- École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem

Transcription

NOUVELLES DE JÉRUSALEM
Aux anciens et aux amis
de l’École Biblique
et Archéologique Française
Number 86, January 2010
LÉGION D’HONNEUR FOR JEAN-MICHEL POFFET
On 3 April 2009 Jean Guéguinou, Ambassadeur de France and
former Consul General in Jerusalem, presented the insignia of the
Légion d’Honneur to Jean-Michel Poffet, OP, in recognition for his
exceptional services as Director of the École Biblique (1999-2008).
The ceremony took place at Éditions du Cerf, Paris. The École
Biblique was represented by Hervé Ponsot (Director), Guy Tardivy
(Prior), Jean-Baptiste Humbert, and Nicolas-Jean Porret (procurator
designate of the École Biblique). Other Dominicans present were:
Bruno Cadoré (Provincial of France), Claude Geffré (Director of the
École Biblique 1996-99), Éric de Clermont-Tonnerre and NicolasJean Séd (both representing Éditions du Cerf), and Philippe de Roten
(Prior of Saint-Hyacinthe, Fribourg, Switzerland). The Association
des Anciens et Amis de l’École Biblique was represented by its
president, vice-president and secretary, respectively Pierre Amiet,
Hugues Cousin, and Alain Saglio, who was accompanied by his wife
Martine.
The French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, was represented
by Stéphane Chmelewsky (conseiller pour les affaires religieuses) and
Pierre Lanapats (sous-directeur pour l’archéologie). Jean Leclant
(secrétaire perpétuel de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres)
had accepted an invitation, but was prevented through illness at the
last moment; he was represented by his wife. Among other guests
were: Mgr Philippe Brizard (directeur de l’Œuvre d’Orient), Régis
Debray and several Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, of which JeanMichel Poffet was made a Commander in 2007.
2
Nouvelles de Jérusalem 2009
It would take too long to enumerate the other guests, who were 60
in total. All were entertained to drinks at Éditions du Cerf.
Subsequently 20 of Jean-Michel’s closest friends were invited to the
nearby appartment of Bernard and Odile Flichy for an excellent
home-cooked dinner prepared by Martine Saglio and M.-Madeleine
Quinclet.
PRIOR RE-ELECTED
On 11 December 2009 Father Guy Tardivy, OP, was re-elected
prior of the Couvent de Saint Étienne for a further term of three years.
HONOURS
On 4 November 2008 Francolino Gonçalves was appointed a
member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission for a term of five
years. The formal announcement was made at the end of January
2009.
On 26 May 2009 the Congregation of Catholic Education gave its
nihil obstat to the promotion of Christophe Rico to the rank of Full
Professor (Ordinarius).
CENTENARY OF THE PONTIFICAL BIBLICAL INSTITUTE
The most popular visiting professor at the École Biblique is
certainly Maurice Gilbert, SJ, whose course on the Sapiential
Literature each year draws an exceptional number of students. It was
not known that writing history was among his many talents until he
produced L’Institut Biblique Pontifical. Un siècle d’histoire
(1909-2009) (Rome: PBI, 2009) to celebrate the centenary of the
institution that he has adorned since his arrival as a student in 1967.
Subsequently he became a professor there (1975) and served a term as
3
Rector (1978-84). His history is scheduled to appear also in English
and Italian.
Naturally he deals very thoroughly with the foundation of the PBI.
Its principal seat was always in Rome, but from 1927 it had a
succursale in Jerusalem. Somewhat unusually these are treated
separately. “Leur histoire est, certes, conjointe, mais la situation de ces
deux maisons et les problèmes qui s’y sont posés favorisent le
traitement séparé de ce qui s’est passé dans l’une ou dans l’autre” (5).
The history of the Roman house is treated in large blocks:
‘L’installation et les premières décisions: 1909-1934’; ‘Enfin la Bible
retrouve sa place: 1934-1968’; ‘Dans le sillage du concile:
1968-1985’; and ‘Le dernier quart du premier siècle: 1985-2009’. The
divisions for the Jerusalem house are: ‘Du projet à sa réalisation:
1909-1927’; ‘Histoire de la succursale: 1927-2009’; ‘La vie
académique et ses moyens’.
There are many approaches to writing history. Maurice has opted
for the accumulation of details, which provide an extraordinarily rich
picture of every aspect of the life of the institution. Numbers of
undergraduates and doctorates are supplemented by lists of
publications and conferences attended. Changes in the statutes
document the evolution of an institution conceived and brought into
being by a most repressive and authoritarian papal regime into one
enjoying immense international and interconfessional respect. The
shift is dramatically illustrated by the succinct discussion and the
accompanying two-page classified bibliography of the contributions
of both sides to the controversy that swirled around the PBI in the first
session of Vatican II.
Mini-biographies of new professors as they joined the faculty are
complemented by surveys of their careers as they took retirement. The
number of world-class scholars produced consistently by one religious
order is extraordinary. Mistakes, of course, have been made, and
Maurice offers detailed bibliographies of the debates that swirled
around José O’Callaghan’s supposed discovery of fragments of Mark
at Qumran and Mitchell Dahood’s erroneous interpretations of the
tablets from Ebla.
The aspect of this history that Dominicans of the École Biblique
will find most interesting is the extremely thorough and fair-minded
treatment of the decision to found a succursale of the PBI at
4
Jerusalem. Maurice concludes with a summary that does full justice to
his clarity and sympathy. The situation was exacerbated by the
irreconcilable antipathy that Lagrange and Fonck felt for each other,
by the tendency of the newspapers to interprete the decision as an
attack on France by Germany, and by the intermperate behaviour of
Fonck in Jerusalem. Maurice also blames the secrecy with which
Fonck surrounded the negotiations. This gave the impression that the
decision emanated from the Jesuits, who in the past had entered the
lists with the Dominicans. It was in fact a personal decision of Pius X,
whose implementation was confided to the PBI and not to the Society
of Jesus!
The immediate tendency to think of this as Jesuitical subtility is
contradicted by what happened in 1982. The Jesuits of the PBI felt
that their monopoly in granting biblical degrees was unfair, and that a
gesture to the École Biblique would be appropriate reparation for a
painful past for which they were not really responsible. Maurice, then
Rector of the PBI, suggested that the École Biblique should be
accredited to grant the DSS, and successfully guided our uncertain
steps through the passages of power in Rome.
Thus it is with full hearts that the faculty and students of the École
Biblique warmly congratulate their colleagues of the PBI on a century
of fruitful labour for truth and the church.
DIES ACADEMICUS
In order to honour the centenary of the Pontifical Biblical Institute
the École Biblique decided to invite one of its senior professors to
give the lecture which officially opened the academic year 2009-10.
The choice fell on Jean-Louis Ska, SJ, one of the most eminent
living specialists in the Pentateuch. Thus on 15 November 2009 in the
Grande Salle he spoke on “La verité symphonique”. Colleagues from
the Jesuit, Franciscan, and Salesian faculties in Jerusalem together
with the Hebrew University, and other institutions applauded a
brilliant presentation.
The lecture was followed by a reception, and many of the
participants stayed for Vespers of the feast of Saint Albert the Great.
5
FESTSCHRIFTEN FOR PAST STUDENTS
On 26 May 2009 at a ceremony at the Institut Catholique de Paris,
Jacques Briend (1960-61) was presented with his second Festschrift,
L’identité dans l’Écriture. Hommage au professeur Jacques Briend
(LD 228; Paris: Cerf, 2009), edited by Olivier Artus (1993-94) and
Joëlle Ferry (1987-89), who also contributed articles in addition to
Philippe Abadie (1985-86), Émile Puech, Michel Quesnel (1977-78),
Adrian Schenker, OP (1966-67; often visiting prof.), and Jacques
Vermeylen (1970-71). After the presentation by Joëlle Ferry, there was
a roundtable discussion between Olivier Artus and Thomas Römer of
the Collège de France on “Exégèse biblique et confession de foi” to
which Jacques Briend responded. The École Biblique adds its
admiring mite to the warm congratulations due to Jacques Briend,
who came to our aid most efficaciously and at great personal sacrifice
in the moment of crisis caused by the unexpected death of Roland de
Vaux, OP, in 1971. His first Festschrift consisted of three fasicles of
Transeuphratène in 1998.
At a ceremony in the Aula Magna of the University of Fribourg,
Switzerland, on 2 October 2009, Max Küchler (1973-74) was
honoured by a Festschrift, Jerusalem und die Länder. IkonographieTopographie-Theologie. Festschrift für Max Küchler zum 65.
Geburtstag (NTOA-StUNT 70; ed. G. Theissen, H.-U. Steymans, S.
Ostermann, K. M. Schmidt, A. Moresino-Zipper; Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009), to which the following past students
and professors of the École Biblique contributed: Luc Devillers, OP
(prof. 1997-2008), Othmar Keel (1964-65), Adrian Schenker, OP
(1966-67; often visiting prof.), Hans-Ulrich Steymans, OP (prof.
1995-96, 2003-4), and Benedict Viviano, OP (1971-72; prof.
1984-95). The master of ceremonies was Philippe Lefebvre, OP
(1988-90; often visiting prof.), head of the Department of Biblical
Studies in the University of Fribourg, who introduced the musical
interludes, and presented the featured lecturer, Prof. Gerd Theissen of
the University of Heidelberg, Germany, who spoke on “Die
Tempelweissagung Jesu und die Entstehung einer neuen Religion”.
Seán Freyne (1968-69): A Wandering Galilean: Essays in Honour
of Seán Freyne (JSJSup 132; ed. Z. Rodgers (1993-94) with M. Daly-
6
Denton and A. Fitzpatrick McKinley; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2009).
Justin Taylor was one of the contributors, and a formal presentation is
planned for sometime in the New Year.
FINANCIAL MANAGER - HAIL AND FAREWELL
After 6 years as financial manager of the Priory of Saint Stephen
and the École Biblique Krzysztof Modras, OP, decided to return to
Poland. He first served in the procurator’s office in the interval
between the departure of John Meany, OP (1996-99) and the arrival of
Gilles-Marie Marty, OP (2000-3), and then assumed full responsibility
in 2003.
Krzysztof gained his doctorate from the Patristic Institute
‘Augustinianum’ in Rome in 1994 for the critical edition of a recently
discovered Coptic text, the De Nativitate of Demetrius of Antioch,
and that same year was appointed to the faculty of the École Biblique
to teach Coptic. In 1997 he added Egyptian Hieroglyphics. The
following year he also taught Literary Arabic, and in 2000 expanded
his offerings to include the Dialectical Arabic of Palestine. In the
process he became a fluent Arabic speaker, which greatly facilitated
his relations with the local employees and construction workers.
Before entering the Order Krzysztof had been trained as a scientist
in the School of Mines and Metallurgy in Cracow. He generously put
his knowledge of computers at the service of the Library of the École
Biblique, and was always available to work out creative solutions to
problems that had not been envisaged in the original software of the
cataloguing program.
Once it became known that he was available, Krzysztof’s immense
talents ensured that he was immediately invited to join the faculty of
the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland, where he will teach courses
and direct seminars on Islam, and on Literary Arabic.
The new financial manager of the Priory of St Stephen and the
École Biblique is Nicolas-Jean Porret, OP, of the Province of
Toulouse. Born in 1967, he entered the Dominican Order at La SainteBaume in 1989, and was ordained priest in 1995. As a deacon he sang
the gospel in St Peter’s Basilica, Rome, in the presence of Pope John
7
Paul II, at the mass of beatification of Hyacinth Cormier, OP, Master
of the Order (1904-1916) and thus intimately involved in the most
turbulent stage of the career of Marie-Joseph Lagrange, OP, founder
of the École Biblique. After obtaining the Licentiate in Theology at
the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, he was appointed secretary of
the Revue Thomiste in 1997, first working out of Toulouse, and then
out of La Sainte-Baume to which he was assigned in 2002. He arrived
in Jerusalem in May 2009, and we wish him every success in his new
position.
ACTIVITIES OF PROFESSORS
(NB: The words in inverted commas after the place/occasion/date are
the title of a contribution, be it a course, a seminar paper, a talk, or a
public lecture).
Hervé Ponsot, Director.
• Visit to Paris to meet with the individuals and institutions who
support the École Biblique, notably the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(15 January-8 February 2009).
• International Colloquium on
Paul’s Teaching on Marriage
organized by the Institute John-Paul II for the Family, Rome (19
March 2009): “Paul on Marriage”.
• Short visit to Paris for the conferring of the Légion d’honneur on
Jean-Michel Poffet, OP (3 April 2009) (see above).
• During his summer vacation in France (16 July-8 September) in
