Elad and The IAA: Strange Bedfellows

Ha’aretz reports

The High Court of Justice last week ordered the state to explain the unauthorized construction and earthworks by government bodies near the Western Wall and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Arab residents of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan and Peace Now activists had petitioned the court on the matter. The petition calls on the court put an end to area earthworks by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The petition alleges the authority – which is reportedly digging near the Al-Aqsa Mosque with the cooperation of the Elad Association for Resettling Jews in the Old City – has failed to obtain building permits for the works and has not presented a proper building scheme.

And here’s the strange part

On Tuesday, the city told the High Court of Justice that because the authority had not received a construction permit, it had ordered the works halted a day before the petition was filed. However, Peace Now told Haaretz that construction in the area was still ongoing. Attorney Sammy Arshid, who filed the petition for Peace now, wrote in the petition that the Israel Antiquities Authority was using the pretext of archeological diggings to construct a 115,000 square meter structure meant to house an events hall, commercial center, motels and underground parking lot. The city had planned a parking lot for the area. As alleged proof of this, the petitioners cite the use of massive drills and the laying of 15-meter-deep iron foundations. They note that “archeological digs are usually pursued with caution and fine equipment, so as to eliminate the danger of damaging relics. The petitioners go on to claim that construction on site was intensive enough to damage neighboring homes, resulting in cracked walls and fear of collapsed foundations. “The damages give rise to concerns that the works are being performed without proper supervision from qualified engineers,” the petition states.

Jerusalem, archaeology, politics, and the Palestinians… Alas. There’s no end in sight to the maneuverings.

He’s Back…

Ted Haggard’s back in the pulpit.  Gasp.  He wasn’t born gay though, he became gay when he was molested as a child.

Haggard’s comments were quite revealing. They were recorded on audiotape and put on the Internet at www.tedhaggard.com.

Sure, forgiveness and restoration are possible if preceded by authentic repentance. And I hope in his case the repentance is real.

‘Critics’ or ‘Critic’?

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum has generated, as it always seems to do these days, ‘debate’ about the so called ‘Essene Theory’.

The Royal Ontario Museum could find itself unearthing old controversies when it opens its $3-million, would-be blockbuster Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition next June. An earlier, related project in San Diego was accused of deliberate bias, scholarly incompetence and suggestions that its curator, who is also assembling the ROM exhibition, was unqualified for the job. Though the upcoming Toronto exhibition will showcase a different set of 16 partially decayed fragments of paper, it will be curated by the same person, Risa Levitt Kohn, who organized a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum from June, 2007, until last January.

And

Bloggers, some of them publishing anonymously, have seized in particular upon a June, 2007, Los Angeles Times article in which Kohn was quoted as saying, “You don’t want to confuse people with so many competing theories so they walk away saying, ‘Well, nobody knows anything!’ “

First, let’s not make too much of that ‘bloggers’ bit.  It’s not a lot of bloggers.  It’s one guy who uses a multitude of names and who is simply shilling Golb’s theory.  In fact, it’s not ‘critics’ of the Essene hypothesis, it’s one ‘critic’, that same guy, using a multitude of names and pretending to be a multitude of scholars.

Second, let’s face it people, anonymous commentators and bloggers are scarcely worth paying any attention to.  If people can’t own up to who they are and take possession of their own comments and ideas, those ideas are useless and worthless.  Anonymous posts, comments, and blogs are the equivalent of unprovenanced artifacts.  They may be shiny and pretty, but they are useless for any scholarly work.

Call for Submissions

The 36th Biblical Studies Carnival is two weeks away- so please, if you don’t mind, send along submissions if you’ve seen something interesting.  And thanks.

Hanan Eshel: The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hasmonean State

The kind folk at Eerdmans have sent along a copy of Eshel’s new book (in English- published first in Hebrew in 2004) which consists of the following nine chapters (which follow the preface and introduction):

ONE: The Roots of the Hasmonean Revolt: The Reign of Antiochus IV
TWO: Questions of Identity: The “Teacher of Righteousness,” the “Man of Lies,” and Jonathan the Hasmonean
THREE: The Succession of High Priests: John Hyrcanus and his Sons in the Pesher to Joshua 6:26
FOUR: Alexander Jannaeus and His War against Ptolemy Lathyrus
FIVE: A Prayer for the Welfare of King Jonathan
SIX: The Pharisees’ Conflict with Alexander Jannaeus and Demetrius’ Invasion of Judaea
SEVEN: The Successors of Alexander Jannaeus and the Conquest of Judaea by Pompey
EIGHT: The Assassination of Pompey
NINE: The Changing Notion of the Enemy and Its Impact on the Pesharim

It’s a fine volume and I recommend it.

A Baptist Roundup

Around this time of year Baptist State Conventions all around the country have met and are presently meeting.  Here’s what’s going on around and about.  Baptists in Georgia are debating the issue of Women in the Ministry.  Baptists in Oklahoma have elected the first Native American as their President.  In West Virginia, Baptists have called for a Gay marriage ban.  And in Florida, in what has to be the closest vote ever for President of the State Convention, Rev. Cross was elected by a slim 12 vote margin.

Our meeting here in Tennessee was considerably less divisive and really quite harmonious.  But maybe that’s because there were no contentious issues this year.

For those of you unfamiliar with the way Baptists do Church, here’s a short primer.  Each church is autonomous, and chooses to participate in the life of the local Association, State Convention, and National Convention at their pleasure.  Policies, procedures, and most importantly, any and all resolutions passed at any level are not binding on any other.  Imagine, then, not a hierarchy (because in Baptist life there is no organization more important than the local Church), but a side-by-side partnership.

Heading Home

The meeting I’ve been attending has drawn to a close and now I’m heading home.  Hence, light posting till I make it there.  More anon…  In the meanwhile, go read Crossley’s latest entry on his new book.