On Saints, Sinners, and Sex in the Apocalypse of Saint John and the Sefer Zerubbabel

The Apocalypse of St. John and the Sefer Zerubbabel [a.k.a Apocalypse of Zerubbabel] are among the most popular apocalypses of the Common Era. While the Johannine Apocalypse was written by a first-century Jewish-Christian author and would later be refracted through a decidedly Christian lens, and the Sefer Zerubbabel was probably composed by a seventh-century Jewish author for a predominantly Jewish audience, the two share much in the way of plot, narrative motifs, and archetypal characters. An examination of these commonalities and, in particular, how they intersect with gender and sexuality, suggests that these texts also may have functioned similarly as a call to reform within the generations that originally received them and, perhaps, among later medieval generations in which the texts remained important

Infancy Stories of Jesus: Apocrypha and Toledot Yeshu in Medieval Europe

This conference proceeding was originally published by the University of San Francisco Press through the Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Social Thought and the Ignatian Tradition of the University of San Francisco. The Lane Center Series explores intersections of faith and social justice. Featuring essays that bridge interdisciplinary research and community engagement, the series serves as a resource for social analysis, theological reflection, and education in the Jesuit tradition. Visit the Lane Center’s website to download each volume and view related resources at www.usfca.edu/lane-cente

Latteri on Weiss, \u27Sefer Yesirah and Its Contexts: Other Jewish Voices\u27

Book Review by Natalie Latteri on Tzahi Weiss\u27 Sefer Yesirah and Its Contexts: Other Jewish Voices. This review was originally published in the Journal of Medieval Worlds, Vol. 1, Number 1, pp. 117-120

Latteri on Carlsmith, \u27A Renaissance Education: Schooling in Bergamo and the Venetian Republic, 1500-1650\u27

Book Review by Natalie Latteri on Christopher Carlsmith\u27s A Renaissance Education: Schooling in Bergamo and the Venetian Republic, 1500-1650\u27, originally published on H-Education (August, 2011) and commissioned by Jonathan Anuik https://networks.h-net.org/node/14281/reviews/16231/latteri-carlsmith-renaissance-education-schooling-bergamo-and-venetia

A Dialogue on Disaster: Antichrists in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses and their Medieval Recensions

This paper examines textual and iconographic representations of antichrist personae in medieval Christian and Jewish manuscripts. Through a common language of polemics, Christians and Jews conflated antichrist personae to represent a more generalized category of apocalyptic antagonist that reflected the most significant temptations and threats to each respective religious community. As will be argued here, the greatest temptation and threat for Christians and Jews alike were those posed by members of the other religious grou

Playing the Whore: Illicit Union and the Biblical Typology of Promiscuity in the Toledot Yeshu Tradition

Toledot Yeshu, or “Stories about Jesus,” have been transmitted by Jews for centuries but only recently have begun to garner signifcant scholarly attention as part of a tradition of anti-Christian polemic. This paper contends that the varied depictions of Jesus’ conception in the Toledot corpus refect the intracommunal issues of forced conversion, apostasy, and overfamiliarity with non-Jews. The theme was neither new to the Toledot nor a product of the late-antique and medieval contexts that Jewish stories of Jesus frst circulated in. Rather, it echoes biblical representations of, and admonishments against, illicit relationships with non-Jews which ancient authors commonly depicted through a typology of sexual promiscuity. It is only when viewing Toledot presentations of Jesus’ conception in light of both contemporary events and the Jewish biblical literary tradition that we are able to grasp their previously unnoted functions as 1) Jewish selfcriticism regarding intercommunal relations; and, 2) a didactic warning to future generations against making similar mistakes

Latteri on Anderson, \u27British Universities Past and Present\u27

Book Review by Natalie Latteri on R. D. Anderson\u27s British Universities Past and Present, originally published on H-Education (June, 2011) and commissioned by Jonathan Anuik https://networks.h-net.org/node/14281/reviews/16221/latteri-anderson-british-universities-past-and-presen

Latteri on Crook, \u27Brasenose: The Biography of an Oxford College\u27

Book Review by Natalie Latteri on J. Mordaunt Crook\u27s Brasenose: The Biography of an Oxford College, originally published on H-Education (October, 2012) and commissioned by Jonathan Anuik https://networks.h-net.org/node/14281/reviews/16258/latteri-crook-brasenose-biography-oxford-colleg

Jewish Apocalypticism: An Historiography

Chapter 3 of \u27A Companion to the Premodern Apocalypse\u27 in the series Brill\u27s Companions to the Christian Tradition, Volume: 6

Hashimoto ThYroiditis Coexistent with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Several studies report a higher rate of papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC) in patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT), indicating a possible correlation between the two diseases. We studied a group of 89 subjects undergoing surgery for thyroid carcinomas compared with a control group of 89 subjects operated on for normofunctioning goiter, and a second group of 47 patients undergoing total thyroidectomy for HT. Association with HT was found in 19 of the 71 PTC subjects (26.7%) and in 8 goiter patients (8.9%), which was a significant difference (P < 0.02). Thirteen of the HT patients, mostly with the nodular form, showed coexistent PTC (27.6%). HT and PTC coexisted in several morphological, immunohistochemical, and biomolecular aspects; increased incidence of PTC in HT patients might therefore indicate that HT is a precursor of thyroid cancer. Further studies are required, however, in order to confirm this hypothesis; until then, HT patients should undergo careful clinical and technical follow-up