Category: News

  • Summer School on Biblical Hebrew Poetry: Song of Songs (Leuven)

    Summer School on Biblical Hebrew Poetry: Song of Songs (Leuven)

    7-11 September 2020

    International Summer School on Biblical Hebrew Poetry: The Song of Songs and its Reception in Judaism 

    This Summer School will provide a thorough investigation of the Song of Song’s poetry and its reception in Judaism, from the Rabbinic period to the Middle Ages. International experts in the field will offer lectures and workshops on the following contents: The Song’s poetry against the background of Biblical Hebrew Poetry. Sound play, parallelism, metaphor, and metonymy. Poetic construction of gender. The Song’s erotic and mystical language. Poetic pace and structure, coherence and cohesion. Poetic construction of space. Triggering emotions through poetry. Rabbinic interpretation: Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah. The Song in the early synagogue and in piyyut. Targum to the Song of Songs. Medieval Jewish exegesis: From Rashi to Maimonides. The Song in medieval Hebrew poetry between East and West.

     Information and registration: https://theo.kuleuven.be/en/research/research_units/ru_bible/biblical-hebrew-poetry

    Deadline for registration : 31 May 2020

    Contacts : danilo.verde@kuleuven.bejoachim.yeshaya@kuleuven.be

  • Academic Conference: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Travel Experiences (3th BC-8th CE)

    From:Mo 27-01-2020 08:30
    Until:We 29-01-2020 14:00
    Where:Old Courtroom, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen (38 Oude Boteringestraat) & Film Room, Protestant Theological University (25 Oude Ebbingestraat)
    Academic conference

    Travel and pilgrimage have become central research topics in recent years. Some archaeologists and historians have applied globalization theories to ancient intercultural connections. Classicists have rediscovered travel as a literary topic in Greek and Roman writing. Scholars of early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been rethinking long-familiar pilgrimage practices in new interdisciplinary contexts.

    This conference aims to contribute to the study of ancient travel in two ways. First, our focus will be on experiences of travel. Our main question will be: How did travelers in the ancient world make sense of their journeys, real or imaginary, and of the places they visited? Second, by treating Jewish, Christian, and Islamic experiences together, we seek to develop a longue durée perspective and explore the ways in which travel experiences across these three traditions resembled each other. By focusing on “experiences of travel,” we hope to foster interaction between the study of ancient travel in the humanities and that of broader human experience in the social sciences.

    Programme

    View the full programme

    More information

    Guests are welcome to join all sessions. Please register for participation with Susanne Luther (s.k.luther@rug.nl).

  • The Joint Meeting of OTW/SOTS/OTWSA, August 2018

    The Joint Meeting of OTW/SOTS/OTWSA, August 2018

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    Report of the Joint Meeting 2018
    Violence in the Hebrew Bible: Between Text and Reception

    Het Oudtestamentisch Werkgezelschap in Nederland en België
    The Society for Old Testament Study (United Kingdom)
    Die Ou-Testamentische Werkgemeenskap van Suid Afrika

    22–24 August 2018, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen.

    The Joint Meeting 2018 of the Oudtestamentisch Werkgezelschap (OTW), the Society for Old Testament Study (SOTS), and the Old Testament Society of South Africa (OTWSA/OTSSA) focused on texts of violence in the Hebrew Bible, as well as their often problematic reception history. Point of departure was the observation that 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 was 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.

    The Joint Meeting 2018 was the 230th meeting of the OTW, the 17th Joint Meeting of OTW and SOTS, the 3rd Joint Meeting of OTW and OTWSA/OTSSA, and the 1st of OTW, SOTS, and OTWSA/OTSSA. Because the Joint Meeting 2018 was a great success, the president of the OTW proposed to explore the possibility to integrate the OTSSA within the system of Joint Meetings between the OTW and OTSSA. Both the president of the OTSSA and the secretary of the SOTS were in principle positive with regard to this suggestion. As a first step, both the board of OTW and of the OTSSA will submit a proposal to their members. If they agree, a formal request will be sent to the board of the SOTS.

    Participation

    58 scholars from 3 continents and 12 countries participated in the Joint Meeting 2018: 27 OTW-members, 12 SOTS-members, 15 OTWSA/OTSSA-members, and 4 junior researchers.

    Papers Read

    I Violence in the Hebrew Bible: General Reflections

    Jacques van Ruiten (University of Groningen), Violence in the Hebrew Bible: Between Text and Reception

    David J.A. Clines (University of Sheffield), The Ubiquitous Language of Violence in the Hebrew Bible

    Heather A. McKay (Edge Hill University), Violence with Humour: Is this Possible in the Hebrew Bible?