addition to various retreats and preaching engagements he visited
several Dominican houses of formation (Lille, Paris, Bordeaux,
Toulouse, Marseille).
• Fund-raising visit to the USA and Canada (26 October-9 November
2009). In Ottawa he spoke at the Dominican University College: “Les
meilleurs amis de Paul, les femmes” (5 November); “Women were
Paul’s Best Friends” (6 November).
• Represented the École Biblique at the meeting of the Dominican
Regents of Study from the whole world in Rome (21 November-30
8
November 2009) to prepare for the General Chapter to be held in
Rome in September 2010.
Francolino Gonçalves
• Instituto São Tomás de Aquino, Lisbonne: (1) 18 February-13 March
2009: “A Bíblia: como foi escrita e se tornou Sagrada Escritura” (9
hrs); (2) 18 March-3 April 2009: “Da denúncia do pecado ao anúncio
da salvação – uma leitura histórico-teológica dos livros proféticos do
Antigo Testamento” (9hrs); (3) (25 August 2009): “Iavé, Deus de
Justiça et de Bêrção, Deus de Amon et de Salvação” in the framework
of the annual Theology Week at Fátima.
• Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Faculdade de Teologia, Centro de
Estudos de Religiões e Culturas Cardeal Höffner, Lisbonne (19
February-2 April 2009): (1) “O profetismo bíblico: Realidades
históricas e construções teológicas” (14 hrs); (2) Direction d’une
séance du Seminário de Estudos Avançados (26 March 2008) on the
theme: “Mas seriam os titulares dos livros proféticos realmente
nebî’îm (profetas)?”
• Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras (12 February and
30-31 March 2009):
Served on the jury for the agregation in Ancient History of Dr. Manuel
Luís de Araújo of that university.
• Vatican City (20-24 April 2009): Attended the Plenary Meeting of
the Pontifical Biblical Commission, which began work on a document
provisionally entitled Inspiration and Truth in the Bible.
• While on vacation in Portugal he underwent heart surgery in Lisbon.
He successfully survived a triple bypass operation on 7 September,
and returned to Jerusalem on 19 October 2009.
Jean-Baptiste Humbert
• He returned to France on 20 January 2009 for a checkup required by
the hospital in Potiers, which had operated on his prostate cancer in
2007. Fortunately when he arrived in Poitiers on 2 February, after a
round of official engagements concerning archaeology in Paris, a
second series of tests showed that the results of the first conducted in
Jerusalem were incorrect, and that no further treatment was required.
He returned to Paris to work on the final report on the Roman inn,
which had been discovered in his excavation at Khirbet es-Samra.
9
• Université de Strasbourg: Médiatèque André Malraux. Collectif
judéo-arabe: “Pourquoi faire des fouilles archéologiques à Gaza?” (1
December 2009).
• Marseille: Société ‘Philosophie et préhistoire’: (7 December 2009):
“Les aspects controversés du premier Islam”.
Jerome Murphy-O’Connor
• Annual Meeting of the Holy Land Coordination (a mechanism by
which the Catholic episcopal conferences of North America and
Western Europe support the local church in the Holy Land) at the
Casanova Palace Hotel, Bethlehem (14 January 2009): “Paul in
Palestine”.
• Advanced Course in Christianity for Israeli Guides held at the Ben
Zvi Institute, Jerusalem (8 February 2009): “The Argument for the
Holy Sepulchre”.
• Subject of half-page profile by Jill, Duchess of Hamilton in The
Catholic Herald, 3 April 2009, p. 7.
• Paul in his Milieu: Land, Religion and Culture, an international
conference (8-14 May 2009) held at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute,
Jerusalem (9 May 2009): “Paul, Peter and Jesus in Jerusalem” with a
response by Prof. Morna Hooker, Cambridge University, UK.
• Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, IL, USA (15-26 June 2009):
“Events in the Life of Jesus” (30 hrs).
• Conclusion to the Year of Saint Paul, at the Church of Saint Paul the
Apostle, Manhattan, NY, USA (29 June 2009): “The Story of Saint
Paul”.
• College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ (6-10 July 2009):
“Events in the Life of Jesus” (12 hrs).
• The Knights of Malta at St Bartholomew’s Church, Clyde Road,
Dublin, Ireland (16 September 2009): “The Story of the Christian
Quarter in Jerusalem”.
• The Venerable Order of St John at St. Winfrid’s Hall, Brompton
Oratory, London, England (23 September 2009): “The Story of the
Christian Quarter in Jerusalem”.
Étienne Nodet
• Casa Mambre, Jerusalem, course for seminarians (8-10 June 2009):
“Ambiente ebraico del primo cristianesimo” (18 hrs).
10
• Colloquium Guerres justes, justes guerres hosted by the Université
de Paris-XII, France (23-24 October 2009): “Guerres maccabéennes:
les faits censurés”.
• At St John’s Eye Hospital, Jerusalem, he had the bags under his
eyes, which were dangerously full of cholesterol, surgically removed
on 9 November 2009.
Émile Puech
• At a brief ceremony at lunch on 16 January 2009 hosted by the École
Biblique, Emanuel Tov, Magnes Professor of Bible in the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, and editor-in-chief of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Publication Project, presented Émile with the last of the three volumes
that he has contributed to the series of critical editions ‘Discoveries in
the Judaean Desert,’ Qumrân Grotte 4.XXVII. Textes en araméen,
Deuxième partie (4Q550-4Q575, 4Q580-4Q587, et Appendices) (DJD
37; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2009). With this volume all the scrolls
have been published in critical editions and, despite the dire warnings
of critics of the Church, the sky has not fallen.
• In the early summer of 2009 he celebrated the 40th anniversary of
his ordination to the priesthood, and his retirement from the CNRS, in
which he has been accorded emeritus status for five years.
• Conferencia para licenciandos en Facultad de Teología, Buenos
Aires, Argentina (2 September 2009): “Los Manuscritos del Mar
Muerto y el Nuevo Testamento. El Nuevo Moises : sobre algunas
practicas de la Ley”.
• Conferencia Escuela Biblica Ntra Sra de Sión, Buenos Aires (3
September 2009): “Los Manuscritos del Mar Muerto y el Nuevo
Testamento. Los Maestros y las Esperanzas”.
• Conferencia Universidad Nacional de la Matanza, Buenos Aires 4
Testamento. El Nuevo Moises : sobre algunas practicas de la Ley”.
• Conferencia Instituto del Profesorado P. Montoya, Posadas (7
Testamento. Los Maestros y las Esperanzas”.
• Conferencia Catedral de Resistencia, Chaco (8 September 2009):
“Los Manuscritos del Mar Muerto y el Nuevo Testamento. El Nuevo
Moises : sobre algunas practicas de la Ley”.
11
• Conferencia Pontifica Universidad Católica Argentina – Centro de
Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente, Facultad de Filosofia y
Letras, Buenos Aires (10 September 2009): “Los Manuscritos del Mar
Muerto y el Nuevo Testamento. El Nuevo Moises : sobre algunas
practicas de la Ley”.
• International Colloquium, Identités et altérités: les différentes
versions du Siracide, hosted by the Université Paul Verlaine, Metz,
France (15-17 October 2009): “La sagesse dans les béatitudes de ben
Sira: Étude du texte de Si 51:13-30 et de Si 14:2-15:10”.
• Subject of a two-page profile by Pierre Assouline, “Émile Puech et
le puzzle de Qumran”, in L’Histoire n. 347 (Novembre 2009) 16-17.
Christophe Rico
• The University of Santa Croce, Rome, Italy (3-30 September 2009):
“Intensive Course for Beginners in Koiné Greek” (80 hrs).
• Broadcast two interviews, one in French the other in Hebrew, for
Qol Israël on the occasion of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the
Holy Land in May 2009.
Marcel Sigrist
• Max Plank Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany
(May-June 2009): Prepared a second edition of the list of year-names,
which he had edited as a preprint some 20 years ago. This gave him
the opportunity to revise all the tablets published during the reign of
Szulgi.
• Yale University, New Haven, CN, USA (July-August 2009):
Continued a long-term research project on the catalogue of the Ur III
tablets of the Yale Babylonian Collection. His particular concern this
year was to verify the seal impressions in order to produce the most
thorough list of all the seals used during this period.
• Ouidah, Benin (September 2009): Attended a one-week African
biblical conference on the theme Violence and Reconciliation.
Krzysztof Sonek
• Warsaw College of Philosophy and Theology on a visit to the Holy
Land (28 April 2009): “Paul Ricoeur and the Book of Genesis”.
• Studied modern Hebrew at level Gimel – 70 hrs (July-September
2009).
12
Gregory Tatum
• Open lunch-hour session of the research seminar The New Testament
between Jewish-Palestinian and Wider Hellenistic Settings organized
by the École Biblique and the Center for the Study of Christianity of
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (14 January 2009): “The Defense
of the Torah in the Letter to the Romans”.
• Sabbatical Program at the Center for Biblical Formation (Ecce
Homo), Jerusalem (27 January-14 May 2009): “The Epistle to the
Romans”.
• Nazareth and Haifa. Union of Women Religious in Galilee (1 March,
3 May 2009): “Free in Christ” (2 x 2 hrs).
• Priests of the Dominican (Western) Province of the Holy Name,
USA. Lectures and visits to the archaeological and religious sites in
the Holy Land (10 June-28 July 2009): “The Miracles and Parables of
Jesus in the Gospels” (45 hrs).
• Annual General Meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association of
America held at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska (3 August
2009): “‘To the Jew First’ (Rom 1:16): Paul’s Defense of Jewish
Privileges in Romans”.
• Dominican House of Studies and the School of Applied Theology,
Berkeley, CA, USA:
(1) “Straightjacket of Modernity: Fundamentalism versus Catholic
Praxis” (8 September 2009);
(2) “Wisdom and All Her Children: Theology versus Exegesis” (15
September 2009);
(3) “Dogma is a Man’s Best Friend: The Rule of Faith and Catholic
Freedom of Interpretation” (22 September 2009).
• Haifa. Union of Women Religious in Galilee (18 October 2009):
“Coeur de Dieu/Coeur de l’homme” (2 hrs).
• Aquinas College, Nashville, TN, USA (17 November 2009): “The
Eucharist in the NT”.
• Participated in the Annual General Meeting of the Society for
Biblical Literature at New Orleans (20-24 November 2009).
Justin Taylor, SM
• Vacation in New Zealand 1 February-4 March 2009.
• International Symposium Paul in His Jewish Matrix, hosted by the
Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Biblical Institute,
13
Rome (20-22 May 2009): “Paul and the Jewish Leaders at Rome: Acts
28:17-31”. Subsequently he was appointed co-editor with Thomas G.
Casey, SJ, of the papers to be published.
• Il verbo fra le mani. Presentation of the new edition of the Bibbia di
Gerusalemme at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas
(Angelicum), Rome (21 May 2009): “The Jerusalem Bible: Past and
Future”.
• In July 2009 he preached retreats to fellow-Marists in Senegal and
France.
Paweł Trzopek
• On 9 February 2009, in company with the Director of the École
Biblique and Alain Saglio, he met the President of the Centre National
du Livre (CNL), Benoit Yvert, and its Secretary-General, Marc-André
Wagner, at the offices of the CNL. The École Biblique is the only
French overseas institution to benefit by a grant from the CNL, and it
was necessary to discuss arrangements for the future. A generous
dispensation now makes it possible for the École Biblique to buy
books in French no matter where they are published.
• In order to recruit staff qualified in the new cataloguing system he
launched a recruiting campaign through the internet fora of French
librarians. Five were shortlisted from the 20 or so applications
received, and while in Paris he interviewed them with Valérie
Descroizette, a librarian at the Université de Paris VIII. Two were
selected and joined the library staff in the spring with the status of
volunteers. A third arrived in September 2009.
• The Dominican House of Studies, Krakow, Poland (19-30 April
2009): “The Gospel of John” (24 hrs).
• Interviewed by Vatican Radio (15 May 2009) in preparation for the
visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the Holy Land.
• To promote the first regular issue of Biblia krok pro kroku, which he
edits, he presided over a panel discussion in Kraków (8 June 2009) on
“Do the Gospels tell the Truth about Jesus?”
• The Dominican House of Studies, Krakow, Poland (3-18 November
2009): “The Catholic Epistles and the Book of Revelation” (24 hrs).
• Participated in a panel discussion “Cain – Malefactor or Victim?” (7
November 2009) during the National Book Fair held in Kraków.
14
• Various interviews for several Polish radio stations on biblical
subjects and the situation of Christians in the Holy Land.
Olivier-Thomas Venard
• Took an active part (15 hrs) in the 22nd Annual International
Theology Conference, Living in the Shadow of Death, held at the
Osher Jerusalem Center for Religious Pluralism under the auspices of
the Shalom Hartmann Institute (22-26 February 2009).
• Assisted at the invitational colloquium, Pope Pius XII and the
Holocaust: The Current State of Research, organized by the Apostolic
Nunciature in Israel and Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Martyrs’ &
Heros’ Remembrance Authority), and held at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
(8-9 March 2009).
• Twenty-minute radio interview with Sabine Caze on the visit of
