Programme

Worcester College, Oxford

22–25 July 2019

Under the presidency of Prof. Susan Gillingham

Printable version of the Programme.  

MONDAY 22 July

• 2.00 pm Committee Meeting
• 4.30 pm Registration 
• 6.00 pm Reception sponsored by the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford 
• 6.30 pm Dinner 
• 8.15 pm Prof. Herrmann Spieckermann (Göttingen) “ The Masoretic and the Septuagint Psalter: Status Quo and Issues for Future Research”

TUESDAY 23 July

•  8.00 am Breakfast 
• 9.15 am Dr Jenni Williams (Oxford), “Righteous Betrayal: the People Who Helped David” 
• 10.00 am Dr Adam Hensley (North Adelaide), “A Closer Look at the Postscript of Psalm 72:20” 
• 10.45 am Coffee 
• 11.15 am Dr Stefan Attard (Malta), “Overturning Laments: An Assessment of the So-Called Prophetic Perfect Formulations in the Psalms’” 
• 12 noon Business Meeting (Members only) 
• 1.00 pm Lunch 
• 3.00 pm Dr Melody Knowles (Alexandria, VA), “Politics in a Paraphrase: The Treatment of Psalm 132 by Mary Sidney Herbert”
• 3.45 pm Dr Deborah Rooke (Oxford), “Handel-ing the Psalms: A Reception-Historical Consideration of Handel’s Chandos Anthems”
• 5.00 pm Joint reception with the British Association of Jewish Studies (sponsored by the Centre for the Study of the Bible in the Humanities and the Knapp Foundation)—St Anne’s College 
• 6.30 pm Dinner 
• 8.15 pm Prof. William Brown (Decatur, GA), “Job and the ‘Comforting’ Chaos”

WEDNESDAY 24 July

• 8.00 am Breakfast
• 9.15 am Alun Thomas (Dublin), “Some Aspects of Translation Technique in the Old Greek and Qumran Aramaic (4Q156) Versions of Leviticus”
• 9.45 am Dr Zanne Domoney-Lyttle (Glasgow), “Of Matriarchs and Motherhood: Patriarchal Strategy in the Reception of Mothers in the Hebrew Bible”
• 10.15 am Dr Neil Morrison (Belfast), “Mapping the Chronicler’s Doctrine of Retribution within the Hebrew Bible” 
• 10.45 am Coffee 
• 11.15 am Dr Zoltán Schwáb (London), “Finding Creation in Ecclesiastes: Chasing after Wind”
• 12 noon Dr Laura Quick (Oxford), “Through a Glass, Darkly: Mirrors and the Self”
• 1.00 pm Lunch
• 2.00 pm SOTS Outing: Thames River Cruise
• 4.00 pm President’s Tea (onboard)
• 6.15 pm Reception (in Cloisters)
• 6.45 pm Psalms Concert
• 8.00 pm Gala Dinner

THURSDAY 25 July

• 8.00 am Breakfast and depart

Abstracts

Herrmann Spieckermann (Göttingen) “The Masoretic and the Septuagint Psalter: Status Quo and Issues for Future Research”

This paper began by noting that the Psalter, as attested in its Masoretic and Greek version(s), is the result of a long-term process of collecting and selecting hymns, prayers, and other texts to provide helpful tools in the wide realm of religious activities: cult, divine and royal, individual and collective cultic requirements, individual devotion and reflection. The paper stressed the multiplicity of texts for every kind of requirement and how unsurprising it was that literary traces would remain and testify to different kinds of usage. It was argued that form critical terms like ‘Sitz im Leben’ and ‘Sitz in der Literatur’ should be abandoned and that formal characteristics and formulas were less characteristic of the psalms than variety and variation. The paper challenged what it saw as the present tendency to ascribe overarching theological themes to major sections of the Psalter in its final form, specifically taking issue with the alleged five-fold structuring of the Psalter according to the five-fold Torah, and the supposed two-fold structuring of the Psalter according to messianic (Ps. 2-89) and theocratic (Ps. 90-150) ideas. The paper concluded by instead encouraging attention to the remarkable identity of the Masoretic and Septuagint traditions of the Psalter, compared with what can be reconstructed from the evidence provided from Qumran.

