Collins and Najman 2024 - Origins and Resilience: The Vitality of Judaism

Paul Collins (Keeper of the Middle East Department at the British Museum) and Professor Hindy Najman (Oriel College, University of Oxford) present a lecture titled: Origins and Resilience: The Vitality of Judaism, outlining their plans for a major new exhibition.
The origins of Judaism in the period 900 BCE to 700 CE can be explored through a combination of archaeology, art and texts. It is a story of a Jewish world immersed in and imprinted by the peoples among whom they lived - Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans and Arabs - and out of which emerged concepts fundamental to the development of early Christianity and Islam.
The result was an outpouring of extraordinary architecture and visual art as well as astonishing literature, poetry and theology.
The story has never been told through a public exhibition and this talk will explore early thinking about how one might be made a reality, challenging misconceptions about Judaism and its place in antiquity.
There is an introduction by AIAS Chair Sarah Pearce, then the lecture starts at 4:37 minutes.