What's going on this Fall

It's pretty incredible to think that I'm beyond the half way point of my master's already. My schedule will be quite a bit different this year, though, unfortunately, probably no less challenging. I'll be taking two languages, German and Syriac. Each of these classes is a year long. I've never attempted two languages at once before, so I'm pretty nervous about it. I've never considered myself to be a person that's good at languages, but I realized recently that I've learned a few languages since I've been saying this. German and Syriac couldn't be further apart either, so hopefully that will make it easier to do both at once.

You may be asking, "why take German, and what the heck is Syriac?" German is one of the three standard languages of scholarship, alongside English and French. In order to be competitive for PhD programs I will need to have two done by matriculation (normally in addition to most or all of the required ancient languages). I'm still trying to decide between "German for reading in religious studies," which should be easier, and a regular German class which will actually be useful for studying in German (one option I'm considering).

Syriac is a Semitic language of the Christian East until Arabic became the [i]lingua franca[/i], though it is still in use today by several Christian communities. It's related most closely to Aramaic thought it has some similarity to Hebrew and the script is reminiscent of Arabic in its cursive style.

The Lord's Prayer in Syriac
Syriac is important because most studies on early Christianity in general, and Jewish-Christian interaction in particular, focus on the Christian West, written in Latin and Greek. There has been a push in recent scholarship to recover these voices from the East. Learning Syriac is ideal for my goal of studying material that is useful for contemporary Christian-Jewish-Muslim dialogue. As it turns out, the people behind this Syriac literature often maintained a much greater affinity with what we call Judaism today. The affinity was so great in fact that discerning a distinction between Judaism and Christianity is often difficult and in many ways artificial. The writing of groups deemed heretics by the Church for being "Judaizers" (that is, too "Jewish") is also largely preserved in Syriac (and a couple even more obscure languages). That's the Jewish-Christian part, so how does it pertain to Christian-Muslim interaction? As I said, Syriac was widespread in the East until Arabic gradually, but not entirely, took over because of the Muslim conquest in the 600's or so. Syriac preserves the very earliest literary encounters between Christians and Muslim, especially what they argued about and how they argued. Cool right?!

Apart from the two languages I'll be taking two regular classes each semester. The one I'm looking forward to most is History of Ancient Christianity with the indefatigable juggernaut of a scholar, Helmut Koester. The other Fall course I'm not 100% sold on yet, since the course offerings in the Jewish studies concentration are somewhat sparse this Fall. In all likelihood it will be "Rewriting Scripture in Jewish Antiquity" which will examine how Second Temple communities, and I presume communities shortly afterward, used and interpreted the Bible in various ways. It could be a valuable course for me because, obviously, the religions of Christianity and Judaism emerged from this process.

Finally, in addition to my normal work at the library, I've landed a research assistant position. I'll be sorting through scores of Greek papyri in the bellows of Widener library to help Dr. Giovanni Bazzana prepare a commentary on the New Testament and a monograph on Q.

A thought or two on the media coverage of the latest violence between Israel and Palestine

What a mess. In Hebrew: בלגן. In Arabic (had to look this one up): فوضى. I've expressed my feelings about the reasons for this kind of violence, the pervasive problems and how they might be addressed--I've said it in this blog, or to you publicly, or spoken with you privately. I don't need to repeat any of that, but I do feel like I need to comment on the only way most of us hear about these things, namely, three American news organizations. They typically do a very poor job covering these sorts of things, either because they have a strong bias (there's plenty to go around when it comes to Israel/Palestine), or because reporters simply seem ignorant about what they are reporting on--they take details that their sources collect and add hype words to make things more dramatic, more offensive, or more palatable. Barns become "bunkers" and 15-year-old boys become "militants." Here are a couple stories from this week that I think are pretty significant which I have not seen reported by the big three American news channels:
Five Egyptian Police Killed in Israel Border Clash
81 House Members Enjoy All Expenses Paid Hiatus in Israel

So, what to do? My suggestion, which may require a bit more work and may cause you to be a little more confused, will at least make you better informed. For your news on this stuff, go elsewhere. Here are four (relatively) reputable news outlets, two Israeli (1) (2), one Palestinian, and one more generally Arab. You will be better informed about the events and, by observing how the same stories are treated differently between the sources, see nuances of the opinions and biases of each, perhaps your own.

