PhD Related

Lexicography for the Church

In the bleak midwinter of England, it’s easy to start questioning everything. Roughly halfway through my first year of doctoral research at Cambridge, there have been times already that I have wondered “why am I doing this?” From what I gather at tea time with my fellow researchers at Tyndale House, this is not an uncommon experience.

At least at this point in my work, for the most part I do Greek lexicography. Yes, I am an “Old Testament guy” by disposition, but the Septuagint is in many ways a textual and historical “bridge” between the testaments, with lots of challenges all to itself. These challenges unavoidably influence the Hebrew and Greek Bible, and how we understand them. That is what makes Septuagint studies so important (and incredibly underworked, especially among conservative Biblical Scholars, but that is a post for another day).

Justifying (& Explaining) My Work

One of the most significant ways that Septuagint studies are important for understanding the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament is lexicography. Recently I was reading an article by the eminent lexicographer John A. L. Lee. In it, he makes a series of observations that I think neatly encapsulate why work like mine is, in fact, relevant not just to the academy, but also to the Church.

Lee points out that, as long as the New Testament and other ancient Greek texts are read, there will be a need for lexicons. For that reason (along with others), Lee rightly notes that the discipline of Greek lexicography is certainly far from over:

Not only will lexicography be in demand, but it will continue to carry a weighty responsibility. This is because of the special character of lexicons. Lexicons are regarded by their users as authoritative, and they put their trust in them. Lexicons are reference books presenting a compressed, seemingly final statement of fact, with an almost legal weight. The mere fact that something is printed in a book gives it authority, as far as most people are concerned. And understandably: if one does not know the meaning of a word, one is predisposed to trust the only means of rescue from ignorance.*

Lexicography & Scripture

To put it succinctly, if we wish to understand Scripture accurately, then we must understand Greek accurately. (This includes the Greek of the Septuagint since, among other things, it is a textual witness to the Hebrew Old Testament.) Greek lexicography is therefore directly connected to the practice of the Church.

But it is important to note a key phrase in Lee’s quote: “seemingly final.” Lee goes on to say that lexicographical work in Greek – especially the vocabulary of the LXX – is far from over not just in terms of demand, but in terms of accuracy. There is a huge amount of sources not yet incorporated into our understanding of Koine Greek. Undertaking exhaustive and integrative analysis of this body of language is therefore essential to interpreting Scripture rightly.

While the modifications to our current state of Greek lexical knowledge may prove to be minimal, surely there is no improvement too small to abandon the formidable lexicographical task before us, whether it be a better grasp upon a NT Greek word or phrase, or upon the sense of a text in the Greek Old Testament quoted in the NT, or upon an ancient Jewish translator’s understanding of his source text that sheds light on the Hebrew bible. Greek – even Septuagint – lexicography is foundational to the task of Biblical scholarship, and therefore of great value in the life of the Church as well.

And so, we press on.

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*Lee, John A. L. “The Present State of Lexicography of Ancient Greek.” Pages 66-74 (here 66) in Biblical Greek Language and Lexicography: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Danker. Edited by Bernard A. Taylor, et al. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2004.

Septuagint Day: An Interview with Karen Jobes

It’s hard to believe that it’s already upon us, but if you were not aware, today is the ninth annual International Septuagint Day. If you are interested, you can find out a bit more about what that means in my post from last year. In brief, in November of 2006 the IOSCS approved the institution of this grand day. Here is an excerpt from the General Business Meeting minutes:

A motion to establish February 8 annually as International Septuagint Day to promote the discipline on our various campuses and communities was moved by Karen Jobes, seconded by James Aitkin and carried. And there was much rejoicing.

Okay, I added that last part. But …

An Interview with Karen Jobes

In the spirit of “promoting the discipline” on Septuagint Day, I decided to interview one of the top American septuagintalists, Dr. Karen Jobes. Karen is the Gerald F. Hawthorne Professor of New Testament Greek & Exegesis at Wheaton College in Illinois, and was kind enough to entertain my questions.

1) Can you describe how you first became involved in LXX studies, and what drew you to it?

