Understanding Sin and Evil #2 - Cain and Abel: An Oracle of Sin
Thank you to the wonderful Mariana Gil Hammer for the transcript of this episode. Hello, and welcome to another episode of Understanding Sin...
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Understanding Sin and Evil
Dr. Miryam Brand on Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Ancient World
Episodes
20 of 36 episodesUnderstanding Sin and Evil #1: The Origin of Sin that Wasn’t
I am re-posting this episode with a FULL transcript, thanks to the efforts of the wonderful Mariana Gil Hammer. Welcome to my new podcast se...
Dead Sea Scrolls & 2nd Temple Literature #3: Enoch – The Book of the Watchers
And we’re back! I appreciate the many of you who reached out. I will be posting more of our discussion series on the Dead Sea Scrolls...
Dead Sea Scrolls & 2nd Temple Literature #2: The Book of Jubilees
Join us for a discussion of the Book of Jubilees, a prime example of “Rewritten Bible.” Why would an author in antiquity want to...
Minor Prophets #1: Introduction to Minor Prophets – Trei Asar
Welcome to yet another new series! This class in Hebrew Bible will alternate with the Second Temple literature series. This introductory cla...
Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple Literature #1: Introduction
Welcome to the beginning of a new lecture series: an overview of Jewish texts of the Second Temple period and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In this...
#31: The Concubine of Gibeah – Pilegesh BaGive’ah
In this class, we discuss the ultimate example of collective punishment gone horribly, horribly wrong: the Concubine of Gibeah, known in Heb...
#30: Collective and Intergenerational Punishment in the Bible – Review
We’re back! Join us as we engage in a high-level discussion on the different views of collective and intergenerational punishment in t...
#29: Ezekiel, Intergenerational Punishment & Individual Responsibility - Understanding Sin and Evil
This podcast is a continuation of the previous discussion on the shift of the biblical view and representation of intergenerational punishme...
Intergenerational Punishment - Changing Worldviews in the Bible
In this episode we discuss the approach to divine intergenerational punishment (the punishment of a future generation for the sins of a past...
Collective Punishment -- Divine Morality and Human Justice
In this far-reaching episode, we discuss the idea of collective punishment in the Hebrew Bible, the problems it poses in the context of divi...
Behind the Scenes of the Hanukkah Story: The Books of the Maccabees
What was behind Antiochus’s decrees? Was Hanukkah really the end of the fight for independence? And what was the difference between Ju...
Concepts of Sin -- The Meaning of Scripture and Sin as Burden
In this episode, we discuss what it means for our changing understanding of sin to have a canonized, “frozen” Scripture that mus...
The "Understanding Sin" Recap Episode: How Far We've Come -- Hebrew Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, & Second Temple Literature
In this episode, I recap everything we have discussed so far, before I begin a new chapter of the podcast. This is a great place to start if...
The Puzzle of the Treatise of the Two Spirits
Join me for a close reading of the Treatise of the Two Spirits, a passage in the Community Rule that explains the origin of sin as the resul...
Sin, Choice, and Responsibility -- The Evil Inclination in Legal Dead Sea Scrolls
In this episode, we explore texts from the Qumran community that emphasize responsibility for sin and freedom of choice, despite the sect...
Sin as State -- The Evil Inclination in Sectarian Prayer
In this episode, we look at two Dead Sea Scroll sectarian prayers — the Hodayot and the “Hymn of Praise” in the Community...
Second Temple Prayer and the Evil Inclination: A Cry to the Divine
In this episode, we examine the idea of an evil inclination in Second Temple prayer. How did Jews in the Second Temple period characterize t...
Fourth Ezra and the Tragedy of the Evil Heart
As we continue our series on the idea of an “evil inclination” in Second Temple literature, we return to Fourth Ezra (4 Ezra/2 E...
Philo of Alexandria and "Pessimistic" Free Will
In this episode we move farther afield to Egypt and the Diaspora community of Alexandria. How did Philo of Alexandria (also known as Philo J...