Random thought during the flight

I always take the window seat of flights during daylight hours, even if I hardly ever peer out. I don't understand how anyone would not want to be close to the window, it's a religious experience for me sometimes when I look out. On my last flight from Germany to Boston at about 40,000 feet we were just above the highest clouds. The view of the clouds from above with the sun hitting them just right was simply stunning to witness. It was a powerful reminder to me of God's majesty in creation. Even when there isn't a soul around to see it, creation can be beautiful for no reason other than just to be. It was only by chance that I happened to be up there to see this beautiful cloudscape and I'm sure all over the planet there is beauty in motion when noone is around. Sometimes it's good to feel small, like humankind isn't the center of everything. Creation at 40,000 feet is a great place for perspective.

The trip home, and the difference a kippah makes?

When I flew back from Israel earlier this month my journey was a gauntlet as usual; long layover, long flights, however one part was much easier than normal--the security. Whenever I've explained what the Tel Aviv airport security is like to an Israeli they always respond with looks of disbelief, because they aren't treated the same when they leave. One of my instructors this summer was herself a security worker at the airport during her military service. She said that part of her job was explicitly to profile people by their race and religion, and she disliked her job a great deal for this reason. People that have read my older blogs will recall that I've had some pretty rough encounters at Israel's airport security in the past. So this time I thought I would try an experiment. This time when I left I decided I would do exactly as I had in the past, pack the same way, and answer the questions in the security interview with same candor that in the past resulted in this. This time however, I put on a kippah (yarmulke in America), nothing flashy, just a little doily size piece of cloth. In America it's common for religious Jews not to wear one, but in Israel it serves as a strong indicator of whether or not someone is a religious Jew. There are actually not a few Christian orders that also wear a skullcap, called a pileolus or a zucchetto. I also like to wear strange objects as hats as a matter of habit. At any rate, when I came to the security interview I answered the same questions with complete honesty, regarding why I was in Israel, who I knew, how much Hebrew I knew, etc. and after about sixty seconds I was waved through every line. I didn't so much as have to open a single bag or send my checked bags through the x-ray. Exiting customs was equally fast, and the security officer behind the desk, rather than the usual stern attitude was, frankly, flirtatious. I get searched leaving the Harvard libraries more thoroughly than I experienced this time around at the airport. The airport security which had taken two to three hours in the past, took me all of twenty minutes from the first interview to sitting at my gate. Though I know this is but one experience, and only anecdotal evidence, I can't help but presume that I was treated so differently and presumed to be nonthreatening because I wore a piece of fabric on my head which served as a symbol of Jewishness. I'm not sure which part I find more interesting, that Israel's famously extreme security measures which take advantage of the most advanced technology available can be thwarted by a three inch diameter piece of knitted yarn, or that Justin the religious Jew would, because of that religion, be waved through, while Justin the Christian would be held and searched from top to bottom and interrogated.

Summer Time in Israel, Archaeology Fun, and Not Quite Arrested!

My summer program finished at the beginning of the month, but I've been so tired since I've been back that it's been hard to write much of anything. I certainly have some interesting stories from the program though. Overall it was a very satisfying experience, and I did indeed get to see so much of the country I hadn't when last I lived there. In addition to the main course on Jewish-Christian encounters and the Mishnaic Hebrew course I was pleasantly surprised to find the archaeology portion more in depth than I expected. It was led by one of the head archaeologists at Sepphoris, a very important archaeological site that many people miss when they visit Israel (seriously go).

Just a couple examples of the incredible mosaics at Sepphoris.
We saw nearly all of the ancient churches and synagogues in the Galilee whether they were open to the public or not (lots of fascinating epigraphy). We also got to dig at Khirbeit Wadi Hamam, a relatively new site just north of Tiberius where they’ve found a 2nd century synagogue. I happened to make “the discovery of the season” when I found a piece of a Corinthian capital from said synagogue! Most interestingly, the fact that it is rather homely suggests it was locally produced.

