JETS review

Another review of T. Seland (ed.), Reading Philo, is available in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society  59/1 (2016) 202-204; it is written by Kenneth Schenk.

Quite positive here too; its conclusion runs thus:

“On the whole, this handbook by Seland and these other authors is a great success. It is clearly written and effectively introduces a reader to the person and writings of this important Jewish figure from the time of Christ. The book is of great potential as a resource for evangelical scholars, and it will surely become a standard text for graduate seminars for years to come.”

 

ITQ review

The Irish Theological Quarterly had a review of  T. Seland (ed.), Reading Philo,  in volume 81 (February 2016), pp. 103–104, written by Jonathan Burroughs, at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

The review is, in general, positive:”Taken together, the chapters equip their readers with a good overview of Philo’s works and of the state of research in Philonic studies.”But the reviewer regrets the lack of a subject index, and would also have liked to have found  a clear leitmotif (or connecting thread) running throughout the chapters.

 

IOSOT

Every year there are several scholarly Bible conferences held around the world. Many -if not most-of these are arranged by some scholarly organisations. Some conferences are focusing on Old Testament issues, some on New Testament, and others then, on various other fields of study like the Pseudepigrapha, Qumran etc. etc. As far as I know there is only one such conference that has had a postage stamp issued in its honor, and that is the 1980 conference of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT), held in Vienna, Austria in 1980.

See more on this here.

Norwegian Bible Society 200 anniv.

The Norwegian Bible Society is celebrating their 200th Anniversary this spring.

In the early years of the nineteenth century several Bible societies were established in order to promote the printing and propagation of the Bible. Important for the establishment of the Norwegian Bible society was the British society, established in 1804, and the growing national awareness in Norway after 1814, when the Norwegian constitution (grunnlov) were written. At the time when the Norwegian Society was established, the Bible was not to be found in every home. Some later calculations have suggested that only every fourth home had access to a Bible, but it probably  varied from county to county in Norway.

The Bible translation available was in Danish; hence there was a great need in Norway for a Norwegian translation. But it took some time before it was realized.It was first in the twentieth century that the whole Bible was translated into Norwegian, in 1892 (partly  revised/partly translated), 1930, 1978 (revised 1985), and the last one in 2011.

Philo Colloquium

Joan Taylor reports on Facebook:

“I’ve been trying to post this but Facebook keeps blocking it as offensive content! Paul has tried to release it as an administrator but it remains blocked. Here goes without the link. Please get in touch with me for more info.

UK Philo Colloquium will be held Thursday 21 July 2016 at Glasgow University from 10:00–4:30. This meeting will be an opportunity for those working on Philo’s treatises or interested in Philonic studies to meet with other scholars in the UK (or further abroad) and discuss their research. This event is open to postgraduate students and scholars alike and, depending on the number of attendees, each will have an opportunity to share some of their current work.

Speakers will include: Sean Adams (Glasgow), Hindy Najman (Oxford), and Joan Taylor (King’s College London).”

American scholar gets her PhD in Norway!

Beth Elness-Hanson has written her PhD thesis on how American and Maasai Biblical scholars interpret the generational curses in the Pentateuch. She will defended her dissertation on May 3, 2016.

On Monday, May 2, Elness-Hanson gave the trial lecture on the following topic, given by the committee: Gender and Intercultural Criticism: The Book of Ruth and African Women.

On Tuesday, May 3, Elness-Hanson will publically defend her thesis: Generational Curses in the Pentateuch: An American and Maasai Intercultural Analysis.

The appointed opponents were:

First opponent: Professor Fernando Segovia (Vanderbilt University)

Second opponent: Professor Madipoane Masenya (University of South Africa)

The evaluation committee was led by Professor Marta Høyland Lavik, VID / Stavanger University Hospital.

The dissertation is available via a link at the bottom of this page.