FRIENDS OF ASOR WEBINARS
Jesus Reading Scripture: Exploring the Archaeology of Worship in First-Century Synagogues
Friends of ASOR present the next webinar in our monthly series on May 11, 2023, at 6:00 pm EDT, featuring Dr. Paul V. M. Flesher and moderated by Dr. Matthew Grey. The New Testament gospels frequently place Jesus in or near the religious buildings of first-century Galilee, the synagogues. Unfortunately, they never describe these buildings, and apart from Luke 4, they give few details about the rituals that take place inside them. That absence hinders the study of Jesus in the religious context that shaped his life. Even the chapter-long story of Luke 4—where Jesus was given the honor of reading Scripture and then was thrown out of the synagogue—fails to provide sufficient information for us to readily understand it. Why did the congregation as a whole get so angry that they wanted to kill him?
As a historian and an archaeologist, Paul Flesher brings our earliest knowledge of synagogue rituals into conjunction with excavated first-century synagogues to answer that question. By focusing on Luke 4 and the Gamla synagogue—as a representative of first-century synagogues in general—Flesher explores how the synagogues’ architectural layout shaped the spatial and social dynamics of the people inside it to reveal two important points. First, the synagogue reinforced the tight bond between Scripture and the synagogue congregation through the positioning of the congregation and the ritual space of the Scripture reading. Second, the congregation’s mood changed so quickly from honor to rejection because the synagogue’s layout enhanced the communication not just between Jesus and the congregation but also among the members of the congregation themselves. Their ability to act as a coordinated group came from the synagogue’s internal, architectural structure.
Join Dr. Paul Flesher as he discusses Luke 4 and the Gamla synagogue to reveal how the internal architecture of synagogues can influence the spatial and social dynamics of the people inside it. A live Q&A session will be moderated by Dr. Matthew Grey (Brigham Young University).
Dr. Paul V. M. Flesher is a Professor of Religious Studies, at the University of Wyoming, and director of the American Heritage Center. Since the 1980s, Paul Flesher has focused on the dynamics of religious change that Judaism underwent during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, beginning with his masters work under Geza Vermes at Oxford University and his doctoral work under Jacob Neusner at Brown University. A specialist in Rabbinic Judaism and an expert in the history and texts of the Aramaic Targums, Flesher helped found the International Organization of Targumic Study in the early 1990s, serving on its board for two decades and as its president for six years. At the same time, he began researching the early history of synagogues, publishing several articles and an edited volume that brought together new research by American and Israeli scholars. A teacher at heart, Flesher founded the Religious Studies program, and later the department, at the University of Wyoming. Flesher’s excavation career began at Tel Miqne in 1995, but seriously got underway in 2012 when he joined the staff of the Huqoq Excavation Project, then later the Legio excavations conducted by the Jezreel Valley Regional Project. His current research is in archaeo-acoustics, working to reconstruct the sound dynamics of ancient synagogues. In 2019, Flesher took a change of course and became the director of the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, one of the largest, non-governmental archives in the USA.
This webinar will be recorded and all paid registrants will be sent a link to view the recording.
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You will be e-mailed the Zoom Webinar link in the week prior to the lecture on May 11, 2023. If you do not receive the link by the close of business two days before the webinar, please e-mail membership@asor.org immediately. This webinar will be recorded and all paid registrants will be sent a link to view the recording.
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