Auch Gedanken fallen manchmal unreif vom Baum.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Introduction to Avestan
This introduction was first published in 2001 in Spanish. It is now being made available in English translation. Martínez, Javier & Michiel de Vaan. 2014. Introduction to Avestan (Brill Introductions to Indo-European Languages I). Leiden/Boston: Brill. Translated from Spanish by Ryan Sandell. See here for more.
Of gods and kings
I found the work of Brisch inspiring and guiding, when I was researching the theme of ‘Iranian kingship’ in St Andrews. Brisch, Nicole. 2013. Of gods and kings. Religion Compass 7(2). 37–46. Read the article here.
Ioudaios before and after “Religion”
Reed’s insightful reflections on the Greek term ioudaios and how modern assumptions about the concept of ‘religion’ shape our understanding of ancient texts. This piece was published in the Marginalia Review of Books online forum Jews and Judeans. Yoshiko Reed, Annette. 2014. Ioudaios before and after “Religion”. Read the article here.
Textuality and memory
Reed, Annette Yoshiko. 2014. Textuality between death and memory: The prehistory and formation of the parabiblical Testament. Jewish Quarterly Review 104(3). 381–412. This essay revisits testamentary texts and traditions from the Second Temple period in relation to themes of death, memory, and writing. Rather than debating the classification or morphology of the parabiblical testament, it focuses…
Approaches to the study of ‘time’
Although not newly published, I mention this article by Stausberg as it relates to Rezania’s work on the concept of time in Zoroastrianism. Stausberg, Michael. 2004. Approaches to the study of ‘time’ in the history of religions. Temenos 39/40. 247–268. Rezania, Kianoosh. 2010. Die zoroastrische Zeitvorstellung. Eine Untersuchung über Zeit- und Ewigkeitskonzepte und die Frage des…
Review: Gods and demons, priest and scholars
This week’s bibliographic posts relate in part to the study of religions and neighbouring disciplines, starting with Stausberg’s reflections on Lincoln’s ‘Gods and demons’. I will resume posting on Iranian studies and Zoroastrianism in the coming week. Stausberg, Michael. 2013. Review of Bruce Lincoln: Gods and demons, priests and scholars. Critical exploration in the history of…