gregoryjenks

Category: Study Leave

  • Study Leave—Week Six

    The past week has been a delightful mix of experiences.

    The week began and ended with new chapters being completed. This means that half of the new book now exists in draft form, and I have some growing sets of notes for several of the other chapters. I seem to be on track to have the book finished by the end of my sabbatical. The HODOS online community that I set up in January 2001 is proving to be a great forum for exploring my ideas for the new book, and I am finding that some of the material that I generate in those discussions can be used in the book. This was certainly the case over the last few days, so I deferred plans to work on the coin chapter and followed the creative energies to complete the first draft of chapter 7, “Calling Jesus Names.”

    Most of Saturday was spent at Iqrit, a depopulated village where the people return once a month for a liturgy and community day. The church was packed, and afterwards I stayed on to mingle with the locals. After an informal picnic lunch, the music and dancing began. It was a lovely time to share with them all.

    Early Sunday morning I headed south to Jerusalem for a few days working in the coin department at Israel Antiquities Authority, arriving in time to catch the Arabic service at St George’s Cathedral. This was a very productive few days, and I am now beginning to prepare the detailed numismatic descriptions of the individual coins from 2012, 2011 and 2010. My goal is to work back to close the gap in the records since 2000, but I am starting with the most recent seasons.

    While at IAA I was able to speak with Yardenna Alexandré, who was responsible for the excavations at Mary’s Well in 1997/98 as well as the 2008/09 excavations across the street from the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Her detailed report on the Mary’s Well excavations has now been published by IAA, and I was able to get an informal verbal report on the unpublished finds from 2008/09. Having access to the scholars working on the digs and with the coins has been such a valuable aspect of my study leave. By week’s end I had also received my copy of the excavation report from the Franciscan excavations at the Basilica in the late 1950s and early 1960s, so I hope to have a good grasp of the major Nazareth sites soon. An essay on the archaeology of nazareth has just been accepted as a chapter in a book being edited by a colleague, so now I need to  pull together my ideas about that topic. I am looking forward to that as Nazareth is such a significant place for me.

    On Wednesday afternoon I had an extended meeting with people from the local Sabeel community to plan shared events, including their participation in the Bethsaida dig again this year. they do an amazing amount of community work, with more than 140 events in 2012. This year they are especially focusing on interfaith relations, to reduce the tendency among local Christians and Muslims to isolate themselves from one another.

    In the evening I enjoyed a concert of classical Arab music, performed by a local music and choral ensemble. This was a fund-raising event for a new unit at the Nazareth English Hospital, and the music was superb. This video of a similar concert in 2012 gives a very good sense of the event I attended.

    Most of Wednesday and all of Thursday was devoted to writing. By the end of Thursday I had the first draft of chapter seven completed, as noted above.

  • Study Leave—Week Five

    This has been a quieter week in some ways, but quite a productive one as well.

    The weekend part of the week saw an overlap between the Western Easter and the final days of the Pesach holidays. The country seemed to be on holiday mode pretty well much of the time, although I was challenged by the inability to buy anything with yeast: including (of course) pita bread, beer, and pasta. It is not just that observant Jews do not buy such products. Rather, the stores will not allow anyone to buy them, irrespective of your religious outlook. Consequently great sections of the stores are covered in plastic sheets to indicate that these items may not be purchased. Even the British Pub themed restaurant where I ate on Saturday night was not serving beer. Must be tough on their core business. (I have since learned that locals stock up with these items in advance of the holy days.)

    With so many holidays to be observed there were opportunities to visit some beautiful places, such as the Lake Huleh wetlands and the Banias Springs. There were also opportunities for lunches with friends in Nazareth, where the quantity of food served far exceeds my capacity to devour it (although I try), and is always spectacular.

    One of the highlights of the week was the opportunity to visit the small chapel where Charles de Foucauld spent many hours in prayer during the two years he spent in Nazareth. The friend who took me there prays in this chapel every day, and it was a privilege to be given that glimpse inside his private life.

    Last Saturday I had an opportunity to walk through the excavations at Tiberias itself. This is a city founded by Herod Antipas in 20 CE and continuously occupied ever since. The excavations have revealed a first century theatre as well as a Late Roman bath house that features in some of the rabbinic texts. The ruins are adjacent to the main road and close to a popular beach area. Most passers-by seem entirely unaware of the history so close at hand.

    While visiting Nazareth on Wednesday I called by the Sabeel office and happened to be there at the same time as a group of 15 or so Swedes, all members of Friends of Sabeel in Sweden. It was lovely to cross paths with them, and kind of fun to be partly in the position of welcoming them to Nazareth.

