The sixty-third General Meeting of the Society was held at Lund University in Lund, Sweden from 29 July – 2 August 2008, under the presidency of Professor Dr Andrie B. du Toit. About 320 members, spouses and guests were present.
On the first evening, the Society was welcomed on behalf of the University at a reception by the Rector Magnificus of Lund University and the Dean of the Theological Faculty in Lund. Participants were warmly welcomed to the University.
The President delivered his Presidential Address with the title “Paulus oecumenicus: Interculturality in the Shaping of Paul's Theology” at the opening plenary session of the Society. Main Papers in plenary sessions were read by Prof. Dr Elian Cuvillier, “Obéissance à la Loi et radicalisation dans le premier Évangile: Contribution à la question du lien entre Matthieu et le Judaïsme du premier siècle”; Prof. Adele Reinhartz, “Caiaphas' Post-Canonical Career”; Prof. Dr Knut Backhaus, “Zwei harte Knoten. Todes- und Gerichtsangst im Hebräerbrief”; and Prof. Troels Engberg-Pedersen, “The Material Spirit: Cosmology and Ethics in Paul”.
Eighteen short papers were given in simultaneous sessions by Peter Arzt-Grabner, “Papyrologisches zur Frage der Einheitlichkeit des 2. Korintherbriefes”; Craig Blomberg, “The Structure of James”; Guy Bonneau, “Des loups féroces qui n'épargneront pas le troupeau: la fonction des conflits dans la communauté de Luc”; Eugene Botha, “The SNTS Orality Seminar: An Aural and Visual Presentation of its Work”; Delbert Burkett, “Q Material Unique to Matthew”; William Campbell, “‘I rate all things as loss’: Paul's Rhetoric of Comparison”; Jan Willem van Henten, “Matthew 2:16 and Josephus' Portrayals of Herod”; David Instone-Brewer, “Rabbinic Reflections on Living Sacrifices at Romans 12:1”; Jean-Claude Loba-Mkole, “The Greek-Swahili Interlinear NT. A Case Study in Intercultural Mediations”; James A. Kelhoffer, “Persecution, Persuasion and Power in the Revelation of John”; Margaret Y. MacDonald, “Children in the Household Codes of Colossians and Ephesians: New Questions in Light of Recent Research on Families”; Odette Mainville, “La paix messianique dans la perspective lucanienne: Quand et pour qui?”; Gerben S. Oegema, “Non-Canonical Writings and New Testament Theology”; Eckhard Rau, “‘Nicht einmal in Israel habe ich einen so großen Glauben gefunden’: Die Boteninstruktion als Fokus der Logienquelle”; Gesine Robinson, “The Gospel of Judas in Light of the New Testament and Early Christianity”; Lars Rydbeck, “Albert Wifstrand's Views on the Distinctive Character of New Testament Metaphors”; Michael Wojciechowski, “A Typology of Various Forms of Ancient Judaism according to their Attitudes to Hellenism”; Norman H. Young, “Romans 14:5-6 and Colossians 2:16 in their Social Context”.
Seminars were held on ‘Christliche Literatur des späten ersten Jahrhunderts und des zweiten Jahrhunderts/Christian Literature of the late first century and the second century’ (Prof. F. Prostmeier and Dr H. van de Sandt); ‘Colossians’ (Prof. P. Müller); ‘The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament: Language, Culture, Ideas’ (Dozent Dr L. Rydbeck and Prof. S. E. Porter); ‘The Greek of the New Testament’ (Profs. C.C. Caragounis and J.W. Voelz); ‘Inhalte und Probleme einer neutestamentlichen Theologie’ (Profs. U. Schnelle and M. Seifrid); ‘The Johannine Writings’ (Prof. Dr R. Bieringer and Prof. C.R. Koester); ‘The Septuagint and the New Testament’ (Profs. W. Kraus and W.R.G. Loader); ‘New Challenges for New Testament Hermeneutics in the 21st Century’ (Profs. B. McLean and O. Wischmeyer); ‘The New Testament in History and Culture’ (Profs. R. Fowler, W. Kelber and B. Olsson); ‘Paul and Rhetoric’ (Profs. P. Lampe and J. P. Sampley); ‘The Reception of Paul’ (Profs. D. Moessner and D. Marguerat); ‘Shaping Traditions about Jesus’ (Profs. I. Gruenwald and P. Pokorny); ‘Textual Criticism’ (Profs. H.-G. Bethge and J. K. Elliott); ‘History and Theology of Mission in the New Testament: Global Challenges and Opportunities’ (Profs. J. Ådna, J. Kanagaraj, S. Tofana); ‘Pauline Theology in Galatians and Romans (Profs. B. Gaventa, J.M.G. Barclay, and M.C. de Boer); ‘Acts of the Apostles and Ancient Historiography’ (Profs. K. Backhaus, J. Schröter, and G. Sterling); ‘Christian Apocryphal Literature’ (Profs. T. Niklas, C.M. Tuckett, and J. Verheyden).
