Saturday Morning Lecture in English: “Rewriting the Children of Jacob”

This talk in English (following Shabbat morning services) will present ancient Jewish stories about the children of Jacob from the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial world. In retelling and reshaping the characters and stories found in Genesis, ancient Jews used these tales to consider such big questions as “who is a Jew?” “How should a Jew interact with their non-Jewish neighbours?”  “What is an ethical life?” and many others topics which remain relevant.

The lecture will be delivered by Gillian Glass, double MA in Classics (Greek and Roman Studies) from Université Laval (Quebec) and Université de Strasbourg (France), is currently working on her doctorate of religious studies at the University of British Columbia (Canada) on epiphany (gods and angels appearing to humans) in comparative literature in the late Hellenistic and Roman Imperial periods. Her research compares Greek language texts written by Jews, Christians, and pagans in order to understand cross-cultural beliefs about the interactions between the mundane and the divine.