The Fifth Annual Archbishop Iakovos Graduate Students Conference in Patristic Studies

At Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology

Brookline, Massachusetts

March 19 – 21, 2009

Announcement and Call for Papers

The Stephen and Catherine Pappas Patristic Institute of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology is pleased to announce its fifth annual Archbishop Iakovos Graduate Student Conference in Patristic Studies on March 19 – 21, 2009.  The purpose of the conference is to bring graduate students together from the fields of Patristic Studies, Historical Theology, and the History of Christianity in Late Antiquity in a collaborative and theological setting to hear and discuss peer research.  The conference will begin on Thursday, March 19, at 5:00 p.m., and ends with dinner on Saturday, March 21.

Hear what doctoral students attending previous conferences have said:

“Be assured that your graduate conference is one of the best experiences I have had as a graduate student.”

“I have only been to a few other conferences so far, but this was by far the most enjoyable and profitable experience I have had at a conference. I look forward to submitting a proposal for next year’s gathering.”

We are now calling for paper proposals.  We strongly encourage all doctoral and masters students with research interests in Patristics, Historical Theology, or the History of Christianity in Late Antiquity to submit a paper abstract of approximately 250 words.   Topics relating to eastern Christianity are particularly encouraged.  For examples of the range of topics, look at the previous titles at http://www.pappaspatristic.hchc.edu/conferences_archive.html.  Each presenter will have up to 20 minutes to present, followed by a respondent’s comments and group discussion.  Please send abstracts to Dr. Bruce Beck at pappaspatristic@comcast.net by February 1^st. You will be informed about the status of your paper proposal on or before February 10th. The deadline for completed papers for distribution to your respondent is March 10^th.

For those living outside the Boston area who need financial assistance to attend the conference, partial financial aid is available to assist with your expenses.  To request aid, please pre-register for the conference by February 1^st and mention that you need financial assistance in order to participate.  Note that due to the recent precipitous decline of the financial markets, we will be limited in the amount of aid that we can provide this year.

To aid in our planning, please pre-register at  your earliest convenience.  There is no registration fee. A contribution of $25 for meals during the conference will be accepted upon arrival. To register, please send email to Dr. Beck (pappaspatristic@comcast.net) with your personal information, including address, phone number, institution, degree program, area of study, and dissertation topic (if applicable).

Conference lodging will be at the Dedham Hilton Hotel.  If you will need lodging, please register as early as possible to facilitate reserving a place for you to stay.  The rate per person with our group, discounted rate is $50 per night for a double occupancy room.  Hotel reservations will be handled through the registration process, and should not be made directly with the hotel.

Finally, we need volunteers to serve on two committees: 1) the Abstracts Review committee, which ranks the abstracts; and second, the program committee, that provides input into the program of the conference, including planning the sessions other than paper presentations.  Please indicate as soon as possible whether you would be willing to serve on one or both of these committees. The only pre-requisite is that you need to have attended previously at least one of our conferences.

I hope you will be able to join us this year for the fifth annual graduate student conference in patristic studies on the campus of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.

Sincerely,

Bruce Beck, ThD.

Director

Pappas Patristic Institute of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology

Founded in 2003 by a generous grant from the late Stephen Pappas and his wife Catherine, the goal of the Pappas Patristic Institute is the advancement and promotion of primarily Greek and other eastern patristic studies in the service of the academy and of the Church.

The Sophia Institute

The William and Maria Spears International Center for Orthodox Thought and Culture

Annual Day – Conference

Friday, December 5th 2008

Registration 9am-10am

Presentations 10am-5:15pm

(Evening reception and conference banquet)

Campus of Union Theological Seminary

3041 Broadway, New York, NY 10027

www.utsnyc.edu

Women & The Orthodox Church: Past Roles – Future Paradigms

Keynote Speakers Include:

Prof. Valentina Izmirlieva; Fevronia Soumakis; Teva Regule; Dr. Stamenka Antonova

There will be the oppurtunity to offer scholarly short papers (20 mins. duration) on the conference topic. Select papers will be published.

