Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - IOSOT 2025

Tuesday, 08/12/2025

Please note that the program is currently still preliminary and may be subject to change.

Sessions 1 (14:30–16:00)

 

Panel Chair Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3 Paper 4
Geography and Composition in the Books of Samuel 1 Jeremy Hutton (University of Wisconsin–Madison), 

Stephen Germany (University of Lausanne), and Sara Kipfer (TU Dortmund University)

“Judah” and the Scribal Imagination in the Books of Samuel (Mahri Leonard-Fleckman) David at Hebron: Reading Samuel Among the Ruins (Daniel Pioske) In Search of the Early Philistines (Ido Koch)  
First Results of the ERC DEMBIB Project Bernd Schipper (Humboldt University of Berlin)

The Sparse Ground of Counterfactuality in the Judean Novella (Joseph Cross)

The many Uses of Demotic and Late-Egyptian Literature for Biblical Research (Meike Röhrig)

TBA (Robert Kade)  
Documented Evidence for Literary Criticism 1 Juha Pakkala (University of Helsinki) Documented Evidence and Literary Criticism (Juha Pakkala) What is a 'Word' and a 'Text'? A Cognitive-Linguistic Critique of the Historical-Critical Method (Raymond F. Person, Jr) The Absence of “Sectarian Variants” in the "Biblical" Dead Sea Scrolls as Challenge to "Tendenzkritik"
(Benjamin Ziemer)
 
Scribal Culture and the Hebrew Bible 1 Nathaniel Greene (University of Aberdeen), Matthieu Richelle (University of Louvain) A Day in the Life...How to Situate Writing Within the Chaîne Opératoire of Iron Age Vessels (Alice Mandell) Gab es institutionelle Schulen in der Welt des alten Israel? (Erhard Blum) The Contribution of Undeciphered Ancient Middle Eastern Scripts to the History of the Alphabet (Madadh Richey) How old are the Ethiopic letter names? And why does it matter for the study of Northwest Semitic Epigraphy? (Aren Wilson-Wright)
ISLP 1 Richard A. Taylor (Dallas Theological Seminary) The Bible of Edessa: Translating and Annotating the Peshitta of Exodus (R. B. ter Haar Romeny) Framing the Use of the Syriac Particle ܕܶܝܢ in the Peshitta Psalms (Godwin Mushayabasa Mhuriyashe) The Peshitta in the Apparatus of the BHQ of 1–2 Samuel (Craig E. Morrison)  
IOQS 2 Molly Zahn (Yale University) Exhortations, Laws, and Implied Speakers: Understanding the Damascus Document as a Textualized Performance of the Mebaqqer (Jeffrey Cross) Scribal Culture Features of Organisation and Memory in 4QInstruction: The Elusive Structure of a Fragmentary Sapiential Text (Lindsey A. Davidson) The Adaption of Sapiential Phrases to Create Halakha in 4QMMT (Ananda Geyser-Fouché) Anonymity in the Hodayot (Michael B. Johnson)
Mystery and Esotericism 1 Arjen Bakker (University of Cambridge), Hindy Najman (University of Oxford) Ethicisation of Ritual and Esotericism in the Levi Traditions (Christoph Nihan) Holiness and Mystery: A Reexamination of their Relation in Priestly Texts (Annie Calderbank) (A Hymn) Pregnant with Meaning: Life and Death of the inner self in Hodayot Column XI (Christine Rosa De Freitas) Grasping the Unfathomable: Hidden Knowledge in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (Noam Mizrahi)
Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther 1   I Can Fix Him, No Really I Can: Good Rule in Chronicles (Haley Krikpatrick) Qualified Continuity: Idolatry and the Temple Vessels in the Book of Chronicles (Francisco Martins) A Subtle Exile: Perceiving the Chronicler’s Exilic Motif (Joey Hyatt)  
IOMS 1 Yosef Ofer (Bar Ilan University) How did the Masoretes work? The Masoretes' work as reflected in three biblical manuscripts (Yosef Ofer) The Silent Period of Hebrew Manuscripts (Mordechai Vaintrob)    
IOSCS 3.1 Alison Salvesen (University of Oxford) The Septuagint Use of θλίβω and θλῖψις – Preliminary Observations (Eberhard Bons) Ὅσιος and Cognates in the Septuagint (Dries De Crom) Septuagintal Sycophants: συκοφαντ- in the Septuagint and in Post-Classical Greek (Maximilian Häberlein)  
IOSCS 3.2 Felix Albrecht (Georg August University of Göttingen) Creating a Hebrew–Greek–Hebrew Index of Theodotion in 1–2 Samuel With the Help of AI (Timo Tekoniemi) Diversity and Development Within the Septuagint’s Kaige-Aquila Tradition (Ryan Comins) Otto Thenius and Zacharias Frankel on the Text of the Books of Samuel (Theo van der Louw)  
Pentateuch 1
Andreas Schüle (University of Leipzig)
Connecting themes and concepts between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2-3 (Benjamin Kilchör) Gen 2,16-17: Das erste Speisegebot in der Tora? Eine intertextuelle Spurensuche (Jonas Brunner) Gen 6:1-4 - a mytho-analytical approach to explaining an enigmatic text (Michaela Bauks)  
Former Prophets 1   Theophanic Counterparts: A Narratological Study in Characterization and Identity Between the שר־צבא־יהוה (Josh 5:14) and the מלאך יהוה (Exod 3:2) (Derek Frederickson) Joshua as a Role Model for Prophets. Insights from Josh 10:12–14 (Philipp Graf) Fathers, Daughters, Oaths, and Commitments: An Analysis of the Structure of the Book of Judges and Its Contribution to Understanding the Book’s Meaning (Orit Avnery)  
Isaiah 1   A Fresh Approach to Isaiah 22:1b–8a (Hugh Williamson) Justice and Righteousness in Isa 28–33. A Contribution to the Redaction and Composition History of the Book of Isaiah (Ulrich Berges) Isaiah 35 Revisited (Ronnie Goldstein)  
Religions of Ancient Israel and the Ancient Near East 1   The Babylonian Oracle Procedure: Theory and Practice (Netanel Anor) napishtu of the gods of Mesopotamia - and the nephesh of YHWH in the Hebrew Bible? (Desiree Zecha) A deity list or liturgy? KTU1.102 reconsidered (Shirly Natan-Yulzary)  
Theology, Ethics, and Hermeneutics 1   Recent Contributions to the Discussion of Bible and Immigration – An Assessment and a Way Forward (Markus Zehnder) "Hospitality in the Jewish Tradition: Lessons for the Contemporary Church" (Chase Rodriguez) Gen 39 as encounter with consequences. Some notes on vulnerability and ethics of migration (Natalie Klimenko)  
Psalms 1
Beat Weber
The Conflict Myth Narrative Structure as a Template for the Ordering of the Hebrew Bible Psalter (Clayton Mills) War cries and peans in the Psalms (Sophie Ramond) „Sie strauchelten und fielen …“ (Ps 27,2). Irreguläre w-SK-Formen in althebräischer Poesie? (Johannes Schiller)  

