A Pizza of a Puzzle

While we were enjoying a lunch together after the Saturday session at ISBL in Rome, a curious thing happened. One of those at lunch received what we dubbed a "Pizza Lacunae" as you can see in this picture.


The puzzle is to discern where the missing piece is at. We decided that it was not in Peter Head's office, although that was a quick suggestion. Last I heard, the missing piece was on its way to London, which is enough of a hint for now. Needless to say we had a great time of fellowship at ISBL! And special thanks go to Tommy for how he led the group and arranged for the viewing at the library.

In Christ,

Bill Warren

SBL International Meeting in Rome: Day 5 / La grande finale

The SBL International Meeting is now over. On this last day we had at least three marvellous presentations, I will leave it to others to judge how mine was.

First Jan Krans presented on Codex Boreelianus F(09) from three aspects. First, the differences between Krans' fresh transcription from color images as compared to that of the IGNTP (transcribed from microfilm): Krans has found new corrections, and a new portion of text which had to be photographed in a special way. Moreover, it was clear that the recording of initial letters was not entirely satisfactory in the IGNTP transcription, especially not the letter Φ, which was rendered in a special way by the scribe when commencing a line (which has been taken as an initial letter, εκθεσις, by the IGNTP), whereas the proper initial Φ had a very long vertical stroke, such as you can see on the image here in the left column.

Secondly, Krans told us about how he indexed the codex in the Virtual Manuscript Room (VMR) as one of the first MSS to be indexed. See Krans' very exhaustive description on his on Amsterdam NT Weblog. This will become a fantastic resource, although he also hinted at some issues that will have to be resolved, e.g., how to index when there is a textual variant that introduces the page so the verse sequence is affected; or how to deal with matters of copyright with institutions that have put their manuscript images on the web, but perhaps require login, etc.

The third aspect was how his experience of setting up an exhibition of a manuscript, in this case Boreelianus in Unversiteitsmuseum Utrecht in the midst of the skeletons relating to natural history. He had had help from a designer and he showed us how the signs with informations were produced, and they were just marvellous, and very inviting, although somewhat sensational. Around one of those signs with facts about the codex they had put bottles of beer relating to the bible or Christianity, i.e., Devil's beer, Melchior's beer, etc (I don't remember the original Dutch). So Krans had to collect all these beerbottles, but he also got to drink them after the close of the exhibition. (I wonder whether the inclusion of "Devil's beer" in this post will increase the blog traffic, since the Devil's bible gave us "all time high" a while ago.)

Just before this presentation, we had great difficulties in getting Krans' computer presentation to connect with Bill Warren's videoprojector ("no input signal"). Just as a miracle, Bill's former student, Roland van der Bergh, University of Pretoria, who was present offered his computer and everything worked. We could see how relieved Krans was, and we all realized after the presentation what it would have been like without the images - somewhat like hearing the Wimbledon final on radio.

The next presenter was James Leonard from University of Cambridge (Tyndale House) who presented on "Singular Readings in Versional Witnesses in the D-text: A Sampling form Codex Glazier." By going through singular readings in a sample chapter (that he had read in his devotion), Acts 8, he demonstrated how it is necessary to first take into account the translation technique of the Coptic version. The hyphothesis of a Greek Vorlage that differed significantly from extant MSS is unnecessary. The translation hyphothesis is far more plausible.

Practically all of the eight singular readings were explicable as resulting from specific linguistic conditions in the target language. (Only one reading was difficult to explain in this way.) In fact, Leonard even drew our attention to several English versions that had practically the same expanations due not to the fact that they were translated from a Vorlage close to Glazier, but that it was a natural rendering in English. There was a most interesting discussion afterwards about weighing readings, and the significance and future of the notion of text-types. More about that in the up-coming SBL in New Orleans which will devote a special session on text-types.

The third paper after a much needed coffee break was my own on Orthodox Corruption. Below is the abstract. I might post what was read when I have edited my notes (a lot scribbled by hand):

"'Misquoting Manuscripts': The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture Revisited"
In his influential monograph, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, Bart Ehrman has proposed that the New Testament text was affected early on by scribes, "the orthodox corruptors of scripture," who, according to their theological persuasion, made conscious changes in the documents they reproduced, making them say what they already were thought to mean.

