Search

In this philological study we establish and reckon with the fact that the name Carpocrates was exceedingly rare and strange in antiquity. The rarity, we argue, was due to the name being a variant spelling or (purposeful) misspelling of the Greco-Egyptian deity Harpokrates. We also show how bizarre and even comical the name would have sounded to Hellenephone audiences. Greek parents, so far as the evidence suggests, were not naming their sons Carpocrates. We further explain how both the rarity and strangeness of the name functioned as a polemical weapon in the hands of some early Christian writers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two and a half decades a number of significant studies have altered the way in which the book of Judges is studied and understood. In 1987, Samuel Dragga drew attention to elements in the book that highlight the failure of Saul.1 A short while later in this journal, Mark Zvi Brettler advanced the view that a major theme in Judges is the promotion of Judah, often at the expense of Benjamin and the northern tribes. From this, Brettler suggested that much in the book should be read as allegory in which the Davidic dynasty is elevated at the expense of the house of Saul and the northern monarchy.2 Recently, others have built on the work of these scholars to argue persuasively and at greater length for the presence of anti-Saulide polemic throughout the book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]