At the Origins of Monotheism: A Socio-economic Confrontation in Ancient Syro Mesoptamia

Bunche Hall 2209A 11282 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, United States

  What is known as monotheism may be seen, in it earliest manifestation, in the light of an epistemic confrontation of the biblical tradition with the system of knowledge that had developed in the great cities of Mesopotamia. The paper presents a view that is at variance with the communis opinio, both in terms of...

Grupo Madera: 20th Century Afro-Venezuelan Religiosity, Rhythms, and Resistance

Kaplan 365

  Grupo Madera (Wood Group) was founded in 1977 in San Agustín del Sur – an Afro-Venezuelan working-class barrio – by Afro-Venezuelan youth committed to Third World liberation struggles, global Pan-Africanism, and Black consciousness. As a traditional Afro-Venezuelan musical ensemble and community organization, Grupo Madera responded to the people’s calls for economic justice and political...

A Royal Osirian Funerary Rite? The Awakening of Osiris Ritual in Tutankhamun’s Tomb

Kaplan 365

  Over 100 years after its discovery, the tomb of Tutankhamun continues to be the focus of numerous Egyptological studies and scholarly research. Due to Howard Carter’s meticulous documentation of the tomb, it’s possible to continue to “excavate” the tomb and make new discoveries about ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, kingship ideology, and funerary practices, including...

History and Ideology: Is There A Second Temple Judaism?

Haines 39/Zoom

Periodization is a critical tool for historians, but it is also practice fraught with difficulty. As scholars have come to recognize, the division of historical narratives into broad analytic rubrics...

How the Forbidden Fruit Became an Apple

Haines 39/Zoom

With the exception of the cross, the apple—as the forbidden fruit—may be the most widely-recognized biblical image. Yet the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew original does not name the...