News and Events

News

Summer 2020 Courses

Septuagint Approaches and Methods, BIB 629

Syllabus
Dr. Dirk Büchner Interview

 

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grants

1. Dirk Büchner is the principal investigator in a five year research project (2016-2021) entitled “Commentary on an ancient Greek text. A Canadian collaboration.” The amount of the award is $94,910.00. Co-applicants are Robert Hiebert, Larry Perkins, Cameron Boyd-Taylor, Spencer Jones, and Claude Cox.

2. Robert Hiebert was awarded $67,716.00 for a five year project (2012-2017) entitled “Elucidating the text as produced: a new kind of commentary on the Septuagint of Genesis.”

Partnership with the Scholars Initiative, Museum of the Bible

In the Fall of 2011, the process of establishing a working relationship between TWU and what is now called the Scholars Initiative (SI), the research arm of the Museum of the Bible (MOTB), was begun. The Wevers Institute’s part in this undertaking has involved research on Septuagint papyri that are part of the extensive MOTB collection: 1) a third century fragment of Genesis, due to be published as part of a volume edited by Dr. Jeff Fish of Baylor University; 2) an extensive Psalter text known as Papyrus Bodmer XXIV (= Rahlfs 2110), consisting of substantially Psalms 17-118 and dating to approximately the fourth century. An editio secunda of this important text is planned. The Greek Psalter project (2015-2018) is being carried out under the supervision of Robert Hiebert, with the collaboration of Cameron Boyd-Taylor, a senior research associate of the Wevers Institute, and David Sigrist, a TWU MABIB grad who is currently in a doctoral program of the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. All three have been funded by the MOTB for their work. Students and their faculty-mentors from various academic institutions including TWU, McMaster University, St. Francis Xavier University, Southern Baptist Seminary, Baylor University, Shepherds Theological Seminary, Oral Roberts University, the Protestant Seminary Wuppertal-Bethel, and the University of Leuven have been, or are, participating in this project.

The collaboration with SI has provided students with the opportunity to receive valuable training in conducting textual research and participating in conferences at Baylor University and Oxford University—conferences for which full funding and generous stipends have been provided. Their faculty mentors have enjoyed opportunities to conduct cutting-edge research, publish the results of that work, deliver lectures, and participate in the above-mentioned and other conferences, again with full funding and generous stipends from SI.

Kipp Davis, an MOTB-funded postdoctoral fellow, has been conducting another research project entitled “Lying Pen of Scribes,” which involves the evaluation of the authenticity of MOTB artefacts, participation in international conferences, and the publication of books.

Inauguration of the John William Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies

On December 5, 2011, TWU and the Fellows of the Septuagint Institute welcomed John Wevers Jr. and his wife June, and James Wevers and his wife Leah, to the inauguration of the John William Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies. A ribbon-cutting ceremony in the afternoon and a special program and reception in the evening marked the occasion on which the Septuagint Institute was renamed in honour of the late Professor John William Wevers, whose legacy of research and teaching in the field of Septuagint Studies lives on at TWU.

Major Donation to the Septuagint Institute by the Wevers Family

The family of the late Professor John William Wevers recently donated $400,000 to endow Trinity Western University's Septuagint Institute, which will be renamed The John William Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies at a special ceremony on December 5, 2011. The Institute will serve as the flagship for raising the additional funding required to establish a Chair in Septuagint Studies that will be named in Professor Wevers' honour. To read the news release regarding this major donation, click here.

Valuable Septuagint Library

The valuable personal library of Prof. John William Wevers of the University of Toronto is now at TWU. Read the story of how this came about and a media report concerning these developments.

In Memoriam: John William Wevers, Th.D., D.D., D.H.C., F.R.S.C.

On July 22, 2010, John William Wevers, Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Toronto, passed away at the age of ninety-one. A memorial service was held at Rosedale Presbyterian Church in Toronto on September 11, 2010. Professor Wevers was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Past President and Honorary President for Life of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, and an Editor for the Septuaginta-Unternehmen der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. In addition to being a world-renowned scholar with numerous achievements and honours to his credit, he was a gifted teacher, a dedicated humanitarian, and an enduring friend. May he rest in peace.

For the text of "John William Wevers (1919-2010): A Biographical Note" by Albert Pietersma and Peter Gentry, which was published in the 2010 edition of the Bulletin of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, click here. This note is adapted and updated from an earlier biographical sketch that was published in the Wevers Festschrift volume edited by Albert Pietersma and Claude Cox and entitled De Septuaginta: Studies in honour of John William Wevers on his sixty-fifth birthday (Mississauga: Benben Publications, 1984).

Septuagint Studies Specialization

Graduate students at Trinity Western University's Graduate School of Theological Studies (GSTS)—also known as the Associated Canadian Theological Schools (ACTS)—and in the university's Religious Studies department may take courses, specialize, and conduct thesis research in the area of Septuagint Studies. See program templates for this specialization in the Master of Theological Studies and Master of Theology programs at GSTS/ACTS.

Publications

October 11, 2006

The Society of Biblical Literature Commentary on the Septuagint (SBLCS), a multi-volume series sponsored by the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS), is now underway. All four Septuagint Institute fellows will be writing commentary volumes. Septuagint Institute director Dr. Rob Hiebert is one of two joint-editors-in-chief of this commentary series.

Events

September 18-20, 2008 Conference

The Septuagint Institute, with the generous support of The Priscilla and Stanford Reid Trust, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and Oxford University Press, hosted an international Septuagint conference and the Canadian launch of A New English Translation of the Septuagint (Oxford University Press) at Trinity Western University. The conference theme was "Septuagint Translation(s): Retrospect and Prospect." Special guest speakers included Albert Pietersma (University of Toronto), Benjamin Wright (Lehigh University, Pennsylvania), Jan Joosten (Université Marc Bloch, France), Wolfgang Kraus (University of Saarland, Germany), Alison Salvesen (Oxford University), Melvin Peters (Duke University, North Carolina), and Cameron Boyd-Taylor (University of Cambridge). To see the Call for Papers, click here. For a list of all speakers and paper titles/abstracts, click here. For the conference schedule, click here. For a light-hearted, poetic re-telling of Aristeas's legend about the translation of the Septuagint, recited by Albert Pietersma at the NETS Celebration Dinner on September 19, 2008, click here.

September 28-29, 2006 Conference

God, the Bible, and the Qur'an (September 28)
Descriptions of God in Ancient and Modern Monotheistic Traditions (September 29). Click here for more information.

September 17, 2005 Inaugural 

Septuagint Institute launched at Trinity Western University Scholars and Septuagint enthusiasts gathered for the inauguration of North America's new hub of Septuagint research.

December 5, 2011

Renaming of the Septuagint Institute to 'The John William Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies'

Photos of event taken by Jennifer Watton