Sessions 2 (16:30–18:00)

 

Panel Chair Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3 Paper 4
Geography and Composition in the Books of Samuel 2 Jeremy Hutton (University of Wisconsin–Madison) 1 Samuel and Its Geographie(s) of Belonging (Ekaterina Kozlova) The place names of the second part of the Biblical account of David (Wolfgang Zwickel)    
Theorizing Transmission and Textuality in Biblical Literature 2 Jacqueline Vayntrub (Yale University) Josiah’s Books: Depicted and Actual Transmission in 2 Kings 22-23 (Tim Hogue) Textualization, New Mediations of Material Religion (Ingrid Lilly) Now and Forever: Textual Transmission and the Poetics of Change (Francis Borchardt)  
Perspectives and Prospects on a Scroll Approach to the Formation of the Hebrew Bible (ERC DEMBIB) Joseph Cross (Humboldt University of Berlin) Prospects and Problems for a Scroll Approach (Drew Longacre) A Scroll Approach to the Books of the Prophets (Nathan Mastnjak) How Long Can Egyptian Texts on Papyrus Get (Joachim Quack) Response (David Carr)
Documented Evidence for Literary Criticism 1 Juha Pakkala (University of Helsinki) Changing Places: Reading David’s Last Words in Different Contexts (Cynthia Edenburg) Manuscript Evidence on the Editing of the Book of Ezekiel (Reettakaisa Sofia Salo)    
Scribal Culture and the Hebrew Bible 2 Nathaniel Greene (University of Aberdeen), Matthieu Richelle (University of Louvain) Paleographic networks: Towards automated paleographic dating (Eythan Levy, Silas Klein Cardoso) Statistical Analysis of Orthographic Use Patterns in the Isaiah Scroll (Barak Sober) The Multimodality of Royal Inscriptions: The View from Ancient South Arabia (Mario Tafferner) Scribes and/as Ritual Specialists: Writing Prayer in the Iron Age Levant (Spencer Elliott)
ISLP 2 Richard A. Taylor (Dallas Theological Seminary) Ghosts, Spirits and Winds – Lexical Gleanings from Mandaic Magic Texts (Matthew Morgenstern) A Treatise on Homographs attributed to Elias of Nisibis (Sinai Syr X41N) (Nicolas Atas) Cicero’s Greek: A Lexicographical Bridge to the New Testament (Michael P. Theophilos)  
IOQS 3 Daniel Falk (Penn State University) Sovereignty and Dominion in the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls (Robert E. Jones) אמת as a Framing Principle at Qumran and Beyond (James Nati) Enslavement in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Embodied, Metaphorical, and Debt (Carmen Palmer) DJD XVII Twenty Years Later (Andrea Ravasco)
Mystery and Esotericism 2 Arjen Bakker (University of Cambridge), Hindy Najman (University of Oxford) Unsearchable Light: The Quest for Knowledge in 4Q392 (“Works of God”) and Second Isaiah (Ruthanne Brooks ) In Praise of Darkness – rituals of mystery and initiation from Ancient Egypt (Robert Kade) The Spirit of the Sofer and the Gathering of the Lost Tribes: Scriptural Mysteries in the Pesher on Psalms (4Q171) and 4 Ezra (Florian Neitman) Secrets of Prayer: Esotericism in the Book of Daniel (Sarah Wisialowski)
Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther 2   Tensions and Assimilations between “YHWH’s Torah” and “Moses’ Torah” in Ezra-Nehemiah (Zhenshuai Jiang) Ezra 2 as Grafted and Molded Ways of Thinking with a Twist (Kristin Joachimsen) Temple Restoration in Ezra 1-6: How does it contribute to the cultic-political debates of the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods? (Louis Jonker)  
IOMS 2 Yosef Ofer (Bar Ilan University) Masoretic Insights in Hebrew-Portuguese Biblical Lexicon: A New Approach (Edson de Faria Francisco) Staatsbibliothek Or. fol. 1218 (Nehemia Gordon)    
IOSCS 4.1 Alison Salvesen (University of Oxford) The ‘Imagined Readers’ of the Septuagint: Lexical Choices and Cultural Negotiation (Camilla Recalcati) The Lexical Choice of ἁφή for נגע in OG Leviticus: A Greek-Priority Perspective (Alberto Paredes) Knowledge From the Greek Bible: Lexical Investigations on ἐπιστήμη and Cognates (Laura Bigoni)  
IOSCS 4.2 Felix Albrecht (Georg August University of Göttingen) The Books of Hosea and Joel in Theodoret of Cyr’s Commentary on the Twelve Prophets (Tiphaine Lorieux) Synoptic Edition of the Old Georgian Versions of the Book of Esther (GeII and GeI): Aims and Challenges (Natia Mirotadze) Continuum, Threshold, and Procession: A Framework for Collaborative Text-Critical Analysis, With Examples From Ezra–Nehemiah (Steve C. Daley)  
Pentateuch 2 Andreas Schüle (University of Leipzig) “That’s What She Said:” A Legal and Narrative Analysis of Hagar and Sarah (Riane McConnell) Jacob, his sons and the people living in the land: a troubled relationship (Suzana Chwarts)    
Former Prophets 2   ... Everyone Did as He Pleased (Jud 17:6; 21:25): Depicting Biblical Chaos (Nili Wazana) Is there a covenant making in 1 Samuel 10:25? (Michael Avioz) Military Strategy and Disinformation in 1 Samuel 13–14 (Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer)  
Isaiah 2   Incantation Parodies in the Book of Isaiah (Juliane Eckstein) You are my witnesses (Isaiah 43:9): Between Trial Witnesses and Covenant Keepers (Orit Malka) Ways Through the Wilderness: Poetics and Problematics in the Study of Isaiah (Rebekah Van Sant)  
Religions of Ancient Israel and the Ancient Near East 2   Playing for God? Scenic Processes in Divine-Human Communication: A Case Study of שׂחק/צחק Pi‘el and Jer 27f (Judith Filitz) Sukkot and the Kingship of God (Oliver Dyma) On the language of the concept of praise God in the Hebrew Bible: A critical synthesis of the state of the art (Marcus Joubert)  
Theology, Ethics, and Hermeneutics 2   Decolonizing Western Biblical Hermeneutics - a potential Project? (Benedikt Collinet) Contextually reading the Bible in the context of Homophobic Hate Crime in South Africa (Charlene Van der Walt)    
Psalms 2 Beat Weber Polyphony of Existential Interpretations in Psalms 35-41 (Judith Gärtner) Dressing up Yhwh as Warrior in Psalm 76 (David Ray) An un(w)holy stone leading to Spiritual transformation. Reading Mark 12:1-12 in the light of Psalm 118:22-23 (Lodewyk Sutton)