Offers of papers, with titles please, by Nov. 20th

To: Prof. J A McGuckin jam401at columbia dot edu

Day registration fee $25.00

Conference reception/banquet tickets $25.00 (Chamber Music and Chorale Concert of Orthodox Music – Nyack College Musicians)

Early-registration discount and enquiries to: Matt Pereira mp2587 at columbia dot edu

SYMPOSIUM ON

Jacob of Sarug and His Times

Studies in Sixth Century Syriac Christianity

Call for Registration

October 24-26, 2008

St. Mark’s Cathedral, on the occasion of its 50^th Anniversary, is holding an international symposium on Jacob of Sarug and His Times: Studies in Sixth Century Syriac Christianity. The symposium will be held on October 24-26, 2008 at 260 Elm Ave, Teaneck, NJ. The symposium speakers are:

· Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Brown University

· Sharbil Alexandre Bcheiry, Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese

· Sebastian P. Brock, University of Oxford

· Sidney Griffith, The Catholic University of America

· Mary Hansbury, Philadelphia

· Amir Harrak, University of Toronto

· George A. Kiraz, Beth Mardutho & Gorgias Press

· Edward G. Mathews, St. Nerses Seminary

· Kathleen McVey, Princeton Theological Seminary

· Aho Shemunkasho, University of Salzburg

· Lucas Van Rompay, Duke University

Symposium Chair: George A. Kiraz

Symposium Secretary: Jack C. Darakjy, Esq.

To attend the Symposium, download the Attendance Registration From (early registration ends September 1, 2008).

For Gorgias books on Jacob of Sarug, click here.

“Holy Icons and Sacred Arts” will adorn campus Education Day 2008

On Saturday, October 4, 2008, St. Vladimir’s Seminary will once again host its annual Orthodox Education Day, a day of “homecoming” for alumni, friends, and the general public, which this year features the theme “Holy Icons and Sacred Arts.”

The campus-wide celebration will especially honor the holy icon-the early Christian art form uniquely and deeply associated with the worship and faith of the Orthodox Church, and one that has mesmerized poets, writers, and artists for centuries, and has inspired believers and non-believers alike.

Among the campus exhibits will be a magnificent, rare collection of fifteenth to twenty-first-century Russian icons from the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts (http://www.museumofrussianicons.org/) . The museum houses more than 350 Russian icons, the largest collection of its kind in North America and one of the largest private collections outside of Russia; icons in the museum span six centuries, dating from the earliest periods of icon painting up to the present. Gordon Lankton, founder of the museum, and curator Kent Russell will be on hand to explain the special and select icons loaned to the seminary for the day. Also on display will be unique icons on loan from the seminary library and chapel.

To augment these displays, artisans of the sacred arts will be demonstrating their fine iconography in various media, from egg tempera paint to exquisite embroidery. And, to accompany the festival of imagery, the renowned Boston Byzantine choir will present a musical, visual performance titled “The Sound of Icons.”

Additionally, the seminary has planned several events to educate visitors about the meaning and use of icons. Dr. Vasileios Marinis, Kallinikeion Assistant Professor of Byzantine Art, Queens College and specialist in Byzantine architecture and in the study of women in the Byzantine period, will deliver a keynote lecture titled “Holy Images or ‘Sacred Art’? Perceptions of Icons in Contemporary Society.” Following the keynote address, highly interactive workshops for adults, teens, and children will be conducted, including how to “read” an Orthodox icon and how to create an icon.

Visitors also will be able to enjoy an array of delectable ethnic foods, originating from Russia, Greece, Armenia, India, the Middle East, and other regions typically associated with Eastern Christianity.

Worship services in the Orthodox Christian tradition, beginning with a hierarchical Divine Liturgy, will be conducted throughout the day in the seminary chapel and at select campus sites, and the public will have a rare opportunity to venerate the relics and icons of Ss Herman and Innocent, the saints who founded Orthodoxy in America.

