- Department of Religious Studies
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
9201 University City Blvd
Charlotte, NC 28223
USA - (704) 687-5188
John C. Reeves
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Religious Studies, Faculty Member
- Bible, Jewish Folklore, Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, Rabbinical literature (The Mishnah, Babylonian and Palestinian Talmudim, aggadic midrashim), Syriac literature, and 11 moreIslamic Studies, Manichaeism, Gnosticism, Biblical Studies, Rabbinic Literature, Qur'anic Studies, Quranic Studies, Jewish Mysticism, Iranian Studies, Esotericism, and History of Reception of Biblical Textsedit
- John C. Reeves is Blumenthal Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Reli... moreJohn C. Reeves is Blumenthal Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research agenda, broadly construed, revolves around the study of the religions practiced in the Mediterranean world, the Near East, and Iran from roughly 600 BCE through the Middle Ages. He is particularly interested in exploring and unpacking aspects of the literary and historical relationships among the varieties of indigenous, Jewish, Christian, Manichaean, Zoroastrian, gnostic, and Muslim communities that flourished during this period. He also studies the possible preservation and manipulation of what appear to be older formulations of biblical and biblically-allied compositions among chronologically later (sometimes much later) literary contexts and the questions such "fossils" provoke about our standard understandings of biblical and wider Near Eastern literary history.
He is at present actively pursuing three separate monograph projects: (1) a compilation and analysis (together with Annette Yoshiko Reed) of a huge library of literature associated with the biblical character Enoch gleaned from Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic language sources; (2) a new annotated translation of the Syriac Cave of Treasures, along with some closely affiliated literature; and (3) a synthetic study of so-called "Chaldean dualism" as manifested in medieval Christian, Jewish, and Muslim sources.edit
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Assembles citations of and references to writings attributed to the biblical antediluvian forefather Enoch in post-biblical Jewish, Christian, and Muslim literary sources (ranging in age from roughly the third century BCE up through the... more
Assembles citations of and references to writings attributed to the biblical antediluvian forefather Enoch in post-biblical Jewish, Christian, and Muslim literary sources (ranging in age from roughly the third century BCE up through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries CE) into one convenient collection, and compares, classifies, and analyzes these references and citations in order to develop a clearer picture of the scope and range of the corpus of works attributed to Enoch and his subsequent inter-religious avatars.
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This book translates and assesses the importance of a number of Arabic, Persian, Syriac, and Hebrew language testimonies for a better understanding of the cultural importance of what many scholars characterize as the first "world religion."
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Provides an English language anthology of a series of influential Jewish apocalypses emanating from the Near East from roughly the early seventh to the mid-twelfth centuries.
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This volume examines the transmission of biblical pseudepigraphic literature and motifs from their largely Jewish cultural contexts in Palestine to developing gnostic milieux of Syria and Mesopotamia, particularly that one lying behind... more
This volume examines the transmission of biblical pseudepigraphic literature and motifs from their largely Jewish cultural contexts in Palestine to developing gnostic milieux of Syria and Mesopotamia, particularly that one lying behind the birth and growth of Manichaeism. It surveys biblical pseudepigraphic literary activity in the late antique Near East, devoting special attention to revelatory works attributed to the five biblical forefathers who are cited in the Cologne Mani Codex.
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Seeks to demonstrate that the motifs of Jewish Enochic literature, in particular those of the story of the Watchers and their giant progeny, form the skeletal structure of the third century dualist prophet Mani's cosmogonical teachings.
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An edited volume of nine essays from scholars who center their research on the intersections of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic literary traditions. These essays explore various aspects of the textual and behavioral connections... more
An edited volume of nine essays from scholars who center their research on the intersections of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic literary traditions. These essays explore various aspects of the textual and behavioral connections discernible among these three major Near Eastern religious communities.
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An edited volume containing ten solicited essays, all of which seek to advance and stimulate the study of the "afterlife" of Jewish pseudepigrapha by presenting some considerations of their employment in a variety of temporally subsequent... more
An edited volume containing ten solicited essays, all of which seek to advance and stimulate the study of the "afterlife" of Jewish pseudepigrapha by presenting some considerations of their employment in a variety of temporally subsequent texts and contexts.
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Twenty-two essays contributed by the same number of scholars to honor Prof. Ben Zion Wacholder of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion by his colleagues, former students, friends, and admirers.
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Alexander Kulik, ed., A Guide to Early Jewish Texts and Traditions in Christian Transmission (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 481-96.
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Alexander Kulik, ed., A Guide to Early Jewish Texts and Traditions in Christian Transmission (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 469-80.
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Alexander Kulik, ed., A Guide to Early Jewish Texts and Traditions in Christian Transmission (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 195-210.