Jenni Williams (Oxford), “Righteous Betrayal: the People Who Helped David”

This paper examined the complex characterisation of those who support David in the narratives of his rise to power in 1and 2 Samuel. It was suggested that the value of such an approach is that it shifts the focus away from how the narrative speaks of David and onto how the characters experience David. This functions as a way to voice the author’s anxieties about the experience and the cost of having a king. The paper considered that, for each of these characters, the need to betray an existing relationship or alliance is fundamental to their actions. This betrayal is portrayed as righteous in the narrative. The question of bloodguilt comes to the fore with the absolute necessity that David be prevented from incurring such guilt. It was observed that in the surrounding narratives of 1 Sam. 24 and 26 he is able to exercise restraint himself but in 1 Sam. 25, Abigail protects him by re-situating judgment in the divine realm. In this way, David’s enemies are articulated as YHWH’s enemies also. Abigail thus betrays her husband to save David. The paper considers that this dynamic can also be seen in other characters with a major role to play such as the Saulides. The tragedy of Jonathan is that he believes he can avoid betraying either his father/king or his friend. Thus, these narratives are a variation of the warnings in 1 Sam. 8 about what a king will ‘take’, as loyalty to the king supersedes other loyalties.

Adam Hensley (North Adelaide), “A Closer Look at the Postscript of Psalm 72:20”

It was observed that Ps. 72:20, ‘Ended are the prayers of David, son of Jesse’ (כָּלּ֥וּ תְפִלֹּ֑ות דָָּּ֝וִִ֗ד בֶּן־יִשָָּֽׁי׃), has been variously explained in view of further Davidic psalms in the Psalter (86, 101, 103, 108‒110, etc.). After a brief survey of such explanations, this paper contended that the genealogical qualifier ‘ben Jesse’ offers an important clue as to how 72:20 was understood in a Psalter large enough to encompass subsequent Davidic psalms. Verse 20 of Psalm 72 marks a shift in focus: Davidic psalms pre-Ps. 72 chiefly have the historical David ben Jesse in view, and by implication Davidic psalms and ‘David’ thereafter largely have a future or eschatological ‘David’/Davidic monarchy as their chief referent. Such an understanding of the postscript’s meaning helps to explain its editorial retention and reuse while leaving room for various theories about its possible origins in the Psalter’s composition-history. It was argued that it also accounts for important data that other theories often fail to explain adequately; e.g., the distribution of superscriptional ‘historical notes’ in the Psalter and Childs’ observations concerning 72:20’s semantic effect on Pss. 71‒72; and Ps. 86’s identification as a ‘prayer (תְפִלִָּ֗ה†) of David.’ While the paper noted that scholarly accounts of Books III, IV, and V vary greatly, the ‘genealogical explanation’ shed light on how David appears in those books. Accordingly, the paper concluded by examining ‘David’ in Book III in order to further explore questions relating to the identity/signification of David in the Psalter and identify other diachronic and synchronic implications.

Stefan Attard (Malta), “Overturning Laments: An Assessment of the So-Called Prophetic Perfect Formulations in the Psalms”

It was noted that from a form critical perspective, formulations of positive outcomes reported at the end of laments beg the question: what import do such formulations have on the particular psalm in which they appear? While it was noted that synchronic readings have interpreted them as prophetic Perfects, such an interpretation has always been limited to the analysis of individual psalms. If the Gesamtinterpretation proposed by a canonical reading is to be taken seriously, one must not read the prophetic Perfects only in relation to the respective psalms in which they appear. Rather, it was suggested here that their influence on larger portions of the Psalter, and indeed, on the whole book must be gauged. The paper thus proposed a canonical reading that takes the whole Psalter into consideration in order to evaluate not so much the veracity of such positive expressions as the import of the laments that feature throughout the whole collection. The internal dynamics of the Psalter point to an increasing awareness that the whole collection is a celebration of God’s power and not a statement concerning the psalmist’s abject state. Moreover, it was argued that the impact of the introductory Psalms, particularly Ps. 2, and their effect on the lament psalms that follow must be carefully gauged in order to better understand the relevance of the positive formulations in such a genre, as not only speaking to matters of faith, however important these may be in the creation of psalms and Psalter, but primarily matters of truth.