Benedict XVI to the Holy Land on the program “Vivante Église” on
Radio Présence, Toulouse (12 May 2009).
• Thirty-minute radio interview with Louis Daufresne on the visit of
Benedict XVI to the Holy Land on Radio Notre-Dame-ofrac, Paris
(13 May 2009).
• Colloque Interreligieux, Vivre ensemble au XXIe siècle. Quelle
contribution des croyants à la paix en Terre Sainte? organized by the
Conférence Mondiale des Religions pour la Paix, Section Française,
and the Doha International Center for Religious Dialogue, Paris (17
May 2009): “Les acteurs religieux locaux pour la paix en Terre
sainte : inventaire et évaluation”.
• Session aux Abbayes Saint-Pierre et Sainte Cécile de Solesmes,
France (7-12 September 2009) : “La Passion selon saint Matthieu (II)”
(17 hrs).
• Session au Studium du Couvent saint-Thomas d’Aquin de Toulouse,
France (14-18 September 2009): “L’Église catholique et
l’interprétation des Écritures” (12 hrs).
• Session au Studium de l’Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sept-Fons, France
(21-25 September 2009) : “L’interprétation catholique de l’Écriture”
(15 hrs).
• Sœurs Dominicaines de Monteils, Maison Sainte-Geneviève,
Paris (14 October 2009): “Qu’est-ce que l’évangile selon saint
Matthieu ?” (1 hr).
15
• One-hour radio discussion with Pastor Jacques Fischer on “Le sens
littéral des Écritures” on Midi Magazine, Fréquence protestante, 100.7
FM, Paris (13 October 2009).
• One-hour televised discussion on “Thomas d’Aquin” with Prof.
Gilbert Dahan (CNRS/EPHE) on Régis Burnet’s program Les mots de
la foi on KTO.
PUBLICATIONS
Christian Eeckhout, “Un tesson – trop ? – bavard” Biblia n° 75
(Jan. 2009) 47; “Psaume 40 (39) À qui cherche Dieu : joie et bonheur,
malgré les malheurs” (Jan. 2009) in www.spiritualite2000.com; “La
Bible et l’archéologie (15.09.2008)-Communication et discussion”
Actes de la Section des sciences morales et politiques Vol. XII (Institut
Grand-Ducal: Luxembourg, 2009) 9-37; “Psaume 54 (53) Bon Dieu
venu à mon secours, je te remercierai !” (Mars 2009) in
www.spiritualite2000.com; “Ce que Paul doit à Éphèse, d’après le fr.
Jerome Murphy-O’Connor (Année Paul)” Biblia n° 80 (Juin-Juillet
2009) 38-41; “Psaume 67 (66) Pour la reconnaissance universelle de
la divine bénédiction” (Déc. 2009) in www.spiritualite2000.com
Francolino Gonçalves, “Deux systèmes religieux dans l’Ancien
Testament: de la concurrence à la convergence” Annuaire de l’École
Pratique des Hautes Études. Section des sciences religieuses 115
(2006-07) 117-122 (publié en 2008); “A Vida e a Morte no Antigo
Testamento” Cadernos ISTA 20 (2007) 69-108 (publié en 2008); “As
mulheres na Bíblia: Realidades e metáforas” Cadernos ISTA 21
(2008) 109-159; “Fundamentos da mensagem moral dos profetas
bíblicos” Cadmo 18 (2008) 9-29.
Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, Keys to First Corinthians. Revisiting
the Major Issues (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), which
shortly after publication was made available electronically in Oxford
Scholarship Online; Saint Paul the Apostle (London: Catholic Truth
Society, 2009); Becoming Human Together. The Pastoral
Anthropology of Saint Paul (3rd edition with a 52-page Afterword;
Atlanta: SBL, 2009); Prima lettera ai Corinzi. Un communità impara
ad amare (Assisi: Cittadella Editrice, 2008); Jesus e Paulo. Vidas
paralelas (São Paulo: Paulinas Editora, 2008); Gesù u Pawlu. Hajjiet
16
jixxiebhu (Birikara, Malta, ĊAK, 2009); Japanese translation of The
Theology of the Second Letter to the Corinthians (Tokyo: Shinkyo
Shuppansha, 2009); “Murabbaat, Wadi” New Interpreter’s Dictionary
of the Bible, vol. 4 (2009) 165; “Paulo: um novo sentido para a igreja
de hoje” IHUOn-Line (Revista do Instituto Humanitas Unisinos,
Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brasil) n. 286 (22 Dezembro
2008) 22-24; “Austin Flannery: How He Encouraged Me To Write”
Spirituality 15/n. 82 (January-February 2009) 3-7; “Letter from
Jerusalem: Archaeology in the City of David” Scripture Bulletin 39/1
(January 2009) 39-41; “The Apostle to the Gentiles”, a 26-part series
that appeared every Sunday in the newspaper Irish Catholic, starting
on 8 January 2009; “Paul the Worker” The Bible Today 47/4 (JulyAugust 2009) 239-44; “It happened here: Jesus in Jerusalem” The
Times (London), Holy Week Supplement, 6 April 2009, p. 2; The
Historical Jesus: Fact and Fiction (8 hr audio CD; Canfield, OH:
Alba House Communications, 2009); “Ce que Paul doit à Ephèse
(Interview)” Biblia n. 80 (Juin-Juillet 2009) 38-41; Article-Review “J.
A. Fitzmyer, First Corinthians” RB 116 (2009) 287-301; ArticleReview “E. Netzer, The Architecture of Herod the Great Builder” RB
116 (2009) 457-63.
Étienne Nodet, “Le baptême des prosélytes, rite d’origine
essénienne” RB 116 (2009) 82-110; “Le Seigneur, père de mon
seigneur (Si 51,10)” RB 116 (2009) 137-41; “Jacques le Juste et son
Épitre” RB 116 (2009) 415-39, 572-97; Article-Review, “Jan Dušek,
Les manuscrits araméens du Wadi Daliyeh et la Samarie vers 450-332
av. J.-C.” RB 116 (2009) 277-87; Article-Review, “P. Kavenagh, The
Exilic Code: Ciphers, Word Links and Datings in Exilic and PostExilic Biblical Literature” RB 116 (2009) 445-51.
Hervé Ponsot, “Marie dans le Nouveau Testament” Revue du
Rosaire n. 208 (Janvier 2009) 22-26; n. 209 (Février 2009) 20-23; n.
210 (Mars 2009) 20-23; n. 211 (Avril 2009) 23-26; n. 212 (Mai 2009)
24-29.
Émile Puech, with Farah Mébarki and others, Les manuscrits de la
mer Morte (Nouvelle édition actualisée; Rodez: Rouergue, 2009); Los
Manuscritos del Mar Muerto (nueva edición revisada; traducción S.
Rostom Maderna; Buenos Aires: ed. SB, 2009); “L’identité d’Israël à
Qumran” in L’identité dans l’Écriture. Hommage au professeur
Jacques Briend (LD 228; ed. O. Artus & J. Ferry; Paris: Cerf, 2009)
17
277-94; “Manuskrypty znad Morza Martwego a Nowy Testament.
Mistrzowie i nadzieje” and “Manuskrypty znad Morza Martwego a
Nowy Testament. Nowy Mojżesz czyli o kilku praktykach Prawa” in
Qumran pomiędzy Starym a Nowym Testamentem (Analecta Biblica
Lublinensia 2; ed. Henryk Drawnel i Andrzej Piwowar; Lublin:
Wydawnictwo KUL, 2009) 187-203 and 205-25 respectively;
“Q173a : note épigraphique” RQ 94 (2009) 287-90.
Christophe Rico, Polis. Parler le Grec ancien comme une langue
vivante (Paris: Cerf, 2009) (see the supporting website:
poliskoine.com); “L’addresse de l’épître aux Philippiens (Ph 1:1)” RB
116 (2009) 262-71; “Prière et Paix en Jacques 5:13” RB 116 (2009)
440-44; “Étude morphologique de la famille de spahagéomai”
Münchener Studien für Sprachwissenschaft 63 (2003/2009) 175-201.
Marcel Sigrist, with Tohru Ozaki, Neo-Sumerian Administrative
Tablets from the Yale Babylonian Collection, 2 vols (Bibliotheca del
Próximo Oriente Antiguo 6-7; Madrid: Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Científicas, 2009).
Krzysztof Sonek, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness in Biblical
Narratives: A Hermeneutical Study of Genesis 21:1-21 (BZAW 395;
Berlin/New York, de Gruyter, 2009); “The Divine Name in Exodus
3:14 as a Saturated Phenomenon” RB 116 (2009) 174-83; “Dlaczego
starożytni patriarchowie żyli tak długo?” Biblia krok po kroku n. 5
(2009).
Jean-Michel de Tarragon et alii, Pilgrims to Makkah 1908
(Riyadh: Al-Taurat, 2008).
Gregory Tatum, “Galatians 2:1-14/Acts 15 and Paul’s Ministry in
1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians” RB 116 (2009) 70-81.
Justin Taylor, SM, “Bread that is Broken – and Unbroken” in A
Wandering Galilean: Essays in Honour of Seán Freyne (ed. Z.
Rodgers with M. Daly-Denton and A. Fitzpatrick McKinley; Leiden/
Boston: Brill, 2009) 525-537.
Pawel Trzopek, “Na początku Bóg stworzył niebo i ziemię–kilka
uwag redaktora naukowego” Biblia krok po kroku n. 0 (2009) 4-7;
“Czy chrześcijanom potrzebny jest Stary Testament?” Biblia krok po
kroku n. 1 (2) (2009) 5-7; “Najpiękniejsze fragmenty Starego
Testamentu” Biblia krok po kroku n. 1 (2) (2009) 17-22; “Pierwsi
wierzący” Biblia krok po kroku n. 2 (3) 4-5; “Jak czytać Nowy
Testament?” Biblia krok po kroku n. 3 (4) 4-5; “Questy, czyli
18
historyczne poszukiwanie Jezusa” Biblia krok po kroku n. 3 (4) (2009)
13; Najpiękniejsze fragmenty Nowego Testamentu” Biblia krok po
kroku n. 3 (4) 17-23.
Olivier-Thomas Venard, Pagina Sacra: le passage de l’Écriture
sainte à l’écriture théologique (Theologiques; Paris: Cerf/Ad Solem,
2009); “De la Bible à la philosophie et retour” RB 116 (2009) 161-62;
“Tên archên ho ti kai lalô hymin (Jn 8:24f.). De-nominating God in
the Gospel” RB 116 (2009) 184-98; “Esprit du Concile ou simple
démangeaison de changement ? », dans J. Mercier éd., « Vatican II,
vraie ou fausse rupture?”, dossier de La vie, n° 3308 (30 janvier 2009)
22; “Les vrais enjeux de la visite de Benoit XVI en Terre Sainte” La
Vie, publié en ligne le 16 avril 2009; “Le pape tient son rôle de leader
spirituel”, Entretien avec Patricia Briel, Le Temps (Genève),
mercredi13 mai 2009; “Le bilan du voyage de Benoit XVI en Terre
sainte : Benoit au nom du Seigneur”, La Vie, publié en ligne le 18 mai
2009; “Être chrétien en Israël” La Nef n° 205 (juin 2009) 32-35;
“Jérusalem, foyer de toutes les tensions” interview dans Famille
chrétienne n. 1661 (14-20 novembre 2009) 8-10; “Quelle
responsibalité des croyants pour la paix en Terre sainte? Homage aux
initiatives en cours, en forme d’examen critique” Istina 54 (2009)
299-322.
ARCHAEOLOGY
Tomb of the Kings, Jerusalem
The excavation of the terrace around the courtyard of the Tomb of
the Kings, which had begun in December 2008, continued from 10
May to 15 August 2009. The complete rock surface was exposed. Not
only was this necessary for the restoration, but it was hoped to find
the bases of the three funerary pyramids mentioned by Josephus.
Nothing very convincing came to light. There were traces of two
monuments but no exact measurements were possible. It was clear
that the whole terrace had been paved and surrounded by a parapet
wall.
19
The major conclusion of the investigation is that it is imperative to
revise radically the stylistic interpretation of the monument and its
chronology. The study has begun.
Khirbet es-Samra, Jordan
This year’s campagne ran from 4 August to 19 October 2009. Alain
Desreumaux (1977-78; CNRS), the director, brought together the
following team: Jean-Baptiste Humbert, pottery analysis; Gaelle
Thèvenin, restoration-conservation of metal and ceramic objects;
Justine Gaborit (IFPO Damascus), catalogue of Roman architectural
elements; Jean-Claude Bessac (CNRS Lyon), exploration of nearby
quarries; the students Patrick Abramovsky, Louis Echallier de Lisle
and Simon Brelaud, pottery drawing.
Publication
The whole of August was devoted to the publication of the Roman
inn (mansio). Thorough research of possible comparative
documentation showed that this inn is virtually unique because of its
state of preservation. Hence it was decided to make the publication as
complete as possible. The pottery is abundant but badly broken.
However, attempts at restoration were successful. Jean-Baptiste
Humber directed the study of the pottery. Photographs and drawings
will furnish a complete profile of Roman kitchen equipment in the
East at the end of the C2 and beginning of the C3 AD.
While this was going on Thomas Bauzou (University of Orléans), a
specialist in the Roman period in the East, conducted a sort of summer
seminar. The excavation of 2004 had been designed to learn more
about the Roman levels, which had been rather neglected in favour of
the Byzantine remains. It was imperative to understand better the
original settlement, which eventually became a Christian town with a
balanced economy. All aspects were reviewed in the light of the
refined chronology established on the basis of the coin discoveries:
the historical sources, the epigraphy, the modes of intervention of the
Roman army, the successive foundations, the different stages in the
defense of the site. The conclusions are not yet definitive, and differ
from what has previously been published, but they are much more
coherent. It would appear that all that remains of a Roman camp is the
trace of a well-constructed protective wall. This camp was built beside
20
an older farming settlement, whose stratigraphy suggests that it came
into being in the early C4 AD. The fortress excavated intra muros
must be dated later, probably in the C5.
Epigraphic Exploration
The Aramaic funerary inscriptions of Samra are an isolated
phenomenon. Alain Desreumaux has been commissioned by the
Jordanian Department of Antiquities to produce a synthetic study of
the semitic epigraphy of northern Jordan. Accompanied by Khaled
Mahfud (University of Orléans) he made more precise facsimilies of
inscriptions from around Irbid and Ajlun, and revised the reading of
certain previously published inscriptions.
Finally, an end was put to a dispute. A. Desreumaux and T. Bauzou
restudied a Greek inscription on the mosaic floor of one of the many
Byzantine churches at Rihab. A date in the C3 had been attributed to
the inscription. This led to great publicity. Rihab possessed the oldest
church in the world! Desreumaux and Bauzou had no difficulty in
showing that the inscription should be dated to the C6. An article in
English laying out the epigraphic argumentation was presented to the
Department of Antiquities in September 2009.
Excavation of the Eleventh Church
After the pre-publication work had been finished, a short time was
spent on this site with a reduced team. Directed by J.-B. Humbert, it
benefited by the collaboration of Pablo Zanbruno, OP, who recently
