1. Ethiopic Bible and Literature - Open Session: Ideology, Sociology and Literary Formation in the Ethiopic Tradition
The Ethiopic tradition bears as many marks of originality as it does marks of external influence. Influences come from Christian traditions—like the Greek, Syriac, and Armenian—but also from Jews and Muslims in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopian theologians and community leaders developed their own sense of identity and expressed these in their form of the biblical text (unique in form and extent) and in various works of literature. Proposals on any aspect are welcomed.
2. Ethiopic Bible and Literature - Issues of Method for the Textual History of the Ethiopic Old Testament Project (THEOT)
THEOT is a three-year project to reconstruct the textual history of the Ethiopic Old Testament. It will involve a fresh collation of 20 to 30 manuscripts for sample passages from each book of the Ethiopic Old Testament. Presenters will deal with issues of method for discerning families of manuscripts within the Ethiopic tradition and affiliations of the Ethiopic with other traditions. Some of the presentations for this session will be invited. Persons engaged in such work on Ethiopic or other manuscript traditions are invited to propose.
3. Ethiopic Bible and Literature - Ethiopic Manuscripts: Issues of Digitization, Cataloging and Access
Through the work of several projects, the inventory of images of Ethiopic manuscripts has grown dramatically in the last few years. The combined output of the projects is prodigious, but so also are the next set of challenges. Invited panelists will help provide an overview of completed work and clarify the issues that lie ahead. These include issues of best practice, technical specifications, access, sharing, collaboration, and the sociology of scholarship. Persons who have done the same or similar work are invited to make proposals.