This paper demonstrates how Ehrman's interpretation of the textual evidence is seriously defective. Whenever there is a textual variation in a passage that somehow relates to Christology, one or more readings are too easily identifed as examples of "orthodox corruption," when there are often other equally, or even more viable reasons for corruption. The aim of the paper is not to prove that the textual tradition of the New Testament is unaffected by "orthodox corruption," although this factor seems to play a minor role, but to demonstrate that a sound text-critical method demands a sensitivity to the particular context and nature of the variation in the individual passage - every problem must be regarded as possibly unique. A balanced judgment will not seldom require knowledge of the pecularities of individual manuscripts and their scribe(s), the citation habits of church fathers, and a familiarity with the character of a particular version and its limitations in representing the Vorlage from which it was translated.

As I said, I will leave the evaluation to others, but it felt good to speak from a subjective standpoint. One interesting issue that came up in the time for questions, relating to what Ehrman really claims and what he does not claim, which I do not have time or energy to write about now, but which I will devote some more time to explain in the future. (And thanks to Rick Bennett for this photo of me.)

I must now tell of two strange coincidences that happened today. The first has to do with my paper. In the afternoon I went out in Rome, and went into several churches. In the last church I bumped into James Kelhoffer who had bumped into two other people, Mark Given and his wife, whom I had not met before. When I introduced myself and what was my area he suddenly remembered that he was the one who had sent the abstract of my paper to his Doktorvater, Bart Ehrman.

The other even stranger coincidence was when we went out for lunch. We chatted about all sorts of things and we came to talk about thefts of MSS, and, conversely, when scholars tried to save artefacts or MSS from being destroyed or otherwise disappearing from the scholarly horizon. I began to talk about Israel, and suddenly I heard from the other table that on guy there (who was apparently also an SBL participant) simultaneously said Israel. Funny I though. Then I mentioned the example of Hanan Eshel. What happens? Someone at the other table says "Hanan Eshel." I can assure you that they did not hear what we were talking about.

Anyway, back to the last session and the fourth and final presenter, Timothy Sailors who gave a good paper but probably with the longest title I have ever heard in modern time:

"The 'New' Work of Early Christian Literature Preserved in P. Berolinensis 22220, the 'Strasbourg Coptic' and after the Coptic 'Stauros-Text': Observations on the Initial Proposals and Suggestions for Further Research"

In sum, Sailors said that when it comes to this text "we need to cast our net more widely than has been done." I think you can understand that I did not listen very carefully to this paper just after I had delivered my own, and was still thinking about the issues that came up.

In the afternoon I was able to pick up presents for the family (although I can say nothing here since my wife reads this blog occasionally, especially when I am conference blogging). I also had time for a Café Latte and an Italian newspaper at Piazza del popolo, before I headed home to the Swedish Institute here in Rome. Early in the morning 4.30AM comes a cab (hopefully) to pick me up and take me to the airport, and I am off to London and the next conference on Codex Sinaiticus.

I will come back with some final remarks on a few good and a few bad things about the SBL Int. Meeting in retrospect, although I can say already now that I enjoyed most of the papers as well as the company! Finally, on Antonio Lombatti's blog you can see what the Pontificial Biblical Institute, where the meeting was held, looks like and read his thoughts (if you read Italian).

SBL International Meeting in Rome: Day 4

Today we had some good papers again, especially that of Rick Bennett who also had prepared a nice slideshow. He presented results of extensive investigations of the use of nomina sacra in early papyri and his nice tables of data supplanted that of O' Callaghan. His presentation also aptly demonstrated how the use of computer software (Accordance) offers a strong tool to gather and analyse this data. Right now Rick and Accordance are working on a new and updated version of the digitial Comfort & Barrett volume The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts which includes corrections and more newly discovered MSS. This will hopefully be released before the SBL in New Orleans (I think he said...).

Matteo Grosso from University of Turin presented a thoughtful paper on Col 3:11 where he preferred the variant with the insertion of the words “male and female." I had two major problems with that: (a) the variant has weak attestation, only "Western" witnesses; (2) the reading may represent an influence from Gal 3:28, and the "Western" text in particular is known to be harmonistic. (However, Grosso does have a point that the sequence is different in Col 3:11.) Moreover, I advised him to look at some other variants in the immediate context which may be related in broader terms, especially the variant in v. 14 where basically the same Western witnesses read συνδεσμος της ενοτητα for συνδεσμος της τελειοτητος.

