notion that a small, isolated community could generate a literary work of such global significance appears improbable. Jacob Wright suggests that t...
Pierre Anctil and Richard Menkis, eds., *In a "Land of Hope": Documents on the Canadian Jewish Experience, 1627-1923, Volume 1*. Toronto: Champlain Society, 2023.
The history of the Jewish community is a tale of a non-Christian minority that has, for much of Canadian history, faced marginalization by the Anglo-Protestant and French-Catholic majorities. Despite its distinctive nature, this history is an e...
Mark Scarlata, *The Theology of the Book of Leviticus*. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025.
The Book of Leviticus in the Pentateuch is often seen as one of the most challenging books of the Bible, mainly due to its focus on blood sacrifice, infectious diseases, and intricate dietary laws.Moreover, academic analyses have primar...
Kamilah Hall Sharp, *Trauma and Survival: A Womanist Reading of Esther*. London: T&T Clark, 2026.
This text fuses womanist biblical interpretation with trauma theory, while comprehensively examining survival and the language that accompanies it in the Hebrew Bible. Although survival is a central theme in discussions about the Book of Esther...
Françoise Mirguet, *An Early History of Compassion: Emotion and Imagination in Hellenistic Judaism*. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017.
In this remarkable book, Françoise Mirguet intricately outlines the appropriation and reinterpretation of pity by Greek-speaking Jewish communities during Late Antiquity. In this scholarly discourse, pity and compassion are portrayed as a rich ...
Catherine Hezser, ed., *The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine*. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. First published in paperback in 2020.
Developed by a celebrated and interdisciplinary collective of scholars from around the globe, *The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine* stands as a vital reference source on the everyday lives of Jews in the region of Israel...
Rinat Harash, *Apollo, Dionysus and the Ubermensch at Sinai: An Attempt at a Nietzschean Analysis*. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2026.
The biblical narrative surrounding Sinai and Moses is pivotal to Jewish and Western culture; however, it has often been regarded only from a religious perspective.In this study, Dr. Rinat Harash offers an insightful interpretation, utilizin...
Jamal-Dominique Hopkins, *Cultic Spiritualization: Religious Sacrifice in the Dead Sea Scrolls*. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2022.
Since the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947, their material evidence and compelling content have fascinated both scholars and the general public. Regarded as one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century, the unear...
Matthew S. Goldstone, *The Dangerous Duty of Rebuke: Leviticus 19:17 in Early Jewish and Christian Interpretation*. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
In this monograph, Matthew Goldstone investigates the perceptions of religious texts in early Jewish and Christian communities regarding the responsibility to rebuke others, based on the biblical verse: "Rebuke your fellow but do not incur sin"...
Jason Silverman, *Persian Royal-Judaean Elite Engagements in the Early Teispid and Achaemenid Empire: The King's Acolytes*. London: T&T Clark, 2020.
Jason Silverman offers a timely and essential examination that enhances our comprehension of Achaemenid ideology and Persian Period Judaism.Although the Achaemenid Persian Empire (c. 550–330 BCE) surpassed all prior empires of the Ancie...
Elisa Uusimäki, *Lived Wisdom in Jewish Antiquity: Studies in Exercise and Exemplarity*. London: T & T Clark, 2016.
Shifting away from the traditional view of wisdom as merely a literary genre, this book explores the lived, embodied, and formative aspects of wisdom as outlined in Jewish texts from the Persian, Hellenistic, and early Roman periods. By examini...
Carmel Cassar, *Mediterranean Jews, Crypto-Jews and the Inquisition in Early Modern Malta*. Msida, Malta: University of Malta Press, 2024.
In the early modern era, Malta served as a transitional hub for individuals traveling between western Christendom, Islamic North Africa, and the Near East. However, it primarily functioned as a Catholic frontier society, a status that the crusa...
Stephen Wunrow, *Passing Through the Heavens: Heavenly Space in Hebrews and its Jewish and Christian Environment*. London: T&T Clark (Bloomsbury Publishers), 2025.
In this study, Stephen Wunrow examines the important question of what the author of Hebrews meant when he described heaven. He believes that the author wanted people to see his references to heavenly space as real descriptions of an actual plac...
Josiah Peeler, *Punning in Odd Or Elegant Constructions in Jeremiah: The Convergence of Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Textuality in the Hebrew Text of Jeremiah*. Tubingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2025.
From Egypt to Mesopotamia, ancient Near Eastern scribes, including the Israelite scribes of the Hebrew Bible, created both infelicitous and symmetric elements in their textual works. These elements, through their form, convey messages that go b...
Matthew Suriano, *A History of Death in the Hebrew Bible*. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.
In the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, a good death was defined by burial within the family tomb, allowing one to join their ancestors in the afterlife. This afterlife, as described in biblical literature, was not about individual judgment or t...
Bruno Clifton, *Family and Identity in the Book of Judges*. Leiden: Brill, 2022
This research delves into the intricate family dynamics and identity politics present in Israel, as illustrated through the compelling narratives found in Judges. It utilizes an interdisciplinary approach that combines socio-anthropological ins...
Yigal Levin, *The Chronicles of David and Solomon: 1 Chronicles 10-2 Chronicles 9: A New Translation and Commentary*. London: T & T Clark, 2026.
The book of Chronicles, which is the final book of the Hebrew Bible and a key historical text in the Christian Old Testament, has transformed in recent decades from being referred to as "the Cinderella of biblical studies" to becoming one of th...
Topias Tanskanen, *Jacob in Jubilees: Jacob, the Torah and the Abrahamic Promise*. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2025.
Within the text of Jubilees, a significant early Jewish writing outside the Bible, the patriarch Jacob is presented as the main figure. This study elucidates the early reception history of the Abrahamic Promise and its strong links to Deuterono...
David Graizbord, ed., *Early Modern Jewish Civilization Unity and Diversity in a Diasporic Society: An Introduction*. New York: Routledge, 2024.
This compilation serves as a foundational historical overview and a selective cultural examination of the evolution, unification, and eventual decline of a diasporic civilization—the Jewish community during the early modern era (approximately 1...
Laura Lieber, *Staging the Sacred: Theatricality and Performance in Late Ancient Liturgical Poetry*. New York: Oxford University Press, 2023
This book investigates the liturgical poetry of Christian, Jewish, and Samaritan traditions from late antiquity, approximately during the third to fourth century CE. It examines this poetry in the context of biblical interpretation and prayer c...
Matthew Goff, Greg Schmidt Goering and Samuel Adams, *Sirach and Its Contexts: The Pursuit of Wisdom and Human Flourishing*. Leiden: Brill, 2021.
In *Sirach and Its Contexts*, a varied group of scholars who focus on the book of Sirach place this second-century BCE Jewish wisdom text within its numerous contexts: literary, historical, philosophical, textual, cultural, and political. Compi...
