I’m glad to draw some (rather belated) attention to an upcoming Septuagint colloquium entitled Interpreting the Septuagint in Its Greco-Roman Context, to be held in Montreal, Canada.

Each year, the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (CSBS) holds its Annual Meeting in conjunction with the Congress of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. For 2024, the Congress, which gathers up to 10,000 scholars and students, will meet at McGill University in Montreal. The Septuagint colloquium will be part of the CSBS Meeting, which means that participants can also attend any CSBS session.

This event colloquium is an initiative of the John William Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies at Trinity Western University and the School of Religious Studies at McGill University. It’s being organized by my friend and colleague Jean Maurais, along with others from McGill University (Gerbern Oegema), McMaster Divinity College (Mark Boda), and Trinity Western University (Dirk Büchner). It will take place from 19-20 June 2024 at McGill University and the call for papers is now open and will remain so through 15 January.

The first session will take place on the last day of the Meeting (June 19), followed by a keynote lecture in the evening by Michaël van der Meer. The Septuagint colloquium continues on the 20th and concludes with a dinner for presenters. Those who wish to stay on can also take part in the Enoch Graduate Seminar (June 20-22), hosted at the nearby Concordia University. I am told there will be no lack of options on offer for those interested in other (and often related) areas of research.

Here is the event description that Jean sent me, with the call below:

As is becoming apparent, the growing appreciation of the Septuagint’s value as a linguistic, literary, and cultural artifact for the study of early Judaism and Christianity has prompted a significant upsurge in Septuagint research internationally. The colloquium serves several objectives: 1) Since it is convened by Canadian institutions, it seeks to highlight the contribution of Canadian scholarship to Septuagint Studies. As such, it is not organized around a particular approach, but rather seeks to gather the many actors involved in Septuagint research in Canada (e.g., the Wevers Institute, McMaster Divinity College) and others who are working towards integrating more Septuagint contents in their programs (McGill). 2) There have been very few opportunities in North America in recent years outside of the SBL Annual Meetings to gather those involved in Septuagint research. Even more so in a more intimate context more conducive to conversations and mutual encouragement. The field is in a time of transition in North America, with many students and early career scholars doing exciting research in the field. But some can feel isolated, while others are more connected to Europe. The colloquium provides an excellent opportunity to get together and see what everyone is doing on this side of the Atlantic. 3) As a corollary, an important objective of the colloquium is to provide an opportunity for a robust cohort of graduate students from the wider North American context to present their work. A significant part of the budget has been assigned to assist with their travel expenses. They can also look forward to constructive discussions about their work and other topics that will come up during the colloquium.