I was first introduced to the LXX at Westminster Theological Seminary where Dr. Moisés Silva taught a course that was rumored to be the most difficult course offered by the seminary. Being a woman who enjoys a challenge, I couldn’t resist. I was particularly drawn to the opportunity to work with both Hebrew and Greek. I discovered that Septuagint Studies is beautifully complex.

2) How have you participated in the discipline over the course of your teaching and writing career?

Perhaps the most significant contribution I’ve made to the discipline is the book I co-authored with Dr. Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint (Baker Academic, 2000), which has become one of the standard textbooks in English for LXX studies. That book actually grew out of the course I took with Dr. Silva, because as a beginning student I saw a need for an introductory book. My course notes became the initial outline for the book.

I have also participated in the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS) in various roles. I have been a member since 1990. My first paper on LXX was presented at the IXth Congress of the IOSCS in July 1995 in Cambridge, England. I served a term as the Secretary 2006–2008, on the Program Steering Committee since 2009, on the Editorial Advisory board of the SBLSCS since 2012, and a member-at-large on the Executive Committee since 2012. I was awarded the IOSCS prize for an outstanding paper in 1995. (I believe that award has since morphed into the John W. Wevers prize.)

My publications have focused on methodologies in LXX studies, (e.g., “Quantitative Methods for Exploring the Relationship between Books of the Septuagint.” Pages 73–95 in The Bible as Book: The Transmission of the Greek Text. Edited by O. O’Connor. London: The British Library, 2003), and on the LXX as literary and theological background for NT exegesis (e.g., “The Minor Prophets in James, Peter, and Jude” pp. 135–153 in The Minor Prophets in the New Testament. Edited by Maarten J.J. Menken and Steve Moyise. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2009. And “The Septuagint Textual Tradition in 1 Peter.” Pages 311–333 in Septuagint Research: Issues and Challenges in the Study of the Greek Jewish Scriptures. Edited by Wolfgang Kraus and R. Glenn Wooden. Society of Biblical Literature Septuagint and Cognate Studies 53. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2006.)

I am also pleased that since coming to Wheaton I have had the privilege of teaching a graduate level course in Exegesis of the Septuagint and an undergraduate Greek reading course in Septuagint. I’m proud of my former students Myrto Theocharous, Seth Ehorn, and Jeremiah Coogan who went on to further graduate work in Septuagint Studies.

3) How have you integrated LXX studies into your work as a professor of New Testament?

All of my NT courses have an emphasis on the importance of the LXX for proper NT exegesis, and the complexities of handling the Greek versions.

4) How has the field changed since you’ve been involved?

It seems to me the field has blossomed, judging from the number of texts and reference works that have become available in the last twenty-five years and from a growing interest among students to learn about the LXX. When I began, there was no recent LXX lexicon, and now we have two (Lust et al and Muraoka), as well as Taylor’s Analytical Lexicon of the Septuagint. There was no recent English translation, and now we have NETS [on which see this post] as well as several other translations in modern languages. There were no commentaries focused on the LXX, and now we have two (the Brill series and the IOSCS series). There is also now the Wevers Institute of Septuagint Studies at Trinity Western University [on which see this post] that holds great promise for the future of the discipline.

5) What issues do you focus on in your graduate course in LXX studies?

My course, Exegesis of the Septuagint, has to meet curricular requirements for the MA in Biblical Exegesis, and so we focus on exegeting the LXX text and the complexities of interpreting a translated text. Of course, we also look at the Hebrew and discuss how the translator has exegeted and contextualized the biblical text for his audience.

6) For the benefit of graduate students who are potentially interested in LXX studies in doctoral work, what in your opinion are underworked areas and topics in need of further research?

There is fresh ground in the books of the LXX that have received little scholarly attention. Although it probably not prudent to speak of “a Septuagint theology” there are interesting questions toward better understanding how the translators contextualized their source text for their audience. And the question of how the Greek versions developed and are related to one another is an extremely difficult question that needs some new energy and perhaps new methodologies.

7) In 2000 you published Invitation to the Septuagint (Baker) with Moisés Silva, which has a revised edition forthcoming later this year. What prompted the revision, and can you describe what changes you have made?