completed his doctorat at the Institute of Christian Archaeology in
Rome. Alain Chambon came for the last week in order to close down
the dig. He also spent three months in the autumn of 2009 at the École
Biblique working on the publication of Qumran.
In 2008 a chapel was detected at some 10 m from the tenth church.
It was cleared with a view to clarifying the liturgical arrangments. It
does not have an apse, and was paved with white limestone. This can
only be deliberate because everything else on the site is in black
basalt. No inscriptions came to light and its date is uncertain. It should
perhaps be assigned to the C5 or C6. Poverty may explain why it was
not given a mosaic floor. It was transformed into a home at the very
beginning of the Islamicization of Samra. This, in consequence, must
21
be dated rather earlier than hitherto assumed. (Jean-Baptiste
Humbert).
THE BIBLE IN ITS TRADITIONS
At the beginning of December 2009, the corrected proofs of the
‘Demonstration Volume’ were sent to the publishers, Peeters of
Louvain. This means that it should appear in the first half of the civil
year 2010. The aim of the volume is to show the scope and method of
this new Bible project of the Ecole and to test the opinion of readers.
The initial publication is in French, and English and Spanish versions
are to follow.
The next stage of the project is also well advanced. This consists in
the creation of a website for on-line readers of The Bible in its
Traditions. There will be three levels of access: for the general public;
for users who have paid a subscription; for scholar-contributors and
editors, who can thus interact on-line in the composition and editing
of translations and notes.
LE SENS LITTÉRAL DES ÉCRITURES
In the context of its on-going project, The Bible in its Traditions,
the École Biblique organized and hosted an international colloquium
in Jerusalem on the litteral sense of Sacred Scripture on 28-30
November 2007. The acts have now been published as a volume hors
série of the collection Lectio Divina, Le sens littéral des Écritures
(Paris: Cerf, 2009). It was edited by Olivier-Thomas Venard, OP,
who also contributed the introduction, “Les deux asymptotes du sens
littéral des Écritures’ (9-24), the conclusion, “Problématique du sens
littéral” (293-353), and the presentation of the authors (355-59).
I. L’histoire comme principe unificateur? Maurice Gilbert, SJ
(Belgium; Pontifical Biblical Institute), “Les enseignements
magistériels sur le sens littéral” (27-46); Francolino Gonçalves, OP
(Portugal; École Biblique), “Enjeux et possibilités de la quête du sens
22
historique originaire. Est-ce la même chose que le sens littéral?”
(47-74); Étienne Nodet, OP (France; École Biblique), “Sens littéral
ou icônes? Questions” (75-104).
II. Tentatives contemporaines pour penser l’articulation des sens.
Krzysztof Sonek, OP (Poland; École Biblique), “The Meaning and
Significance of Gen 21:1-7. Navigating Across the Sea of
Interpretation” (107-122); Jean-Emmanuel de Ena, OCD (France/
Spain; University of Fribourg, Switzerland), “Le Cantique des
cantiques au risque du sens littéral ou textuel” (123-152); Gregory
Tatum, OP (USA; École Biblique), “The Letter Kills, the Spirit Gives
Life” (153-158).
III. La lettre comme principe unificateur. Uri Gabbay (Israel;
Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Deciphering Cuneiform Texts
through Ancient and Modern Conceptions of Literal Meaning”
(161-170); Christophe Rico (France; École Biblique), “ La traduction
du sens littéral chez saint Jérôme” (171-218); Jean-Michel Poffet,
OP (Switzerland; École Biblique), “À l’école d’Origène et
d’Augustin” (219-236); Gilbert Dahan (France; CNRS et École
Pratique des Hautes Études), “Le sens littéral dans l’exégèse
chrétienne de la Bible au Moyen Âge” (237-262); Mme Dominique
Millet-Gérard (France; Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne), “Le sens
littéral dans l’exégèse claudélienne” (263-291).
The volume is dedicated ‘Au frère Jean-Michel Poffet, o.p.,
directeur de l’École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem
entre 1999 et 2008 avec la gratitude de ses collègues’.
BIBBIA DI GERUSALEMME
The new edition of the Bibbia di Gerusalemme was launched with
great ceremony in the Aula San Raimondo of the Pontifical University
of Saint Thomas (Angelicum), Rome, on 21 May 2009. The occasion
merits mention here, not only because of the origins of this version,
but because of the number of those associated with the École Biblique
who took part.
From its first appearance in 1974 the Italian version has differed
from all other translations in using a text of the Bible that does not
23
derive from the original French of the Bible de Jérusalem. In 1971 the
Italian Episcopal Conference published the Bibbia CEI, an official
translation, which was made mandatory for liturgical usage. In order
not to miss out on this huge market Edizioni Dehoniane, Bologna
(EDB), obtained permission to use the Bibbia CEI with a version of
the notes of the BdeJ adapted to this text. The new edition contains an
update of the Bibbia CEI and a translation/adaptation of the notes of
the 1998 BdeJ.
The audience was welcomed by Joseph Agius, OP (1969-70),
Rector Magnificus of the University. The new version was introduced
by Alfio Filippi, the Editorial Director at EDB, “La Bibbia di
Gerusalemme, un caso internazionale di editoria”. He was followed
by Justin Taylor, SM, Vice-Director of the École Biblique, “The
Jerusalem Bible: Past and Future”. And finally Paolo Garuti, OP
(DSS 1993; prof. from 1993; prior 1995-2000), “S. Paolo et
Gerusalemme: le Scritture nella novità dell’annuncio”. Generous
words from Carlos Azpiroz Costa, OP, Master of the Order of
Preachers, and thereby Grand Chancellor of the École Biblique and of
the Angelicum, brought a pleasant ceremony to a graceful conclusion.
NEW PERIODICAL
Inspired by the pedagogical approach of Biblia (France), Pawel
Trzopek took the initiative of suggesting to the publishers of List, the
highest-circulation Catholic monthly periodical in Poland, that they
produce something similar in Polish. His argument was so impressive
that they eventually agreed, but on the condition that he became the
Academic Editor. He recruited Krzysztof Modras and Krzysztof
Sonek to serve on the editorial board of what would be called Biblia
krok po kroku (‘The Bible Step by Step’). Most appropriately the first
issue, bearing the sub-title Stworzenie swiata (‘Creation of the
World’), appeared at Easter 2009. It focused on the first five chapter
of Genesis, and was brilliantly edited with magnificent illustrations.
Five more issues followed before the end of 2009. We wish it good
fortune.
24
JERUSALEM’S SACRED ESPLANADE
Jerusalem is home to a Jewish institute of higher learning (the
Hebrew University) and to an Arab one (Al-Quds University). On
occasion the École Biblique has collaborated with one or the other on
various academic projects. Marcel Sigrist moved the association to a
new level when, on behalf of the École Biblique, he undertook to
share the sponsorship of a volume that would study the place in
Jerusalem that most sharply divides Jews and Muslims. He was also
an active member of the editorial board.
Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalem’s Sacred Esplanade
(2009) is a study at once passionate and irenic of the area which Jews
call the ‘Temple Mount’ and Muslims the ‘Noble Sanctuary’. Each
aspect of the long history of the area is confided to an expert in that
period. Jews, Christians and Muslims are well represented. To those
acquainted with their immense contributions to our understanding of
Jerusalem, the names of Denys Pringle, Michael Burgoyne and
Donald Little, all old friends of the École Biblique, testify to the
quality of the treatment of the Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk
periods. The others meet the same high standards.
Thematic chapters consider the Haram al-Sharif as a work of art,
and examine the role it played in the thought of Jews, Christians, and
Muslims throughout the centuries. The volume concludes with the
personal views of the President of the Hebrew University, the
President of Al-Quds University, and Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini,
SJ.
Cooperation is often ensured by avoiding problems. It would have
been easy in a volume such as this to concentrate on the remote past.
It is to the credit of the editors that the post-1917 period, which is the
most sensitive politically, is treated with scrupulous objectivity in
articles by Jewish and Muslim authors. One has only to read them to
see why a single article would have been impossible. Yet in both the
same calm, objective tone is preserved. The impeccable scholarship of
the contributions is complemented by the pedagogic beauty of the
illustrations, many of which are important historical documents in
themselves. It will be a long time before this sumptuous collaborative
effort is surpassed. May it augur a better future for Jerusalem.
25
Marcel Sigrist presided at the press conference which launched the
book in the Grande Salle of the École Biblique at 11 am on Monday
16 November 2009.
VISITING PROFESSORS
The visiting professors in the second semester 2008-9 were:
• M.-A. Avila, OMV, “Proverbial Wisdom in the OT: Medium and
Message in Prov.”
• Michael Daise (1998-99; College of William and Mary,
Williamsburg, VA, USA; CBA Professor), “OT Quotations in the
Gospel of John”.
• Paolo Garuti, OP, “Initiation à la Rhétorique ancienne pour l’étude
du Nouveau Testament (4 hrs in February-March); “Christologie des
épitres deutero-pauliniennes” (4hrs in February-March).
• Benoit Standaert, OSB (1972-73), “L’évangile selon Marc.
Composition rhétorique et dramatique, genre littéraire et analyses
stylistiques”.
• Michael Weigl (University of Vienna), “The Archaeology of SyroPalestine in the Bronze and Iron Ages (continued)”.
The visiting professors in the first semester 2009-10 were:
• M.-A. Avila, OMV, “Prayer in the Ancient Near East. The Biblical
Psalms and their Mesopotamian Counterparts”.
• Paolo Garuti, OP, “Nouveau Testament et monde romain”
(intensive January 2010).
• Maurice Gilbert, SJ (Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome), “La
Sagesse de Ben Sira: méthodes et herméneutique”.
PHOTO LIBRARY
In March 2009, after delicate negotiations, Jean-Michel de
Tarragon was authorized to digitize a large photo album belonging to
the Salesians of Bet Gimal. It was compiled in 1935 as a present to
the then superior, and documents a part of the countryside that has
now been eaten up by the expansion of the city of Bet Shemesh.
26
In 2009 the American Schools of Oriental Research received a
NEH grant to digitize, arrange, describe, and make accessible ASOR’s
geographically dispersed archives, which focus on archaeological
excavations and the history of archaeology in the Middle East from
1871 to the present. The director of the project, Prof. Eric Meyers of
Duke University, in the summer of 2009 entrusted Jean-Michel de
Tarragon with the digitization of part of the rich photographic
documentation stored in the Albright Institute, Jerusalem. These are
glass negatives from pioneering excavations of the years 1930 to
1934, namely, Beth El (212 negatives), Beth Sur (208), Khirbet Ader
(9), Petra (8), Tell Beit Mirsim (60), Tell el-Full (25), and 3
unidentified objects.
After its opening in Paris in 2002, the photographic exhibition, AlQuds al-Sharif. Patrimoine musulman de la vieille ville.
Photographies 1890-1925, curated by Jean-Michel de Tarragon,
won plaudits across the Arab world, when it was mounted in Abu
Dhabi, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Syria (for
details see Nouvelles de Jérusalem, n. 79, January 2003). To celebrate
“Jerusalem Cultural Capital of the Arab World 2009” it was mounted
in Madrid, Spain, by the Casa Árabe e Instituto Internacional de
Estudios Árabes y del Mundo Musulmán from 1 December 2009 to 15
February 2010.
Bethlehem University also hosted the Al-Quds al-Sharif exhibition
as its contribution to “Jerusalem Cultural Capital of the Arab World
2009”. The photographs were displayed on the second floor of De La
Salle Hall from 19 to 25 November 2009.
Jules Prickartz (1886-1975) was a student at the École Biblique
in 1908-9. Unusually, he had a camera, which he used to great effect,
accumulating an archive of some 550 glass negatives covering the
Holy Land, the Middle East and Greece. He went on to become the
first professor of Assyriology at the Université d’État de Liège in
Belgium. His photographic collection and an unpublished manuscript
of a commentary on the Gospels passed to his grandson, Charles
Prickartz, who through the intermediary of a fellow-Belgian, Christian
Eeckhout,OP, donated them to the École Biblique. The photographs
were welcomed with open arms by Jean-Michel de Tarragon, who
found them to be of very high quality, and complementary to our
collection, notably as regards the pioneering circumnavigation of the
27
Dead Sea in which Prickartz participated. See the catalogue Périple de
la Mer morte en hiver 28 décembre 1908-7 janvier 1809 (1997) by
Jean-Michel de Tarragon.
LIBRARY
Together with the library of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the
library of the École Biblique was given an admiring write up by Eli
Schiller in a long article in modern Hebrew, “The Libraries of
Christian Communities and Research Institutes in Jerusalem”, in the
periodical Ariel n. 188 (2009) 82-92. The same issue illustrated the
