Joint Meeting 2018, 22–24 August 2018, Groningen, The Netherlands
Theme: Violence in the Hebrew Bible: Between Text and Reception
Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen, Oude Boteringestraat 38, Court Room
Het Oudtestamentisch Werkgezelschap in Nederland en België
The Society for Old Testament Study (United Kingdom)
Die Ou-Testamentische Werkgemeenskap van Suid Afrika
The Joint Meeting of the Oudtestamentisch Werkgezelschap, the Society for Old Testament Study, and the Old Testament Society of South Africa 2018 focuses on texts of violence in the Hebrew Bible, as well as their often problematic reception history. Authoritative texts and traditions can be rewritten and adapted to new circumstances and insights. Texts are subject to a process of change. The study of the way in which these (authoritative) Biblical texts are produced and/or received in varying socio-historical circumstances discloses a range of theological and ideological perspectives. In reflecting on these issues, the central question is how to allow for the plurality of possible and realized meanings of a given text, while retaining the ability to form critical judgments regarding Biblical exegesis.
For more information and registration, please contact the secretary of the OTW Koert van Bekkum.
Program – Wednesday 22 August
13:30 Tea in Central Hall Faculty
14:00 Jacques van Ruiten (University of Groningen), Violence in the Hebrew Bible: Between Text and Reception
14:30–15:15 David J.A. Clines (University of Sheffield), The Ubiquitous Language of Violence in the Hebrew Bible
15:15–16:00 Heather A. McKay (Edge Hill University), Violence with Humour: Is this Possible in the Hebrew Bible?
16:00– 16:30 Break
16:30– 17:15 Christo Lombaard (University of South Africa), The Murderous God of the Akedah in Three Recent Public Discourses: a British Popular Anti-Religious Book, a US TV Series and a South African Poem (Or: Criteria for Godhood and Faith in Secular Media)
17:15–18:00 Miracle Ajah (National Open University of Nigeria), Narratives of Violence in Numbers 25: Between Text and Reception
18:00–18:15 Break
18:15–19:00 J. Cornelis de Vos (University of Münster), Violence in the Book of Joshua
19:00-19:45 Ntozakhe Cezula (University of Stellenbosch), Two Poles of the Exodus: Conquest the Oppressive Pole as Depicted in Joshua 6:21
19:45 Dinner
Thursday 23 August
9:00–9:45 June F. Dickie (University of KwaZulu-Natal), Jael: Mighty Hero, Exemplary Egalitarian, or Slippery Man-Slayer? Perspectives of Interpretation Then and Now of Judges 4–5
9:45–10:30 Catherine Lewis-Smith (University of Cambridge), Was Samson’s Mother Raped? How Sexual Violence is Handled in Critical Responses to Judges 13
10:30–10:45 Break
10:45–11:30 David Shepherd (Trinity College, Dublin), ‘Put Him to Death for the Life of his Brother’: the Problem of Bloodguilt and the Peculiar Death of Absalom
11:30–12:15 Paul Sanders (Protestant Theological University, Groningen and Amsterdam), Sevenfold Assassination Appeasing God and Humans: 2 Samuel 21
12:15-13:00 Izaak de Hulster (University of Helsinki), YHWH’s War with Whom? Foreign Deities and the Biblical Portrayal of Kings
13:00–14.15 Lunch
14:30– 17:30 Cultural Break – Visiting famous medieval churches in the Groningen countryside (English speaking tour guide)
17:30– 19:15 Dinner
19:30–20:15 Eric Peels (Theological University Apeldoorn), Divine Tears because of Divine Violence? God’s Lament in the Oracle against Moab in Jeremiah 48
20:15–21:00 Willem Boshoff (University of South Africa), Between Violence and Pornography in Revenge. Hosea 2:4–15 (Heb) and the Shift from one Perpetrator to Another
Friday 24 August
9:00–9:45 Wim de Bruin (Stolwijk), Reading the Book of Micah as Mediation between two Perspectives on the Enemy
9:45–10:30 Wilhelm J. Wessels (University of South Africa), A Critical Reflection on the Presentation and Reception of YHWH as a Violent Deity in the Book of Nahum
10:30–10:45 Break
10:45–11:30 Matthew J. Lynch (Westminster Theological Centre), Scheming Violence in the Psalms
11:30–12:15 Arie Versluis (Theological University Apeldoorn), ‘Happy is the One Who Dashes Your Infants Against the Rocks’: Reception History and Theological Interpretation of Psalm 137,9
12:15-13:00 Tsaurayi Mapfeka (King’s College London), The Massacres in Susa and Beyond: The Bloodbath of Esther 9 as Reflective of Life in Diaspora
13:00–14:00 Concluding Reflections, followed by informal lunch in Central Hall
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