018
Fellner awards to honor best articles in BR and Biblical Archaeology Review
Four distinguished judges have been selected for the fourth annual Fellner Awards. Sponsored by the Leopold and Clara M. Fellner Charitable Foundation, the awards honor the best two articles in BR and in its companion magazine Biblical Archaeology Review in 1990. First-prize winners will each receive $500; runners-up will receive $250 apiece.
The judges for BR are Kent H. Richards, professor of Old Testament at the Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado, and Sarah J. Tanzer, associate professor of Judaism and Christian origins at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois. The judges for Biblical Archaeology Review are John C. H. Laughlin, professor of religion at Averett College, Danville, Virginia, and Norma Kershaw, retired from the art history department at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.
Kent Richards has held numerous executive positions in the Society of Biblical Literature and at Scholars Press, where he edits the Biblical Scholarship in North America series. He is currently writing books on Hebrew poetry and on Ezra and Nehemiah.
Sarah Tanzer received a Ph.D. with highest honors in the study of religion from Harvard University in 1987. Her book The Sages of Qumran will soon be published in the Harvard Semitic Museum Monograph series by Scholars Press.
The Fellner Foundation was established by Leopold and Clara Fellner to perpetuate the family name. The trustee of the foundation is Frederick L. Simmons, Esq., of Los Angeles. The winners of the fourth Fellner Awards will be announced in forthcoming issues of BR and Biblical Archaeology Review.
New appointments at Harvard Divinity School
Two authorities on the Hebrew Bible, Peter Machinist and James Kugel, have joined the faculty of the Harvard Divinity School (HDS). Both also hold chairs in Harvard University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
Peter Machinist recently took over the second oldest chair in America, the Hancock Professor in Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages, from the retiring Frank Moore Cross, a member of the BR Editorial Advisory Board and of the Dead Sea Scrolls editing team. In addition to this expertise on the Hebrew Bible, Machinist specializes in Mesopotamian studies, Semitic languages and Syro-Palestinian history. His most recent book is Letters from Priests in the Time of Esarhaddon (University of Helsinki Press, forthcoming).
James Kugel, Starr Professor of Classical and Modern Jewish and Hebrew Literature, has also taught at Yale University and City University of New York, where he was a Mellon Faculty Fellow. Formerly poetry editor of Harper’s magazine, Kugel has published extensively on biblical poetry, including the controversial The Idea of Biblical Poetry (Yale University Press, 1981). In 1990, Kugel published three books, one of which, On Being a Jew (Harper & Row), became a Book of the Month Club selection.
The presence of Kugel and Machinist on the Harvard Divinity School faculty continues a tradition begun in 1854, when HDS became the first theological school to offer lectures on religions other than Christianity.
Three Exhibits
“The Apocalypse and Other Visions in Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts,” on view through June 30 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, explores images of the end of the world and other graphic tales as portrayed in 26 manuscripts from the Middle Ages. Scenes from the Revelation to John, or the Apocalypse, whose powerful imagery gripped medieval readers, dominate the exhibit. One centerpiece, a 13th-century Gothic Apocalypse, probably from London, contains 82 delicate drawings vividly illustrating nearly every word of the narrative.
Later in the summer, the Getty Museum will delve deeper into medieval life and religion with “Monasteries and Manuscripts,” running from July 16 through September 29. Treasures such as the Romanesque Gospels from the Helmarshausen Abbey and the Breviary written by Sigenulfus at the Benedictine Abbey of Montecassino will be featured. The Getty Museum is at 17985 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, CA; (213) 459–7611.
The art of Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937), the foremost African-American artist at the turn of the century, is the subject of a major retrospective, featuring more than 100 paintings and drawings, at the Detroit Institute of Arts through August 4. Long renowned for moving depictions of life after the Civil War, Tanner turned later in life to portrayals of biblical subjects. The Detroit Institute is at 5200 Woodward Ave.; (313) 833–2323.
Fellner awards to honor best articles in BR and Biblical Archaeology Review