I made sure to have a few adventures. I took a small group to Palestine to show them the sites there and let them be exposed to a bit of the situation the Palestinians are in. While there, we visiting the Herodian, one of King Herod's palaces, where he was buried and later where rebels fighting against the Romans hid out. I went around to the back side of the site and spelunked around in the ancient caves where the rebels lived. Many of them were only a few feet high from floor to ceiling and were pretty steep and slick because they had not been fully excavated. I felt very claustrophobic and I'm sure it was pretty dangerous, but when I emerged covered in that ancient dust back on the tourist side of the cave I felt very accomplished in my little adventure.

Looking rather pale on the tourist side of the Herodian
The other big adventure was at Tel Dan in the far north of Israel, a First Temple era ruin. When the group I was with arrived, the gates were locked and the park was closed. We had driven pretty far to get there so I had the bright idea to jump the ten foot fence. As soon as I landed on the other side, a park ranger emerged from a nearby bush and confronted me, and he showed me that he had taken photos of me climbing over the fence. His English wasn't terrific, and my Hebrew is horrible, but he promptly got on his walky talky and said "police" a few times to whoever was on the other end. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to an encounter with Israeli police. He asked for me to hand over my passport, and I did my best to avoid doing so. Of course by this point I was trying to appear as naive as possible about the rules and as much of an expert about Tel Dan as I could to win him over and not end up arrested (which would not have been a pleasant situation for my three traveling companions either). Well, as it turns out, my finagling had already paid off by the time he asked for my passport. He wasn't asking for it for the police, he was asking for it as collateral so that I could go run around the park! After I realized this is what he meant, I brought the three others in with me. The ranger saw that all of us were innocuous foreigners and said we could come in for a quick look around. After we were in the gate, I asked him enthusiastically in Hebrew where a few things I wanted to see were. As it turns out, Tel Dan is pretty spread out, so he invited us to ride in his 4x4 for a private tour of the site. For the next half hour or so he drove us around the park showing us all the archaeological goodness. All in all, a pretty different outcome than I was expecting.

Sitting on the kings throne at the gate to Tel Dan doing the gesture of judgement

Oh, also, there were a lot of mine fields in the Golan Heights area, fun! Only slightly tempting to blithely jump out into them.

A Year in Review

Almost exactly one year ago I left Israel and Palestine in order to begin my master's degree. When people asked me if I would ever return, I would always reply, "I hope, at least someday." Today, certainly sooner than I expected, I find myself in Israel once again. Returning here once more has brought me to reflect on my where I've come this past year. So much has changed in this short time, and the surprises and twists have not slowed down. The general progress in my life which seems unremarkable as I busy myself in undertaking these various tasks and goals takes on a new light when I remind myself where I was just one year ago today. On the academic side of things, since I last left Israel, I've completed half of a master's degree at Harvard, finished two years worth of biblical Hebrew, published my first scholarly works (along with a volume of papers I never thought feasible to produce in this short time), and earned the award which provided me the funding to come here to Israel once again. I have come a long way it seems. My personal life has been equally eventful, though most of these changes I wish not to recount here. I have coped with the reality of returning to an environment largely numb to the issues of peace in the Middle East and its immediate relevance to our society. Because of my past experiences here I have had to face more challenges reintegrating into American life, the social world, and especially the Academy. I also survived a Boston winter, certainly that’s worth something.

Spiritually I am a work in progress, as always, and I take it as a good sign. The pressing fear of detachment from the things I study and what I practice as my faith has not diminished. I’ve been feeling as though I have less and less in common with the people that fill the pews on Sunday. I know the reason for most of this feeling is because I’ve been so privileged to have the education I have had, but I know that this doesn’t account for everything. During my recent visit with family and friends in California I was able to visit Foothill Community Church, where a great deal of my spiritual formation and ministry training took place. All of my friends there were familiar and I felt at home, but to think that just a few years ago I was the youth ministry intern, and even more recently as one of their missionaries, it feels like a lifetime ago. To put a positive spin on it, my service to the Church has been transforming as quickly as I have, but not diminished. I did come all the way to Israel after all. And I’m here to understand, if only a little better, the relationship between Jews and Christians in Antiquity, something I believe is crucial for interfaith dialogue today.

Going back to Israel

I was granted a very generous fellowship from the Harvard Center for Jewish studies through the Anne B. Malloy Memorial Fund to return to Israel this summer to do some exciting research!  I will be attending a program at Tel Aviv University entitled “Jewish-Christian Encounters in the First Centuries CE,” a topic which has been the focus of much of my studies here at Harvard.

