It’s been a quiet summer around here, as most summers are. Perhaps I will do a “What I’ve Been Up To” sort of post in the next few weeks; time will tell. (Hint: writing.) But as you might imagine, I have not been posting here much given the sad events in the Septuagint world this past spring. But the time has come for some good news.

The Septuagint within the History of Greek Conference

I am very pleased to draw attention to the upcoming Septuagint with the History of Greek Conference, which will take place this coming September 13th-15th at Jesus College at the University of Cambridge. As is fitting, this event is to be held in memory of Jim Aitken, who was very much a part of its planning and vision.

It promises to be an excellent conference. You can register to attend/watch via Zoom here. Here is the description:

Though the nearly three millennia of the Greek language is well-documented, the Postclassical period (350 BCE – 350 CE) has found itself not only neglected by traditional linguists and philologists, but even pitted qualitatively against earlier stages of the language. While these older prescriptivist trends persist today, recent scholarship has seen a growing interest in understanding the nature of Postclassical Greek, and the various cultures surrounding its production, from a synchronic and diachronic perspective. Recent research surrounding the ever growing papyrological and epigraphical evidence is especially significant. This trend has not only illuminated the register, style, and education of Postclassical authors and speakers, but offered a touchpoint for forming a clearer understanding of that which has often been understood as “Biblical Greek” (i.e. the Septuagint and New Testament). Combining perspectives from historical linguistics, socio-linguistics, and cognitive linguistics, this conference seeks to better understand language and cultural identity, and the various internal and external factors which have produced diachronic language change, as evidenced in the Postclassical period.

I’m looking forward to attending and presenting a paper myself. The (rather ambitious) title of my paper is “Kaige Language and the Postclassical Turn.” I see that the organizers (who are, for the record, friends of mine) decided to put me into some sort of Kaige Cage Match with the inimitable Tim Lee, who has been neck deep in Kaige scholarship for the last few years. I’m sure it will be a good time.

Here is the full conference schedule:

As you can see in the schedule, there are a few parts of the conference set apart to honor Jim’s scholarship and memory. I’m looking forward to saying a few words at one of these as well about my time with Jim as my doctoral supervisor.

Cambridge and the Septuagint

One particularly exciting aspect of this conference is that it is simultaneously the inauguration of The Septuagint within the History of Greek Network, which is forming between Macquarie University, Ghent University, and the University of Cambridge. It is to be a multi-disciplinary group that “seeks to understand the Septuagint as a Greek text in its own right and cultural identity in the Postclassical period through examination of material evidence within Egypt and the larger Greek speaking world.”

I find the formation of this new network in Cambridge especially satisfying. Cambridge has a long and distinguished history of Septuagint scholarship (see here and here). I’m honored to have been brought into that history myself during my doctoral years studying with Jim, as part of what is starting to become known as the Cambridge School. Although not strictly limited to Cambridge, this new Network will, I believe, help perpetuate the scholarly mindset and commitments of that school into the future. I have more to say about this topic, but that will have to wait for another time.