Thursday, 22 April 2010,
Duquesne Union, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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BIBLICAL EXEGESIS AS MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
IN JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY
The 2010 colloquium addresses the topic of Scripture exegesis as an enterprise whose finality is the experience of progressive transformation, both of the individual and of the community: exegesis not aimed at mastering a textual "object" but rather at mediating an encounter with divine mystery.
The colloquium will take place in the Duquesne Union, at Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15282. Click here for a map of the campus.
Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Benjamin D. Sommer, Jewish Theological Seminary
Benjamin Sommer's research focuses on the history of Israelite religion, literary analysis of the Bible, and biblical theology. An overarching concern of his scholarship is the relationship between biblical thought and later Jewish theology. He is the author of A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 40–66 (Stanford University Press, 1998); his recent volume, The Bodies of God in Ancient Israel and Its World (Cambridge University Press, 2009), addresses perceptions of divine embodiment in ancient Israel, Canaan, and Mesopotamia, and how these perceptions reappear in later Jewish philosophy and mysticism.Dr. Paul M. Blowers, Emmanuel School of Religion
A historian of early and Byzantine Christianity, Dr. Blowers has particular interests in the history of biblical interpretation and in the theological and spiritual tradition of the Eastern churches. Aside from numerous studies in Patristics and Patristic Biblical exegesis, he is the author of Exegesis and Spiritual Pedagogy in Maximus the Confessor (University of Notre Dame Press, 1991), the translator of On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ: Selected Writings of St. Maximus the Confessor, and the editor of a two-volume work entitled The Bible in Greek Christian Antiquity (Notre Dame University Press, 1997).Dr. Matthew Levering, University of Dayton
A prolific young theologian, Matthew Levering is the author of Participatory Biblical Exegesis: A Theology of Biblical Interpretation (University of Notre Dame Press, 2008), Christ's Fulfillment of Torah and Temple: Salvation According to Thomas Aquinas (University of Notre Dame Press, 2002), Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology (Wiley-Blackwell, 2004), Sacrifice and Community: Jewish Offering and Christian Eucharist (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006), and Ezra and Nehemiah (Brazos Press, 2007). He has also coauthored two books with Dr. Michael Dauphinais and coedited several other works, including most recently Vatican II: Renewal Within Tradition, Aquinas the Augustinian, Wisdom and Holiness, Science and Scholarship and John Paul II and the Jewish People. Dr. Levering is the coeditor of the English version of the quarterly journal Nova et Vetera.Short Papers:
Dr. Edith M. Humphrey, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Aside from several articles on the literary and rhetorical study of the Bible, Edith Humphrey is the author of four books: And I Turned to See the Voice: The Rhetoric of Vision in the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2007), Ecstasy and Intimacy: When the Holy Spirit Meets the Human Spirit (Eerdmans, 2006), and The Ladies and the Cities: Transformation and Apocalyptic Identity in Joseph and Aseneth, 4 Ezra, the Apocalypse and The Shepherd of Hermas (Sheffield, 1995).Dr. Angela Russell Christman, Loyola University Maryland
Dr. Christman is the author of What Did Ezekiel See? Christian Exegesis of Ezekiel's Vision of the Chariot from Irenaeus to Gregory the Great (Brill, 2005), which analyzes the development of early Christian exegesis of Ezekiel 1, the prophet’s vision of the chariot. She co-edited In Dominico Eloquio/In Lordly Eloquence: Essays on Patristic Exegesis in Honor of Robert Louis Wilken (Eerdmans, 2002), and is a contributor to The Church’s Bible.Dr. Dragos Giulea, Marquette University
Dr. Giulea specializes in Second Temple Jewish and early Christian exegesis as mystery performance. His articles have appeared in Vigiliae christianae, Christiana Orientalia Periodica, Journal of Religion, and Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum.Dr. Richard Benton, University of Washington
Dr. Benton has a degree in East Asian Languages and Literature, but has gradually moved, in the last years, into biblical reception history. His area of interest includes Syriac patristic literature and the poetic biblical exegesis of the Jewish piyyutim.Dr. James B. Wallace, Christian Brothers University
Dr. Wallace works in the area of New Testament reception in Greek Patristic and Byzantine Christianity. His book on the interpretation of Paul's ascent to heaven by Symeon the New Theologian is forthcoming at Walter DeGruyter.Dr. Jeffrey L. Morrow, Seton Hall University
Dr. Morrow's research focuses on the history of biblical interpretation and theological exegesis, with a special interest in the union between biblical scholarship and theology. Most of his current research pertains to the early modern and enlightenment political background to the rise of the historical critical method for studying the Bible in the university. He is also interested in traditional forms of Jewish and Christian biblical exegesis, and especially the important role the liturgy plays in developing a sacramental hermeneutic.
Schedule
9:30 a.m. Welcome
Dr. Christopher Duncan, Dean of the McAnulty College of Liberal Arts
9:45 a.m. Keynote Address (Duquesne Union, room 613)
Dr. Benjamin D. Sommer, A Little Higher than Angels: Heavenly Worship in the Book of Psalms and Early Judaism
10:45 a.m. Keynote Address (Duquesne Union, room 613)
Dr. Paul Blowers, Models of Participative Mystical Exegesis of Scripture in Gregory of Nyssa, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and Maximus the Confessor
11:45 a.m. Midday Break
1:15 p.m. Concurrent Sessions
Session 1 (Duquesne Union, room 613)
CHAIR: Dr. William Wright (Duquesne University)
Dr. Edith M. Humphrey, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary:
Coal, Cloud, Bath Qol, and Codex: Mediation and the Immediate in Biblical Mysteries
Dr. Dragos Giulea, Marquette University:Once When Exegesis Was a Mystery Experience: Exodus 12 as Hieros Logos in Early Paschal Homilies
Dr. James B. Wallace, Christian Brothers University:
From Ecstasy to Eucharist: Paul's Ascent to Paradise in the Writings of St. Symeon the New Theologian
Session 2 (Duquesne Union, Duquesne Room)
CHAIR: Dr. Bogdan Bucur (Duquesne University)
Dr. Angela Russell Christman, Loyola University Maryland:
“Ezekiel Will See His Vision Again”: Reading the Scriptures with Ambrose of Milan
Dr. Richard Benton, University of Washington: A comparison of the Exegetical Techniques in the Prose and Poetry of Ephraim the Syrian
Dr. Jeffrey L. Morrow, Seton Hall University:
Elijah's Resurrection and Mystical Communion with Angelic Bread: 1 Kings 19:3-8 and its Reception
3 p.m. Keynote Address (Duquesne Union, Duquesne room)
Dr. Matthew Levering: Exegesis and Eschatology: Alexander Schmemann and St. Thomas Aquinas.
ARCHIVE: 2009 colloquium
