It is finally that time of the year again. Time for Gorgias Press to announce the 2008 Gorgias Book Grant recipients. They are Shirly Natan Yulzary (University of Tel Aviv) and Kyle Smith (Duke University). They will each receive free books up to the amount of $500.00 from Gorgias Press to assist in their research and studies. Read more about them in our "News" section below. Gorgiasians have chosen Ehud Ben Zvi as the March Enthusiast. Read about him in the Enthusiast column. In addition, learn about two new series that Gorgias is launching in the Acquisitions column. Here is a look at the March e-Gorgias:

• Recently Released: Our latest titles
• Coming Soon: Forthcoming titles from Gorgias Press
• From the Acquisitions Desk: By Acquisitions Editor Katie Stott
• News:Gorgias Book Grant Winners
• Reviews: Review of Bible in the Syriac Tradition by Sebastian Brock; Bible, Map, and Spade by Rachel Hallotte; Childers and Parker, Transmission and Reception; and Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley The Great Stem of Souls
• Conferences: MAR-SBL

Gorgias press is pleased to announce the availability of the following titles from our Analecta Gorgiana series.

	The Jews in the Works of the Church Fathers By Samuel Krauss ISBN 978-1-59333-883-1 Paperback, $37.7 (BiblioPerks™ $30.16)
In this stellar study of what the works of select patristic authors (Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius Ephraem, and Jerome) reveal about the Aggadah, Samuel Krauss offers an insightful and provocative reading of the sources.
	The Jews in Persia By Elkan Nathan Adler ISBN 978-1-59333-882-4 Paperback, $29 (BiblioPerks™ $23.20)
This essay provides a detailed description of each manuscript the author acquired during this sojourn among the Jews of Persia. A discussion of the rituals of the Jewish people which the author met offers great insight into their liturgical life.
	The Songs of the Return (Psalms 120-134) By Daniel Gurden Stevens ISBN 978-1-59333-890-9 Paperback, $50.7 (BiblioPerks™ $40.56)
Appended to this thesis is a short work, which stood in place of a proposed work on the precise topic of Stevens’ thesis. The shorter piece, by Professor Paul Haupt focuses specifically on Psalm 130.
	HISTORY OF THE PRINTED EDITIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT By Bernhard Pick ISBN 978-1-59333-891-6 Paperback, $37.7 (BiblioPerks™ $30.16)
Offering a comprehensive study of the history of the recensions of the Hebrew Bible down to the author’s day, this essay provides the reader with a veritable genealogy of the different versions of the Hebrew Scriptures.
	The Medieval Legend of Judas Iscariot By Paull Franklin Baum ISBN 978-1-59333-888-6 Paperback, $50.7 (BiblioPerks™ $40.56)
Professor Baum provides the reader with an in depth study of the Life of Judas the Betrayer, which obviously mirrors the story of Oedipus, and its various recensions, as well as a study of the English ballad of Judas Iscariot.
	The Book of Nahum By Paul Haupt ISBN 978-1-59333-885-5 Paperback, $37.7 (BiblioPerks™ $30.16)
Presenting an original translation with introduction and commentary as well as an edited Hebrew text along with critical notes, this is an excellent resource for the study of the book of Nahum, both for the layperson and the scholar.
	Samaritan Pentateuch Manuscripts By W. (William) Scott Watson ISBN 978-1-59333-892-3 Paperback, $37.7 (BiblioPerks™ $30.16)
The three essays in this volume address the physical, historical and literary features of what were at the time two of the very earliest clearly datable manuscripts of the Pentateuch known to exist.
	The Septuagint Text of Hosea Compared with the Massoretic Text By Gaylord Hawkins Patterson ISBN 978-1-59333-889-3 Paperback, $29 (BiblioPerks™ $23.20)
This essay takes a text critical approach to the comparison between the Septuagint and Massoretic texts of Hosea. Its reproduction seems timely as Septuagint studies have seen increased interest in recent times.
	The Book of Micah By Paul Haupt ISBN 978-1-59333-884-8 Paperback, $44.2 (BiblioPerks™ $35.36)
This work is a compilation of two articles by Professor Haupt on the book of Micah. Together, these articles provide an excellent resource for the study of the book of Micah, both for the layperson and the scholar.
	The Book of Canticles By Paul Haupt ISBN 978-1-59333-887-9 Paperback, $44.2 (BiblioPerks™ $35.36)
This work is a compilation of three articles by Professor Haupt on the Book of Canticles, also known as the Song of Songs. It is an excellent resource for study, both for the layperson and the scholar.
	The Barlaam and Josaphat Legend in the Ancient Georgian and Armenian Literatures By F. C. Conybeare ISBN 978-1-59333-880-0 Paperback, $29 (BiblioPerks™ $23.20)
This work focuses on the literary and textual concerns of the Georgian and Armenian recensions of the Barlaam and Josaphat legend, and provides translations of all that remains of the Georgian text and the relevant Armenian parallels.
	Megillat Taanit as a Source for Jewish Chronology and History in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods By Solomon Zeitlin ISBN 978-1-59333-879-4 Paperback, $44.2 (BiblioPerks™ $35.36)
Zeitlin’s masterful work supplies the Megillat Taanit’s text and a translation as well as a deft reading of this source’s utility for the history of the Jews from the Maccabees to the Great Revolt.
	Zoroastrianism By George Moore ISBN 978-1-59333-881-7 Paperback, $37.7 (BiblioPerks™ $30.16)
This work is an excellent, concise history of the development of the Zoroastrian religion. Special attention is given to the historical development of the religion from monotheism to a dualistic system, with particular emphasis on ethical and eschatological teachings.

