SBL/AAR Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA (23-26 Nov. 2019).

Our Sessions at the SBL/AAR Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA (23-26 Nov. 2019).

1.The Role of Philosophy in Greek and Byzantine Exegesis (joint session with the SBL History of Interpretation Unit)

11/23/2019
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 30B (Upper Level East) – Convention Center

In this session, we seek to examine the relation between “philosophy,” an enterprise construed in various ways by Christian theologians, and the exegetical works of Greek and Byzantine interpreters. Though scholars often recognize the significance of philosophical traditions both for allegorical interpretation and for commentaries, they have paid less attention to the role of moral philosophy, for instance, in patristic moral exhortation. We, therefore, host papers that examine the role that various branches of philosophy and philosophical traditions played in the exegetical works of Greek and Byzantine interpreters.

Session I (Joint Session)

James Wallace, Christian Brothers University, Presiding
George van Kooten, University of Cambridge
Amelius’ “Pagan” Interpretation of Johannine Incarnation as a “phantasma” (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Ilaria L.E. Ramelli, Angelicum; Oxford; ErfurtMWK; CatholicU.; Durham 
The Strategy and Functions of Philosophical Exegesis in Origen of Alexandria (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Robert Edwards, University of Notre Dame
Stoic or Biblical Moral Teaching in John Chrysostom’s Quod nemo laeditur nisi a se ipso? (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Taylor Ross, Duke University
Settling Gregory of Nyssa’s Debts to Neoplatonic Hermeneutics (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Vladimir Cvetkovic, University of Belgrade
The Towers of Jerusalem and Ontological Presuppositions of Creation: Exegesis and Philosophy in Maximus the Confessor’ Quaestiones ad Thalassium (20 min)
Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, Universität Bern – Université de Berne, Respondent (15 min)
Discussion (15 min)

Session II (Extra Session of the History of Interpretation Unit)

11/25/2019
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 27A (Upper Level East) – Convention Center

Mark Elliott, University of Glasgow, Presiding
Sami Yli-Karjanmaa, University of Helsinki“‘Is he not agreeing with the divine apostle?’ Plato as an interpretative key to the New Testament in Clement of Alexandria” (25 min)
Jonathan Zecher, Australian Catholic University
“The Aporias of Christ’s Fear of Death in Patristic Exegesis”(25 min)
Milan Kostresevic, University of Bern
“Byzantine-philosophical principles in the biblical interpretation
of the patriarch Photius” (25 min)
Erin Walsh, Duke University
“Romanos and the Life of Philosophy: An Examination of Joseph and
Potiphar’s Wife in early Byzantine Liturgical Poetry” (25 min)
Demetrios Harper, Univesity of Notre Dame
“Making the Word Flesh: Natural Law and Exegesis in Maximus the
Confessor”(25 min)

2. Canon and Canonicity in Orthodox Christianities (joint session with the SBL Ethiopic Bible and Literature unit)

11/23/2019
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 28D (Upper Level East) – Convention Center

Research on the canon has frequently focused on the origins of the canon and the causes that drove its creation, as well as the relative importance of canonical lists, actual codices, and the citations/ascription practices of interpreters. This session seeks to broaden and deepen research on the canon by examining both the contents of canons and the meaning of canonicity in various Christian communities, especially among those who came to be known as the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches. We, therefore, present papers that examine issues of the canon and canonicity, especially outside of the Christian West. In particular, we are interested in papers that assess how local political, theological, and/or cultural factors may have shaped the delineation and/or reception of a canon, as well as the meaning of “canonical” status.

Afework Hailu Beyene, Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, PresidingAlessandro Bausi, University of Hamburg
The Ethiopian Biblical Canon in its earliest literary attestation: An assessment of the evidence (30 min)
Ralph Lee, University of Cambridge
The Reception of 1Enoch in the Ethiopic Tradition (30 min)
Anna Rozonoer, Hellenic College
Fourth Maccabees‘ Unique Inclusion into the Georgian Orthodox Biblical Canon (30 min)
Jovan Stanojevic, Bergische Universität Wuppertal
Greek New Testament Editions and their Canonicity in the Orthodox Church (30 min)

3. Biblical Interpretation and Middle East Christianity(joint session with the AAR Middle Eastern Christianity Unit)

11/24/2019
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Aqua 303 (Third Level) – Hilton Bayfront

We are hosting papers addressing the topic of biblical interpretation as it relates to Middle Eastern Christians.  The topic is conceived broadly, to include exegetical traditions, themes, and motifs, or particular exegetes with unique interpretations, within the Middle Eastern Christian milieu.  Papers remark on disjunctions to other Christian exegetical traditions the world-over, or continuities and intersections with others.  Topics also include non-Middle Eastern Christian hermeneutics that bear relevance to the Middle Eastern communities.

Jason R. Zarborowski, Bradley University, Presiding
Stephen J. Davis, Yale University
Christian Arabic Biblical Commentaries in the Manuscript Library at the Monastery of the Syrians (Wādī al-Naṭrūn, Egypt) (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Elie Dannaoui, University of Balamand
The Arabic text of the L2211 Greek-Arabic lectionary: Textual and liturgical value (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Janet A. Timbie, The Catholic University of America
Scriptural Exegesis in Coptic: Text-Based Homilies for Different Audiences (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Anna Rebecca Williams, Saint Louis University
A Secret and Spoken Sign: The Divine Remza in the Homilies of Narsai (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Elizabeth Marteijn, University of Edinburgh
The Politics of Interpretation: Reading the Bible in the Palestinian Countryside (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)