    II Violence in the Torah: Text and Reception

    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)

    Miracle Ajah (National Open University of Nigeria), Narratives of Violence in Numbers 25: Between Text and Reception

    III Violence in the Former Prophets: Text and Reception

    Cornelis de Vos (University of Münster), Violence in the Book of Joshua

    Ntozakhe Cezula (University of Stellenbosch), Two Poles of the Exodus: Conquest the Oppressive Pole as Depicted in Joshua 6:21

    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

    Catherine Lewis-Smith (University of Cambridge), Was Samson’s Mother Raped? How Sexual Violence is Handled in Critical Responses to Judges 13

    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

    Paul Sanders (Protestant Theological University, Amsterdam), Sevenfold Assassination Appeasing God and Humans: 2 Samuel 21

    Izaak de Hulster (University of Helsinki), yhwh’s War with Whom? Foreign Deities and the Biblical Portrayal of Kings

    III Violence in the Later Prophets: Text and Reception

    Eric Peels (Theological University Apeldoorn), Divine Tears because of Divine Violence? God’s Lament in the Oracle against Moab in Jeremiah 48

    Willem S. Boshoff (University of South Africa), Between Violence and Pornography in Revenge: Hosea 2:4–15 (Heb) and the Shift from one Perpetrator to Another

    Wim de Bruin (Stolwijk), Reading the Book of Micah as Mediation between two Perspectives on the Enemy

    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

    III Violence in the Writings: Text and Reception

    Matthew J. Lynch (Westminster Theological Centre), Scheming Violence in the Psalms

    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

    Tsaurayi K. Mapfeka (King’s College London), The Massacres in Susa and Beyond: The Bloodbath of Esther 9 as Reflective of Life in Diaspora

    Publication

    The papers of the Joint Meeting 2018 will be submitted for publication in a volume of the series Oudtestamentische Studiën (Brill), which will be peer-reviewed.

    Organization

    OTW-Board: Jacques van Ruiten (University of Groningen) and Koert van Bekkum (Evangelical Faculty Leuven / Theological University Kampen), with the support of the staff of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Groningen.

    Funds and sponsors

    The conference was made possible by generous grants of the

    Royal Academy of Sciences in the Netherlands (KNAW);
    Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Groningen;
    Theological University of Apeldoorn;
    the Theological University of Kampen.

  • Joint Meeting OTW/SOTS/OTWSA

    Joint Meeting OTW/SOTS/OTWSA

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    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

  • New publications by J. Cornelis de Vos

    New publications by J. Cornelis de Vos

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    OTW member J.C. de Vos (Münster) has recently authored and edited three new volumes.

    J. Cornelis de Vos, Rezeption und Wirkung des Dekalogs in jüdischen und christlichen Schriften bis 200 n. Chr (AJEC 95), Leiden: Brill, 2016, ISBN: 978-90-04-32438-1.

    In this publication, De Vos examines the impact and reception of the Decalogue up to 200 CE, scrutinizing the versions of the Decalogue, and the history of the Decalogue in ancient Jewish writings, the New Testament, and early Christian writings.

    J. Cornelis de Vos and Hermut Löhr (eds.), with the assistance of Juliane Ta Van, “You Shall Not Kill”: The Prohibition of Killing in Ancient Religions and Cultures (JAJ.S 27), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2018, ISBN: 978-3-525-55268-1.

    “You shall not kill” seems to be a self-evident norm, both in modernity and in antiquity. But what does this prohibition exactly mean?  The central question of this volume is whether and how biblical and non-biblical killing prohibitions function as a norm in antiquity. The volume covers a time spanning from the Ancient Near East up to the Christian patristic era with a look forward to Martin Luther.

    Økland, Jorunn, J. Cornelis de Vos, and Karen Wenell (eds.), Constructions of Space III: Biblical Spatiality and the Sacred (Library of Hebrew Bible. Old Testament studies 540), London et al.: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016.

    Constructions of Space III engages with the great variety of sacred spaces set out and given meaning in the texts of the Hebrew Bible, early Jewish literature and the New Testament. Spatial-critical, as well as anthropological, philosophical and narrative perspectives are interacted with in creative ways and brought to bear on the spaces encountered within the texts. Among the concepts and themes explored are oppositional aspects such as holiness and danger/the profane, fear and hope, utopia and dystopia, and purity and impurity. What emerges is a dynamic and lively set of perspectives that illuminates relationships between texts, spaces and communities.

  • Festschrift for Eric Peels on the occasion of his 25th jubilee as professor of Old Testament Studies

    Festschrift for Eric Peels on the occasion of his 25th jubilee as professor of Old Testament Studies

    Twenty-five years ago, on January 13, 1993, Eric Peels (1956) inaugurated as professor of Old Testament Studies at the Theological University of Apeldoorn. To celebrate this anniversary, colleagues and friends offered him this Festschrift.  The Festschrift comprises twenty-eight articles from Bible scholars and systematic theologians, specialists in Semitic languages and Assyriology, and a philosopher. The topics addressed in the articles all relate to the theme of the research program of the section ‘Biblical Exegesis and Systematic Theology’ (BEST) of the Apeldoorn and Kampen theological universities: ‘Who Is Like You Among the Gods? The One and Three in a Pluralistic Context’. The book can be ordered here

  • Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman named professor of Reception History of the Hebrew Bible in the Ancient World

    Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman named professor of Reception History of the Hebrew Bible in the Ancient World

    The Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam has named OTW member Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman professor of Reception History of the Hebrew Bible in the Ancient World . More information can be found here.