Wider context
The Hebrew Bible has played an important part in the development of Western culture. However, its central ideas – such as monotheism, the demythologization of nature or the linearity of time – had to be taken out of the national and linguistic milieu in which they had developed if they were to to become fertile on a wider scale. They also needed to be rendered palatable to a mentality that had experienced the scientific, rationalist revolution prepared by the Greeks. The Septuagint – the oldest Greek translation of the Jewish Bible, produced over the third and second centuries BC – is the first important step in this process of acculturation.
During the last twenty years or so, the Septuagint has come out of the shadow of its Hebrew source. Historians of Judaism, linguists, and biblical scholars have come to view the Septuagint as a significant document in its own right. As the discoveries in Qumran have shown, the Hebrew source text of the Septuagint was not identical to the traditional text received by the synagogue (the Massoretic Text). Also, the translators appear to have taken a degree of liberty in interpreting the text. Dominique Barthélemy used the term 'aggiornamento': the Septuagint is a kind of update of the Jewish scriptures.
Several projects are aimed at producing annotated translations of the Septuagint: in France, La Bible d’Alexandrie, of which sixteen volumes have appeared to date; in the English-speaking world, the New English Translation of the Septuagint, published in 2007; and in Germany, Septuaginta Deutsch, published in 2009. A host of conferences and collaborative efforts enhances the interaction of these projects.
Further progress in the exploration of the Greek version can be obtained only by going into more depth. The rediscovery of the text as linear discourse is to be supplemented by research on the words of which it is composed: their roots in Greek and Hellenistic culture and their exploitation within the biblical language.
Editors
Eberhard Bons (Université de Strasbourg)
Advisory Board
James Aitken – University of Cambridge (Jewish Literature in Greek)
Erik Eynikel – Universität Regensburg (Lexicography)
Christoph Kugelmeier – Universität des Saarlandes (Greek Literature)
Tobias Nicklas – Universität Regensburg (New Testament)
Anna Passoni Dell'Acqua – Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Milan (Papyrology)
Emanuela Prinzivalli – Università di Roma "La Sapienza" (Early Christian Literature)
Michael Segal – Hebrew University Jerusalem (Ancient Judaism)
Staff
Ralph Brucker – Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen / Université de Strasbourg
Jill Husser Munro – Université de Strasbourg
Patrick Pouchelle – Université de Strasbourg
Daniela Scialabba – Université de Strasbourg
Romina Vergari – Université de Strasbourg
