Jorunn Buckley's paper at the ARAM conference on the Mandaeans focused on a series of prayers focused on the pihta, a special bread used in Mandaean ritual. There are references and allusions to other groups which are viewed as not making or eating the bread in an appropriate manner. I think that CP357 is particularly interesting, since it lists a variety of groups, starting with Jews and ending with Arabs. Since the latter are accused of eating blood, it... Read more
The second paper this morning was by Tania Notarius, and is on the relationship between a variety of overlapping and partially-overlapping manuscripts we have, each of which is a compilation of smaller collections of individual magical incantations, together with explanations for how to use them. Often these sorts of things were copied by scribes who did not understand the older Mandaic language of the incantation formulas. In this rare case of having a significant number of different manuscripts of the... Read more
The first presentation this morning was by Sandra van Rompaey and was about the way female figures are depicted in Mandaean religious art. There are distinctive features, such as how the bodies are shaded and whether they have hair. But there is also a parity, an equality to male beings, in how they are depicted, and that is reflected in the texts as well. Here are a few photos to give a sense not only of the art as excerpted,... Read more
One nice feature of the ARAM conference on the Mandaeans is having a banquet one night. Last time as well as this time, it was held at Al-Shami Lebanese Restaurant. In addition to being attended by scholars working on some aspect of Mandaean life, literature, history, or Mandaic language, some Mandaeans living in the UK also attend the conference and the banquet. They are appreciative of scholarly efforts, whether to make their texts understood, preserve aspects of their language and... Read more
It was good to see that the proceedings from previous conferences on the Mandaeans – in 2007 and 2009 – have finally appeared in print. There is a display copy here! Read more
Matthew Morgenstern's paper was about his work to produce a new Mandaic lexicon. Much of the talk focused on shortcomings in the Drower-Macuch dictionary, which the current work by Morgenstern seeks to build and improve upon. The photo below indicates the contrast between the image produced from the microfilm of a particular text which suffered water damage, and the photo he took with his digital camera, which shows the parts of the text that are completely illegible in the microfilm.... Read more
The ARAM conference on the Mandaeans started this morning, and my paper was in the first session. It was well received and generated interesting discussion and questions. I will share the paper at some point, but the main point is easily summarized. Mandaean literature mentions the name of Jerusalem far more frequently than other literature – the Babylonian Talmud, for instance, or the Nag Hammadi texts. This focus seems to me less plausibly explained in terms of the Mandaeans having... Read more
As most readers are aware, this summer I taught my course on the Bible online for the first time. Now that it is complete, I want to offer some reflections on the experience, beginning from what I brought to the course, the preparations, and the actual delivery and implementation. Prior experience: I had some prior experience with “online teaching,” but it really was much more along the model of distance learning. It essentially involved students studying on their own according... Read more
As part of the ongoing attempt to contribute more amusing musical offerings related to religion, and because we seem to have a “Music Mondays” custom going, I’ve re-recorded the parody version of “Let It Be,” with lyrics inspired by Genesis 1, that I shared once before. I think it turned out much better this time. See what you think! Read more
Today the ARAM conference on the Mandaeans will be starting at the Oriental Institute here in Oxford, England. Oxford is such a great city, and I am staying at bed & breakfast accommodations at Wadham College. The rooms are very nice ones in a modern building, but that building is situated within a very historic outer wall and college complex, making this the most historic premises I recall staying on. I was delighted to have a chance to meet up... Read more
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