Divinity United

I sat in on Ruth Heeg's paper at the Native American Institute of Indigenous Theological Studies Symposium 2013 Friday afternoon. The paper was quite interesting, especially for someone who teaches Greek and challenges students to think about translation. Some sitting near me were less than enthused about the discussion of transitive and intransitive verbs and abstract nouns in Greek, English, and Algonquian languages. At some level, (μεν) I agree with them, but (δε) on the other hand, all of these grammatical details are important for translation, especially when it involves translating a text that means a lot to many people. In her paper, Heeg focused on the translation of Greek abstract nouns in First Nations languages, particularly Algonquian languages such as James Bay Cree, Ojibwe, and Plains Cree, in New Testament doxologies. One passage she used as an example was Rev 4:11: “Worthy art thou, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou didst create a...

At the 2013 Spring Colloquium, Ephraim Radner announced the tentative line up for the 2013-14 Wycliffe Centre for Scripture and Theology Colloquia. Friday, October 18, 2013: The New Perspective on Paul: An Assessment Spring 2014 (Date TBD): Book of Ecclesiastes The presenters for these colloquia are not yet set, but if the organizers are able get half of the people that they named as possible presenters, the sessions should be excellent.

The Wycliffe Centre for Scripture and Theology spring colloquium was Friday on the topic of "Proverbs 8 and the Christian Theological Reading of the Scripture." Four papers were given by Michael Kolarcik of Regis College, Christopher Seitz of Wycliffe, Donald Collett of Trinity School for Ministry in Mass, and Ephraim Radner of Wycliffe. Theological interpretation is the main focus of these colloquia and it is the sort of look at these texts (Prov 8 specifically) that make a historical-critical biblical studies person (like myself) slightly squeamish at moments. However, much of the time these discussions provide a challenge to think theologically about the text and a reminder to consider or an introduction to the history of interpretation about the text. In that vein, Kolarcik offered a more comfortable and persuasive (to me) contextual setting for understanding wisdom in Proverbs 8 within the larger context of Prov 1-9 (and more helpfully Wisdom of Solomon 6-10 and Sira...

An excellent Pre-SBL conference is being jointly hosted by St. Mary's Seminary and University and the John, Jesus, and History Group. The headline speakers will be James Dunn and Alan Culpepper who have been outstanding contributors to Johannine scholarship. Other noteworthies include John Ashton, Jan van der Watt, Craig Koester, and Catrin Williams. The conference is subtitled "Engaging the Legacies of C.H. Dodd and R.E. Brown." Looks to be a highlight of SBL even before SBL begins. Details below: John, Jesus, and History Engaging the Legacies of C.H. Dodd and Raymond E. Brown A Pre-SBL Conference at Saint Mary’s Seminary & University, Baltimore November 20-22, 2013 Program as of May 1, 2013 Sponsored by the John, Jesus, and History section of SBL and St. Mary’s Seminary & University Conference fee: $150 (June 1 to October 15; $170 thereafter) (includes program, lunch and dinner Thursday, coffee breaks, reception) WEDNESDAY ...

The 2013 spring colloquium will be on the topic of Proverbs 8 in the trinitarian debates between Athanasius and the Arians: "Proverbs 8 and Christian Theological Interpretation of Scripture".  The date is Friday, May 17. More information can be found here .

The McMaster Bingham Colloquium will be held on June 8, 2013, and the title of this year's Bingham Colloquium is "Rejection: God's Refugees". The schedule can be found here . The description of the one day colloquium that will revolve around the topic of Diaspora is as follows: "God’s people have always lived as exiles and refugees–from the ancient Israelites to Christians throughout history. This conference explores what it means for God’s people of any age to live as those rejected by their surrounding cultures, and living in the world as refugees. For some, this takes the character of spiritual isolation, living a life of faith within a hostile alien culture. For others, this means living outside their land of origin among strangers and even those hostile to them and their beliefs. This conference explores what it means to be God’s refugees in four broad sweeps–from the Old Testament and its tales of exile, to the Second Temple period and Jewish...

