Easter Week Conference Explores Jesus and the Temple

A quartet of internationally-renowned religious scholars are scheduled to visit Utah State University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences for a one-day conference considering the subject “Passion and Passover: Jesus and the Temple.”

The event is scheduled for the Tuesday before Easter Sunday.

The conference runs from 8:45 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday, March 31, in USU’s Caine Performance Hall and considers what Philip Barlow, CHaSS professor of religious studies, describes as “the relation between Jesus the Jew and the temple that so defined Jewish practice and culture in first century Jerusalem.”

Speakers at the daylong conference include James Charlesworth, Princeton Theological Seminary professor of New Testament language and literature; Gary Rendsburg, professor of Jewish history at Rutgers University; Professor of Biblical Archeology, Dan Bahat from the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto; and George Zervos, associate professor and chair in the Philosophy and Religious Department at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

The event is free and open to the public. Organizers suggest those interested in attending visit the Temple Studies website for more information and to register. There will be time provided for an “on your own” lunch.

When thinking of Jesus and his relationship to the Temple, many first consider the Biblical recounting of him clearing the Temple of money changers, however new research and scholarship regarding Jesus and his relationship to the Temple involves a much more nuanced and complex relationship that also explores the functional and spiritual importance of the Temple in the daily lives of Jews — including Jesus and his followers — at the time.

Suggested reading prior to the conference is, Jesus and Temple: Textual and Archaeological Explorations. The book, edited by Charlesworth, includes nine essays exploring the latest scholarship regarding Jesus and his followers and their relationship to the Temple of Jerusalem. The book may be purchased through Amazon.com.

Along with the four lectures, attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions at the conclusion of each address as well as following Charlesworth’s closing remarks.

For more information, or to register for the conference, visit templestudies.org and click on the “conferences” banner.

Related links:

• USU’s Religious Studies Program
• USU Department of History
• USU College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Writer and contact: Kristin Middaugh, CHaSS communications director, kristin.middaugh@usu.edu