Jacob Berman recently interviewed Samuel Zinner and Mark Mattison for his History Valley program on YouTube. You may view the interview here.
The Odes of Solomon: Jesus' Songbook
Mark M. Mattison’s new paperback, The Odes of Solomon: Jesus’ Songbook, was published September 2, 2021, the birthday of his son Gabriel, in loving memory of whom the book is dedicated. Fully illustrated with texts and translations, including textual variants, this version is based on the public domain translation The Odes of Solomon: The Nuhra Version (2021), and is heavily indebted to the groundbreaking work of Samuel Zinner, PhD.
The Odes of Solomon: The Nuhra Version (2021)
The revised version is here! With the 2021 update of The Nuhra Version, we’ve made several adjustments and fixed numerous discrepancies, mainly in the Annotations. The Odes of Solomon: The Nuhra Version (2020) and its annotations are still archived on the website and accessible under the menu option Translations > Others, but the revised 2021 version is even better.
The Nuhra Version on the Bible and Beyond
Last year, Shirley Paulson of Early Christian Texts posted a podcast interview about The Nuhra Project and our plans to develop the public domain Nuhra Version (2020) of The Odes of Solomon. Now that the public domain translation is complete, she’s posted a follow-up podcast interview highlighting some of our conclusions in the context of Jewish-Christian dialogue, together with an introductory essay on the Odes titled Jewish Wisdom and Christian Worship.
The Odes of Solomon: The Nuhra Version (2020)
It’s been months in the making, but Samuel and I are finally excited to announce the online publication of our fresh new translation of The Odes of Solomon: The Nuhra Version (2020), together with annotations listing textual variants and explaining our translation choices. We plan to post PDF copies of the translation and annotations on Academia.edu tomorrow.
As the odist would say, “Hallelujah!”
The Divine Feminine
The Odes of Solomon “provide a unique window into an ancient Eastern spirituality that otherwise remains largely obscure. Unlike the Western Church, which developed a propositional theology using the language of philosophy, Eastern followers of Jesus expressed their theology in the language of poetry — a fundamentally different, holistic approach. Among other things, these Eastern communities of faith celebrated the divine feminine in an intentional way.”
For more, see Mark M. Mattison’s article Gender-Bending Rhetorical Strategies in the Odes of Solomon, published this month by Christian Feminism Today.
Contemporary Musical Settings for Early Christian Hymns
In this next podcast interview on The Bible and Beyond, Natalie Renee Perkins, M.Div., and Deborah Niederer Saxon, PhD, chat together about Natalie’s contemporary musical setting of some of the odes. Deb, a scholar of ancient Christian texts, explains the feminine imagery, the reference to Sophia (Wisdom), and the purpose of ancient hymns used by both Jews and Christians before they diverged. Natalie, a professional singer, writer, and composer plays some of them on the podcast.
Bible and Beyond Podcast
Listen to The Bible and Beyond podcast interview of Mark M. Mattison and Samuel Zinner, PhD, by Shirley Paulson, PhD. In the interview, Zinner and Mattison talk about their new translation of the second-century Odes of Solomon. This collection of ancient hymns is not only a real monument of literature, but it transcends the borders of religious orthodoxy. Written before the early Jesus movements distinguished themselves from Judaism, it is equally at home with texts like the Gospel of John and the Dead Sea Scrolls.