The schedule has been set for the Seventh Enoch Seminar to be held in Camaldoli, Italy, July 21-26, 2013. Camadoli was the site of the Third Enoch Seminary in 2007. The theme of the Seventh Enoch Seminar is "Enoch and Synoptic Traditions." The line up looks great. More information can be found on the 4 Enoch site. Here is the planned schedule: SUNDAY 21 JULY 2013 Arrivals - Bus from the Arezzo Railway Station (around 3:30pm--4pm). Accomodation at Camaldoli Welcome 6pm-6:30pm Opening session 6pm-7:45 -- Introduction (Loren Stuckenbruck) MONDAY 22 JULY 2013 8pm Breakfast 8:45am-10:30am -- Papers One and Two 11:00am-12:45am -- Papers Three and Four 1pm -- Lunch 4:00pm - 5:30pm -- Discussion groups (one group for each of the morning papers) 6:00pm-7:30pm -- Reading Session 8pm -- Dinner TUESDAY 23 JULY 2013 8pm Breakfast 8:45am-10:30am -- Papers Five and Six 11:00am-12:45am -- Papers Seven and Eight 1pm -- Lunch 4:00pm - 5:30pm -- Discussion groups ...

The Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity Conference organized by Chris Keith and Anthony Le Donne and hosted by United Theological Seminary and the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, took place on October 4 and 5. It was a great conference. I am always a fan of smaller conferences where there is more interaction and discussion on a single topic and the related issues. The core of the conference were presentations by the contributors to the volume edited by Keith and Le Donne and bearing the same title as the conference. Each paper was an argument against the basic premise of each of the criteria of authenticity as they have been used in historical Jesus studies. You can read the book to get the details and you can read Mark Goodacre's blog for the play by play ( Oct 4 and 5 ). There is a question as to what the demise of the criteria of authenticity means for historical Jesus study and whether their demise is eminent. While many of the presenters highlighted th...

New location for the Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity Conference which was organized by Chris Keith and Anthony Le Donne. It will be held in Dayton, Ohio, on October 4-5 and co-hosted by United Theological Seminary and the University of Dayton's Center for Scriptural Exegesis, Philosophy, and Doctrine. See Mark Goodacre's post .

This Friday, 18 May 2012, Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto will be hosting the spring colloquium of the Wycliffe Centre for Scripture and Theology. The discussion and papers will be on Pope Benedict XVI's two volume work on Jesus. More details can be found here . "Engaging and Evaluating Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth" Pope Benedict XIV’s two-part volume on Jesus, which traces his life “historically” even as it describes him theologically and in a way that is congruent with traditional Catholic dogma, has proven both an extraordinarily popular work and one that has challenged biblical scholars in various critical ways. Several Protestant scholars here work with Benedict’s second volume (“Holy Week”) and discuss it with a Catholic theologian. Presentations by: David Trobisch (Nussloch/Springfield, MI ) Terence L. Donaldson (Wycliffe College, Toronto ) Joseph Mangina (Wycliffe College, Toronto )...

A great conference with really good biblical and theological speakers has just been brought to my attention. The conference is Pastorum Live and is in Chicago June 5-6. The schedule offers some excellent topics and speakers.

There looks to be a great conference at Lincoln Christian University on the forthcoming book edited by Chris Keith and Anthony Le Donne: Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity (T&T Clark/Continuum, 2012). The major contributors to the book will be at the conference and some of them include Dale Allison, Mark Goodacre, Jens Schroeter, and Loren Stuckenbruck. Morna Hooker has written the   foreward , which is posted at the T&T Clark blog, and the opening line is priceless! The premise of the book is that the criteria of authenticity have never really yielded us an objective view of the historical Jesus. This book has been a long time coming. I am looking forward to its release. [30 May 2012 -- new location for the conference!]

It is less than a month until the Wycliffe Centre for Scripture and Theology fall meeting 2011 . The program looks to be interesting and engaging. One of the presenters is Tyndale's own Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Dr. Stanley Walters (PhD, Yale). The meeting will take place at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto on Friday, October 21. The program is as follows: Discussion will focus on Isaiah 9 in reception history, and on connections here with Legaspi's recent book,  The Death of Scripture & the Rise of Biblical Studies (OUP, 2010). Time Participants Friday, 21 October 2011 9:30 am Ephraim Radner Greeting & Introduction 10:00 am Gary Anderson Isaiah 9 with a focus TBD 11:00 am Michael Legaspi Isaiah 9 and the work of Robert Lowth 12:00 pm Stanley Walters Review of Legaspi’s The Death of Scripture… 1:00 pm everybody Lunch provided for attendees & presenters 2:00 pm Joseph Mangina Response to morning presentations...

There is a day long Conference in Uppsala entitled "Faces of Apocalyptics" . There are three papers and two are by John Collins and Adela Yarbro Collins. If Sweden were only closer... "Apocalyptics", by the way, is being used to refer to "Apocalypticism". Another example of the slippery use of the terminology related to apocalypses.