Melody Knowles (Alexandria, VA), “Politics in a Paraphrase: The Treatment of Psalm 132 by Mary Sidney Herbert”

This paper argued that in her metrical paraphrase of the psalter, begun by her celebrated brother Philip Sidney, Mary Sidney Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke, extended the possibilities of English poetics and undergirded the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It noted that the paraphrase of Ps. 132 in particular is a parade example of poetry promoting politics. As Mary Sidney Herbert re-wrote the ancient poem that tells of the vows of David and YHWH, she recast her own childless queen into YHWH’s chosen and prolific ruler. She also stretched the poetry of the original text into a work that could resource English lyric and Calvinist theology. Employing an interdisciplinary corpus of evidence (including biblical commentary, congregational songs, political speeches, and paintings), this presentation traced a particular reception of Ps 132 that both reflected and aimed to influence the political discourse of the day.

Deborah Rooke (Oxford), “Handel-ing the Psalms: A Reception-Historical Consideration of Handel’s Chandos Anthems”

The paper began by recounting that G.F. Handel’s eleven Chandos Anthems were produced during Handel’s period as composer-in-residence to James Brydges, Earl of Caernarvon and later Duke of Chandos, whose country residence was at Cannons in Middlesex. Composed in 1717-18 they employed both vocal and instrumental forces, and their text (in English) was taken from the Psalms, using a mixture of the 1539 translation by Miles Coverdale that was employed in the Book of Common Prayer and the metrical paraphrases of the Psalms published by Nahum Tate and Nicolas Brady in 1696. The paper proceeded to examine texts from the Anthems in relation to their musical settings, focusing particularly on which texts are used from which translations, why such choices might have been made, and what the texts in that combination might have meant to their eighteenth-century audience.

William Brown (Decatur, GA), “Job and the ‘Comforting’ Chaos”

This paper began by acknowledging that the book of Job is a masterpiece of literary complexity culminating in Job’s encounter with YHWH (chs. 38-42), observing too that Job’s final words in 42:3-6 are rife with interpretive possibilities, as the history of commentary attests all too well. Noting that how one interprets Job’s last words has much to do with how one interprets YHWH’s final words in the poetry and vice versa, the paper argued that Job’s final response conjoins two seemingly conflicting affects: awe and comfort reflecting both ‘Therefore, I declared what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know’ (v. 3) and ‘Therefore, I relent and am comforted over dust and ashes’ (v. 6). How these two sentiments coexist is not a problem psychologically, as recent studies in the ‘science of awe’ attest. Moreover, Job’s acknowledgment of being ‘comforted’ (v. 6b) prompts a more nuanced reading of YHWH’s answer to Job, which indeed suggests something ‘comforting’ about chaos vis-à-vis Job despite the harshness of divine rebuke. In such cosmic chaos, Job finds a surprising connection to himself that, in turn, both affirms and transforms him, as indicated in the epilogue.

Alun Thomas (Dublin), “Some Aspects of Translation Technique in the Old Greek and Qumran Aramaic (4Q156) Versions of Leviticus”

It was suggested that the Aramaic fragments of a translation of Job from Caves 4 and 11 from Qumran afford a rare glimpse into a period of biblical translation thought previously to be solely witnessed to by Old Greek Job (OGJ). It was also noted that previous studies of Qumran Aramaic Job (QAJ) had been mainly limited to synoptic comparisons with later Aramaic translations such as the Rabbinic Targumim and Syriac Peshitta, leading to the conclusion that unlike the Rabbinic Targumim which are typically careful to render each element of the Hebrew text and follow the order in which they occur in the source text, QAJ (like the Peshitta of Job) more readily accommodates the Hebrew source text to the demands of Aramaic idiom. Given their comparable antiquity, this paper suggested that the time was ripe for a cross-linguistic comparison of the Old Greek Job and Qumran Aramaic Job and went on to consider departures in QAJ and OGJ from the word order of MT which do not appear to reflect the linguistic constraints of the respective target languages, in contrast to later Rabbinic targumim and Greek translations which more closely represented the word order of the Hebrew.

