CONFERENCE REPORT: I am very grateful to Jacques van Ruiten and his lovely family for inviting me and my family to stay at their home in Haren during the International SBL/IOQS conferences. (We all met last year at the Venice Enoch Seminar and our sons became good friends.) Jacques also very kindly gave me access to the Groningen libraries so that I could photocopy about 300 pages of articles I needed.



I saw and heard much too much to comment on here. What follows are a few brief observations on whatever happened to stick in my mind. Apologies to all the presentations to which I wasn't able to go or which I can't find the energy to describe.


Florentino Garc�a Mart�nez gave an excellent opening IOQS lecture on "The Study of the Texts from Qumran: A Groningen Perspective." His University of Groningen colleague Ed Noort introduced him, noting that that he had planned to say something about Florentino's publications, but when he got the 25-page list, he decided not to go into detail. He also pointed to Florentino's impressive Google profile.

A good bit of my time went into attending the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha sessions, which Pierluigi Piovanelli now adminsters and which he expanded into four sessions this year. I presented a paper in one session and chaired another and heard at least some of the papers in all four.


Pierluigi Piovanelli, University of Ottawa
"Why Peter? The Authoritative Role of Peter in the Monophysite Collections of the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles"

I went to many papers in various different sessions and I don't have the time or energy to comment on them all. But I will note the following specific papers which had to do with newly discovered texts or new editions and information about texts we already had.

Dan Levene, University of Southampton
"'Just as the fire did not touch them so too may the demons not afflict ...'" This was a paper in one of the Magic sections which presented a new Aramaic incantation bowl that dealt with the story of Daniel's three friends in the fiery furnace.

Gideon Bohak, Tel-Aviv University
"Cracking the Code in Genizah Magical Texts." This paper, from the same Magic section, presented an unpublished text written in Hebrew in a substitution cipher. In it a woman invoked the angels to reveal to her (presumably in a dream) where a stash of gold coins were buried in her house.


Tobias Nicklas, University of Regensburg
"The Death of Peter." Tobias has just published a new edition of the Apocalypse of Peter. (Unfortunately, I can't remember the publisher, but if someone can send me the publication information, I'll post it. [Now see update below.]) His paper in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha section drew on this and other legendary material about the death of Peter and Tobias reported that the edition has new photographs of the Greek Akhmim papyrus (which also contains fragments of the Gospel of Peter and 1 Enoch) but that the manuscript itself was lost when being transferred to the new Alexandria Library.

Note to the Egyptian authorities: This manuscript is tremendously important and you should be very embarrassed to have misplaced it. FIND IT!

St. Andrews was well represented. Five of our doctoral students presented papers. [Sorry, I had missed one originally and said four.] I was only able to be at two of them, so my photographic record is not complete. Given my skill as a photographer, that may not be a great loss. The presentations were:

Daniel M. Gurtner
"Functionality, Identity, and Interpretation: The Tearing of the Temple Curtain (Matt 27:51 par) in Light of Pentateuchal Tabernacle Texts" (Synoptic Gospels section)

Edward ("Mickey") Klink
"'What concern is that to you and to me?' The OT as a Tutor for Reading John 2" (Johannine Literature section)

Darian Lockett
"The Eschatological Wisdom of the Epistle of James and 4QInstruction: An Initial Investigation" (Pastoral and Catholic Epistles)


Grant Macaskill, "Creation and Eschatology in 4QInstruction." ( IOQS )


Ian Werrett, "Ritual Purity in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Severity or Particularity?" (IOQS)


I was very happy, delighted even, with the reception of both of my papers. If anyone thought I'd taken leave of my senses with either (and I admit I had some apprehensions along those lines), they were kind enough not to tell me. And lots of people had very positive responses.

Finally, I understand that Francis Schmidt of the EPHE submitted a statement during the IOQS business meeting on Wednesday afternoon which protested the reported cutting of funding to REJ and RevQ. I had to miss the meeting, but I did sign the statement and I assume it was approved by the membership. If anyone who was at the meeting can report on what happened, I would be grateful to hear. I would also like to post the statement here if someone can send it to me.

UPDATE: Bev Diaz points me to the Apocalypse of Peter edition mentioned above, which is published by de Gruyter:

Das Petrusevangelium und die Petrusapokalypse

Die griechischen Fragmente mit deutscher und englischer �bersetzung. Neutestamentliche Apokryphen I

Hrsg. v. Kraus, Thomas J. / Nicklas, Tobias

2004. 24 x 17 cm. X, 153 Seiten. 27 Faksimiles. Leinen. Euro [D] 49.95 / sFr 80.00 / approx. US$ 60.00. *
ISBN 3-11-017635-1