Gesenius conference in Halle, Germany

CONFERENCE ON GESENIUS:

Conference at the University of Halle (Germany), 14-18 March 2010

"Biblical Exegesis and Hebrew Lexicography: Gesenius' Hebrew Dictionary as Resource and Mirror of Old Testament Scholarship, throughout 200 Years since its first Publication"

Wilhelm Gesenius (1786-1842), professor for Biblical studies at the University of Halle, was the founder of modern Hebrew lexicography and grammar. His numerous works on Hebrew and on further Semitic languages were most influential, especially his "Hebraeisch-deutsches Handwoerterbuch" and the "Thesaurus philologicus criticus linguae Hebraeae et Chaldaeae Veteris Testamenti".

The conference, celebrating 200 years since the first edition of the "Handwoerterbuch" was published in 1810, will deal with different aspects of the lexicographical and exegetical work of Wilhelm Gesenius, its basis and its influence, its different editions, its re-worked editions, and its translations. The central question will be how Biblical exegesis influenced the dictionary and its development during its different editions, on the one hand, and how the dictionary influenced the critical exegesis of the Hebrew Bible, on the other.