At the Business Meeting of the Society, Prof. Dr Andreas Lindemann (Germany) accepted the Society's invitation to become President-Elect (to take office as President at the 2009 General Meeting in Vienna), and Prof. Adela Yarbro Collins (USA) was invited to become Deputy-President-Elect (to take office as President at the 2010 General Meeting in Berlin). Prof. Margaret M. Mitchell (USA) and Prof. Dr Udo Schnelle (Germany) retired from the Committee and Prof. Beverly Gaventa (USA) and Prof. Dr Max Küchler (Switzerland) were elected to serve in their places. Prof. J. J. Kanagaraj (India) and Dr J.-C. Loba-Mkole (Kenya) were elected to serve on the Committee as co-opted members, replacing Prof. J.N.K. Mugabe (Kenya) and Prof. M. Sato (Japan). The Society elected Prof. Bernard Lategan (South Africa) to be its first Assistant Secretary for International Initiatives for a three year term from 1 January 2009.
The Society received the Treasurer's Report and formally accepted the statement of accounts. Dr. B.W. Longenecker completed his term as Treasurer in 2008. The Society elected Dr. Helen Bond (UK) to be its new treasurer for a five year term from 1 January 2009.
The Editor of New Testament Studies, Prof. J. M. Lieu, reported an ongoing increase in consortia subscriptions and online access to the journal. From 2009 members of the Society who subscribe to the journal will receive free on-line access as well as a hard copy. It is now possible to search not only the current issue but also past issues. She was pleased to report that the European Science Foundation has given the journal an “A” rating. Prof. Lieu also reported on behalf of the Editor of the Monograph Series, Dr. J.M. Court, who was absent. Four monographs were published after the conference in Sibiu in 2007. Two other works were still in production. Volumes no longer automatically go out of print. Since 2005, monographs have been available electronically as well as in hard copy. Prof. Lieu completed her term as Editor in 2008, having served for six years. Prof. J.M.G. Barclay (UK) was nominated by the Editorial Board to succeed her for a term of five years from 1 January 2009; the Society approved the appointment.
The Editorial Board nominated (and the Society approved) Prof. Dr C. Gerber, Prof. C. Karakolis, Prof. L. McDonald, Prof. A. Reinhartz, Assoc. Prof. D. Sim and Prof. G. Steyn as members of the Board (1 January 2009 – 31 December 2011) in place of Professors T. Engberg-Pedersen, W. R. G. Loader, J. Schröter, T. K. Seim, L. T. Stuckenbruck, and M. M. Thompson who were due to retire at the end of 2008.
The Society received with regret news of the deaths of the following members: Gottfried Fitzer, Benedict Green, Erhardt Güttgemanns, David M. Hay, Augustyn Jankowski, X. Léon-Dufour, Eduard Massaux, C. F. D. Moule (President in 1967), J. Müller-Bardorff, J. Reiling, Harald Riesenfeld (President in 1968), and Krister Stendahl.
The following nominees for membership were elected to the Society: Dr Charalambos Atmatzidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), Dr Sotiris Despotis (University of Athens, Greece), Dr Kathy Ehrensperger (University of Wales, Lampeter, UK), Dr Johan Ferreira (Bible College of Queensland, Australia), Ao. Univ.-Prof. Dr Konrad Huber (Universität Innsbruck, Austria), Prof. Dr Stephen J. Hultgren (Fordham University, New York, USA), Dr Thomas Jürgen Kraus (Willibald-Gluck-Gymnasium, Neumarkt, Germany), PD Dr theol. habil. Manfred Lang (Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany), Prof. Dr Jean-Bosco Matand Bulembat (Catholic University of Kinshasa, Congo), Dr Alan Mitchell (Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA), Dr Andrei A. Orlov (Marquette University, Milwaukee, USA), PD Dr theol. habil. Enno Edzard Popkes (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München & Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany), Asst. Prof. Dr Ioannis Skiadaresis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), Dr Thomas Witulski (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany), Dr Konstantinos Th. Zarras (University of Athens, Greece).
Prof. Dr Ulrich Luz was thanked for his 12 years of outstanding service as the President of the Eastern European Liaison Committee. Prof. Dr Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr, the new President of the EELC, informed members of the Committee's activities and plans. Reports were received on the progress of the Biblical Libraries in St. Petersburg and Sofia. Prof. Niebuhr also reported briefly on the successful symposium held in Romania in 2007, and he announced that the next East-West symposium would take place in Minsk, Belarus, in 2010. A project to translate into Russian scholarly texts for use in teaching was also proceeding well.
Social events at the conference included a reception sponsored by the mayor of Lund, and a dinner hosted by the Bishop of Lund. Optional excursions on the Saturday included the following: (1) “Around the Sound” / Öresund, including stops at Danish Helsingør and Copenhagen; (2) South-East Skåne “Österlen”, including stops at Ystad, Ales Stenar and “Backåkra”; and (3) “Castle, Pottery and Nature”, including stops in North-West Skåne at Vallåkra, Sofiero, the Höganäs ceramic works and Kullaberg nature reserve.
The Society will hold its General Meeting in Vienna in 2009, in Berlin in 2010, in Annandale-on-Hudson (USA) in 2011, and in Leuven in 2012.
31.12.2008