We are excited to announce that the following titles will soon be in print:

Click here for a complete list of our soon-to-be-published books.

The Greek-Turkish War 1919-23 By Stavros T. Stavridis
The book provides a historical development of the Australian press from Colonial Times till 1923. Since Australia was part of the British Empire, foreign policy decisions made in London impacted on this far-flung dominion located in the South –West Pacific. Australia’s national identity was forged on the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula fighting against the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
ISBN 978-1-59333-967-8, Hardback, $105 (BiblioPerks™ $84.00)

Neo-Aramaic Dialect Studies By Geoffrey Khan
This volume contains a collection of papers presented at the workshop on various aspects of the grammar of Neo-Aramaic, with special attention to the North Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialect group. The papers include descriptions of several hitherto undescribed dialects together with sample texts and also studies of various aspects of phonology, morphology and syntax of the dialects.
ISBN 978-1-59333-423-9, Hardback, $115 (BiblioPerks™ $92.00)

Textual Variation: Theological and Social Tendencies? By H.A.G. Houghton and D.C. Parker, eds.
Did scribes change the text of the New Testament? This book questions the assumption that they did and the claim that variant readings are due to theological motivation or social difference.
ISBN 978-1-59333-789-6, Hardback, $105 (BiblioPerks™ $84.00)

From the acquisitions desk this month we would like to announce the establishment of two new series. The first is Conflict and Trade in the Middle East, which provides in-depth examinations of the worldwide importance of the Middle East from the colonial to the modern periods. Nations struggling to establish a sense of identity in the rapidly changing world of the past three centuries were faced with incursions of peoples from other cultures. The resulting relationships of trade and conflict that developed in this confluence of cultures have continued to have profound impact on the history of much of the world. This series addresses the issues and negotiations arising from increased ease and security of transportation as well as the increased desire for goods and territory that accompanied it from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries.

Look out for the first volume in this series, The Greek-Turkish War 1919-23: An Australian Press Perspective, by Stavros T. Stavridis, which will be in press soon. To find out more about this title, see our forthcoming releases section of the newsletter.

Gorgias is also soon to launch another new and exciting series that will focus on the Bible and technology. The aptly named BIT series (Bible in Technology) will explore the intersection between biblical studies and computer technology. The series is intended to provide a forum for presenting and discussing advancements in this area, such as new software or techniques for analyzing biblical materials, online projects, and teaching resources. The series also seeks to reflect on the contribution and impact of computer technology on biblical research and teaching methods and presents studies on the Bible involving the application of technology to research.

For those of you out there who are working in this cutting edge area, we invite you to talk to us about your endeavors and welcome new submissions. We will be accepting monographs in this series as well as edited collections.

Katie Stott, Acquisitions/Production Editor

2008 Gorgias Book Grant Winners: Shirly Natan Yulzary and Kyle Smith

As the Gorgias Book Grant program is celebrating its fifth year, the diversity and the interdisciplinary approach of the applicants seem to grow each year. The grant committee evaluated all applications based on each applicants’ personal statement of interests, the scholarly value of their thesis, as well as their academic achievements and their recommendations. We thank all the applicants and wish them well in their future endeavors. The 2008 Gorgias Book Grant recipients are Shirly Natan Yulzary of Tel Aviv University and Kyle Smith of Duke University. They respectively specialize in Ugaritic and Early Christian Studies.