importance of our photographic holdings by printing a series of shots
of parts of the city from the period 1890-1912 (pp. 104-15).
On 18 September 2009 the new catalogue program, KOHA 3.03
was installed. This permitted a great improvement in the entries. More
details can be inserted, and the presentation is much better arranged.
At the same time the program was modified to facilitate the work of
the cataloguers by the removal of useless fields, and to permit the
development of tools with which to work on the data base.
It is the custom at the École Biblique for the library to display each
Saturday the new accessions. It is the simplest way of keeping
professors and students up to date. The display is now accompanied
by an electronic list which goes automatically to the faculty. In
addition a way was found to compile the list of ‘Livres reçus’ for the
Revue Biblique in the course of normal cataloguing.
At the end of her period as a volunteer Rosario Pereira returned to
her native Portugal, and to her first love, the education of children. In
the course of the summer Anne-Cécile Biboud was joined by AnneEva Le Ray, Sandrine Roth and Guillaume Le Vern. These are all
professional cataloguers from France, who have volunteered for one
year. Due to the initiative of the librarian, Pawel Trzopek, OP, the
library is now better staffed than it ever has been. Unfortunately
Anne-Cécile’s contract came to an end in late December 2009. We are
most grateful for her manifold contributions to the École Biblique,
and wish her every success in her new post at the Institut Catholique
de Paris.
28
This team has produced a manual designed to make consultation of
the catalogue more user-friendly, particularly as regards the effective
exploitation of the subject-index. It can be downloaded from http://
biblio.ebaf.info. They also revised the reference section completely,
notably by substituting the most recent editions. It was also decided to
collect all the different translations of the Bible de Jérusalem into one
place. Previously they had been inconveniently sorted according to
the various languages. Finally, they revised all the entries for books
and articles by the current faculty and by those who contribute to the
collections (EBib; CahRB) and periodicals for which they are
responsible (RB, RQ, Biblia krok po kroku).
Just after New Year Amy Phillips returned for a month (25
January-24 February 2009) to continue her work of cataloguing and
repairing our large map collection. When this is complete, it will be
integrated into the catalogue.
As usual the library benefied by the energetic cooperation of a
group of Dominican students, who spent most of the summer doing
the ungrateful tasks for which the cataloguers do not have time. Our
gratitude goes to Maciej Chanaka OP, Michał Woźniak OP, Erik Ross
OP (an American, but a member of the Polish Province) and Tibor
Bejczi OP from the General Vicariate of Hungary
Following the return of the Casa Santiago to its permanent base in
Abu Dis, its library, which had been stored here, was returned to its
proper home.
New Service
It is the custom at the École Biblique for the library to display each
Saturday the new accessions. It is the simplest way of keeping
professors and students up to date. The display is now accompanied
by an electronic list, which the École Biblique has decided to make
available free to all who are interested for the moment. It can be
downloaded from http://biblio.ebaf.info. Should authors fail to find
on it their latest publication, we hope that it will serve as a gentle
reminder to send the library a copy.
29
THE SAGA OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Conspiracy theories have always been part of the complex history
of the discovery and publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The most
notorious was that proposed by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh in
The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception/ La Bible Confisqué. Their basic
assumption was that, at the time of the discovery of the Dead Sea
Scrolls in 1947 and before a single text was read, the Vatican received
a special revelation from on high that the documents would prove
disastrous for the accepted understanding of the origins of
Christianity. Its reaction was a decision to keep the Scrolls from the
public. To this end it inserted its inquisitorial minions, the Dominicans
of the École Biblique in Jerusalem, into the publication process with a
mandate to subvert it. The slowness of publication furnished the grist
for this rumour mill.
Such wild speculation is no longer possible. In 1998 Marcel
Sigrist suggested to Weston Fields, Director of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Foundation in Jerusalem, that the only way to acquire clarity would be
to record critically the testimony of the original eye-witnesses. Some
had died, others were getting old, and this would be the last
opportunity. Fields took up the challenge, and has just published the
first volume of The Dead Sea Scrolls. A Full History (Leiden/Boston:
Brill, 2009).
The thoroughness of his oral history is illustrated by the fact that
he even gives the number of sheep (about 55) in the care of
Muhammed ed-Dib the day he threw the stone into what became Cave
1. The surviving actors were all happy to cooperate, and a number
revealed that they had extensive private archives that had never been
exploited. These amounted to tens of thousands of pages of precise
written and photographic documentation, which was contemporary
with the events. This greatly widened the extent of the project, and
gave it a much more solid base. No longer did Fields have to rely on
aging memories, and the unsupported word of one witness against
another. He had documentary evidence that could be compared,
contrasted, and critically evaluated. Since he started the project ten
important actors have died; he got there just in time.
30
Fields’ quest for sources alive and written took him around the
world. He interrogated them with enviable thoroughness and
scrupulous fairness. If there is an agenda it is to definitively squash
the falsehoods that have arisen about the scrolls. Yet this is done
irenically by letting the known facts speak for themselves. The life
given to the personalities by his gifted pen (as regards the École
Biblique, from Roland de Vaux to Antoun Hazou) is complemented by
magnificent photographs whose reproduction is superb. The story is
so complex that it would have been easy to get lost and confused, and
thereby to bewilder the reader. A detailed time-line defines the
succession of events. Their cause and effect relationships are teased
out with such critical subtlety that the narrative unfolds with grace and
clarity. In areas where the evidence is contradictory he does not
hesitiate to specify what seems more probable. Where the data is
inconclusive he says so bluntly.
The second volume will deal with an already complicated situation
made immeasureably more complex by the Israeli appropriation of the
Palestine Archaeological Museum in June 1967. The École Biblique
shares the eager anticipation of the scholarly world.
MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR JOHN STRUGNELL
John Strugnell died in Boston, MA, on 30 November 2007 (see
Nouvelles de Jérusalem, n. 84, January 2008). His body was
cremated, and his family desired that the ashes should be buried in the
cemetery of the École Biblique. It took time to organize the transfer
from the USA, but the container finally arrived in the good hands of
Hanan and Esti Eshel. The interrement took place on 31 March 2009
in the context of a day-long symposium, arranged by Marcel Sigrist,
and dedicated to the memory of a great scholar.
After the welcome by Hervé Ponsot, Director of the École
Biblique, who presided, the morning session consisted of lectures in
French by: Jean-Baptiste Humbert, “L’archéologie de Qumran”
(owing to his absence in France Jean-Michel de Tarragon delivered
this paper); Émile Puech, “L’épigraphie de Qumran”; Étienne Nodet,
“De IHCOYC (Josué) à IHCOYC (Jésus) via Qumrân”; Katell
31
Berthelot, “Sur le projet français de publication de La Bibliothèque
de Qumrân aux Editions du Cerf”.
After lunch the participants repaired to the cemetery. The
ceremony was very simple. The choir was conducted by OlivierThomas Venard. After the singing of the ‘Requiem aeternam dona eis
Domine’, Jerome Murphy-O’Connor pronounced a brief eulogy.
The chant of the ‘Dies irae’ was succeeded by the singing of the
‘Notre Père’ followed by a prayer spoken by the Prior, Guy Tardivy,
who then blessed the niche in the wall where the ashes of John
Strugnell repose. It is just beside the original door communicating
with what is now the Garden Tomb. The concluding hymn was ‘Que
dans la mort je ne m’endorme pas!’
The Vice-Director, Justin Taylor, SM, presided over the afternoon
session when all the lectures were given in English by Israeli
professors. Steven Fassberg, Director of the Orion Center at Hebrew
University, “lhwh / lhw(w)n at Qumran in the Light of Aramaic
Dialectology”; Hanan Eshel, Bar Ilan University, “The Nature and
Structure of Ps 155 from 11QPsa”; Esther Eshel, Bar Ilan
University, “Women in the Genesis Apocryphon”; Devorah Dimant,
Haifa University, “The Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Past
Achievments and Future Perspectives”.
SNOW IN JERUSALEM
On 14 February 1920 Louis-Hugues Vincent, OP, wrote to Charles
Clermont-Ganneau of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres,
Paris:
Owing to the wilfulness of our impossible postal service your two letters of 3
and 23 January arrived just one day apart, the 8th and 9th of this month, in
fact at the very moment when all means of communication were cut off by
the most incredible snow storm that I have known in Palestine since 1891.
High winds were followed by a vertiginous drop in barometric pressure, just
like that which preceded the serious earthquake of February 1903, and then
came the snow. It began to fall in the evening of 9 February and virtually did
not cease for some 40 hours. Despite the melting when the storm began to
32
abate, on the evening of 11 February we measured an average depth of 75 cm
on our great unprotected terrace [presumably the roof of the Monastery
building]. It was common to find a metre of snow in the streets. I have not
yet had time to look around the city, but we have been told of a great number
of collapsed houses, and some 20 deaths. …The trees have suffered terribly.
In the garden of Saint Etienne alone 30 mature pines and carob trees were
felled, and all the old olive trees were badly damaged. The misery of this
poor country was already so great that it really did not need this disaster.
HENRI CAZELLES, PSS (1912-2009)
Henri Cazelles was born in Paris on 8 June 1912 and died there on
10 January 2009 in the 96th year of his age and the 69th year of his
priesthood. His death robbed the École Biblique of its most eminent
living graduate.
His youthful studies brought him to a brilliant doctorate in law for
a thesis entitled Église et état en Allemagne: de Weimar aux premières
années du IIIe Reich. Immediately afterwards he entered the
Séminaire des Carmes de l’Institut Catholique de Paris (1934-40)
where he was ordained priest on 28 March 1940. Three years in a
parish passed before he entered the Compagnie de Saint-Sulpice, and
began to teach Sacred Scripture in its seminary of Issy-lesMoulineaux while continuing his oriental studies. Immediately World
War II ended he obtained a scholarship of the Académie des
Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres to study for a year at the École Biblique
(1945-46). There he learnt Egyptian hieroglyphics, and took part in
the first season of Roland de Vaux’s excavation at Tell el-Far’ah
(North). He returned to teach at Issy and remained a professor there
until 1954. He spent 1952-53 at the Pontifical Biblical Institute,
Rome, where he was awarded the LSS.
In 1954 he succeeded André Robert in the chair of Old Testament
in the Faculty of Theology of the Institut Catholique de Paris, where
he stayed for the rest of his career. In addition he was Director of the
Séminaire universitaire des Carmes, and taught biblical Hebrew in the
École des Langues Orientales Anciennes of the Institut Catholique.
33
Working with Jean Starcky and Pierre Grelot he brought into being
the Association Catholique Française des Études Bibliques (ACFEB)
(1966), and in 1969 was the principal founding contributor to the
Bibliothèque Œcuménique et Scientifique des Études Bibliques
(BOSEB) by giving it his large personal library augumented by that of
A. Robert. This library has since grown and become the ‘Bibliothèque
Jean de Vernon’ of the Institut Catholique. Nonetheless it always
continued to benefit by his generosity. He paid the subscriptions for a
number of important periodicals. In 1969 at the Institut Catholique he
initiated the Diplôme Supérieur d’Études Bibliques, which offered a
biblical option to doctorate students in theology.
As his reputation grew he was called to teach in other institutions.
From 1972-1980 he was a professor in the Ve Section des Sciences
des Religions de l’École Pratique des Hautes Études (Sorbonne). In
the mid-1970s he taught at the Catholic University, Washington, DC,
USA, and enjoyed a year at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was named to the Pontifical
