Steven Weitzman
Biographic Data
| ID | 3831119 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Steven Weitzman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Steven |
| FAMILY NAME | Weitzman |
| SIGNATURE | WEITZMAN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stanford University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9045-0202 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 27 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Disasters of Biblical Proportions
How people have reimagined the story of the ten plagues of Egypt, from antiquity to our own era of relentless catastrophe People have been telling and retelling stories about disasters for as long as they have been telling stories. One of the oldest of such stories is the ten plagues in the book of Exodus, the series of disasters that forced the Egyptians to liberate the Israelites. These plagues packed enough catastrophe to fill a series of summ…
Strategic Spirituality
In the wake of increased mental health issues resulting from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, psychologists affiliated with the field of positive psychology developed a resiliency training program for the US Army that included strengthening “spirituality fitness” as one of its goals. The initiative represents what may be the largest single effort to use spirituality to intervene in people’s mental health, but it also represents an intervention in …
The Jews
The Jews: A History is a comprehensive and accessible text that explores the religious, cultural, social, and economic diversity of the Jewish people and their faith. Placing Jewish history within its wider cultural context, the book covers a broad time span, stretching from ancient Israel to the modern day. It examines Jewish history across a range of settings, including the ancient Near East, the age of Greek and Roman rule, the medieval realms…
The Origin of the Jews
The Jews have one of the longest continuously recorded histories of any people in the world, but what do we actually know about their origins? While many think the answer to this question can be found in the Bible, others look to archaeology or genetics. Some skeptics have even sought to debunk the very idea that the Jews have a common origin. This book takes a learned and lively look at what we know—or think we know—about where the Jews came fro…
The Origin of the Jews
The first major history of the scholarly quest to answer the question of Jewish originsThe Jews have one of the longest continuously recorded histories of any people in the world, but what do we actually know about their origins? While many think the answer to this question can be found in the Bible, others look to archaeology or genetics. Some skeptics have even sought to debunk the very idea that the Jews have a common origin. In this book, Ste…
Absent but Accounted for
Like so much of early Jewish literature, the strange Dead Sea scroll known as the Copper Scroll (3Q15) remains suspended somewhere between reality and fantasy. Even before scholars had fully unrolled its copper plates in 1956, they were able to discern that it recorded a list of treasures, but there soon broke out a dispute over whether this treasure was real or not. Some scholars felt that the treasure was too large to be real and that it was a …
Rethinking the Messianic Idea in Judaism
A Weak Messianic Power: Figures of a Time to Come in Benjamin, Derrida, and Celan by Michael G. Levine (Fordham University Press, 2013). ISBN 9780823255115
From Generation to Generation
This year marks the 35th anniversary of two noteworthy papers-one in this journal and the other in the American Journal of Human Genetics-posing the same famous question: are the different Jewish populations from around Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa more genetically similar to each other, or are they more similar to the local non--Jewish populations in the regions where they were historically located?Both studies gathered blood--group…
From Generation to Generation
Introduction: This year marks the 35th anniversary of two noteworthy papers—one in this journal and the other in the American Journal of Human Genetics—posing the same famous question: are the different Jewish populations from around Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa more genetically similar to each other, or are they more similar to the local non-‐Jewish populations in the regions where they were historically located? Both studies gathe…
Genetic Variation of X‐SRTS's in the Wichí Population from Chaco Province, Argentina
Religious Studies and the FBI
American Association of Anthropological Genetics
Mediterranean Exchanges
Mediterranean Exchanges: A Response to Seth Schwartz’s Were the Jews a Mediterranean Society? Steven Weitzman If you have the occasion to read Seth Schwartz’s most recent book, don’t make the mistake that I did and assume that the word “Mediterranean” refers to a body of water. There is nothing here about seafaring, trade routes, or piracy. The term “Mediterranean” as Schwartz uses it is a reference not so much to a specific locale but to a certa…
Solomon
Warring against Terror The War Scroll and the Mobilization of Emotion
While noticing that the tactics and weapons prescribed in the War Scroll resemble those used by Greek and Roman armies, previous scholarship has been dubious of the idea that the scroll actually guided real-life military practice because its battle-plan seems so impractical, assuming a conflict that unfolds in a highly scripted way and relying on ritual and supernatural assistance. This essay aims to rethink the role that the War Scroll played in…