Besides our own papers in the Working with Biblical Manuscript session I attended only three other papers, two of which were on Christian art. It was a pity that the scholar who read a paper on the depiction of Paul in Christian art as it relates to the description of him in the Acts of Paul and Thecla 3 did not refer to the latest finding in the catacombs (Jim Snapp mentioned this in a comment yesterday) of what is the earliest known depiction of Paul and which actually differs from the description in the Acts of Paul and Thecla since he is semibald and without meeting eyebrowses. This came up only in the time for questions. Apart from those I attended on on Hebrews and whether the heavenly sanctuary was understood by the author as real or as a metaphor. He concluded that the author must have taken it as real. Jesus as actually sitting on the fathers right hand is a starting point, although the author at the same time has used some platonic/philosophical language to elaborate on some related ideas. I agreed with most of what he said.

The highlight of the day was the visit to Biblioteca Casanatense (see previous post). The librarian Simona Peruggia welcomed us (we were nine in the group), and first led us in to the marvellous library which all except me had not seen before (I was there two days ago). She told us (in English) about the library and the collection.

I will just share a few details, in the front you can see the statue of Cardinal Casanatense who was the man behind the library (see previous post). And in this front of the library is the heart, where the most precious books are kept, namely the bibles. Far back in the hall, in the old entrance are secular literature (history, geography), and then comes theology, canonical law, etc all the way to biblical science and, finally, the bibles themselves in the centre at the front. Another funny detail was the leather curtains that protected books from dust, and made them look even so that their differeing hight would not distract the visitors (sic). Apart from being sorted according to subject the books were also sorted according to their hight, the smaller volumes at the top, the largest at the bottom.

After the presentation in the library we were led to the manuscript room where the four Greek New Testament MSS were brought out. The most interesting one was MS 165 (GA 395) a parchment palimpsest (the other three were written on paper).

We attempted to identify the underwriting. Simona brought us a UV-lamp. (Below Rick Bennett and Dave Nielsen have a go.)

We cannot say at this point which text it is, but we gathered enough text to be able to exclude that it is the New Testament. However, I observed one nomen sacrum which shows it is a Christian text (or several texts). I will get back if I am able to identify where the text comes from.
As every day I went out with good friends to eat and drink! Now I have walked so much that I have soar feet. In London next week I will probably sit still nearby Codex Sinaiticus as much as I can.

Thanks to Rick Bennett who sent me these images on e-mail so I could include them in my report. Now it is bedtime, and tomorrow I will deliver my own paper.

SBL International Meeting in Rome: Day 3

No one could guess where I was on the nice photo on the SBL site yesterday (highlighting the big cake for Kent Richards). I was in the left corner in a yellow shirt. Incidentally, a new photo is on the SBL-website, but I am on this as well. This time it will be much easier to see me, so I hope someone will have a guess (you can see that I am thinking hard). Mark Goodacre, by the way, who is also reporting from the SBL, is clearly the most relaxed person in the panel as you can see - this photo was taken yesterday, after he had delivered his paper on the "lower regions."

Anyway, today the Working with Biblical Manuscript unit had its first session. I came in a bit late to be the presider (I guess I am supposed to be there first), but was able to welcome everyone (perhaps 10-20 people). First, our co-blogger Martin Heide from the University of Marburg delivered a very interesting paper on "The Semitic Background of Some Variants in the Greek New Testament." He demonstrated how variation relating to some personal names could be explained by the fact that their meaning arose in a Semitic setting and was not sufficiently understood by the later Byzantine scribes. For example the name Ασα in the Matthean genealogy attested by most MSS is a shortform of Ασαφ that found its way into the LXX-tradition, i.e., Ασαφ is not a mix-up with the psalmwriter or anything, but it is the older form of the name. Heide presented compelling evidence through various examples and analogies (cf. Ιωση for Ιωσηφ, etc.). Several other examples related to the LXX-tradition.

The next paper was on an unusual but highly interesting subject, Keith Small from London School of Theology delivered a paper titled "A Quranic Window onto New Testament Textual History" and demonstrated how the Qur’an, in relative contrast to the NT manuscript tradition, underwent a formal process of textual standardisation which started in its first century and continued to its completion within four centuries resulting in one uniform standard text. The Qur’an MS tradition, Small stated, shows strong evidence of a centralized process of editing of the text done for a combination of political, dogmatic, and liturgical reasons.


