About two weeks ago I returned from Wuppertal, Germany, where I participated in the 6th International Conference for the Septuaginta Deutsch research project.
You can read my preliminary post about this here. I thought I’d write up some follow-up thoughts about the event.

The Kirchliche Hochschule is a beautiful institution, located on a serene hilltop just a short walk from the city center. All told there were about fifty people at the conference, and from all around the world. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that I was the only American there. I arrived after a very long journey from California (~20hrs) on Wednesday evening, and spent the next 24 hours recuperating from the time change (with some help from the local pilsner and generous portions of bratwurst). The conference began on Thursday afternoon with four keynote lectures (three of which were in German, naturally).

During the course of the next two days the lectures split into three simultaneous sessions of two papers apiece. What was really nice about this conference was the pace of it all. Between each paper there was a fifteen minute break, and between each session there was either a coffee break or lunch. The benefit was to allow for conversation about the papers, exchanging ideas, and, of course, fueling up on caffeine.

Another great aspect of this conference was its excellent organization. Room and board were all included and all on site, which made it significantly less stressful because you didn’t have to worry about navigating a new place and foraging for food. The meals were another opportunity to mingle with scholars from all over the world and converse in some language or another about your work.

One particular highlight was the after-dinner time spent sitting outside until the wee hours of the morning. This was yet another opportunity to meet new people and benefit from their conversation. Not only that, but evidently it is a long-held tradition at this conference to sing. A few people bring their guitars and eventually a small crowd accumulates to belt out whatever songs come to mind (I heard everything from Bob Dylan to Russian folk songs to the Beetles).

Below is a photograph of all the attendees at the conference, which as you can tell is a pleasantly modest number:

Book Highlights

Another interesting part of the conference was the join book announcements. The two main features were the recently published Septuagint handbooks, the T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint (2015) and the Handbuch der Septuaginta: Einleitung in die Septuaginta (2016). Edited by James K. Aitken and Siegfried Kreuzer, respectively, each scholar took some time to speak about these resources and highlight how they each fill a major gap in the current reference literature in the field.

My Presentation on Koine Greek

Of course, I also presented my work. Overall I would say it went well. The audience seemed to receive it fairly, and offered a good range of questions to help refine my thinking.

I am very glad to have gotten the opportunity to participate in this conference, and I am grateful to the organizers for hosting it. In due course there will also be a volume containing the proceedings, so be on the lookout for that as well.