The exhibitions and workshops are open to the public without a cover charge, and a full schedule of the day’s events is available at www.svots.edu.

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Conference Announcement and Call For Papers for

The Holy Trinity in the Life of the Church

October 9-11, 2008

Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology

I found it very unfortunate to learn that the Orthodox Study Bible (OSB) would have little to do with the New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS). True, NETS was begun after OSB had already commenced (though they worked much quicker, obviously), but it added much to our understanding of the text.

I received the OSB about a month ago and have been using it devotionally since then, which is how I think any Bible should be used before a final judgment is pronounced upon it. I have found a few issues with it (technical note: the tiny gutter really is annoying, I can’t imagine trying to use it in church to give a reading, perhaps they can produce a “pulpit” version next?). In general, I find most “study” Bibles to exhibit very poor scholarship, and this one is no exception unfortunately. The Author/Date/Theme sections beginning each book are generally not worth the paper they are written on. The “Date” section is the worst offender. It would have been far more useful to change “Date” to “Setting” and say that a particular book is “set” during a certain time. For example, Genesis is said to have been “written during Israel’s forty years of wandering in the wilderness, in the time between the crossing of the Red Sea and the entrance into Canaan.” Oh? Based upon what evidence? Not only is this information not useful, adding nothing to the text of the book itself, but it is quite questionable and misleading. It would have been far better to say that Genesis is “Set” during the time of the earliest history of the world until Israel’s entrance into Egypt. Also Daniel, never a fun book to date, but the OSB says “Traditionally thought to have been written during the Babylonian captivity (603-530 BC).” Never mind the fact that this is another example of the overuse of the passive voice throughout the OSB, but who are the people who “traditionally thought” about the dates Daniel was written? I can’t think of anyone in Second Temple Judaism or ancient Christianity who was interested in such a question, much less put forth a “traditional thought” on the subject. The only “traditional thought” which assigns such a date to Daniel are those who hold to verbal plenary inspiration, which is a rather peculiar Protestant construction which has little to do with Orthodox traditional thinking. Since this note also applies to Susanna and Bel and the Dragon it opens the distinct possibility that academia will simply hold the OSB up for ridicule, and on this point they would well within their rights to do so.

Also, I found many notes to be rather strained and ignorant. For example: Jeremiah 2:13 “For my people have committed two evils: They forsook Me, the fountain of living water, and hewed for themselves broken cisterns, unable to hold water.” The note reads “In both the old covenant and the new, the problem is the same: people forsake God, the living water, and damage the cisterns or containers, the places of God’s dwelling. As Orthodox believers, therefore, we adhere both to Christ and His Church.” Besides the awkward prose and the improper comma placement in the first sentence, this comment misses the point of the verse entirely. First, a cistern is not a container. Cisterns are large underground sealed caverns built in order to store water from the rainy season in order to have water in the dry season. Second, where you have “living water” you do not need to have a cistern. Living water unceasingly flows up from the ground, you don’t need to store it. Simply put, there are no cisterns in Dan. Such a thought is just silly. Third, it misses the connection of this verse to John 4, where Jesus tells the Samaritan woman, as she is drawing water from a cistern, that he is “living water.” Fourth, I think it is profanity to equate a cistern with God’s dwelling place. God’s dwelling place is the Temple, not a cistern filled with old, dirty, and stale water. Nothing in the rest of the Bible supports such an equation of images. In short, living water is good, cisterns are bad, having living water but building cisterns anyways, and leaky one’s at that, is an image which shows the stupidity of Israel’s unfaithfulness.

I also think it is unfortunate that Archimandrite Ephrem’s critiques were not the least bit engaged with. Sure, parts of his critique were subjective, a matter of personal taste, but other parts were spot on. He’s a good scholar, and a great Christian, ignoring him is rather inexcusable.

I would like to see us work towards a Revised version (ROSB?) which uses the research of the NETS and is less dependent upon “traditional” Protestant understandings of the Bible.

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