The third paper by Dave Nielsen, now Duke, "The Reception of Sense-Units in Versions of the Greek New Testament", explored the sense-units - a small gap in the scriptio continua - observable already in the earliest NT MSS, which demarcates sentences, verses and other divisions in the text. In John 2, Nielsen explained, P66 and P75 had by and large the same textual segmentations. These are what you could call "narrative focused", they demarcate the narrative, whereas in an OL MS like Codex Vercellensis there are signficantly more segmentations demarcating e.g., words and deeds of Jesus. Nielsen could not see any direct dependence in the Latin and Syriac versions he had studied on the early Greek papyri. It seems the transmission of this phenomena was characterized by greater freedom.

Co-blogger Bill Warren from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, who was kind to bring along both computer and videoprojector for anyone to use during our sessions (the SBL did not provide AV this meeting), presented his paper "When is a Textual Variant an Error?: Case Studies for Determining Scribal Errors" with several examples of how certain features in individual MSS can be very important to record and note. For example the segmentation of the text in 1 Cor 14:33-34 and its surrounding text in various MSS can perhaps help us to better understand why vv. 33-34 have been omitted or transposed in some MSS, or certain features like the ligature τγ which stands for ττ which has actually been misunderstood even by a Greek scribe so that he accidently divided a word starting a new line (and word) with the gamma. In the time for comments I suggested that one important reason to record this is when these kind of mistakes become an intermediate stage for the creation of another reading that may make good sense. I am of the opinion that as many details as is possible should be recorded in collations, but not everything can be represented in an apparatus for pragmatic reasons - it will become to heavy. There is always a possibility to have some appendix.

The last paper was Molly Zahn, University of Kansas, speaking on "The Samaritan Pentateuch and its Qumranic Forebears in Light of the 4QReworked Pentateuch Texts." The SP has often been characterized as harmonistic. However, that is not an accurate description. The rewritings, not seldom additions, are often attempts to create coherency. If a command is given, but a fulfilment is then lacking, the editor often takes already existing material from elsewhere in the Pentateuch and inserts it. Or conversely, when a fulfilment is there, then a previous command is also added. However, Zahn did provide a few examples of completely new material being added. This was a very good paper, by a scholar who had researched her texts very well. Indeed, that was confirmed when Emanuel Tov, who was present, said "I have learnt a lot from this paper." (Although he added that he had to look some stuff up for himself.) Molly has actually lived in Sweden, she told me, and she talks Swedish very well. Her parents-in-law live in Västerås, a town very near Örebro, so I hope to be able to invite her to my seminary in the future, when she is here in Sweden.

After those presentations I had a lunch with Dave Nielsen, Keith Small and Jan Krans. No one wanted to follow with me on a tour to the catacombs, so I went there myself and I did not have to regret it! I did not go on an organized (and expensive) tour, which stopped at some churches first. No, I jumped on a bus (the bus- and metrotickets which are combined cost 1 EUR here, and is valid for 75 minutes, which is unbelievably cheap, whereas a pizza costs 11 EUR - the one I ate tonight at least). Anyway, after some travelling I went off the bus and stepped on the ancient stones ofVia Appia (Antica). I wish I could post a photo but Wikipedia will have to do.

Then I arrived, after a few hundred meters of walking, with a diet Coke in my hand, to the catacombs of San Sebastiano. I will leave it for you to read about on the website but all I can say was that it was a fantastic experience, and, literally cool, which was much needed in this warmth. The guided tour cost 6 EUR and it was a learned woman from India who showed us around for half an hour. It was prohibited to take photos within the actual catacombs. I am glad I did not get lost, these particular were 12 kilometers (with 100.000 graves)! WOW.

What happened more? I went out to a fantastic dinner with Jan Krans, Keith Small and Rick Bennett, and had a Pizza Quattro Stagioni, a beer and gelato for desert. We chated for hours about this and that and manuscripts. Speaking of manuscripts, earlier in the day I sent an e-mail to the librarian at the Biblioteca Casanatense where I was yesterday at the de Gruyter reception (see previous report), and asked if I could take a group with me to see their GNT MSS tomorrow. Yes, they replied. Tomorrow I hope we will be able to look at MSS 165 (GA 395), 715 (GA 853), 1298 (GA 1987), and 1295 (GA 1840). As Ulrich Schmid pointed out in the comment section to my earlier report, MS 165 will be most interesting since it is a palimpsest. I hope to be able to report more on this tomorrow if I have the time and energy. On Saturday I will have to deliver my own paper, and that requires some more preparation, although today I got the handout done and copied.