Biblical Commission in 1971, and served as its Secretary from 1985
to 1989 when he retired.
Cazelles’ scientific qualities were recognized by membership in a
number of learned societies, the Societé Asiatique, the Societé
d’Égyptologie, the Group Linguistique d’Études Chamito-Sémitiques,
the Association des Amis de Louis Massignon, and the Académie
Royal of Belgium. He also served on a number of editorial boards,
notably that of Vetus Testamentum, until 1975.
The honors that came his way he greatly merited. The University
of Bonn, Germany, awarded him a doctorate honoris causa. He
received two Festschriften. M. Carrez, J. Doré and P. Grelot edited
De la Torah au Messie. Études d’exégèse et d’herméneutique
bibliques offertes à Henri Cazelles pour ses 25 années
d’enseignement à l’Institut Catholique de Paris (Octobre 1979)
(1981), whereas Mélanges bibliques et orientaux en l’honneur de M.
Henri Cazelles (1981) was directed by A. Caquot and M. Delcor.
His formation as a lawyer made him particularly sensitive to the
institutional and juridical dimensions of the civilizations of the Middle
East. Not surprisingly he wrote his doctorate at the Institut Catholique
de Paris on Études sur le code de l’alliance (1943), which was
published in 1946. In 1954 he inherited the great project, Introduction
34
à la Bible, launched by A. Robert and A. Feuillet, for which he edited
the first volume, Introduction générale et Ancien Testament (1958),
which was subsequently revised and updated several times. From
1957 to 1990 he shared the direction of vols 5 to 10 of the Supplément
au Dictionnaire de la Bible with A. Feuillet.
Naturally Cazelles’ cooperation was called upon when Th.-G.
Chifflot, OP, of Éditions du Cerf, Paris, in 1946 decided to publish a
new French translation of the Bible under the direction of the École
Biblique. Cazelles translated and annotated Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, and I-II Chronicles. He worked with unusual speed and
concentration, and his contributions appeared first in fasicles
(1950-54). They were revised between 1957 and 1961, and eventually
were incorporated into the one volume edition.
Cazelles was a most prolific scholar. His articles are far too
numerous to even list here. His books must suffice to give an idea of
the range of his interests and the scope of his researches. Naissance de
l’Église, secte juive rejetée? (1968, corrigée et augmentée 1983); Le
mystère de l’Esprit, (collectif) (1968); La nouvelle herméneutique
biblique (1969); Le milieu religieux, social et politique de la Judée au
temps de Jésus (1969); Écriture, Parole et Esprit, ou Trois aspects de
l’herméneutique biblique (1971); Hébreux et Israélites (1972); Le
Messie de la Bible. Christologie de l’Ancien Testament (1978, 21999).
À la recherche de Moïse (1979); Histoire politique d’Israël, des
origines à Alexandre le Grand (1982); Autour de l’Exode (1987); La
Bible et son Dieu (1989); Études d’histoire religieuse et de philologie
biblique (1996).
With the modesty of a believing scholar fully aware of the
relativity of his discoveries, Cazelles deliberately oriented his research
in a direction clearly indicated by his bibliography. His model was his
relative Louis Massignon. This great scholar was also a prophetic
spirit who sought reconciliation, and who was always concerned not
to isolate his researches from their middle eastern context, and to do
so in such a way as to foster Judaeo-Christian dialogue. Although his
professional field was the Old Testament and orientalism in general,
Cazelles’ research threw new light on points concerning the origins of
Christianity, and in particular Jewish messianism and the beginnings
of the church.
35
Henri Cazelles was not only an eminent exegete, a pioneer of
critical exegesis and a demanding professor, but his scholarship was
ever at the service of his faith. Nonetheless when disputes arose with
church authorities he always took the side of liberty. The Bible was
above all the Word of God. His piety was strongly Marial because, as
he liked to say, she had understood and lived the central mystery of
the Scriptures.
(Émile Puech).
WORK IN THE BASILICA
The lighting plan for the basilica was worked out by a Swiss
company, and put into place by Palestinian electricians working under
the direction of our project manager, Gerhard Riedwyl. The work
finished ahead of schedule, just in time for Palm Sunday. There are six
lamps at the top of the Corinthian capital on each column. These can
be lit according to prearranged patterns by a touch-screen computer.
Now that the atrium is used more and more for social occasions
organized both by the École Biblique and the local community, it was
decided to light it properly, and to reorganize the lighting of the
façade of the basilica.
The small round windows in the circular windows of the clerestory
were removed individually and cleaned thoroughly on both sides.
Once the grime of a century and a quarter had been removed the vivid
colours of the stained glass sparkled in the church.
Future Projects
The Dominican community has never been satisfied with the
decoration of the apse since the demolition of the ‘wedding cake’ altar
in 1967. The first solution was to use a set of bedouin rugs as
tapestries in the three center bays of the curved wall. It was thought
that their warm colours would focus the eye, and that their texture
would improve the acoustics. They were replaced in the summers of
1997 and 1998 by a triptych of John the Baptist, Jesus and Stephen
the Protomartyr painted by Jean-Christophe Clair. The monumental
size (4.7 x 2.2 m) of the canvas evoked the Roman Catalan frescos by
which it was in part inspired, but the painting technique used was
entirely that of the icon.
36
This neo-Byzantine decoration was recommended by the fact that
the church of 1900 faithfully reproduces the proportions of the
building consecrated by the empress Eudocia just before her death in
460. Sections of the original mosaic paving are still visible throughout
the floor area. We are now considering the possibility of accentuating
the Byzantine aspect by adding two features of churches of that
period, for which we need to collect funds.
The present makeshift altar is a rectangular wooden box which has
nothing to recommend it. We envisage something much closer to the
original. All the known Byzantine altars resemble a table. A flat slab is
supported by four carved legs of stone. A remarkable medieval
ossuary containing a relic of Saint Stephen will be visible under the
altar slab.
In Byzantine churches the bishop sat in the center of the apse
surrounded by his priests, who were accomodated on slightly lower
benches. A stone episcopal throne would be built to serve as the
presider’s chair. Stone benches for the concelebrants set between the
pillars would free up the choir for the diminishing number of local
Christians who attend mass here.
Despite modern equipment and sophisticated techniques, the work
done in the basilica this year cannot compete in speed and volume
with the achievements of 125 years ago, as the following entry
shows.
BUILDING THE ÉCOLE BIBLIQUE
Two Priors of Saint Stephen’s deserve to be singled out for their
contributions to the physical plant. The Nouvelles de Jérusalem (n. 83
January 2007) has already lauded Jean-Michel de Tarragon. In his
capacity as archivist, he has now made public the reports of the two
terms of Father Étienne Le Vigoureux, OP, his predecessor as ‘the
building prior’ of Saint Stephen’s. What Le Vigoureux achieved in a
very short time with extremely limited means shows that he fully
lived up to his name. He was a man of incredible dynamism, who both
raised the money and spent it. If Marie-Joseph Lagrange was the
37
intellectual founder of the École Biblique, Étienne Le Vigoureux was
the builder who gave it physical shape. Only parts of his report have
been retained here.
First Term (1895-1898)
During this period I raised the sum of 352.269 francs in France [on 19
Nov 2009 = €2,792,130.00 = $4,978,762.00]. A register conserved in the
archives contains the yearly lists of subscribers. This sum paid for the major
buildings and various improvements, which are listed below:
Basilica. The basilica was built of local cut stone on the foundations of
the basilica erected in the C5 by the empress Eudocia on the site of the
execution of the first martyr. The edifice has been fitted out with all its
statues, the paving in white marble, all the stained windows, the 4 doors in
wrought iron, the organ, the 52 stalls and 2 confession boxes in oak wood,
the 8 stone side altars each with its cross and candlesticks, the ‘Confession’
with its railing, the grill of the arcosolium, the two candlesticks of the altar
and the 10 lamps in gilded bronze. In addition the wall limiting the property
on the east and south was constructed. In May 1898 the Duchess Napoléon
de Trévise offered the great chandelier in gilded bronze which dominates the
Confession, plus the lamps which illuminate the principal apse of the
basilica.
Monastery. The same collection paid for the wing of the monastery
perpendicular (north-south) to the apse of the basilica. The basement of this
wing contains three large vaulted cellars. Built on them and separated by a
corridor are the two sacristies, the porter’s office, the parlour, the grand
staircase, and the laundry. The upper floor has eight cells. Projecting from
this wing is a tower. In its base are the toilets above a vaulted cement-lined
pit. Above is a reservoir of water. Pillars surround the bells at the summit.
The monastery is equipped with its doors, windows, shutters, locks and
pavement. The wrought iron railing of the grand staircase is particularly
noteworthy. Each of the eight cells has been furnished with a bed, worktable, prie-Dieu, wardrobe, and washbasin and jug.
Library. The library has been enriched with a number of books both
bought and given, whose value must amount to 7 or 8000 francs. Particularly
noteworthy are the books sent by the Ministère de l’Instruction publique, by
the contributors to the Revue Biblique, and the theological collection given
by Father Xavier Faucher.
38
Taxes. At the insistance of the [local?] financial administration and in
conformity with the advice of the Embassy of France at Constantinople, it
was imperative to pay part of the taxes owed according to the terms of our
firman (which is still a matter of discussion with the Sublime Porte). 1660
francs were paid in 1896, and 3320 francs in 1897. The total (4980 francs)
was covered by the above mentioned collection.
Improvements. The same collection paid for the enclosure wall that
encircles the hill and the enclave – roughly 2500 francs; for the paving of the
old refectory [in the Ancien Couvent]; the clearing of most of the kitchen
garden; the construction of three irrigation basins with their associated
canals; various tools for gardening.
Second Term (1898-1901)
Atrium. The atrium of the basilica was finished with its colonnade, its
arches, and the terrace paved with tiles. The entrance gate is an iron grill,
whereas the two other doors are of oak. From the atrium a path bordered by a
low wall with an iron fence runs to the main entrance of the monastery. The
vehicle entrance on Nablus Road was completed together with the gatekeeper’s house.
Monastery. The monastic wing perpendicular to the apse of the basilica
was completed as the major construction project of my first term as prior. At
the beginning of my second term the rooms were plastered and painted. The
pitched roof of corrugated iron was placed on a wooden framework. The
tower was finished. The second monastic wing running east-west was erected
during my second term. It consists of three stories, of which two have been
completed. The third storey containing the cells is almost half finished. This
building is 58 meters long and 17 meters wide. In addition, all the cut stones
required for this building, a notable part of the patterned flooring tiles and the
woodwork have been bought and paid for, in addition to all the iron beams
for the roofing.
Basilica. The vaults of the basilica have been whitewashed. On top a
wooden framework supports a pitched roof of corrugated iron.
39
ANNIVERSARY OF FRANÇOIS DREYFUS, OP
To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the death of François
Dreyfus a group of his friends gathered at the Convent of the Sisters
of Sion in En Kerem on 18 December 2009 for a morning of prayer
and study. Each of the speakers had 30 minutes. Meir M. Bar-Asher
(Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Quelques souvenirs personnels”;
Pierre Lenhardt (Fathers of Sion), “ ‘Ein miqrā yorsé midei
péshuto”; Étienne Nodet, OP (École Biblique), “Exégèse en église,
exégèse en Sorbonne”; Aryeh Kofsky (University of Haifa), “The
Gardens of Ascetic Delights in the Syriac Liber Graduum”. The talks
were followed by a period of prayer and meditation, and the session
ended with drinks.
MISSING CZECH
In the last issue of the Nouvelles de Jérusalem I published a list of
Czech students who had studied at the École Biblique, and noted the
complete absence of Czech students in the post-WWII period. In a
most welcome response I discovered that this was an error. Josef
Krejčí informs me that he was a student here in 1960-61. At that time
he belonged to the archdiocese of Prague, but was living in Italy on a
displaced person’s passport. He travelled to Jordan on that document,
with the result that his nationality did not appear in our records. After
