Session One: Health and Healing in the Hebrew Bible

This was a panel discussion addressing the question of what ‘health and healing’ would have meant to ancients as opposed to what it means in our context.  Laura Zucconi and John Pilch both did a grand job explaining and illustrating the issue(s).  In short, it is very important that we report what the natives said and not impose our own medical ideas on them.  For example, the New Testament doesn’t talk about epilepsy, it talks about being ‘moon-struck’.  We do a disservice to the texts when we force them to conform to our vocabulary and medical presumptions.

I was glad to run into Brandon Wason just before the session.

And then afterwards I saw Sam Balentine (who taught me Hebrew lo many years past) with the delightful Jane Barr so according to my standing practice I snapped their picture.

Later, the reception.  (And yes, I admit it, I skipped out on the joint Presidential addresses.  Neither topic looked thrilling so I decided to eat dinner instead.)  More anon.