The focal course will compare early Jewish and Christian literature in how they approach certain topics like gender, ethnicity, and the Bible, and also how these literatures interacted with one another. We’ll also be visiting locations in the Galilee and Jerusalem and various archeological digs. One of my few regrets about my previous time in Israel was that I didn’t do enough of this kind of travel because I had no time to. The program also includes an advanced course in Hebrew during the early-Rabbinic period which will flesh out my Biblical Hebrew skills. I hadn’t taken any Hebrew before I started here at Harvard, and this course will make five full semesters before I start the second year of my Master’s! I’ve come a long way since then. There will also a lecture serious, on “Talmud and Theology,” which will discuss the Talmud’s relationship to modern Jewish thought and practice, and provide me with the practical context for better understanding modern Jewish theology. I’ve dug myself into the beliefs of the ancient world so much it will be helpful to engage in the modern world a bit.

Being at Tel Aviv University will also place me just a short distance from the Wolfson Medical Center, the main hospital I worked in during my first sojourn in Israel in 2009. Hopefully this summer study will allow me to pay a visit or two.

I’m still finishing up my papers for my spring semester here at Harvard, which has kept me from writing much here, but I hope I will be able to follow up with plenty of updates during this summer program.

MTS or MDiv?

A brief update in the midst of my furious paper writing pace this semester. I am considering switching from the Master of Theological Studies program to the Master of Divinity program. The difference is the latter would allow me to flesh out the theological and ministerial aspects of my education which, as I said in my last blog, I have found lacking in my current degree which is catered specifically to academia. It would also make the possibility of ordination easier and might reflect the balance I have tried to strike between academia and serving in the Church. The Master of Divinity (MDiv) is three years as opposed to the two years of the Master of Theological Studies (MTS). Academically speaking this may also be beneficial by giving me an additional year to fit in more classes, languages and get more acquainted with professors for PhD applications. One difficulty is that, because my focus has been Jewish Studies, I may have a hard time filling the degree requirements for an MDiv in Christianity. The other more looming concern is, of course, finances. I would need to find a way to pay for a third year of grad school here at Harvard. In order to manage that I can do nothing but throw my hands up to God. I hope you will join me and pray for me in sorting this out, and that if it is God’s will, a source of provision will make itself apparent. I will likely need to make a decision in the coming weeks, and as things stand right now, I will certainly be staying an MTS.

Sneaking a blog in a snow storm

So much has happened since my last blog, far too much to include in a biographical entry. It's a shame really, I know how important these years are. I have certainly had much to write about in my typical fields of interest, but graduate school at Harvard has a way of keeping one busy. I write now because it is early enough in the semester to not be aware of how swamped I am, classes are canceled tomorrow due to a snow storm, and my mood is just somber enough for me to pen my thoughts with the genuine recklessness of candor I think makes the energy worthwhile and memorably for me.

My spiritual life has largely been disconnected from my coursework. I no longer feel like any kind of aspiring theologian, rather I feel simply like a historian of religion, the kind of scholarliness purged of the motivational bias that generated the love of the field to begin with. It's not bad, but the questions I began with have been long obscured by the esoteric stratigraphy of academia. Spirituality is something I encounter listening to the five minute childrens' sermon on Sunday, or on my staircase. Staircases make good altars. They go someplace familiar; steps too, in good Wesleyan fashion, offer a vehicle to represent struggling for holiness. Crawling up stairs is a symbolic gesture with no parallel in church furnishings that I'm aware of. Even more an intimate gesture than falling to one's knees, if only slightly more embarrassing. I do see an apologetic aspect to my research this semester, hopefully peeling away some of the falsely perceived distinction between modern Jews and Christians through some insights concerning their relation in Antiquity. Apart from this and the physical realm outside my basement lair, my piety remains expressed by and large through the guilt, feelings of desperation and outcastness, and paranoia of starvation and homelessness that I have come to equate in a twisted way as a sign of intimacy with God. I say "twist" not because I believe it any less, I cannot help that, but because of how bad it sounds when I say it. I have changed so so much in these last few years and I wish there was someone that could remind where I've gone. More than this derelict blog anyway.