his sojourn here he stayed on in Italy, and is now incardinated in the
diocese of Trent.
NEW DOCTOR IN BIBLICAL STUDIES
On 9 May 2009 in the Grande Salle of the École Biblique, Matteo
Crimella of the Archdiocese of Milan successfully defended his
dissertation, Il Triangolo Drammatico. Quattro esempi nel ‘Grande
Viaggio’di Luca, before a jury composed of Hervé Ponsot, OP,
40
Director of the École Biblique (President), Alain Marchadour, AA
(director), Jean-Michel Poffet, OP (second reader), Claudio Bottini,
OFM (Studium Biblicum Franciscanum), and Justin Taylor, SM. It
was awarded the mark Summa cum laude. Matteo will teach New
Testament at the major seminary in Milan. His thesis has been
published; see Recent Books.
STUDENTS
The academic council approved the following mémoires:
• on 27 February 2009: Thien Dang, OSB, Coming to Jesus. A
Journey of Faith and Fulfillment. An Exegetical Study of John
19,31-37 (Assez bien).
• on 20 November 2009: Magdalena Binder, Quel rôle donner au
récit de Gn 34 dans la destinée de Siméon et Lévi? Exercise d’analyse
narrative (Assez bien); Thien Dang, OSB, The Other Side. An
Exegetical Study of Mark 4:35-41 (Bien); Andrea Pichlmeier, Wie
das Markusevangelium von der Auferweckung spricht. Eine kritische
Auswertung gegenwärtiger Interpretationsansätze zu Mk 16:1-8 (Très
bien).
• on 18 December: Matthieu Richelle, L’aurige, l’archer et les
Arameens. Étude de critique textuelle et redactionelle en 2 Rois
13:10-14:16 (Très bien).
DOCTORAL PROGRAM
Lorenzo Gasparro, CSSR was accepted into the doctoral
program:
• Mémoire (29 May 2009): Le stagioni del fico e quelle di Dio.
Analisi simbolica dell’episodio de fico di Mc 11:12-25.
• Lectio coram (5 June 2009): “Une analyse symbolique de Mc
11:12-25. Quelques raisons de la pertinence de cette approche pour
l’étude de la péricope de Marc”.
41
GREEK THEATRE
The students in Christophe Rico’s beginners’ Greek class displayed
their talents on 25 May 2009 by putting on two short plays, “The Life
of Tobit” and “The Good Samaritain” in the Grande Salle of the École
Biblique.
PUBLIC LECTURES
Lectures organized by les Centres Culturels du Consulat Général de
France à Jérusalem:
Yves Gonzalez-Quijano, Les tribulations du Keffieh. Mythologie
d’un symbole palestinien (23 March 2009); Karène Sanchez,
“Langue(s), identité(s) et politiques linguistiques. Les collèges des
Frères des écoles chrétiennes de Palestine (1900-1948)” (23
November 2009).
Lectures organized by the École Biblique:
Jean-Baptiste Humbert, OP, “Vie, mort et sacrifice. Bible et
archéologie” (17 January 2009); Franz Bowen, MAfr, “L’état actuel
des relations œcumeniques” (14 February 2009); Alain Marchadour,
AA, “Paul l’Apôtre transfiguré par Jésus Christ, éveillé de la mort”
(11 April 2009); Luigi Farrauto, “Vous êtes ici: Jérusalem dans
l’histoire de la cartographie” (14 April 2009); Étienne Nodet, OP,
“La Galilée à l’époque du Christ” (21 November 2009); Maurice
Gilbert, SJ, “L’Emmanuel annoncé dans Isaïe 7:14 et venu dans
Matthieu 1:22-23” (19 December 2009).
SERVICE TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem called for a
day of prayer on Sunday 4 January 2009 in support of the Palestinians
trapped in Gaza. That day the three Patriarchs presided at an
Ecumenical Worship Service service in the Basilica of Saint
Stephen, perhaps the first of its kind in the history of Jerusalem. The
42
huge turnout bore eloquent witness to the desperation of the
Palestinians at the silence of the world community in the face of the
atrocities being committed in Gaza.
In the context of the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel
(4-10 June 2009) organized by the World Council of Churches, the
Heads of Churches in Jerusalem conducted an Ecumenical Service at
St Stephen’s Basilica on Sunday 7 June 2009.
The Melville Society organized a conference, Herman Melville,
Travel, and the Mediterranean (17-21 June 2009), which used the
Grande Salle and the classrooms of the École Building for its lectures
and discussions. Many of the contributions focussed on his 600- page
poem Clarel (1876), which describes a visit to the Holy Land. There
was plenty of room for debate among professors of English, because
the first review said, “There is ... no plot in the work; but neither do
the theological doubts, questions, and disputations indulged in by the
characters, and those whom they meet, have any logical course or lead
to any distinct conclusions. The reader soon becomes hopelessly
bewildered, and fatigues himself vainly in the effort to give
personality to speakers who constantly evade it, and connection to
scenes which perversely hold themselves separate from each other”
(E. C. Stedman in the New York Tribune, 16 June 1876).
Al-Karmanjâti is a Palestinian Association set up to promote music
schools for Palestinian children and in particular the most
vulnerable. To display the talents of its teachers and the prowess of its
best students Al-Karmanjâti offered its fifth series of concerts of
Baroque music (1600-1750) in December 2009. Eight performances
took place throughout the West Bank and Gaza. It takes little
imagination to envisage the obstacles created by the Israeli
administration. In Jerusalem the venue was the École Biblique (21
December 2009).
NEWS OF STUDENTS AND FRIENDS
In February 2007 Bertrand Pinçon (2003-4) was awarded a
Doctorat d’État es Sciences Bibliques at the Université Marc Bloch de
Strasbourg, France. His dissertation has just been published; see
‘Recent Books’. — On 4 November 2008 Olivier Artus (1993-94),
43
Prof. in the Institut Catholique de Paris, and Carlos Zesati Estrada,
MSpS (1975-76), Prof. in the Pontifical University of Mexico,
Mexico City, were reappointed to the Pontifical Biblical Commission
for a second term of five years. Their appointments were made public
at the end of January 2009. — On 12 December 2008 Ricardo Perez
Marquez (2005-6) was award the mark Summa cum laude for his
doctorate thesis, L’Antico Testamento nell’Apocalisse. Storia della
ricerca, bilancio et prospettive, and its defense at the Pontifical
Gregorian University, Rome. It is to be published by Cittadella
Editrice of Assisi, Italy. — A second son was born to Alessandro
Falcetta (2000-2) and Tina Nilsen (2001-2) on 4 January 2009. The
family is now based in Sandnes, Norway, where both are gainfully
employed but do not have academic jobs. All referrals welcome. —
Ulrich Berges (1986-88), prof. of OT at the University of Münster,
gave a course on Lamentations in the context of the Studienjahr
organized by the German Universities at the Dormition Abbey,
Jerusalem (23 February-7 March 2009). — On 1 March 2009
Miroslaw Wrobel (1998-2000; 2002-3) was installed as a canon of
the cathedral of Lublin, Poland. This honour fortunately will not
interrupt his teaching at the Catholic University of Lublin. — Hélène
Grelier (2007-8) entered the Carmel of Dijon on 8 March 2009. — In
early March 2009 Jean-Michel Poffet, OP (Director 1999-2008) was
named to the Praesidium of the Association Suisse de Terre Sainte, the
organisation that controls the flow of official Swiss money to the Holy
Land. His efforts in the past were instrumental in ensuring that the
École Biblique got a fair share. — Clare Amos (née Birch, 1973-75)
is now based in London as Director of Theological Studies for the
Anglican Communion with particular responsibility for Theological
Education and Inter-Faith Concerns. The corresponding position in the
Roman Catholic church would be Prefect of the Congregation for
Catholic Education! — Raphaëlle Ziadé (1992-93) was curator for
the exhibition “Le Mont Athos et l’Empire byzantin. Trésors de la
Sainte montagne” held at the Petit Palais, Paris, from 10 April to 5
July 2009. — On 3 April 2009 a second son, Timéo, was born to
Sylvain Sanchez (1994-95) and his wife. He works with AELAC
(Apocalytic Literature) and studies Origenism in Priscillian of Avila
(the first person in the history of Christianity to be executed for heresy
in 385) for a research program (UMR 8167) devoted to theoretical and
44
theurgic mysticism (2009-12). His second book is noted in the
‘Recent Books”. — On 16 April 2009 Braulio Rodriguez Plaza
(1979-81), Archbishop of Valladolid since 2002, was transferred to
Toledo and thus became Primate of Spain. — Claire Balandier
(2001-2004) excavated for the second season (20 April-31 May 2009)
at her site in Paphos, Cyprus. — On 4 May 2009 Barbara
Strzałkowska (2007-9) received the highest possible mark for the
successful defence of her thesis, Mowy Elihu (Hi 32-37) oraz ich
reinterpretacja w Biblii Greckiej (The Elihu Speeches (Job 32-37) and
Their Reinterpretation in the Septuagint) before the Theological
Faculty of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw,
Poland. With the efficiency that we have come to expect of the Poles
her thesis has already been published (see Recent Books). In July she
was offered a post at the Wyszyński University as assistant professor,
and began teaching OT and Archaeology in October 2009. As
Secretary of the Association of Polish Biblical Scholars she is
investing considerable time in their new internet site
(www.sbp.net.pl), which may eventually appear in English. — On 8
May 2009 the Aquinas Institute of Philosophy and Theology, Saint
Louis, MO, USA, awarded a doctorate in theology honoris causa to
Benedict Viviano, OP (1971-72; prof. 1984-95) for his commitment
to the intellectual life and for achieving emeritus status at the
University of Fribourg, Switzerland. In the course of the ceremony he
gave the commencement address. On 4 December 2009 he gave the
second Michael Maher, MSC (1961-62) Memorial Lecture at Mater
Dei Institute of Education, Dublin, Ireland, on “Feasts and Prayer in
Early Judaism and Jesus”. — On 18 May 2009 Éric de Putter
(2004-5) sucessfully defended his thesis, Les trois fonctions indoeuropéennes et l’instrument de musique, Lectures de mythologies
trifonctionnelles et de leurs héritages, en fonction de la place
structurelle et de la fonction symbolique de l’instrument de musique,
at the Université Marc Bloch, Strasbourg, France. This university no
longer grades a doctorate by assigning various levels of ‘mention’. —
At the spring 2009 session of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in
Rome Kevin Stephens, OP (2008-10) was awarded the BSS. — In
the Spring of 2009 Stéphanie Anthonioz (2007-8) collaborated with
Ursula Seidl of the University of Munich, Germany, in the publication
of some Luristan tablets. Her contract at the Collège de France has
45
been renewed, but this time she will be the assistant of Thomas
Römer. She is also teaching Hebrew at the Collège des Bernardins in
Paris, and teaches a course on the Prophets in the theological faculties
of the Universities of Strasbourg (first semester) and Lille (second
semester). Her thesis has been published by Brill (see Recent
Books). — After the successful defense of his doctorate thesis, Debate
em torno da redação e composição do livro de Amós – Propostas
fundamentais para a teoria da criação coletiva a partir de Amós
6,1-14, at the Methodist University of São Paulo in December 2007,
Alzir Sales Coimbra (1989-90) continues his priestly ministry in São
José do Alegre, a village in the south of Minas Gerais, while at the
same time serving as professor of exegesis in the Catholic Faculty of
Pouso Alegre (FACAPA). — Bieke Mahieu (2004-6) successfully
defended her thesis, Between Rome and Jerusalem. Herod the Great
and His Sons in Their Struggle for Recognition: A Chronological
Investigation of the Period 40 BC-39 AD, with a Time Setting of New
Testament Events, in the Ancient History Department of the Faculty of
Arts of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, on 19 June
2009. — The Association des Études Grecques on 24 June 2009
awarded the Prix Théodore Reinach to Caroline Carlier (1989-91)
for her book La Cité de Moïse. Le peuple juif chez Philon
d’Alexandrie (Monothéismes et Philosophie; Turnhout: Brepols,
2008). — In July 2009 Miguel de Burgos, OP (1976-77) was elected
Provincial of the Dominican Province of Betica (Andalusia,
Spain). — In August 2009 Aicha Rahmouni (1997-99) followed her
Spanish diplomat husband, Pablo Sanz, from Madrid to a new
appointment in Vienna, where she hopes to find a part-time post at the
university. — Matthieu Richelle (2008-9) married Sarah Muller on
12 September 2009 in a civil ceremony in Argenteuil and in a
religious ceremony in the free evangelical protestant church of
Meulan. The reception took place on the banks of the Seine in the
garden of the Faculty of Theology of Vaux-sur-Seine. — Father
Joseph Titus Perianaygam (2008-9) has been awarded a joint
doctorate in theology by the Institut Catholique de Paris, France, and
the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, for a dissertation The
Second Story of Creation (Gen 2:4-3:24). A Prologue to the Concept
of Enneateuch?, which he successfully defended in Paris on 5 October
2009. — Andreas Guenther (2003-04) of the archdiocese of Munich
46
has been vice-director of the major seminary of his diocese for the
past two years. — In August 2009 the ACFEB, assembled in Lille for
its annual general meeting, elected Luc Devillers, OP (prof.
1997-2008) its President. On 12 October he delivered his inaugural
lecture, “Profession: Exégète. Le plus beau métier du monde,” at the
University of Fribourg, Switzerland. — Jean-Sébastien Rey
(2003-4) was the organizing secretary for an International Colloquium
