An extraordinary study by a researcher in the field of Talmud at Ben Gurion University and a bat researcher at Tel Aviv University has resulted in the development of an innovative tool for analyzing the social connections created between the sages of Judaism and Christianity in the first centuries AD
"The use of customer technologies from animal research, on ancient texts enabled an innovative point of view that connects disciplines," said Prof. Michal Bar-Asher Siegel, the editor of the study. The research findings were recently published in the prestigious journal - Humanities & Social Sciences Communications (Springer Nature).
While Judaism and Christianity are known as separate religions, in fact these two religions developed side by side. The old assumption was that the two developed independently after the "parting of the ways" in the first century AD, but new studies reveal a multi-layered system of interactions throughout the first centuries AD. This question has been investigated so far only based on a limited knowledge of the sources, but innovative research offers a completely new set of methods taken from computer science, for understanding the connections between Jews and Christians in late antiquity. Precisely the connection between an animal researcher and a text researcher succeeded in advancing the historical study of the relations between the Jews and the Christians in the first centuries AD.
Prof. Michal Bar Asher Siegel, Researcher in the Department of Israel Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev andProf. Yossi Yuval, the head of the Sagol School of Neuroscience and the head of the Laboratory for Sensory Perception and Cognition in the Department of Zoology at Tel Aviv University proposed to combine their research fields in order to analyze historical connections between religious communities. how? Based on the analysis of social relations between bats built by Prof. Yuval, Prof. Bar Asher Siegal made a visual diagram of the social relations between Christians and Jews. Instead of presenting interactions between people or places, the researchers presented literary interactions that indicate historical connections between religious communities, based on texts written by rabbis from Babylon and the Land of Israel as well as texts drawn from Christian traditions from the first century to the sixth century AD.
Yes, just like on Facebook or Instagram, the researchers were able to indicate relationships according to a sequence of connections, which developed over hundreds of years, in complex visual paintings.
The research reveals new insights into the relationship between the two communities. For example, rabbinical sources have been found that showed a polemical attitude towards early Christian traditions but more inclusive attitudes towards later Christian traditions. Moreover, the Jewish sources know the Christian sources from wider and wider geographical areas the later the texts are. The application of the analysis of the network of connections makes it possible to identify the most influential texts that indicate the importance of certain traditions for the two religious communities.
"This approach, which uses network mapping, is a tool for discovering new insights that are difficult to see from reading the locations alone, especially when using large networks," noted Prof. Yossi Yuval. Hence, the network that was built is not only a tool for describing the known data, but is a means by which the network can be enlarged and lead us to new scientific paths that are unknown today.
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Comments
There is no doubt that there was a development of the Jewish religion in the past. Until they decided to stay in the 14th century and to this day in yeshivas they still discuss the laws of slavery and read in the Bible how the windpipe of the cow goes down to the stomach and from there come the laws of kashrut?
Everything is kosher and financed by the taxes of course.
It seems to me that examining the relationship between prostitution, corruption, idolatry, Judaism and Christianity will produce much more fruitful scientific articles.
Sorry. With all due respect to the scientists, they try to post theories about connections between Jews and Christians based on unknown clues, which do not seem to have been in the minds of the people of those generations.
It's a shame that people use their blessed talents to engage in vanity.
What is this clickbait?
Not suitable for the level of knowledge.
If I understood correctly, they applied network analysis to historical texts? It seems that the columnist did not understand anything.
A bad article about an incomprehensible study - what's the deal with visualization that connects things that seem meaningless without a detailed explanation? Not understood at all
The connection, Efrat Assaf, is well explained. She is a researcher of texts and a researcher in the field of zoology. The context is a combination of methods.
I couldn't understand what he said except the connection. Everything else is a bit up in the air
A misleading title because there is no connection between bats and Jews and Christians. I expect from a scientific website that is accurate and not provocations.