Judaism

Paris Colloquium on the LXX Twelve Prophets

I am a little late in publicizing this event, but for those in the UK or the Continent there is a very interesting event coming up later this month for Septuagintalists. An international colloquium is to be held in Paris on the Greek version of the Twelve Prophets, called Les Douze Prophètes. Protocoles et procédures dans la traduction grecque: stylistique, poétique et histoire. Have a look at the poster, below.

This colloquium will take place over two days, from 27-28 April at the Maison de la Recherche at the Universitè Paris-Sorbonne (map). There is an excellent line-up of speakers:

27 April Schedule

Stylistique et poétique

10:00 – Jennifer Dines (University of Cambridge), “Design or Accident? Rhetorical touches in the Twelve, with special reference to the Book of Amos”

10:30 – Philippe Le Moigne (Université Paul-Valéry – Montpellier 3), “Les comparaisons dans la LXX d’Osée”

11:00 – Discussion & Break

11:30 – Nesina Grütter (Universität Basel), “«On ne peut pas tout avoir.» Un rapport fictif du traducteur des Douze.”

12:00 – Takamitsu Muraoka (University of Leiden), “How did our translator of the Greek Minor Prophets cope with multiple synonyms?”

12:30 : Discussion & Lunch

14:15 – James K. Aitken (University of Cambridge), “The Style of the Naḥal Ḥever Scroll of the Minor Prophets”

Histoire textuelle

14:45 : Alexander Rofe (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Primary and Secondary Divergent Readings between the MT and the LXX in the Twelve and Their Significance for the History of the Israelite Religion and Literature”

15:15 – Discussion & Break

15:45 – Adrian Schenker (Université de Fribourg), “En faveur du peuple en hébreu, des nations en grec en Am 9:12, Soph 3:8-10 : une différence textuelle?”

16:15 : Emanuel Tov (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “The Textual Value of the Minor Prophets in the Septuagint”

16:45 – Felix Albrecht (Akademie der Wissenschaften, Göttingen), “The Septuagint Minor Prophets. Greek tradition and textual variation”

17:15 – Discussion

28 April Schedule

Histoire de l’interprétation

9:30 – Myrto Theocharous (Greek Bible College, Athens), “Angelology in the Septuagint of the Twelve Prophets”

10:00 – Gunnar Magnus Eidsvåg (University of Stavanger), “Universal Yahwism in the Old Greek Minor Prophets”

10:30 – Jan Joosten (University of Oxford), “Judah et Israel dans la Septante d’Osée”

11:00 – Discussion & Break

11:30 – Matthieu Richelle (EPHE, Paris), “Ideological Biasses in the Greek Minor Prophets : A Reassessment”

12:00 – Olivier Munnich (Université Paris-Sorbonne), “Le finale de Malachie (3.21-24) et l’ordre des versets : texte scripturaire et interprétations de lecture”

12:30 – Discussion & Lunch

Histoire de la réception

Alison Salvesen (University of Oxford), “Symmachus’ version of the Minor Prophets: does it arise from a theological agenda, or just from better philological understanding?”

14:45 – Gilles Dorival(Université d’Aix-Marseille), “Les Psaumes attribués à Aggée et Zacharie”

15:15 – Sigfried Kreuzer(Universität Wuppertal), “Stages of the Greek Text of Dodekapropheton and its Quotations in the New Testament”

15:45 – Discussion & Break

16:15 – Sébastien Morlet (Université Paris-Sorbonne), “Quelques particularités du texte des Douze Prophètes dans le Dialogue de Timothée et Aquila (VI e s. ?)”

16:45 – Maria Gorea(Université Paris VIII), “Remarques sur l’iconographie des prophètes mineurs façonnée par l’exégèse et la liturgie typologiques”

17:15 : Discussion & General Conclusions

“Being Jewish, Writing Greek” Conference in Cambridge

A conference was recently announced here in Cambridge that many interested in the Septuagint will want to look into. On 6-8 September 2017 the Being Jewish, Writing Greek conference will be held here at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Classics. This event has developed out of a seminar hosted here this academic year that was essentially driven by the desire to pay more scholarly attention to the full range of ancient Jewish Greek literature, which is frequently ignored.

The Septuagint … and Beyond

Obviously the Septuagint falls within the range of Greek writings produced by Jews. However, as a courpus of mostly translated texts, there is considerable debate about whether or not it should be considered Jewish “literature” proper (a question bound up with issues of language, cultural identity, and genre). That is part of the reason for this conference. But there is a good deal of Jewish writing that was composed in Greek, and which clearly qualifies as literature. The non-translated books of the Septuagint, such as 1-4 Maccabbees, 1 Esdras, Judith, or Tobit are certainly among such Jewish Greek literature. But there are also quite a few others that you might never have heard of, like:

  • Ezekiel’s Exagogê
  • Artapanus
  • Pseudo-Phocylides
  • Demetrius the Chronographer
  • Etc.

The goal of this conference is to shine a (cross-disciplinary) spotlight on these ancient sources – those translated and those composed in Greek – to consider their linguistic and literary qualities.  As the conference website says,

Much has been said about the historical as well as theological contexts and content of these works. However, relatively few studies have considered these Jewish writings in Greek as literary works.

Yes, You can Submit a Proposal!

bjwgPaper proposals can be submitted here. 

The goal is to look at these Jewish Greek sources as the products of two cultures and languages in confluence: Judaism and Hellenism, Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek. Moreover, the conference is meant to recalibrate the traditional, single-discipline approaches to these texts and instead situate both Classical and Jewish literature “in a broader Mediterranean context.”

Thus far speakers will include