on Identités et altérités: les différentes versions du Siracide held at the
Université Paul Verlaine, Metz, France (15-17 October 2009), at
which he also gave a paper “L’eschatologie dans les différentes
versions du Siracide”. At the same conference Thierry Legrand
(1969-70) of the University of Strasbourg spoke on “La version latine
du Siracide (l’Ecclesiastique): état de la question, essai de classement
thématique des ‘additions’”. — His examiners acknowledged that
Rémi Fatchéoun (2008-9) had brilliantly defended his master’s
thesis, La réception de l’oracle jérémien de la nouvelle alliance dans
l’Epître aux Hébreux, at the Institut Catholique de Paris on 7
September 2009. They did not know, however, that his father had died
during the previous night, and that he had refused to request a
deferrement of the exam because of the inconvenience it might cause.
He is now teaching the Pauline letters at the Centre de Formation
Missionaire d’Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He lives at the seminary of his
congregation, the Missions Africaines de Lyon, where he carries a
multitude of responsibilities ranging from information technology to
French for foreigners. — At the autumn session 2009 of the Pontifical
Biblical Commission in Rome Renaud Silly, OP (2009-10) was
awarded the BSS. — In mid-Novembe 2009 José Luis Albares
Martín (1999-2000) arrived in Jerusalem to take up his post as
Director of the Instituto Español Bíblico y Arqueológico de Jerusalén
(Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca) and Rector of the ‘Casa de
Santiago’ in succession to the late Javier Velasco Yeregui (1998-99)
(see below). — Giacomo Perego, SSP (1996-2000) has been named
Editorial Director of Edizioni San Paolo, Italy, effective 1 February
2010, and so will move from Rome to Cinisello Balsamo near
Milan. — This year Ana Flora Anderson (1967-69) of New York,
USA, celebrated 50 years of teaching Bible in Brasil, where she was
both a pioneer and one of the most inspirational guides of the biblical
movement, which was the driving force of the revival of the national
47
church. — After a period in the leadership of her congregation, the
Sisters of Charity, Margaret Beirne, RSC (1994-95) has returned to
teaching, and is now professor of NT at St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox
College, Sydney, Australia; it is the national seminary for those who
aspire to become priests in that tradition. — In December 2009
Veronica Lawson, RSM (1973-75) was re-elected for a second fiveyear term as congregational leader of the Ballarat Sisters of Mercy.
RECENT BOOKS BY PAST STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS
Stéphanie Anthonioz (2007-8), L’eau, enjeux politiques et
théologiques, de Sumer à la Bible (VTSup; Leiden: Brill, 2009). —
Olivier Artus (1993-94), Eschatologie et Morale (ed.; Paris: Desclée
de Brouwer, 2009). — Jean-François Baudoz (1980-81), ‘Prendre sa
croix’. Jésus et ses disciples dans l’évangile de Marc (Lire la Bible
154; Paris: Cerf, 2009). — Chrystian Boyer (2003-4) et Gérard
Rochais (1973-74), Le Jésus de l’histoire à travers le monde / The
Historical Jesus Around the World (eds.; Montréal, Fides, 2009). —
Jacques Briend (1960-61) with Claude Tassin, Supplément au
dictionnaire de la Bible, vol. XIV (Paris : Letouzey et Ané, 2008). —
James H. Charlesworth (1968-69) with P. Pokorný, Jesus Research:
An International Perspective. The First Princeton-Pargue Symposium
on Jesus Research, Prague 2005 (Grand Rapids, MN: Eerdmans,
2009). — idem, The Historical Jesus (Nashville, TN: Abingdon,
2008). — Matteo Crimella (2007-9), Marta, Marta!: quattro esempi
di “triangolo drammatico” nel “grande viaggio di Luca” (Studi e
ricerche; Assisi: Cittadella Editrice, 2009). — Bernard Gosse
(1981-82), L’influence du livre des Proverbes sur les rédactions
bibliques à l’époque perse (Transeuphratène Sup. 14; Paris: Gabalda,
2008). — Félix García Lopez (1975-78), Comment lire le
Pentateuque (Genève: Labor et Fides, 2005). — Michel Gourgues,
OP (1973-74; CBA visiting prof.), Les deux lettres à Timothée - La
lettre à Tite (Commentaire biblique: NT 14; Paris, Cerf, 2009). —
Jean-Claude Haelewyck (1993-94), Hester (coll. Vetus Latina. Die
Reste der altlateinischen Bibel 7/3; Fribourg: Herder, 2008). — David
Hamidović (2001-2), Les traditions du Jubilé à Qumran. Préface A.
48
Lemaire (1968-69) (Paris: Geunther, 2007). — Max Küchler
(1973-74) & K. M. Schmidt (eds), Texte-Fakten-Artefakte. Beiträge
zur Bedeutung der Archäologie für die neutestamentliche Forschung
(NTOA 59; Fribourg: Academic Press/Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 2006). — Alain Marchadour, AA (1969-70), I personaggi
del Vangelo di Giovanni. Specchio per una cristologia narrativa
(Bologna: Edizioni Dehoniane, 2007). — John McHugh (1955-56),
John 1-4 (ICC; Edinburgh: Clark, 2009). — Hans-Peter Mathys
(1989-90), Das Astarte-Quadrat (Zurich: Theologischer Verlag
Zürich, 2008). — Françoise Mies (visiting prof. 1999-2000), Bible et
art. L’âme des sens (Le livre et le rouleau, 34; Bruxelles: Lessius,
2009). — Éric Morin (2001-2), Paul et les Corinthiens face à
l’oracle de la Nouvelle Alliance (Jr 31,31-34). Le rôle herméneutique
de la figure de Jérémie dans les lettres de Paul aux Corinthiens (EBib
NS 59; Pendé: Gabalda, 2009). — Martin O’Kane (1976-78),
Painting the Text (The Bible in the Modern World 8; Sheffield:
Sheffield Phoenix Press 2006). — Kieran O’Mahony, OSA
(1995-96), Do We Still Need Paul? A Contemporary Reading of the
Apostle (Dublin: Veritas, 2009). — Bertrand Pinçon (2003-4),
L’énigme du bonheur: étude sur le sujet du bien dans le livre de
Qohelet (Leiden: Brill, 2008). — Giacomo Perego (1996-2000),
Atlante biblico (Milano : San Paolo, 2009). — Zuleika Rodgers
(1993-94), ed. with M. Daly-Denton & A. Fitzpatrick McKinley, A
Wandering Galilean: Essays in Honour of Seán Freyne (JSJSup 132;
Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2009). — Sylvain Sanchez (1994-95),
Priscillien, un chrétien non conformiste. Doctrine et pratique du
priscillianisme du iv au vi siècle (Théologie Historique 120; Paris:
Beauchesne, 2009). — Jordi Sánchez Bosch (1963-64), Efesios y
Colosenses: ¿dos cartas de Pablo?(Estella: Editorial Verbo Divino,
2009). — Anne Saurat (1980s)-Anfray (1956-57), Les Mosquées.
Phares de l’Islam (Paris: Koutoubia, 2009). — Adrian Schenker, OP
(1966-67; regular visiting professor) with P. Hugo, L’enfance de la
Bible hébraïque: l’histoire du texte de l’Ancien Testament à la lumière
des recherches récentes (Genève: Labor et Fides, 2005). — Benoît
Standaert, OSB (1972-73), La sagesse comme art de vivre.
Abécédaire de la vie spirituelle (Paris: Bayard, 2009), which is a
translation of Spiritualiteit als levenskunst. Alfabet van een monnik
(Lannoo, 2007). — idem, L’espace Jésus. La foi pascale dans
49
l’espace des religions (Brussels: Lessius, 2005). — Barbara
Strzałkowska (2007-9), Mowy Elihu (Hi 32-37) oraz ich
reinterpretacja w Biblii Greckiej (The Elihu Speeches (Job 32-37) and
Their Reinterpretation in the Septuagint) (Rozprawy i Studia Biblijne
35; Warszawa: Oficyna Wydawnicza ‘Vocatio’, 2009). — Julio
Trebolle (1971-72, 1974-75), Imagen y palabra de un silencio. La
Biblia en su mundo (Madrid: Trotta, 2008). — Henry Wansbrough,
OSB (1963-64), introductions and notes to The CTS New Catholic
Bible (London: Catholic Truth Society, 2007).
REQUIESCANT IN PACE
Pierre Grelot, who died in Orléans, France, on 22 June 2009, at
the age of 93. Although he battled diabetes for most of his life, he
taught NT at the Institut Catholique de Paris for half a century, and
among French NT scholars his volume of publications was rivalled
only by that of Marie-Émile Boismard. A regular contributor to the
Revue Biblique, he was recognized world-wide for his work on
Aramaic, and served three terms on the Pontifical Biblical
Commission (1973-1988). With his colleague Henri Cazelles he was a
founder of ACFEB, which he served as its first secretary (1967-77),
and willed part of his library to the BOSEB. — Alfred Pichlmeier,
father of Dr. Andrea Pichlmeier (2008-10), who died of heart failure
in Simbach a. Inn, Austria, on 19 January 2009 at the age of 73. — Dr
Abdallah Khoury, house doctor of the École Biblique for over 40
years, who died in Jerusalem of a ruptured aorta on 8 March 2009 at
the age of 81. — François Laplanche, who died of bone cancer in
Angers on 12 April 2009 at the age of 81. After being laicized he
joined the CNRS in 1973, and became an eminent historian
specializing in the interpretation of the Bible in France. His first great
book, La Bible en France entre mythe et critique XVIème-XIXème
siècle (1994), won him an invitation to the École Biblique in 1997 to
teach a course on “L’histoire de l’exégèse de XVIIème au XXème
siècle”. He returned on a research project in 2003, and during his
leisure moments organized an exhibition in the Grand Gallery of our
most valuable old books. His purpose was to draw the attention of the
50
community to ignored treasures that required careful conservation. —
Antoun Hazou, who died in Jerusalem after two strokes on 25 June
2009 at the age of 91. After a varied career in the Rockefeller
Museum, the Palestine Police, and in a business company in Iraq,
Antoun Hazou was recruited by Père de Vaux in 1951 and served the
École Biblique until November 1997. A new Librarian, Jourdain
Rousée, OP, had been appointed and the community had decided to
reorganize the Library. Rousée and Hazou worked together to produce
what became a unique catalogue in terms of the depth and extension
of its subject index. When Rousée retired as Librarian in 1988 Antoun
Hazou became the living memory of the Library, and provided
services of inestimable value to a series of Librarians. Scholars from
all over the world have had the experience of asking him how to find
something in the catalogue and being brought without a moment’s
hesitation to the book required no matter how esoteric. On 26 June
2009 his funeral took place in the Basilica of Saint Stephen, the
church in which he had been married in 1955 in a Syrian Catholic
ceremony. — Alighiero Lufrani, father of Riccardo Lufrani, who
died of heart failure in Grossato, Italy, on 18 September 2009 at the
age of 81. — Javier Velasco Yeregui (1998-99) who, after several
days in a coma due to a stroke, died on 17 November 2009 at the age
of 45. Prior to being named Vicar General of his home diocese of
Calahorra-La Calzada-Logroño, Spain, in June 2009, he had served as
Director of the Instituto Español Bíblico y Arqueológico de Jerusalén
(Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca) and Rector of the ‘Casa de
Santiago’ (2005-9), when both were still housed at the École Biblique.
During that time he was a visiting professor in OT at the Franciscan
Faculty of Biblical Studies and Archaeology (Flagellation), from
which he had received his doctorate in 2007. His great popularity was
underlined by the number of messages of sympathy that the École
Biblique received when the news of his tragic death spread.
51
NEW WEBSITES
The old website of the École Biblique (http://www.ebaf.edu) had
become unwieldy because overcharged with data. Problems also arose
on account of restrictions imposed by the address .edu. For
professional reasons, however, it was important to retain .edu in the
addresses of faculty members. In consequence, they remain
unchanged as in the list above, but the individuals in question can also
be reached at @ebaf.info
Other sites were created to serve more specific needs. It was
decided to separate the Dominican Priory of Saint Stephen from the
academic institution it houses, the École Biblique, and to give the
latter a number of sub-divisions. Thus the current websites are:
Priory of St Stephen: http://www.domjer.org
École Biblique: http://www.ebaf.info and www.ebaf.edu
Library Catalogue: http://biblio.ebaf.info
History of the École Biblique: http://archives.ebaf.info
Topography: http://www.ebaf.info/topographie
Editor: Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, OP
Editorial Assistant: Krzysztof Sonek, OP
52
COMMUNICATIONS
The postal address (POB 19053, Jerusalem 91190), and the phone and
fax numbers of the École Biblique remain the same, namely (+972-2)
626-4468 and (+972-2) 628-2567 respectively. The following are the
extension numbers of the faculty and permanent community together
with their email addresses. The extension number can be entered as
soon as the voice is heard.
Archaeology
Avila, M.-A.
Director
Eeckhout, Ch.
Gonçalves, F.
Humbert, J.-B.
Leroy, M.
Librarian
Lufrani, R.
Murphy-O’Connor, J.
Nodet, É.
Ponsot, H.
Porret, N.-J.
Prior
Puech, É.
Rico, C.
Secretariate École
Sigrist, M.
220
105
238
255
247
220
253
222
240
246
242
237
230 or 241
231
109
Sonek, K.
Tardivy, G.
Tarragon, J.-M. de
Tatum, G.
Taylor, J.
Trzopek, P.
Venard, O.-T.
243
231
244
249
251
245
250
238
233
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

- École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem

Transcription

Documents pareils

Webquest British schools questionnaire

Sciences de la nature - maternelle

GODS AND HEROES: MASTERPIECES FROM THE ÉCOLE DES

Healthy Eating Active Living

New Documents for the Early History of Puṇḍravardhana

Jerusalem Letter 2007b - École biblique et archéologique française

Procedures for the Disposal of Obsolete, Irreparable, and/or

VNL - TCN

Small jobs and pocket money.

Levée de fonds du temps des Fêtes Holiday Fundraising Campaign

Abortion overview - Classes