Irish Biblical Association Annual Meeting 18th-19th February

The IBA have introduced a new date for the Annual Meeting-this year to be held on the 18th and 19th February in All Hallow's College, Dublin:

The Schedule is:
Friday 18 February 2011

4:00 – 6:00pm Emerging Scholars Forum

7:30 p.m. Conference Registration

8:00 p.m. Public Lecture

Professor Robert Hayward

The paper will introduce the Aramaic Translations of the Hebrew Bible known as the Targumim. It will offer a brief survey of modern research on the Targumim, and will consider the type of literature they represent, their relationship to other Rabbinic Literature, and their dates of composition. Some final comments will be addressed to the light they may shed on Jewish-Christian relations in the early days of the Church.
Coffee and Tea will be served after this lecture.

Saturday 19 February 2011

9:00 a.m. Conference Registration

9:30 a.m. Dr. Jessie Rogers

Filling in the gaps: ‘Faithful’ readings of the Book of Job

This paper explores two interpretations of the book of Job, one ancient and one modern: the Testament of Job and C.G. Jung’s Answer to Job. The first is not a commentary on the biblical Job nor, strictly speaking, a straightforward interpretation of it. It is a folkloristic adaptation and expansion of the story in the Testament genre. The result of this adaptation of the Job story is to present the reader with a picture of God and of Job which is faithful to pietistic conventions precisely because it deviates so radically from the biblical story. Jung’s Answer to Job is a reading which is ‘faithful’ in precisely the opposite sense. Jung offers an interpretation which is often regarded as theologically scandalous.
10:45 a.m. Coffee, Tea and Biscuits

11:15 a.m. Professor Robert Hayward

The paper will examine the ways in which the different Aramaic translations of Genesis interpret the creation of the first human beings and their presence in the Garden of Eden. The responsibilities of the first human pair and their activities within the Garden, as the Targumim interpreted them, will be compared with other Rabbinic interpretations of the same passages of Scripture.

12:30 p.m. Wine reception

1p.m. Lunch

2:30 p.m. Dr Jonathan Kearney

The Torah of Israel in the Tongue of Ishmael: Saadia Gaon and his Arabic translation of the Pentateuch

Although contemporary political tensions between Israel and the Arab-Islamic world present an image of almost total estrangement, it was not always so. Jews and Muslims have a long, shared history. A very real example of this history is offered by the once-thriving Judaeo-Arabic culture. The foundational document of Judaeo-Arabic culture is the Tafsīr of Saadia Gaon (882–942) – a translation of the Pentateuch into Arabic. This paper seeks to use Saadia’s Tafsīr as a key to exploring the fascinating world of Judaeo-Arabic culture.
3:45 p.m. Annual General Meeting

Professor Robert Hayward is a Professor of Theology and Religious Studies in Durham University and his interests include Aramaic Targums, Jews and Church Fathers, Post-biblical Judaism,Talmud and Midrash.

Dr Jessie Rogers teaches in Mary Immacualte College, Limerick.Jessie originally hails from Cape Town, South Africa, where she lectured in Biblical Studies at Cornerstone Christian College before joining Mary Immaculate College , Department of Theology & Religious Studies in September 2007. Jessie is also based at the Dominican Biblical Centre in Limerick where she researches intertextuality in 1 Corinthians and teaches on their Pastoral Scripture Programme.

Dr Jonathan Kearney is a lecturer in Jewish and Islamic studies in St Patrick's College, Maynooth and survived personally tutoring me in Calssical Arabic for a year. That should be kudos enough!

Email me for any more info and looking forward to seeing you there!