Well it is officially the dog days of summer. It is sunny, sticky, and thunderstorm-y here in North Carolina. Things move a little slower over the summer in the academic world, which is nice. But — aside from teaching an intensive — I am still working on a number of projects. Since I did a post like this one last year around this time, I thought I’d give another general update on things I’ve been doing over this past ’21/’22 academic year, things that have happened, and things that are still underway.

Promotion

As of 1 June this year, I was promoted to the rank of associate professor at Reformed Theological Seminary. Obviously this is a major honor. I really love this institution. You can read a bit more about it here if you’re interested. 

Publications

Books — I’m pretty sure that most academic years I will not see three volumes come to completion, but that is indeed what happened this year.

• The Septuagint: What It Is and Why It Matters (Crossway 2021)
• Postclassical Greek and Septuagint Lexicography (SBL Press 2022)
• Postclassical Greek Prepositions and Conceptual Metaphor: Cognitive Semantic Analysis and Biblical Interpretation (DeGruyter 2022)

Contributions — Although I wrote a few contributions in this last year, I had two that actually saw the light of day in print. Both of these are related to the edited volumes I mentioned above. 

• “Modern Language Translations of the Septuagint.” Pages 329–344 in T&T Clark Handbook of Septuagint Research. Edited by William A. Ross and W. Edward Glenny.
• “Construals of Faith in ἐν and ἐκ Prepositional Constructions.” Pages 123–152 in Postclassical Greek Preposition and Conceptual Metaphor: Cognitive Semantic Analysis and Biblical Interpretation. Edited by William A. Ross and Steven E. Runge.

Online — I don’t do that much online writing, speaking, whatever, but I do some.  

• The Most Important Bible Translation You’ve Never Heard Of, Text & Canon Institute
• Interview on “Greek and Septuagint Lexicography” on the Biblical Languages podcast (Season 4 Episode 2).

Conferences

As I wrote about here, I participated in (but did not physically attend) the annual biblical studies conferences last November. This year, I was moderator of one of the Biblical Lexicography sessions at SBL, and also presented a paper on Cognitive Linguistics in the Linguistics and the Biblical Text study unit at IBR.

Second, I recently co-presented a paper with my friend Andrew Keenan at a conference held at the University of Ghent, which had the extremely long title Subordination and Insubordination in Post-Classical Greek: Syntax, Context and Complexity. (That was the conference title!) The paper was entitled “Reconsidering Parataxis in the Septuagint,” and it’s looking like this will be published in an edited volume in due course.

Third, I am either a chair or a member of the steering committee on way too many study groups or units, including ETS, IBR, and SBL. So as usual my spring was filled with evaluation and coordination for the 2023 conferences to be held in November. It’s a labor of love. That is all.

Some Upcoming Activity

It’s great to have the option to travel internationally again. This summer I’m looking forward to presenting at two conferences. 

• 30th International Congress of Papyrology (Paris) — Although I am not a papyrologist by training in a material sense, I do get involved in this discipline when it comes to Greek lexicography. So I’m excited to present a paper at this event, which is entitled “Date Syntax in Papyri and Hellenistic Jewish Translation.”
• 18th Congress of the IOSCS (Zurich) — Every three years the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT) holds a congress somewhere around the world. Long ago, I presented my very first academic paper at the Septuagint section of this event in Munich (here). So it will be fun to participate once again in a new place. My paper here is entitled “Donkeys and Dating the Greek Pentateuch.” 

Current Projects

Aside from finishing up the presentations I just mentioned and getting them in shape for eventual publication, here are some things on the horizon for the next academic year:

• HTLS Entry — I have already written a few entries for the second volume of the Historical and Theological Lexicon of the Septuagint, but am preparing to move on to one on διώκω, ἐκδιώκω, καταδιώκω, probably early this fall.
• BHLXX — A while back I posted about the new Baylor handbook series on the Septuagint, which now has a few volumes published. I’m happy to be joining the series with a handbook on Greek Ruth, which I am hoping to get written by the end of next summer or early fall ’23.
• Edited Volume on linguistics — I think I have mentioned before somewhere along the line that I am editing a volume that will overview linguistic theories and illustrate their application to biblical scholarship. The IBR presentation I mentioned above was my contribution, which covers Cognitive Linguistics. We have a great lineup for this volume, which I’ll share more about when the time is right. I’m hoping this volume will be available in late ’23 (d.v.).
• Edited Volume on Cognitive Linguistics — I am also part of a small editorial team that is coordinating a kind of multi-authored introduction to Cognitive Linguistics for biblical studies. This is in the very early stages, but I’m excited to see it through. Other than editorial activity, I’ll be writing a chapter for the volume some time towards the end of this year.

Welp, that’s it. It looks like a lot when you stack it up like this, but I’m optimistic this is a reasonable slate of projects. Keep an eye out here for updates if you’re interested.