Mimic Jews and Jewish Mimics in Antiquity
Girard may have been on to something when he attempted to trace religious violence back to a struggle between mimetic rivals, but the resulting theory has been rightly criticized for its indifference to the particulars of historical context. With help from post-colonial scholarship, this paper aims to rethink the concept of mimicry as used by scholars of religion by situating an example from ancient Judaism, Josephus's description of the Samarita…
Reopening the Gates of J. Z. Smith's Temple
Rebuilding the Tower of Babel
Rebuilding the Tower of Babel Steven Weitzman (bio) John Collins , The Bible after Babel: Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005. Pp. x + 201. Karel Van der Toorn , Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible. Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 2007. Pp. x + 401. In an obituary for Jaques Derrida, the biblical scholar Yvonne Sherwood celebrated the way he stoo…
Forced Circumcision and the Shifting Role of Gentiles in Hasmonean Ideology
One way in which ancient rulers proclaimed their power over war captives and slaves was to inscribe their bodies with a distinctive mark of ownership. For instance, according to Herodotus, the Persian king Xerxes ordered “royal marks” inscribed on Theban soldiers who had deserted to his side. To cite an example closer to the world of Judaism, 3 Macc 2.29 reports that the Hellenistic ruler Ptolemy Philopator ordered an ivy-leaf shaped “mark of Dio…
From Feasts into Mourning
Song and Story in Biblical Narrative
Preface Abbreviations 1. Moving Between Prose and Poetry 2. A Chorus of Approving Voices 3. Swan Song 4. Sing to the Lord a New Song 5. Play It Again, Sam 6. A Biblical Fugue Appendix A: The Narrative Role of DavidOs Lament Appendix B: The Songs of Israel and the Song of the Angels Notes
Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38) in Ancient Jewish Exegesis
The Shifting Syntax of Numerals in Biblical Hebrew
Grieving the Loss of Romantic Relationships in Young Adults
Grief following lost romantic relationships during early adulthood has been identified as a form of disenfranchised grief. The present study examined several variables associated with the grieving process. College students (126) between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight were asked to respond to a questionnaire and to complete the Loss version of the Grief Experience Inventory (GEI). Results of these surveys indicate that such grief is disenfr…
David's Lament and the Poetics of Grief in 2 Samuel
Religious Studies and the FBI
Warring against Terror The War Scroll and the Mobilization of Emotion
While noticing that the tactics and weapons prescribed in the War Scroll resemble those used by Greek and Roman armies, previous scholarship has been dubious of the idea that the scroll actually guided real-life military practice because its battle-plan seems so impractical, assuming a conflict that unfolds in a highly scripted way and relying on ritual and supernatural assistance. This essay aims to rethink the role that the War Scroll played in…
Mimic Jews and Jewish Mimics in Antiquity
Girard may have been on to something when he attempted to trace religious violence back to a struggle between mimetic rivals, but the resulting theory has been rightly criticized for its indifference to the particulars of historical context. With help from post-colonial scholarship, this paper aims to rethink the concept of mimicry as used by scholars of religion by situating an example from ancient Judaism, Josephus's description of the Samarita…
Reopening the Gates of J. Z. Smith's Temple
Preaching the Tradition
Lessons from the Dying
If one can trust the testimony of modern biblical scholarship, the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 is leading a double life. According to some, Deuteronomy 32 represents a lawsuit in which God summons witnesses to the stand (Deut 32:1), issues a formal indictment (Deut 32:15–18), takes an oath (Deut 32:40), and, finally, pronounces punishment (Deut 32:19–29). For others, Deuteronomy 32 represents a wisdom text that identifies itself as a teaching…
Grieving the Loss of Romantic Relationships in Young Adults
Grief following lost romantic relationships during early adulthood has been identified as a form of disenfranchised grief. The present study examined several variables associated with the grieving process. College students (126) between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight were asked to respond to a questionnaire and to complete the Loss version of the Grief Experience Inventory (GEI). Results of these surveys indicate that such grief is disenfr…
David's Lament and the Poetics of Grief in 2 Samuel
The Shifting Syntax of Numerals in Biblical Hebrew
Forced Circumcision and the Shifting Role of Gentiles in Hasmonean Ideology
One way in which ancient rulers proclaimed their power over war captives and slaves was to inscribe their bodies with a distinctive mark of ownership. For instance, according to Herodotus, the Persian king Xerxes ordered “royal marks” inscribed on Theban soldiers who had deserted to his side. To cite an example closer to the world of Judaism, 3 Macc 2.29 reports that the Hellenistic ruler Ptolemy Philopator ordered an ivy-leaf shaped “mark of Dio…
From Feasts into Mourning
Song and Story in Biblical Narrative
Preface Abbreviations 1. Moving Between Prose and Poetry 2. A Chorus of Approving Voices 3. Swan Song 4. Sing to the Lord a New Song 5. Play It Again, Sam 6. A Biblical Fugue Appendix A: The Narrative Role of DavidOs Lament Appendix B: The Songs of Israel and the Song of the Angels Notes
Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38) in Ancient Jewish Exegesis
Reopening the Gates of J. Z. Smith's Temple
Rebuilding the Tower of Babel
Rebuilding the Tower of Babel Steven Weitzman (bio) John Collins , The Bible after Babel: Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005. Pp. x + 201. Karel Van der Toorn , Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible. Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 2007. Pp. x + 401. In an obituary for Jaques Derrida, the biblical scholar Yvonne Sherwood celebrated the way he stoo…
Warring against Terror The War Scroll and the Mobilization of Emotion
While noticing that the tactics and weapons prescribed in the War Scroll resemble those used by Greek and Roman armies, previous scholarship has been dubious of the idea that the scroll actually guided real-life military practice because its battle-plan seems so impractical, assuming a conflict that unfolds in a highly scripted way and relying on ritual and supernatural assistance. This essay aims to rethink the role that the War Scroll played in…
Mimic Jews and Jewish Mimics in Antiquity
Girard may have been on to something when he attempted to trace religious violence back to a struggle between mimetic rivals, but the resulting theory has been rightly criticized for its indifference to the particulars of historical context. With help from post-colonial scholarship, this paper aims to rethink the concept of mimicry as used by scholars of religion by situating an example from ancient Judaism, Josephus's description of the Samarita…
Solomon
Mediterranean Exchanges
Mediterranean Exchanges: A Response to Seth Schwartz’s Were the Jews a Mediterranean Society? Steven Weitzman If you have the occasion to read Seth Schwartz’s most recent book, don’t make the mistake that I did and assume that the word “Mediterranean” refers to a body of water. There is nothing here about seafaring, trade routes, or piracy. The term “Mediterranean” as Schwartz uses it is a reference not so much to a specific locale but to a certa…
From Generation to Generation
This year marks the 35th anniversary of two noteworthy papers-one in this journal and the other in the American Journal of Human Genetics-posing the same famous question: are the different Jewish populations from around Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa more genetically similar to each other, or are they more similar to the local non--Jewish populations in the regions where they were historically located?Both studies gathered blood--group…
From Generation to Generation
Introduction: This year marks the 35th anniversary of two noteworthy papers—one in this journal and the other in the American Journal of Human Genetics—posing the same famous question: are the different Jewish populations from around Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa more genetically similar to each other, or are they more similar to the local non-‐Jewish populations in the regions where they were historically located? Both studies gathe…
Genetic Variation of X‐SRTS's in the Wichí Population from Chaco Province, Argentina
Religious Studies and the FBI
American Association of Anthropological Genetics
Rethinking the Messianic Idea in Judaism
A Weak Messianic Power: Figures of a Time to Come in Benjamin, Derrida, and Celan by Michael G. Levine (Fordham University Press, 2013). ISBN 9780823255115
Absent but Accounted for
Like so much of early Jewish literature, the strange Dead Sea scroll known as the Copper Scroll (3Q15) remains suspended somewhere between reality and fantasy. Even before scholars had fully unrolled its copper plates in 1956, they were able to discern that it recorded a list of treasures, but there soon broke out a dispute over whether this treasure was real or not. Some scholars felt that the treasure was too large to be real and that it was a …
The Origin of the Jews
The Jews have one of the longest continuously recorded histories of any people in the world, but what do we actually know about their origins? While many think the answer to this question can be found in the Bible, others look to archaeology or genetics. Some skeptics have even sought to debunk the very idea that the Jews have a common origin. This book takes a learned and lively look at what we know—or think we know—about where the Jews came fro…
The Origin of the Jews
The first major history of the scholarly quest to answer the question of Jewish originsThe Jews have one of the longest continuously recorded histories of any people in the world, but what do we actually know about their origins? While many think the answer to this question can be found in the Bible, others look to archaeology or genetics. Some skeptics have even sought to debunk the very idea that the Jews have a common origin. In this book, Ste…
The Jews
The Jews: A History is a comprehensive and accessible text that explores the religious, cultural, social, and economic diversity of the Jewish people and their faith. Placing Jewish history within its wider cultural context, the book covers a broad time span, stretching from ancient Israel to the modern day. It examines Jewish history across a range of settings, including the ancient Near East, the age of Greek and Roman rule, the medieval realms…
Philosophy (16 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (13 works) · History (12 works) · Art (10 works) · Literature (10 works) · Judaism (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Theology (8 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (7 works)