There have been many developments and new scholars entering the field in the fifteen years since Invitation first appeared. We have revised every chapter, including new theories (e.g., the interlinear theory) and incorporating the work of younger scholars. We have updated the bibliographies and added some hopefully helpful appendices, e.g., an English translation of the abbreviations used in the Göttingen apparatus.

8) What other projects in Septuagint are you working on?

I have just sent off the manuscript of Exploring the Septuagint: A Guided Reader to Kregel. This was a collaborative effort with nine students. The guide contains about 625 verses of Greek from nine books of the LXX, providing syntactical notes, vocabulary help, etc to aid students who have at least three semesters of Greek to start reading the LXX. Given the structure of academic departments in Bible and theology, the LXX can be a topic of benign neglect, so just getting students to read it provides them an introduction to the field.

9) Finally, what is the future of Septuagint studies?

The future of LXX studies is really the young people, like yourself, who are entering the field. Because the LXX is caught between the division of academic departments into Old Testament/Jewish Scriptures and New Testament, it has a somewhat liminal position in the academy. No one, or very few, are able to devote their full time to the LXX, and that hampers the field. I don’t see that changing, but it would be a nice dream to see chairs funded in LXX studies. We also need more doctoral programs in North America that allow students to focus their dissertations on LXX.

I hope you enjoyed and benefited from the interview with Dr. Jobes as much as I did. Hopefully in the future I will be able to conduct similar interviews with other scholars in the discipline.

International Septuaginta Summer School – July 2015

Septuaginta-Unternehmen

For the fifth year running the Universität Göttingen will host the International Septuaginta Summer School, from July 6-10. This is an exciting and unique program run at one of the foremost institutions of higher educations in the discipline. The university is home to some significant figures in Septuagint studies, and has produced many others. Both Alfred Rahlfs and Robert Hanhart were professors at Göttingen (of the Rahlfs-Hanhart Septuagint), and the list of previous Old Testament faculty reads as a who’s-who of biblical studies, among whom are figures such as Wellhausen, Smend, von Rad, and Zimmerli for starters (not to mention figures in New Testament such as W. Bauer and J. Jeremias).

In the early 20th century, Rahlfs and Smend undertook the foundation of the Göttingen Septuaginta-Unternehmen. With backing from Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin, the institute launched in 1908 and has had an illustrious history since then. The main production of the Septuaginta-Unternehmen has been a critical edition of the Septuagint, taking into account every known textual witness to date. While there are still several books to be completed (including, regrettably, my chosen book of study, Judges), the finished Göttingen LXX volumes are the gold standard of the discipline, as they reflect a text that hypothetically precedes all recensions.

Septuagint Summer School

Situated at the Lagarde-Haus in Göttingen, the Septuaginta-Unternehmen hosts annual “summer school” for the Septuagint. This is no remedial program for slackers and flunkies, like the American notion of “summer school.” Run by the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen in conjunction with the Faculty of Theology at Göttingen, the summer school only takes 16 applicants in either graduate or postgraduate stages.

More importantly, each year the summer school has been conducted by a keynote speaker. In 2014 this was Dr. Alison Salveson of the University of Oxford, lecturing on Greek Isaiah in interpretive history. This year the speaker is Dr. James K. Aitken of the superlative University of Cambridge.

Complete information, including application procedures, is given on the Septuaginta-Unternehmen website (here).

Greek Language & Septuagint Vocabulary

Aitken’s topic is “From Language to Social Context: The Pentateuch and Later Traditions.” As the site states, this year’s summer school “will examine the evidence and methods for interpreting the context of the Septuagint, while contrasting the Pentateuch to the later traditions of translation (Kaige). The course will introduce students and doctoral students from Europe and all over the world to the issues and methods in Septuagint study, and in particular will teach analysis of the language and vocabulary as a means for evaluating the Septuagint text.” This should be an excellent lecture series, as study of the language and vocabulary of the Septuagint is the foundation for so many other aspects of the discipline.

The best part about the Septuagint Summer School is the cost. At only €300, inclusive of five nights hotel lodging with breakfast, all sessions and materials, and a “cultural program,” it is an incredible deal.