The History of the Jacob Cycle, in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv University will host a conference on “The History of the Jacob Cycle” on 17-18 December.

This international conference is part of the Sinergia project on “The History of the Pentateuch” funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Here is the program:

Monday, December 17

09:00-09:15 – Coffee and Gathering
09:15–09:30 – Introduction to the Jacob Track in the Sinergia Project:
Aims and Achievements (Israel Finkelstein, Oded Lipschits,
Christophe Nihan, Thomas Römer, Konrad Schmid)

09:30–11:00 – Compilation, Redaction and Reception of the Jacob Cycle
Chair: Oded Lipschits

Konrad Schmid: Shifting Political Theologies in the Literary
Development of the Jacob Cycle
Dalit Rom Shiloni: Genesis 31: A Key to Question the Compilation of
the Jacob Stories

11:00–11:30 – Coffee Break

11:30–13:00

Guy Darshan: Jacob Traditions and their Reception in Prophetic Literature
Meira Polliack: The Priestly Account of the End of Jacob’s Life: A New Proposal

13:00–14:30 – Lunch Break

14:30–16:00 – The Jacob Cycle in its Historical Context
Chair: Israel Finkelstein

Christian Frevel: Jacob as the Father of the Twelve Tribes (Genesis
29–31): Literary and Historical Considerations
Friederike Neumann: Jacob, Laban and the Two Daughters: Insights into
the Formation of the Jacob-Laban-Story (Genesis 29–31)

16:00–16:30 – Coffee Break

16:30–18:45
Thomas Römer: How Jacob Became Israel: Thoughts on Genesis 28 and 32
Jakob Wöhrle: Jacob from Israel and Jacob from Judah Reflections upon
the Formation and the Historical Backgrounds of the Jacob Story
Benedikt Hensel: Israel and Edom in the Jacob Narrative

Tuesday, December 18

09:00-09:15 – Coffee and Gathering

09:00–10:30 – Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on the Pre-P
Jacob Cycle
Chair: Christophe Nihan

Assaf Kleiman: Aram and Israel in the Northern Gilead: A Long-Term Perspective
Omer Sergi: The Jacob Cycle and Israelite Identity: Resurrecting
Israel’s Association of Kin

10:30–11:00 – Coffee Break

11:00–13:15 – Bethel: Archaeology and Its Role in the Jacob Cycle
Chair: Konrad Schmid

Aaron Tavger: “And He Called the Name of that Place Bethel” (Genesis
28:19): Archaeology and Geographical-History at the Sanctuary of
Bethel
Oded Lipschits: Archaeology and Text, Text and Archaeology:
Methodological Notes and Bethel as a Case-Study
Israel Finkelstein: Bethel: What is There and What “Should be There”
(to Fit a Theory), But is Not There

I’m looking forward to it! 🙂
Fore more information, please visit the project’s website.