Ethiopic Bible and Literature
Program Unit Type: Section
Accepting Papers? Yes
Call For Papers: We plan three sessions. The THEOT (Textual History of the Ethiopic Old Testament Project): project has analysed large sets of Ethiopic manuscripts dating from the 14th-20th centuries CE for a selection of OT books, including Deuteronomy, Judges, Ruth, 1-4 Kings, Esther, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Hosea, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Malachi, and the Biblical Canticles. Analysis is developing a picture of textual families, their distinctive readings, and a picture of the key factors influencing the development of the text. Papers presenting the current state of research, or that synthesize data and develop the picture of the textual history are invited. This session also welcomes papers from others working on Ethiopian manuscripts who can present research that builds the picture of the textual history, in particular those with an interest in the relevance of this work to the study of the Septuagint, or the Syriac-Arabic biblical textual traditions. Secondly, we plan a session covering ideology, sociology and literary formation in the Ethiopic Tradition. This tradition bears as many marks of originality as it does marks of external influence. Influences come from Christian traditions—such as Greek, Syriac, and Armenian—but also from Jews and Muslims in the Horn of Africa, Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula. 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. We also plan to continue our fruitful joint sessions with the Syriac Literature and Interpretations of Sacred Texts Section, so we invite contributions that show intersections between Ethiopic and Syriac or Syriac-Arabic exegetical, literary, or historical traditions. We are especially interested in papers that deal with hagiographical traditions and asceticism.
Program Unit Chairs
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