Dries De Crom intends to stimulate the cross-fertilization of Septuagint Studies and Translation Studies, particularly the theoretical framework of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS). It engages with concepts and theories from DTS in order to demonstrate their applicability to the study of the Septuagint. The aim is not to replace the established methods of Septuagint Studies, but rather to show that they are fully compatible with descriptive approaches to translation. The greater part of the volume is dedicated to a meticulous verse-by-verse comparison between the LXX and MT texts of Song of Songs. As there is at present no full critical edition of the Greek texts of Song of Songs, due attention is given to the most important witnesses to the pre-Hexaplaric text. The textual study engages with matters of translation technique, textual criticism, linguistic interference and the interpretation of LXX Song of Songs. On the basis of this textual analysis, the volume explores the question of Kaige-Theodotion and LXX Song of Song's relation to it, as well as the peculiar textual-linguistic profile of LXX Songs of Songs, against the background of translational norms, interference, interlanguage and literary code.

Explore metaphors in the exquisite and enigmatic poetry of Song of Songs One of the chief difficulties in interpreting the Song's lyrics is the unusual imagery used to depict the lovers' bodies. Why is the maiden's hair compared to a flock of goats (4:1), the man’s cheeks likened to garden beds of spice (5:13), and the eyes of both lovers described as doves (4:1; 5:12)? While scholars speculate on the significance of these images, a systematic inquiry into the Song's body metaphors is curiously absent. Based on insights from cognitive linguistics, this study incorporates biblical and comparative data to uncover the meaning of these metaphors surveying literature in the eastern Mediterranean (and beyond) that shares a similar form (poetry) and theme (love). Gault presents an interpretation of the Song's body imagery that sheds light on the perception of beauty in Israel and its relationship to surrounding cultures. Features Exploration of the Song's use of universal themes and culturally specific variations Discussion of the Song's literary structure and unity

Much can be learned about a translation’s linguistic and cultural context by studying it as a text, a literary artifact of the culture that produced it. However, its nature as a translation warrants a careful approach, one that pays attention to the process by which its various features came about. In Characterizing Old Greek Deuteronomy as an Ancient Translation, Jean Maurais develops a framework derived from Descriptive Translation Studies to bring both these aspects in conversation. He then outlines how the Deuteronomy translator went about his task and provides a characterization of the work as a literary product.

The Song of Songs is the only book of the Bible to privilege the voice of a woman, and its poetry of love and eroticism also bears witness to violence. How do the contemporary #MeToo movement and other movements of protest and accountability renew questions about women, gender, sex, and the problematic of the public at the heart of this ancient poetry? This edited volume seeks to reinvigorate feminist scholarship on the Song by exploring diverse contexts of reading, from Akkadian love lyrics, to Hildegard of Bingen, to Marc Chagall.

This volume from the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS) includes the papers given at the XVII Congress of the IOSCS, which was held in Aberdeen in 2019. Essays in the collection fall into five areas of focus: textual history, historical context, syntax and semantics, exegesis and theology, and commentary. Scholars examine a range of Old Testament and New Testament texts. Contributors include Kenneth Atkinson, Bryan Beeckman, Elena Belenkaja, Beatrice Bonanno, Eberhard Bons, Cameron Boyd-Taylor, Ryan Comins, S. Peter Cowe, Claude Cox, Dries De Crom, Paul L. Danove, Crispin Fletcher-Louis, Frank Feder, W. Edward Glenny, Roger Good, Robert J. V. Hiebert, Gideon R. Kotzé, Robert Kugler, Nathan LaMontagne, Giulia Leonardi, Ekaterina Matusova, Jean Maurais, Michaël N. van der Meer, Martin Meiser, Douglas C. Mohrmann, Daniel Olariou, Vladimir Olivero, Luke Neubert, Daniel Prokop, Alison Salvesen, Daniela Scialabba, Leonardo Pessoa da Silva Pinto, Martin Tscheu, and Jelle Verburg.

This study investigates the Old Greek translation of Job regarding its text, Vorlage, translation technique, literary contexts, and theological profile. To situate OG Job within its ancient contexts, both the strategies employed by the translators and the literary profile of the translated text have to be taken into account. Thus, an approach is employed encompassing a thick description of translational strategies; and a reading of the translated text in its own right. This framework is applied in an investigation of God’s answer to Job in OG Job 38:1-42:6. The results show that the translators worked from a Vorlage similar to, but not fully identical with MT, and produced a coherent, stylized text. The transformations undertaken, including double translations, intertextual renderings, minuses, small-scale rewritings and paraphrases, can be situated in an environment influenced by Greek educational and philological practices, but are also deeply indebted to Jewish scribal traditions. While not introducing sweeping theological changes, the translation nevertheless shows a tendency to emphasize divine sovereignty. The study thus contributes to a deeper understanding of this important witness to the book of Job an Jewish literature in the Hellenistic period.

The Bible was the essence of virtually every aspect of the life of the early churches. The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation explores a wide array of themes related to the reception, canonization, interpretation, uses, and legacies of the Bible in early Christianity. Each section contains overviews and cutting-edge scholarship that expands understanding of the field. Part One examines the material text transmitted, translated, and invested with authority, and the very conceptualization of sacred Scripture as God's word for the church. Part Two looks at the culture and disciplines or science of interpretation in representative exegetical traditions. Part Three addresses the diverse literary and non-literary modes of interpretation, while Part Four canvasses the communal background and foreground of early Christian interpretation, where the Bible was paramount in shaping normative Christian identity. Part Five assesses the determinative role of the Bible in major developments and theological controversies in the life of the churches. Part Six returns to interpretation proper and samples how certain abiding motifs from within scriptural revelation were treated by major Christian expositors. The overall history of biblical interpretation has itself now become the subject of a growing scholarship and the final part skilfully examines how early Christian exegesis was retrieved and critically evaluated in later periods of church history. Taken together, the chapters provide nuanced paths of introduction for students and scholars from a wide spectrum of academic fields, including classics, biblical studies, the general history of interpretation, the social and cultural history of late ancient and early medieval Christianity, historical theology, and systematic and contextual theology. Readers will be oriented to the major resources for, and issues in, the critical study of early Christian biblical interpretation.

"This book represents the current state of Septuagint studies as reflected in papers presented at the triennial meeting of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS). In method, content, and approach, the proceedings published in this volume demonstrate the vitality of interest in Septuagint studies and the dedication of the authors - established scholars and promising younger voices - to their diverse subjects. This edition of the proceedings continues an established tradition of publishing volumes of essays from the international conferences of the IOSCS" --

In Style and Context of Old Greek Job, Marieke Dhont offers a new understanding of the linguistic and stylistic diversity in the Septuagint corpus. To this end, the author innovatively uses Polysystem Theory, which has been developed in the field of modern literary studies. After discussing the appropriateness of a systemic approach to understanding Jewish-Greek literature, the author reflects on the Jewishness of Greek-language texts. Dhont then presents a thorough literary analysis of the Old Greek version of the book of Job. On this basis, she explains the dynamics that produced the translation of Old Greek Job and its position within the development of a Jewish-Greek literary tradition.

Twenty-eight rewritten and updated essays on the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, and the Dead Sea Scrolls mainly published between 2019 and 2022 are presented in the fifth volume of the author's collected essays. They are joined by an unpublished study, an unpublished "reflection" on the development of text-critical research in 1970-2020 and the author's academic memoirs. All the topics included in this volume are at the forefront of textual research.