Shirly Natan Yulzary earned her BA and MA in Biblical Studies and History of Arts Studies at the Tel-Aviv University (Israel). She also serves as an assistant and instructor in the Department of Biblical Studies. Her main fields of interest are ancient texts and languages in general, and specifically the Ugaritic literature, its literary character and its literary legacy in the bible. She is married and has two children. She paints and reads for her pleasure. At the present she is writing her dissertation, which presents a close reading on the Ugaritic Narrative texts from a literary perspective. “I am honored to be one of the recipients of the The Gorgias Book Grant. This Book Grant will aid me to specialize in my studies, and will allow me to deepen my knowledge in my main fields of interest.

Kyle Smith earned his BA (Philosophy) and MA (Early Christian Studies) at the University of Notre Dame and is presently pursuing his PhD in Early Christianity at Duke University under the direction of Professors Lucas Van Rompay and Elizabeth Clark. Using acts of East-Syrian martyrs, as well Greek, Armenian, and other Syriac sources, his dissertation will consider the construction of Christian identity in fifth-century Persia. He plans to put the Gorgias Book Grant toward acquisition of Bedjan’s Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum.

Ehud Ben Zvi met George Kiraz when both were beginning to develop open access, peer reviewed, academic journals in their respective areas, and served in APEJR (Association of Peer-Reviewed [Academic] Electronic Journals in the area of Religion), at the time a very needed association. Since then he was impressed by George’s devotion to publication and his service to scholarship. Ehud began contributing to Gorgias publications when the press began to publish the contents of the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures under the title Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures, and since the inception of the series Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures and its Contexts. Ever since, Ehud has been in continuous contact with the Press, commenting on projects and providing academic support on matters of Hebrew Bible.

Ehud specializes in the intellectual history of ancient Israel, and Hebrew Bible texts. He focuses on prophetic books, constructions of the past in ancient Yehud, and matters of history and historiography. He is a professor in the department of History and Classics and the Interdisciplinary Program of Religious Studies of the University of Alberta, in Canada. He is a former president of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies and presently serves as chair of the task force for international cooperation of the Society of Biblical Literature. He holds a doctorate in Religious Studies (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament) from Emory University, an MA in Jewish history (early periods) from Tel Aviv University and a BA and BSc.

Ben Zvi is the author of commentaries/monographs on several prophetic books (Hosea, Jonah, Obadiah, Micah, Zephaniah), and a recent volume on Chronicles. He has edited several books, co-authored a book for teaching intermediate Hebrew with his students, and many articles/chapters in books. He is the founder and general editor of the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures.

When asked to say a few words to e-Gorgias readers, Ehud said “George Kiraz has being doing a superb job. I noticed in George a true desire to advance scholarship by making works accessible to scholars and students. Gorgias continues to provide reprints of significant works in the history of the Near East and related cultures but is moving more and more into the publication of new works. I have high expectations of the series ‘Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures and its Contexts.’ I hope it will become an important, established series in the near future, and of course, I am delighted that the contents of the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures are published by Gorgias Press.

	Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures I By Ehud Ben Zvi ISBN 1-59333-310-2 Hardback, $189 (BiblioPerks™ $151.20)
This volume incorporates all of the articles and reviews published from 1996 to 2003 in the highly respected electronic Journal of Hebrew Scriptures (JHS). Boasting a list of recognized names in the field of Hebrew Bible studies, this publication includes dozens of articles and over one hundred book reviews.
	Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures II By Ehud Ben Zvi ISBN 978-1-59333-612-7 Hardback, $160 (BiblioPerks™ $128.00)
This volume incorporates all the articles and reviews published from 2004 to 2005 in the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures.
	Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures III By Ehud Ben Zvi ISBN 978-1-59333-976-0 Hardback, $125 (BiblioPerks™ $100.00)
This volume incorporates all the articles and reviews published in the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures in 2006. It includes contributions by R. D. Holmstedt, J. Wöhrle, W. K. Gilders, A. Pinker, S. S. Scatolini Apóstolo, J. M. Tebes, R. Benun, D. M. Carr, J. J. Collins, F. W. (Chip) Dobbs-Allsop, A. Kalmanofsky, Yung Suk Kim, G. N. Knoppers, E. Ben Zvi, R. L. Hubbard, Jr., R. W. Klein, M. A. Throntveit, and I. Kalimi. The review section includes more than forty reviews.

"very welcome contribution to the study of..." so goes more reviews of Gorgias books

Brock's Bible in the Syriac Tradition reviewed by Robin B. Salters of University of St Andrews in Theological Book Review (19/2, 2007, pg 16).

"This is a very welcome contribution to the study of the Syriac Bible. Originally written for a MA course in Syriac Studies at the St Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute, India, this second edition has been brought up to date and the bibliography expanded.

.... The final section is an invaluable bibliography, some twenty three pages long. Written by one of the world's foremost Syriac scholars, this book cannot but succeed in enhancing the study of the Bible in Syriac."

