I’ve been on sabbatical this Fall at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. We head back tomorrow. While here, I’ve spent some nice time getting to know Chuck Quarles. Recently, he told me about plans for a new Center he was working on to study the text and translation of the Bible. I’m happy to share that, yesterday, the seminary made the formal announcement. From the press release:
The CBTT is designed to undertake three major initiatives: (1) to improve the quality of major English Bible translations, (2) to provide resources for Bible translators and translator consultants worldwide, and (3) to improve the quality of the critical editions of the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament.
The center’s research associates will conduct research on various text-critical issues, indexing and transcribing ancient manuscripts of Scripture, writing textual commentary, investigating paratextual features, and developing tools to assist others in their research. An important function of the center will be resourcing and educating translators worldwide by making the center’s research and resources available for free online.
I particularly want to highlight the fact that the new Center has 6 fully-funded PhDs across the testaments.
The center’s operational staff will include six research associates — one of whom will also serve as the center’s assistant director. Three of these research associates will be Old Testament and Hebrew specialists and three will be New Testament and Greek specialists. Research associates will receive full funding for their PhD studies at Southeastern; a stipend with benefits, including insurance; and free campus housing. Applications are open for fall 2023. To learn more or to apply, visit the Caskey Center for Biblical Text and Translation page.
If you are an aspiring evangelical textual critic, this looks like a great opportunity. The seminary has a beautiful campus, is in a great part of the country to live in, the student center here has Cheerwine on tap, and I can confirm that the library is well-stocked with NT text-critical resources (made a little better thanks to some book requests from yours truly!). And it’s a short drive over to Duke to look at their NT manuscript collection. Congrats to Chuck and good luck to the applicants!
These are major initiatives indeed. If they are properly addressed it will be a cause for great celebration. With respect to (3) "to improve the quality of the critical editions of the Hebrew Old Testament..." a critical edition of the OT is exactly what we need. I suppose much will depend on the basic scope & parameters adopted by the research group. IMO, an improved critical edition would be expected pay serious attention to the Old Greek LXX. Since that entity is not currently a thing, completing the determination the OG would, itself, be a gargantuan but worthwhile research task. Along with the LXX, extant Qumran readings, as well as other relevant ancient texts (e.g. Old Latin) that pre-date the MT would need to be taken into account. Only then, based on a good critical OT text, we can really look forward (1) to improve the quality of major English Bible translations. Hoping we will see great things in the future!
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