SBL International Meeting in Rome: Day 1-2

This is my second report from SBL in Rome. I will offer only scattered and personal impressions at this point since I have not bothered to take any extensive notes on my computer. The first day there was the opening session highlighting the centenary of the Pontificial Biblical Institute that hosts this year's conference. Maurice Gilbert read his paper.

Unfortunately, the hall was too small so some people like myself had to sit in the stairs. Moreover, the sound was not very good, and, to be frank, the paper contained too many dates and persons to keep up the interest. Things got better as time went on. The last two respondents had more interesting reflections, one of them had been a student there, and the other reflected on the significance of the PBI for Catholic theology. It is clear that the PBI has meant tremendously much for the Catholic Church, not least during the era of the 2nd Vatican Council, when the Church began to turn away from its previous anti-modernist perspective.

After the opening session there was a great reception with cake. You find a big picture of this event on the SBL site. The quiz for today is to find me on that picture (probably impossible unless I give you a clue: I had a yellow shirt).

On the SBL-site webmaster Sharon Johnson, by the way, has linked to this blog and Mark Goodacre's who is also here reporting from the conference. Mark delivered a paper today on testicles in 1 Cor 11:15. Five years ago Troy Martin suggested in an article in JBL 123/1 (2004):75-84 that περιβολαιον in 1 Cor 11:15 means "testicle." Mark, however, argues that the lexical base for Martin's case is not strong enough to justify this interpretation. Did I wet your appetite? Go to Mark's blog where you find abstract and handout here. Make sure to also follow his travel diary!.

Today (the second day) I stayed home in the morning preparing my own handout for Saturday. I arrived at the PBI at about 10 AM and went to listen to Julio Trebolle in a session on textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. Unfortunately it was a very bad room with a lot of noise from on-going construction, so I went after his presentation. Then I came to the Pauline section and this room was perfect. Unfortunately I had just missed Mark's paper on the testicles, but three of the subsequent papers on various other topics related to 1 Corinthians were very interesting:

"Kuriakon Deipnon: When Utopia Becomes Real" by Soham Al-Suadi, University of Basel; "The Story of the Lord's Supper in Corinth: A Narrative-critical Reading of 1 Corinthians 11:17-34" by Marilou S. Ibita, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; "No Cursing in the Church: Anathema in the Corinthian Congregation (1 Corinthians 12:3) and the Letters of Paul" by Kenneth L. Waters, Azusa Pacific University. I was convinced by the two former, but the latter was completely unconvincing, i.e., that αναθεμα in 1 Cor 12:3 means “a placating sacrifice offered to a god or gods" and not "a curse." Afterwards I pointed out to Waters that it is clearly an oral performance standing in stark contrast to the confessional formula, "Jesus is Lord" in the context. (Cf. also Gal 1:8). I also pointed out that he should at least mention, and preferably discuss, the textual variation; the Western and Byzantine text has Ιησουν αναθεμα.

In the afternoon I went to a paper by Daniel Johansson who is actually from my hometown but is now a PhD student under Larry Hurtado in Edinburgh (I met him there recently when I was lecturing). Daniel's paper, "The Application of the Title 'God' to the Lamb in the Book of Revelation" was the best I heard today. He made a persuasive argument that the title “God” is used for Christ in Revelation, both implicitly and explicitly. The crucial evidence for his thesis is Rev 7:10. In contrast to the traditional understanding of this verse he argued that it should be translated: “Salvation is to our God, the One sitting on the throne and the Lamb,” that is, the entire phrase “the One sitting on the throne and the Lamb” is in apposition to “God.”

Then I also picked up a few books at the book exhibit. The one I am most pleased with is Carlo M. Martini's dissertation on P75 and B from 1966 which was published by the PBI. This book from 1966 was unused and uncut and I bought it very cheaply. Later in the evening Walter de Gruyter (the publisher) hosted a reception at the Biblioteca Casanatense celebrating the publication of the two first volumes of The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR). As I went up the stairs I saw a poster and realized that this important library holding many old MSS had just had an exhibition on the topic from the roll to book, which ended a few days ago (sob).

