Week 1
No session
Early Biblical Interpretation Seminar
The Early Biblical Interpretation seminar series runs throughout the academic year and is focused on the study of texts and considers the vitality of biblical texts, traditions, and themes across the ancient world. In this seminar, one might hear research on the theme of wisdom in Greek tragedy, prayer in the Dead Sea Scrolls, biblical and classical commentaries, or rabbinic reading strategies.
The Bodleian’s incredible collection of Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek manuscripts are an integral part of this seminar and we regularly organise group visits to the Weston Library.
Convener: Prof Hindy Najman (Oriel)
In Michaelmas Term 2023, the Early Biblical Interpretation seminars will run on Thursdays 10:00 am – 12:00 pm unless stated otherwise.
Special events in Weeks 4, 6 and 8.
Consult at the Oriel College porter’s lodge for the 4-digit passcode to enter the Harris Seminar Room.
Schedule for Michaelmas Term 2023
Week 2
Thursday 19 Oct
Laura Feldt (SDU) – “Training Total Devotion. Narrativity and Emotionality in Deut. 6-7”
Week 3
Thursday 26 Oct
Elizabeth Stell (Oriel) – “Vulnerability and Flexibility in Reading: Challenges to Imagining Ezekiel’s Exagoge?”
Week 4
Thursday 2 Nov
10:00-12:00
Sarit Kattan Gribetz (Fordham) – “Between Day and Night: Twilight in Jewish Antiquity”
17:15–19:00 (at the Clarendon Institute, Walton Street)
Book panel in association with the Seminar onJewish History & Literature in the Graeco-Roman Period and the David Patterson Lectures:
Arjen Bakker (Groningen) – The Secret of Time: Reconfiguring Wisdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Brill, 2023)
Week 5
Thursday 9 Nov
Rebekah Van Sant (Oriel) – “The New Exodus Motif and The Impact of Typological Readings on the Book of Isaiah”
Week 6
Wednesday 15 Nov
*SBL practice session for postgraduate students; 9:00-13:00 in the Owen Walker Room (Oriel College)
Week 7
No session due to AAR/SBL
Week 8
Tuesday 28 Nov 9:00-11:00
Extra session with Kirsten Macfarlane (Keble) – “The Controversy over 1 Enoch in Seventeenth-Century Europe” with a response by Loren Stuckenbruck (LMU Munich)
Thursday 30 Nov 10:00-12:00
Jiani Sun (Oriel) – “The Sage’s Making of an Autobiography in the Wisdom of Solomon 7-9”
Seminars in Previous Academic Years
Other Events
9 OCTOBER TO 27 NOVEMBER
Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Seminar