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Matthias Henze and Liv Ingeborg Lied, eds., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Fifty Years of the Pseudepigrapha Section at the SBL (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2019), 415-421.
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Garry W. Trompf, Gunner B. Mikkelsen, and Jay Johnston, eds., The Gnostic World (London & New York: Routledge, 2019), 307-320.
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Matthew Goff, Loren T. Stuckenbruck, and Enrico Morano, eds., Ancient Tales of Giants from Qumran and Turfan: Contexts, Traditions, and Influences (WUNT 360; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016), 199-211.
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The 123rd Cathedral Homily of the early sixth-century Monophysite patriarch Severus of Antioch features a series of textual citations drawn from a Manichaean work. Modern scholars have noted certain affinities these citations share with... more
The 123rd Cathedral Homily of the early sixth-century Monophysite patriarch Severus of Antioch features a series of textual citations drawn from a Manichaean work. Modern scholars have noted certain affinities these citations share with materials contained in prior Christian polemicists such as Titus of Bostra and Theodoret, and they have offered largely speculative suggestions about the possible identity of the written source. The present paper seeks to advance the critical discussion surrounding this source by calling attention to the existence of what appear to be 'later' versions of this same source in some Arabic language testimonia about Mani and Manichaeism.
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Early commentators and traditionists embed and amplify Q 2:102, an enigmatic allusion to angelic complicity in the transmission of esoteric knowledge to humankind, within a rich layer of interpretive lore frequently bearing the rubric... more
Early commentators and traditionists embed and amplify Q 2:102, an enigmatic allusion to angelic complicity in the transmission of esoteric knowledge to humankind, within a rich layer of interpretive lore frequently bearing the rubric ‘Tale of Hārūt and Mārūt.’ A close study of this verse alongside its external narrative embellishments uncovers a wealth of structural and contextual motifs that suggestively link the ‘Tale’ with biblical and parascriptural myths about ‘fallen angels’ and their perceived role in the corruption of antediluvian humanity. The present paper catalogs a representative number of these motifs, speculates about their mode of transmission, and offers some guidelines for analyzing the different versions of the ‘Tale’ which surface centuries later in medieval Jewish interpretive and mystical literature. Particular attention is devoted to unpacking the identity of the woman who is responsible for the seduction of the angels.
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Ibn al-Nadim's tenth-century Fihrist, long recognized as the purveyor of much valuable Manichaean lore, includes a Manichaean exposition of Genesis 2-4 that exhibits numerous affinities with both Jewish aggadic and gnostic exegetical... more
Ibn al-Nadim's tenth-century Fihrist, long recognized as the purveyor of much valuable Manichaean lore, includes a Manichaean exposition of Genesis 2-4 that exhibits numerous affinities with both Jewish aggadic and gnostic exegetical traditions. One of the more intriguing episodes featured in the exposition involves the deliverance of the infant Seth from demonic assault by a magically adept Adam. Some parallels to this specific narrative episode were subsequently discovered within the gradually expanding corpus of Middle Iranian Manichaean literature. The present essay seeks to direct attention to a heretofore unrecognized reflex of this mytheme within an Aramaic incantation stemming from lower Mesopotamia. The implications of this correspondence are explored.
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This essay calls attention to an unusual manuscript illustration included in two eighteenth-century Passover haggadot produced by Nathan ben Abraham Speyer of Breslau. The illustration apparently portrays the legendary visit of the... more
This essay calls attention to an unusual manuscript illustration included in two eighteenth-century Passover haggadot produced by Nathan ben Abraham Speyer of Breslau. The illustration apparently portrays the legendary visit of the prophet Habakkuk to Babylon, a journey whose purpose was to provide sustenance for Daniel during his sojourn in the den of lions. This legend forms part of the apocryphal 'Bel and the Dragon' narrative, an addition to the book of Daniel which achieved canonical status in Christian tradition. While it is puzzling that Speyer would have included a scene based upon Christian scripture, it must be remembered that traces of the 'Bel and the Dragon' story are present in rabbinic and medieval Jewish literature, including the Habakkuk episode which Speyer's drawing portrays. It seems likely that Speyer was recalling one of these Jewish sources when he produced his illustration.
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1QapGen 10.15 is translated by Joseph Fitzmyer as "... I burned incense on the altar ...." Yet comparison of this line with the closely parallel passage Jub. 6:2-3 and the use of the causative stem of the verb QTR in both Hebrew and... more
1QapGen 10.15 is translated by Joseph Fitzmyer as "... I burned incense on the altar ...." Yet comparison of this line with the closely parallel passage Jub. 6:2-3 and the use of the causative stem of the verb QTR in both Hebrew and Aramaic suggests that it may be fat rather than incense that Noah is burning upon the altar. If so, then 1QapGen may display a ritual affinity with Jubilees and the Qumran Temple Scroll.
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Annotated English translation.