Zanne Domoney-Lyttle (Glasgow), “Of Matriarchs and Motherhood: Patriarchal Strategy in the Reception of Mothers in the Hebrew Bible”

This paper discussed the reception of the Matriarchs of Genesis in light of Esther Fuchs’ argument that literary strategies of biblical patriarchalism prevent ‘the mother figure from becoming a fully-fledged human role model’ – within the Hebrew Bible. It argued that while the patriarch Abraham is remembered outside of Genesis for his role as father, receiver of covenantal promises and friend of God, the mothers who produce his children (enabling him to be remembered for those particular roles) are nearly completely erased from biblical texts outside of Genesis. It went on to offer an analysis of 1 Chr. 1:32-33 and Isa. 51:2 with a view to assessing the impact of patriarchal strategies employed by ancient writers to limit the role of mothers within those verses.

Neil Morrison (Belfast), “Mapping the Chronicler’s Doctrine of Retribution within the Hebrew Bible”

This paper observed that the theme of divine retribution is one of the most distinctive and widely-recognised features of the Chronicler’s work. In the past it has been common for scholars to understand this motif vis-à-vis the Deuteronomistic History and to focus on the fact that the outworking of retribution in Chronicles is often more immediate and directed more particularly towards individuals than is evident in the parallel accounts in Samuel-Kings. It was noted that while this comparative approach has been helpful in uncovering the didactic purpose of retribution in Chronicles, it fails to take account of how the Chronicler interacts with other strands of retributive thought within the Hebrew Bible. The paper then sought to address this gap by exploring points of contact between Chronicles and contemporaneous literature of the Second Temple period, considering parallels between Chronicles and the view of retribution espoused in wisdom literature where the corollaries of reward and punishment are often presented in stark terms without ever becoming a ubiquitous principle. It went on to propose that the approach of the post-exilic prophets, who utilize retributive rhetoric in order to elicit support for the rebuilding and maintenance of the Second Temple, may have influenced the Chronicler’s perspective – a thesis which was supported by examining the Chronicler’s citation of prophetic sayings during key speeches within the work which call his contemporaries to take action in support of the temple and its priesthood.

Zoltán Schwáb (London), “Finding Creation in Ecclesiastes: Chasing after Wind”

This paper began by admitting that Ecclesiastes lacks explicit references to primeval creation or a focus on the ‘createdness’ of natural phenomena as may be seen elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. However, it went on to argue that studying the theme of creation and natural images enriches our understanding of the main concerns of Ecclesiastes. The paper drew attention to both the beginning of the book (Eccl. 1:4-11) and the ‘end’ of it (11:1-6) where we find meditations on natural phenomena. In addition, it noted that the movement of air (wind, breath) is a key metaphor for the human condition in the book. It suggested that analysing these nature-metaphors and admittedly passing references to God’s continuous (creative) activity do reveal one of the main concerns of the book: how to live in the face of life’s predictability (the wind will return to its origin; all of us will die) but also its unpredictability.

Laura Quick (Oxford), “Through a Glass, Darkly: Mirrors and the Self”

This paper began by surveying the material evidence of mirrors as well as the literary texts that describe them from across the ancient Mediterranean as a means of fleshing out our picture of ancient mirrors. It observed that mirrors were understood to be a feminine product, being associated with women across a variety of archaeological and literary domains. Noting that mirrors were frequently utilized as votive offerings by women, it was suggested that mirrors in the ancient world had a religious, ritual aspect that allowed for a particularly female form of religious expression. It was noted that unlike mirrors today, which embody and signify accuracy in the reflection of the image, bronze mirrors from the first millennium BCE did not provide a particularly accurate reflection – which in turn shaped discourses about visual experience and the self in the ancient world. Because mirrors did not accurately reflect the image of the viewer, self-image was always mediated through the visual experience of the other. It was argued that integrating this recognition into our understanding of how the self is viewed in biblical and ancient Near Eastern texts, allows us to explore ancient conceptions of personhood and the self.

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