Two reviews of Gorgias books have also recently appeared in RBL.

Hallote, Rachel, Bible, Map, and Spade: The American Palestine Exploration Society, Frederick Jones Bliss, and the Forgotten Story of Early American Biblical Archaeology

According to reviewer Eric M. Meyers, “Hallote makes the very important point that is often overlooked in the history of the discipline of biblical archaeology, that America and Americans played a very important role in the early history of the discipline in the nineteenth century.”

…

“Hallote elaborates on this theological aspect of American interests in contrast to others at the same time who focused on Mesopotamia in a more scientific manner (5, 69–77). Hallote also carefully explores the relation between APES [American Palestinian Exploration Society] and the British Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF), founded in 1865, and she attributes the demise of APES to its more narrowly conceived, religious aims (51–68). Whatever the reasons, this study of APES in its larger context sheds unprecedented and important light on an important moment in the intellectual history of Holy Land studies in America.”

“…the book makes for exciting reading for anyone interested in the history of the field or just in nineteenth-century American or Middle East history.”

To read the full review click here.

Childers, J. W., and D. C. Parker, eds., Transmission and Reception: New Testament Text- Critical and Exegetical Studies

As reviewer Erroll F. Rhodes of American Bible Society outlines,

“This Festschrift, dedicated to Carroll D. Osburn on his sixty-fifth birthday, is a reflection of the range of his teaching and research interests. The sixteen essays offered here by his colleagues and friends deal with particular issues relating to the reception of the New Testament text, the interplay between the text and the cultures in which they were produced and preserved. The essays are ordered under the two rubrics of ‘transmission’ and ‘reception,’ with the first nine essays broadly focused on the theme of textual criticism and the seven following on contextual and interpretive factors.”

For the full review click here.

Dr. James F. McGrath, Associate Professor of Religion, Butler University, Indianapolis, has also recently posted a review of Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley's, The Great Stem of Souls...

"Buckley’s book The Great Stem of Souls derives its title from a phrase used to designate the Mandaean community. It is found in the colophons of Mandaean manuscripts, which not only list the scribes who copied the manuscript, but at times also refer to contemporary events and concerns affecting the Mandaeans in the time and place in which the copying occurred. It is these colophons, often not translated together with the Mandaean texts with which they are connected, that are the focus of Buckley's study. She is to be thanked for making more information about such materials, and in some cases translations and/or summaries of their contents at length, available to a wider scholarly community."

"...I recommend the book enthusiastically to anyone who is beginning or continuing research on the Mandaeans, or plans to do so in the near future."

To read the full review, click here.

	The Bible in the Syriac Tradition (English Version) By Sebastian Brock ISBN 1-59333-300-5 Paperback, $38 (BiblioPerks™ $30.40)
This is a basic introduction to the various Syriac translations of the Bible and the ways in which they were used in the Syriac tradition. After an initial discussion of the general problems of biblical translation, the different surviving Syriac translations are outlined, as well as biblical manuscripts, lectionaires, printed editions, and translations. A reception history of the Syriac Bible covers the ways in which it has been interpreted, the commentary tradition, its use in preaching, in liturgy, and in spirituality. An appendix offers some comparative samples (in translation) to illustrate some of the differences between the different Syriac translations.
	Bible, Map and Spade By Rachel Hallote ISBN 1-59333-347-1 Hardback, $99 (BiblioPerks™ $79.20)
This volume resurrects the forgotten history of early American involvement in biblical archaeology. Frederick Jones Bliss, an American from a prominent missionary family, is central to the story as he was the first of any nationality to scientifically excavate the tells of Palestine.
	Transmission and Reception: New Testament Text-Critical and Exegetical Studies By J. W. Childers and D. C. Parker ISBN 1-59333-367-6 Hardback, $99 (BiblioPerks™ $79.20)
Exploring various topics pertaining to the transmission and reception of the New Testament, this volume presents sixteen new studies that bear important implications for textual criticism, New Testament interpretation, and understanding the formative impact of the New Testament text on Early Christianity.
	The Great Stem of Souls By Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley ISBN 1-59333-338-2 Hardback, $99 (BiblioPerks™ $79.20)
Mandaean priests, representatives of a religious heritage that can be traced back to Late Antique Mesopotamia, still copy their ancient literature by hand. The Great Stem of Souls is a study of the colophons –postscripts at the end of each text – that are appended to most Mandaean documents. A study of the contents of the colophons provides a framework for reconstructing Mandaean history.

Gorgias will be attending the Mid-Atlantic Regional SBL meeting on March 27-28, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency New Brunswick, 2 Albany Street, New Brunswick, NJ.

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