Anyway, the main hall of the library was completely breathtaking. The library opened in 1701 and the collection of Cardinal Casanate (1620-1700) of 25.000 volumes became the first nucleus of the library. Today I think the library has some 600.000 volumes, and many old MSS. I don't have the Kurzgefasste Liste with me but I suspect there are also GNT MSS here (I know that there used to be in any case). The whole event this evening in fact started with a librarian giving an introduction to the library, but in Italian! I think maybe a handful of people (out of hundreds) could actually understand what she was saying, but she seemed unaware and the organizers (de Gruyter) did nothing to intervene and ask if someone could translate. She spoke for 30 minutes, and it was not even easy to hear what she was saying in the large room although I understand a lot of Italian.

In any case, I appreciated Stephen Pisano's response most. He had been asked to give a review from outside. The other panelists were editors. De Gruyter had also produced an offprint with sample articles and to my surprise I found not only articles on the reception of the Bible but also of biographical nature, other with archaeological focus, yet other common in Biblical encyclopedias in general. For example, an article on Kurt Aland was there, written by Eduard Lohse. However, the one in BBKL on-line is far more superior. From my perspective it was just interesting to read what Lohse had to say about Aland.

On the other hand, the articles in the encyclopedia that are really focused on the reception of the Bible are all the more useful. For example, the article on Abraham, cols. 16-72 divided into subsections like Hebrew Bible/OT, NT, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Ecumenical Discussion, Other Religions and Current Religious Movements, Literature, Visual Arts, Music, Film, is quite impressive, written by a number of different experts in respective fields. So, the first impression of this work is mixed. On the one hand there is indiosyncracy and embarrassing lacunae (for example the Genesis Apocryphon is not mentioned in the article on Adam, as Pisano pointed out). On the other hand, there are some very thorough and important articles that will have to be consulted in the future.

Finally, I am sorry to announce that two papers in the Working with Biblical Manuscript session on Friday have been cancelled, those by John Flanagan and our own Peter Head. On the other hand, one additional paper has been inserted in one of our sessions, so we still have twelve. Hopefully there will be no more cancellations, but I am a bit worried since I have not yet seen some of the presenters, Heide, Leonard, Small...

Now it is time to take a shower before bedtime ... I don't have time to tell about my visit to St Peter yesterday, but it was very nice to go there again.

SBL International Meeting in Rome: Preparation

I have arrived in Rome for the SBL International Meeting. I am staying at the very nice Swedish Institute in the vicinity of Villa Borghese – this is a fantastic area. During this conference we will have three sessions in the unit Working with Biblical Manuscripts with 13 papers. I hope to be able to report more on that. However, this time I am presiding the sessions so I probably cannot make as extensive notes as from the SBL in Boston last year.

The SBL Int. Meeting begins tomorrow with an opening session at 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM followed by a reception. In the opening session Maurice Gilbert of the Pontifical Biblical Institute will give a talk on "The Pontifical Biblical Institute: A Century of History." Gilbert, a Belgian Jesuit, has been associated with the Pontifical Biblical Institute since 1967; first as a student, then professor of exegesis of the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament. Subsequently, he was in charge of both the Institute's Roman centre as well as the one in Jerusalem. Now he is emeritus. He has also published a book with the same title. Kent Richards of the SBL presides the session. Paul Achtemeier, Union Theological Seminary, and Lawrence Boadt, Washington Theological Union, and James Kugel, Harvard University are respondents.

See also the videoclip, "A Century of Studying the Bible" with the Vice Rector of the Pontificial Biblical Institute at Bibbiablog. Now I am off to the town to take something to eat (probably a pizza or spaghetti), and maybe check out the Pontificial Biblical Institute at Piazza della Pillotta.

SBL International Rome, Program Book Available

The SBL International Meeting Program book is now publicly available here where you will also find abstracts to the papers. Below are some sessions related to textual criticism:

1-5 Dead Sea Scrolls and Hebrew Bible
7/01/2009
8:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Room: C214 - GU

Theme: The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Textual History of the Hebrew Bible

Armin Lange, University of Vienna, Presiding

Sidnie White Crawford, University of Nebraska
The Contribution of the “Non-Aligned Texts” to Understanding the Textual History of the Bible (20 min)

Discussion (10 min)

Kristin De Troyer, St. Andrews University
Looking at Bathsheba with Text Critical Eyes (20 min)

Discussion (10 min)

Julio Trebolle, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
The History of the Biblical Text: Implications for Other Fields of Study (20 min)

Discussion (10 min)
Break (30 min)

Chelica Hiltunen, University of Oxford
An Examination of the Supposed pre-Samaritan Texts from Qumran (20 min)

Discussion (10 min)

