Sources Department at the Leuven Conference
From 20 to 23 July, a large group of biblical scholars from the Protestant Theological University (PThU) attended the annual conference of the European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS) in Leuven. The conference featured inspiring keynote lectures and presentations by both PThU scholars and international colleagues. A report by Associate Professor of Old Testament Paul Sanders.
PThU Presentations
Lieve Teugels chaired a session on Targum and Midrash, while Barry Hartog chaired a session on apocalypticism and ethics. Suzan Sierksma delivered an intriguing paper on the theme of birth in the Gospel of John. She argued that, in this Gospel, Jesus assumes the role of a Socratic midwife, helping his conversation partners to bring forth truth and new life, even though he himself is ultimately condemned to death. Marco Visser introduced the interpretive approach of the Amsterdam School to an international audience.
Texts from the Ancient Near East
A well-attended session focused on the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East. Marjo Korpel argued that belief in the devil can, in part, be traced back to ancient texts from Ugarit. She will discuss this topic in greater detail during her farewell lecture on 29 September.
PhD candidate Cornelius Sinaga demonstrated that the Hebrew word ʿebed and its Ugaritic counterpart abdu could refer both to slaves owned by, for example, the king, and to influential royal officials who enjoyed considerable freedom and responsibility.
Paul Sanders argued that there are no convincing parallels to the Old Testament concept of covenant in other texts from the Ancient Near East. The idea of an exclusive covenant between a deity and a single people appears to be unique to the Bible. In another session, he also presented the Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (SAHD).
Biblical Scholars Connected to PThU
In addition to presentations by current PThU colleagues, several biblical scholars closely associated with the university also contributed to the conference. Matthijs de Jong, who will soon take up the position of Professor of Old Testament at PThU, presented a paper on the Sabbath year for the land according to Leviticus 25–26. Our visiting professor Willem Smelik spoke about a letter by the Jewish scholar Rabban Gamaliel.
The breadth of PThU's representation at the conference was striking. Willem Smelik also had the honour of announcing that the 2027 EABS conference will be hosted by his home institution, University College London.
International Colleagues
The presentations by international colleagues, especially the plenary lectures, also provided much food for thought. Geurt-Henk van Kooten once again presented his theory that the Gospel of John predates the other Gospels, as argued in his latest book. In response, Leuven New Testament scholar Jos Verheyden passionately defended both the existence of the hypothetical Q source and the approach of the so-called Leuven School.
Hector Patmore, who previously worked at one of PThU's predecessor institutions in Kampen, presented a paper showing how, over time, Jewish tradition increasingly identified demons within the Scriptures, even in passages where an ordinary reader would never perceive them.
The EABS conference has once again provided the PThU participants with fresh ideas and renewed inspiration. The team is already preparing for next year's conference.
Paul Sanders
Associate Professor of Old Testament, Protestant Theological University (PThU)
