Stranger Things: Traditional and Modern Responses to Some of the Bible’s Oddest Passages

Date: Feb 19, 2020

Time: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Location: JTS

Category: Community Courses

Daytime Learning at JTS

Join adult learners for stimulating text study and discussion with the outstanding scholars of the Jewish Theological Seminary. 

Six Wednesdays
February 19 and 26; March 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2020

10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Stranger Things: Traditional and Modern Responses to Some of the Bible’s Oddest Passages
Dr. Alan Cooper, Elaine Ravich Professor of Jewish Studies, JTS

Strange or puzzling biblical texts provide good opportunities to explore the interplay of traditional readings of the Tanakh with modern critical interpretations. While sometimes complementary and sometimes in tension with each other, both can serve as tools for making Torah meaningful to us. Together we will dig into some of the most baffling verses in the Hebrew Bible and discuss how commentators strove to make sense of them.  Among the texts to be discussed are the story of the sons of God/the gods and the daughters of men; scattered fragments about the sons of Moses; the thrice-repeated law concerning a kid seethed in its mother’s milk; and the ritual of the red cow.

Register

Cost: $180

Advance registration is required.