    In between all the sight-seeing and the lovely meals there has even been some opportunities to work. I have been able to track down quite a bit of literature related to the current book project, and by week’s end to complete another chapter for the book. This is the chapter that looks at Galilee in the time of Jesus, and at a few of the key places he visited. In particular, it has a couple of pages on the archaeological evidence for Nazareth during the first few decades of the first century. I may need to revise a few sentences in light of some places I am yet to be shown (although I think not), but at least the chapter itself is now done. In the week ahead I will shift my focus back to the coins project, not least because the next chapter I want to write will deal with the coins that are relevant to my study of Jesus in first century Galilee. This is certainly a good place to be located while working on such a project.

    On Thursday evening I had an opportunity to meet up with the Australian tour group led by David Pitman, from Brisbane. It was good to do that, and quite a tonic to hear their Aussie accents. Even better was the chance to see some familiar faces of friends from home. Still, it was a wicked pleasure to say as I left them , “Well, I am heading home to Tiberias now!”

  • The myth of final security

    Jesus may have seemed not much more than an irritation to the Roman rulers.

    How wrong they were.

    Just yesterday I was walking through the impressive ruins of a 13C fortress high on a mountain near the Israel/Lebanon border.

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    More pictures at my Flickr album.

    At the time the people who invested energy and funds into creating this military-industrial complex, must have felt they were now secure. No one could touch them now. How wrong they were. Today it is a tourist park.

    House built on sand, anyone?

    Towers built without counting the cost?

    Armies sent to war before assessing the chances of victory?

    Is the Pentagon listening?

    Is North Korea listening?

    Are we listening?

  • Study Leave — Week Four

    It is hard to believe, but already I have been in Israel four weeks. That time has certainly gone by very quickly. I guess one of the indicators that this has indeed been the case is my growing familiarity with the roads. After three or four trips to Jerusalem without the aid of my trusty GPS, I am starting to feel like I know the place. Even the process of checking in at the gas station counter for my credit card to be approved before I begin to fill the tank now feels routine.

    The public calendar has been dominated by Shabbat and Pesach (Passover), creating an extended holiday week for many Israelis, whether religious or nor, Jewish or not. The schools are in Spring break, and the roads are busy with holiday traffic.

    I made two trips to Jerusalem this week, and happily missed the worst of the traffic. The absence of trucks on the main tollway has certainly helped in that respect.

    On Sunday I went back to the Israel Museum, but as a paying visitor so that I could see the Herod Exhibition and also spend some time in the archaeology hall. The exhibition is very good, but I was expecting it to be larger than it is. Still, it is well worth the 30–45 minutes needed to see everything, watch the videos, etc. On arrival at the Museum I was reminded how small our world is when I looked up to see Mary Cohloe from Melbourne (but formerly teaching in Brisbane) leading a group of students past the front of my car towards the Museum. We crossed paths later in the day and it was good to catch up with her.

    One of unexpected highlights from this visit was the opportunity to see the White Gold exhibition, featuring the earliest coins that were made from electrum. As it happens the curator of the exhibit was there at the time and asked if I had any questions. When we began to talk I realised that I had seen him in the coin department at IAA a few days earlier when he brought in a book I was needing to consult. It was good to have an opportunity to talk with him about the exhibition.

    On Monday evening I had the opportunity to join a local Jewish family for their Passover Seder. The family are close friends of Judith and Shai from Kibbutz Ginosar, and it was a delight to share the evening with them all. Although the two families are not religious, it was clear that the Seder is a significant occasion for renewing and sustaining their Jewish identity. I was especially impressed by the care taken by Miriam, our hostess, to choose a progressive Haggadah with a focus on social justice and compassion. Her own reflections on the meaning of Pesach and the search for God were beautiful, and would have graced any pulpit.

    Tuesday saw me heading back to Jerusalem for some meetings to set up an on-going arrangement for students from St Francis College to come to Jerusalem for short term placements as interns with the Anglican Church here. Julianne Stewart from Anglican Board of Mission Australia was in town for the week, so it was a good opportunity to meet with her and to discuss the proposal with local stakeholders. Good progress was made, so I am hoping we shall have the scheme up and running for next year.

    Wednesday night I attended an ecumenical prayer service for the Feast of the Annunciation at the chapel of the Clarisse Sisters in Nazareth. Although not dressed in clerical gear, I was placed in a seat in the very front row and given an order of service in Arabic. The singing was beautiful, and the young Italian priest who gave the homily spoke in very good Arabic (raising the bar for me in the eyes of my local friends). Abuna Suheil from the displaced Arab Christian community at Iqrit led some of the prayers. I had met him and the community there last July, and have mentioned them at the beginning of each of the BIBLE360 workshops that I presented over the past six months, so it was good to see him again. All five clergy present for the event joined in the blessing at the end of the service, although I was not required to speak!

    In among all these trips to Jerusalem and other events I have managed to get some further work done on the new book. Research is continuing on the archaeology of ancient Nazareth, but in the last 24 hours I have completed the first draft of a chapter that explores the social location of Jesus and his relationship with John the Baptist. I keep reminding myself that a book is just a series of 5,000 word essays, so a chapter a week should see me have the book ready by the end of my study leave.

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