With contributions by @zafulotus.bsky.social @mauat.bsky.social, Julie van Pelt, Barbara Crostini and yours truly.

A bit of news! I have accepted a tenured position at Denison University. They recruited me to chair their Religion department, architect a rebuild of its curriculum, and help launch a Jewish studies program. I formally begin July 1st.

'Whoever Is Hungry, Come and Eat' On the Origins and Winding Reception of a Puzzling Passover Passage The provenance of the opening Aramaic portion of the Passover Haggadah has confounded practitioners and scholars for centuries. Little evidence has come to light to explain the origins of this passage...

Anyone looking for some last minute Passover reading, check out my article on the odd Aramaic opening "invitation" of the Haggadah:

www.academia.edu/44600798/Who...

The Historical Talmud — ANCIENT JEW REVIEW We may, in fact, be approaching a moment when historical literacy—much like philology—ought to be regarded as a basic expectation of rigorous scholarship on the Talmud. If so, the question before us i...

For anyone interested, a historiographic retrospective on the state of the historical study of the Babylonian Talmud, @ancientjewreview.bsky.social :

www.ancientjewreview.com/read/2026/3/...

Education in Religious Contexts of Late Antiquity Cambridge Core - Religion: General Interest - Education in Religious Contexts of Late Antiquity

🧯Hot off the press: Education in Religious Contexts of Late Antiquity (Cambridge Element) > free download until April 8!

www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Proofs for a forthcoming article: "The Conversion of Adiabene: The Politics of Jewishness on the Near Eastern Frontier."

In celebration of pi day, I’m excited to share that my next book—Hidden Numbers: Mathematical Thinking in the Bible and Beyond—is under contact with the Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library! It’ll be a few years before it’s out, but I look forward to sharing slices of the project in the meantime.

Jewish Anti-Zionism as Political Theology by Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.

Shaul’s new translation book is out and Open Access—making accessible selections from the writings of the Satmar Rebbe (i.e. Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum) w/focus on recovering his significance as a political thinker @ucpress.bsky.social www.ucpress.edu/books/jewish...

Reposting this fantastic interview with Kevin van Bladel on his vision of the "Classical Near East", talking a lot about languages like Greek, (Christian) Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Syriac, Mandaic, and Middle Persian. Also very interesting in terms of career paths and how our fields are structured.

The Aramaic Incantation Bowls: Jewish Society and Culture at a Crossroads YouTube video by Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

A lecture on these fascinating objects, for anyone interested: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gshM...

Going to Marburg!

🎉 publication day! 🎉

editions & translations of the correspondence btw Umar b. Abd al-Aziz and Leo the Isaurian in medieval Latin, Christian Arabic, Muslim Arabic, Aljamiado, Armenian & early modern Latin. plus the intro to explain how they're all related!

open access & available here:

Screen shot from an email, which reads: PHEN 11.1–2: Special issue "The Critical Edition in the Infrastructure of Philology," edited by J. Gregory Given and Daniel Picus. 1. J. Gregory Given and Daniel Picus: "The Critical Edition as Technology: A View from Biblical Studies." 2. Gregory Fewster: "Edition as Communication: David Wilkins's 3 Corinthians in the Eighteenth-century Republic of Letters." 3. Kristine Palmieri: "Philology and the Politics of Self-Promotion: F. A. Wolf's Symposium (1782) as Critical Edition and School Text." 4. Andrew S. Jacobs: "'A Clear Account of the Codex Simonideios:' Ideological Infrastructures of Biblical Vulnerability in the Nineteenth Century." 5. Isaac Landes: "Our Most Pressing Need is the Critical Edition: J. N. Epstein and the Rise of Talmudic Philology." 6. Jennifer Knust: "The New Testament Apparatus and the Rise of the American Cold War." 7. Mark Vessey: "Afterpiece - Roads, Bridges, Precincts, Thresholds: The Critical Edition in the Infrastructure of Philology since Late Antiquity."

Very pleased to be able to finally announce "The Critical Edition in the Infrastructure of Philology," a special issue of Philological Encounters edited by me and @danielpicus.bsky.social out this Spring.

Now taking place tomorrow, Thursday, January 8th, at 4:45 PM CET!

Message me or Robert if you are interested in joining in person or online

Forgetting History and the Humanities in the American University Reflections on recent news from the University of Oregon, Virginia Tech, and the University of Chicago

On paper, 2025 looked like a great year for me. In lived experience, I was mostly filled w/alarm at attacks on US universities, Rel Studies, & Jewish Studies. My hope for 2026 is for more opportunities to use what I have to help protect & preserve knowledge-making

open.substack.com/pub/humanhis...

146. Ezana of Aksum, the first Christian king in Africa, with Aaron Butts

Great episode of Byzantium & Friends w/Aaron Butts!

While centering on Aksum, it engages key questions in the study of late antique empires, such as how to historicize the use of religious imagery in imperial self-presentation, & the proxy war model (e.g. Bowersock)
open.spotify.com/episode/4gkP...

Ethnic Relations in the Ancient Mediterranean A fresh perspective revealing how ethnographic thinking shaped the sociocultural landscape of the ancient Mediterranean.   With this book, Philip A. Harland presents a large-scale rereading of social ...

@philharland.bsky.social has a book coming out in Spring -already available for pre-order: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

#ancientbluesky #classicsbluesky

Very grateful to @ssecunda.bsky.social for the generous and constructive book review at the AJS Review!

muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...

This is a late ancient (5-7th c.?) Greek account of the life of a rich woman who was raised Jewish, converted to Christianity when her parents died, lived for 20 years as a male monk named John, was discovered & made head of a woman's monastery, & was later martyred

I am pleased to announce that John Penniman, Emanuel Fiano, and I are launching a new book series for the study of religion in late antiquity with Fordham University Press. If you have a book-in-progress looking for a home, please reach out to discuss your project!
fordhampress.com/theoria

Ellen Muehlberger, Podcast Episode · New Books in Late Antiquity · 11/10/2025 · 1h 14m

I got to go on @mikemotia.bsky.social 's podcast, New Books in Late Antiquity, and talk about my new book, Things Unseen!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...

Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity Cambridge Core - Judaism - Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity

It is a book! www.cambridge.org/core/books/b...

The Aramaic Incantation Bowls: Jewish Society and Culture at a Crossroads YouTube video by Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

In that case, this might be of use - a programmatic overview of the bowls from the perspective of contemporary scholarship: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gshM...

I'm flattered! I greatly enjoyed your first book!

Krista Dalton (Kenyon College) Presents: Table Fellowship as a Holy Altar: How Dinner Parties Shaped Rabbinic Judaism People often take the existence of rabbis and their authority as a given, but that role and institution also needed to be invented–and some of the forces that shaped it may surprise you. This lecture ...

Calling all Minnesota friends. I'm giving a book talk at the St. Paul JCC next Tuesday (Nov 4th) and would love to see you! cla.umn.edu/jewish-studi...

@philharland.bsky.social has an article out in MTSR.

Putting the Persian Back in “Magic”: Problems with Ignoring Ancient Ethnographic Discourses

brill.com/view/journal...

Open Access Cornucopia for scholars of late antique Judaism today! (1) William Smelik, “A New Aramaic Fragment of Toledot Yeshu as Targum Yerushalmi Isaiah 66.17” in Aramaic Studies = brill.com/view/journal... +