Old Testament Studies

Trismegistos: Support an Invaluable Digital Resource

Septuagint scholarship has many facets to it. It touches on a great many aspects of biblical studies, such as textual criticism, diaspora Judaism, reception history, early Christianity, κτλ. But it also overlaps with other disciplines focused on the ancient world, such as classics, egyptology, epigraphy, and papyrology. In terms of its overlap with the latter, Septuagint scholarship has much to gain from interdisciplinary study of language and social context.

When it comes to original research conducted with the primary texts, there are few resources more valuable than Trismegistos. Many of my readers — even those who don’t consider themselves newcomers to the Septuagint — will have never heard of this website. That’s why I am posting about it, particularly since it is now at risk of running out of money and human resources to keep going. (more…)

An Initial Review of Baylor’s Introduction to the Septuagint

It’s great to see the appearance of a new volume for the field of Septuagint studies, this time from Baylor University Press. This coming November the new Introduction to the Septuagint, edited by Siegfried Kreuzer, will become available to students and professors alike. Dr. Kreuzer is Professor of Old Testament at Protestant University Wuppertal/Bethel in Wuppertal, Germany, where the bi-annual Septuaginta Tagungen are held (e.g., here).

This is a volume you will certainly want on your shelf, but there are a few things to know about it before you take the plunge. (more…)

LXX Scholar Interview: Dr. Peter J. Gentry Discusses His New Critical Edition

Within a discipline as small and technical as Septuagint scholarship the definition of “exciting news” starts to look pretty odd to the typical person on the street. But for those of us involved in the field, the appearance of a new edition within the corpus certainly qualifies.

This is precisely what has happened within the last few weeks, as Dr. Peter J. Gentry finished the critical text of Greek Ecclesiastes. Gentry is a well respected scholar within Septuagint studies as well as the Donald L. Williams Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. According to a recent Facebook post by Peter’s wife, Barbara, this volume represents over two decades’ worth of labor. Thankfully, he is not the only one at work on the so-called Göttingen edition, as a handful of other volumes are currently underway. (more…)