Michael Tuval
Historian. Took Middle Eastern Studies at Bar-Ilan University, then ancient Jewish history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. «From Jerusalem Priest to Roman Jew: On Josephus and the Paradigms of Ancient Judaism» (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2013) is based on my PhD dissertation at the Hebrew U.A postdoctoral scholar at the Hebrew U in 2011-12, a visiting scholar at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in 2012-13, a visiting research fellow at Ludwig-Maximilians Universität in Munich (Germany) in 2013-15. Author of a number of scholarly articles. Scholarly editor of the new Russian translation and commentary on the four Books of Maccabees (Moscow-Jerusalem: Mosty Kultury-Gesharim, 2014). Itinerant lecturer and organizer of study field-tours to archaeological and historical sites, as well as extreme adventures of varying levels of insanity, in Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Morocco, and other countries.
Supervisors: Prof. Loren T. Stuckenbruck and Prof. Daniel R. Schwartz
Supervisors: Prof. Loren T. Stuckenbruck and Prof. Daniel R. Schwartz
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Books by Michael Tuval
Tuval then analyzes Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews, which was written fifteen years later. Here the religious picture has been transformed drastically. The Temple has been marginalized or replaced by the law which is universal and perfect for all humanity. The book is optimistic about the future of Judaism, and does not hint that the absence of the Temple hinders human-divine communication. Paradoxically, however, in later years Josephus continued to emphasize his priestly identity. The explanation offered for this anomaly is a complex one, including the argument that Josephus continued to see the priests as the natural leaders of post-destruction Judaism."
The translation is accompanied by detailed introductions, extensive philological-historical commentaries, bibliographies, four appendices (including a study of the history of the transmission and influence of these texts in Russia), a chronological table, indices, maps, and numerous color illustrations. The edition was prepared by Russian and Israeli scholars specializing in ancient history and Biblical and Jewish studies. The aim of this publication is to present the reading public in Russia with a scholarly translation and commentary on the Books of Maccabees, as well as some additional materials for further study. Our main goal is to present some of the achievements of modern Western scholarship to the Russian reader — and possibly also insert a dozen original ideas of our own.
It is no secret that, in Russia, biblical studies in general — and the study of ancient Judaism in particular – are still at a rather elementary level, compared to Western and Israeli scholarship. This, of course, has nothing to do with the capabilities of Russian scholars themselves, who have demonstrated hundreds of times that, even under extreme conditions — in the absence of freedom, access to scholarly literature, and funding — they were able to be at the forefront of global scholarship. Thus, even though the most important twentieth-century scholars of the Maccabean revolt — Avigdor Tcherikover and Elias Bickerman —
conducted their research outside the borders of Russia, perhaps it is worth mentioning that they were born, respectively, in Saint-Petersburg and Kishenev.
Papers by Michael Tuval
Tuval then analyzes Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews, which was written fifteen years later. Here the religious picture has been transformed drastically. The Temple has been marginalized or replaced by the law which is universal and perfect for all humanity. The book is optimistic about the future of Judaism, and does not hint that the absence of the Temple hinders human-divine communication. Paradoxically, however, in later years Josephus continued to emphasize his priestly identity. The explanation offered for this anomaly is a complex one, including the argument that Josephus continued to see the priests as the natural leaders of post-destruction Judaism."
The translation is accompanied by detailed introductions, extensive philological-historical commentaries, bibliographies, four appendices (including a study of the history of the transmission and influence of these texts in Russia), a chronological table, indices, maps, and numerous color illustrations. The edition was prepared by Russian and Israeli scholars specializing in ancient history and Biblical and Jewish studies. The aim of this publication is to present the reading public in Russia with a scholarly translation and commentary on the Books of Maccabees, as well as some additional materials for further study. Our main goal is to present some of the achievements of modern Western scholarship to the Russian reader — and possibly also insert a dozen original ideas of our own.
It is no secret that, in Russia, biblical studies in general — and the study of ancient Judaism in particular – are still at a rather elementary level, compared to Western and Israeli scholarship. This, of course, has nothing to do with the capabilities of Russian scholars themselves, who have demonstrated hundreds of times that, even under extreme conditions — in the absence of freedom, access to scholarly literature, and funding — they were able to be at the forefront of global scholarship. Thus, even though the most important twentieth-century scholars of the Maccabean revolt — Avigdor Tcherikover and Elias Bickerman —
conducted their research outside the borders of Russia, perhaps it is worth mentioning that they were born, respectively, in Saint-Petersburg and Kishenev.