Panel Discussion
Russell Fuller, University of San Diego, Panelist (15 min)
Arie van der Kooij, Leiden University-The Netherlands, Panelist (15 min)
Eugene Ulrich, University of Notre Dame, Panelist (15 min)
Discussion (15 min)

2-20 Working with Biblical Manuscripts (Textual Criticism)
7/02/2009
8:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Room: C211 - GU

Martin Heide, University of Marburg
The Semitic Background of Some Variants in the Greek New Testament (30 min)

Keith Small, London School of Theology
A Quranic Window onto New Testament Textual History (30 min)

Dave Nielsen, Brigham Young University
The Reception of Sense-Units in Versions of the Greek New Testament (30 min)

Break (30 min)

Bill Warren, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
When is a Textual Variant an Error?: Case Studies for Determining Scribal Errors (30 min)

2-43 Text Criticism Workshop on Samuel and Kings
7/02/2009
1:30 PM to 4:15 PM
Room: T302 - GU

Julio Trebolle, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Presiding
Pablo Torijano , Universidad Complutense de Madrid

More Kaige Characteristics in I-IV Regnorum (30 min)
Discussion (15 min)

Andres Piquer-Otero, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
“Chariots of Israel”?: Textual Criticism and the Narrative Traditions of Elijah and Elisha (30 min)

Discussion (15 min)
Break (30 min)

Julio Trebolle, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Textual and Literary Criticism of 2 Kings 17:2-6 (30 min)

Discussion (15 min)

3-11 First Esdras
7/03/2009
8:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: C021 - GU

Gary Knoppers, Pennsylvania State University University Park, Presiding

Adrian Schenker, University of Fribourg
The Priority of 1 Esdras in Comparison with MT Ezra-Nehemiah (30 min)

Paul Harvey, Pennsylvania State University
First Esdras: Style and Semantics in Hellenistic Greek Context (30 min)

Bob Becking, Utrecht University
The Story of the Three Youth and the Composition of First Esdras (30 min)

Break (30 min)

Zipora Talshir, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ancient Composition Patterns Mirrored in First Esdras (30 min)

Deirdre Fulton, Pennsylvania State University
Lower Criticism and Higher Criticism: The Case of 1 Esdras (30 min)

3-15 Historical Books (Hebrew Bible)
7/03/2009
8:30 AM to 11:00 AM
Room: Sala Pro E - GU

Hava Guy, The David Yellin College
Three Royal Deaths in Early Prophets: Type-scene or Intertextuality? (30 min)

Kevin Hall, Oklahoma Baptist University
Poetic Justice: Can a Preposition Make Hannah a Priest? (30 min)

Marie-France Dion, Concordia University Montreal
The Deuteronomistic’s Characterization of “The People” (30 min)

Break (30 min)

David Elgavish, Bar Ilan University
War Descriptions in the Book of Kings: A portrayal of Moderation (30 min)

3-46 Working with Biblical Manuscripts (Textual Criticism)
7/03/2009
1:30 PM to 5:00 PM
Room: C215 - GU

Eun Woo Lee, Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary
Pozin's Synchronic Reading and the Textual History of Joshua 3-4 (30 min)

John P. Flanagan, Leiden University
Translation Techniques in the Latin Versions of Isaiah (30 min)

Peter M. Head, Tyndale House
The Identification of Letter-carriers in Subscriptions to the Pauline Letters: Manuscripts, Sources and the Development of a Tradition. (30 min)

Break (30 min)

Matteo Grosso, University of Torino
“Where There is no Male and Female”: On the Textual Tradition of Colossians 3:11 (30 min)

Rick D. Bennett, Jr., Reformed Theological Seminary
The Search for Nomina Sacra: An Analysis of the Distribution and Form of Nomina Sacra in Early NT Papyri with New Technology (30 min)

4-13 Working with Biblical Manuscripts (Textual Criticism)
7/04/2009
8:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Room: C109 - GU

J. L. H. Krans, Utrecht University
Working with Codex Boreelianus (F 09) (30 min)

James M. Leonard, University of Cambridge
Singular Readings in a Primary Versional Witness to the D-text: A Sampling from
Codex Glazier (30 min)

Tommy Wasserman, Lund University
"Misquoting Manuscripts": The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture Revisited (30 min)

Break (30 min)

Timothy B. Sailors, University of Tubingen
A New 'Gospel of the Apostles': Observations on the Initial Proposals and Suggestions for Further Research (30 min)