International Conference: “Who Wrote the Pentateuch?” – “Qui a écrit le Pentateuque?”

There is an upcoming conference in Lausanne on the authorship of the Pentateuch in light of documented scribal practices and contexts that sounds interesting. The emphasis on scribes does not seem immediately evident from the paper titles, but hopefully the presenters will do a good job incorporating documented processes and scribal contexts.




From Jaeyoung Jeon [mailto:Jaeyoung.Jeon@unil.ch]
==============================

International Conference: “Who Wrote the Pentateuch?” – “Qui a écrit le Pentateuque?” 
IRSB Seminar Day - Journée de l’IRSB (Institut romand des sciences bibliques)
26 October 2016. Université de Lausanne / Geopolis 2208

Organizers: Thomas Römer and Jaeyoung Jeon
Contact: mailto:jaeyoung.jeon@unil.ch
Link to the main page (IRSB):  <https://www.unil.ch/irsb/home/news.html?showActu=1475668133282.xml&showFrom=1>

Under the l title “Who Wrote the Pentateuch?” the conference will focus on the issue of the formation and completion of the Pentateuch and Hexateuch, especially on the socio-historical context of the scribal activities that contributed to it. Recent scholarly efforts to provide a new compositional model that would replace the classical Documentary Hypothesis have produced more divergence than convergence, giving for many scholars a rather pessimistic outlook regarding the possibility of a new consensus in the near future. Against this backdrop, the conference will initiate discussions about the various scribal groups that stood behind those redactional and compositional activities, such as their identity, socio-historical contexts, and the social, political, and religious purposes of their scribal activities. Also, aspects of conflicts and coalitions between the scribal groups reflected in the Pentateuchal texts will enrich the discussions.

Sous le titre “Qui a écrit le Pentateuque?”, ce colloque se propose d’aborder la formation du Pentateuque et de l’Hexateuque, en particulier à partir du contexte socio-historique de l’activité des scribes qui y ont contribué. De récentes tentatives pour substituer un nouveau modèle de composition à la classique hypothèse documentaire ont produit un clivage, à tel point que le scepticisme à l’idée  d’atteindre un nouveau consensus dans un futur proche a gagné de nombreux chercheurs. Dans ce contexte, ce colloque vise à susciter des discussions sur l’identité, le contexte historique et social, ainsi que sur les portées sociales, politiques et religieuses des différents groupes de scribes à l’origine de cette activité de composition et d’édition. Les éléments de conflits ou d’harmonisation entre ces différents groupes alimenteront également les discussions.


Program:

Reception (Coffee and Snack)
08:30 - 09:00

Greeting Speech: Frédéric Amsler (Director of IRSB)
 9:00 - 9:15

Session 1.
Presiding: Christophe Nihan (Université de Lausanne)

9:15 - 10:00
Konrad Schmid  (University of Zurich)
“Textual, Historical, Sociological, and Ideological Cornerstones of the Formation of the Pentateuch”

10:00 - 10:45
Olivier Artus (Institute Catholique de Paris)
“La Transjordanie dans le livre des Nombres : une Interprétation”
(“Transjordan in the Book of Numbers: an Interpretation”)

-----------------------------------
10:45 - 11:15 Coffee Break
-----------------------------------

11:15 - 12:00
Tom Dozeman (United Theological Seminary) & Jaeyoung Jeon (Université de Lausanne)
“The Composition of the Conflict of Korah, Dathan and Abiram in Numbers”

-----------------------------------

Lunch Break: 12:00 - 13:15

------------------------------------

Session 2.
Presiding: Jaeyoung Jeon (Université de Lausanne)

13:15 - 14:00
Thomas Römer (Université de Lausanne)
“Centralisation du culte et publication de la Torah entre Jérusalem et Samarie”
(“Cult Centralization and the Publication of the Torah Between Jerusalem and Samaria”)

14:00 - 14:45
Ndikho Mtshiselwa (University of South Africa)
“Pentateuchal redaction in the wilderness traditions and book of Numbers”

14:45 - 15:30
Itamar Kislev (University of Haifa)
“Equating the Ger and the Israelite and the Question of the Book of Numbers”

--------------------------------------
Coffee Break 15:30 - 16:00
---------------------------------------

Session 3.
Presiding: Thomas Römer (Université de Lausanne)

16:00 - 16 :45
Jaeyoung Jeon (Université de Lausanne)
“The Elders Redaction (ER) in the Pentateuch: Scribal Contributions of an Elders Group in the Formation of the Pentateuch”

16:45 - 17:30
Christophe Nihan (Université de Lausanne)
“Les traditions sur Abraham et la politique des sanctuaires à l’époque perse: Moriyyah en Gn 22 et Shalem en Gn 14”
(“The Abraham Traditions and Cult Politics in the Persian Period: Moriah in Gen 22 and Shalem in Gen 14”)

17:30 - 18:15
Jürg Hutzli (Université de Lausanne)
“Images opposées de l'Orient dans les différentes strates littéraires de la Genèse”
(“Conflicting Images of the « East » in the Different Literary Strata of the Book of Genesis”)