The SNTS International Initiatives Program is a strategic attempt to ensure that New Testament scholars from regions of the world without a long tradition of New Testament scholarship are acknowledged and included in its membership. It does so in part through its Regional Liaison Committees and in part through individual initiatives of its members. This report provides information about activities of the former, including regional conferences where emerging scholars receive support and encouragement to enable them to move towards qualifying for membership.
Initiatives of SNTS Members
It is important that no scholar who operates at the level of competence which qualifies for membership should be overlooked or excluded from the opportunity to become an SNTS member and that all SNTS members take it upon themselves to ensure that this does not happen. Unfortunately this can happen because scholars become members on the basis of existing members taking initiatives to nominate them and where members neglect to do so worthy scholars can miss out. In recent times there have been important such initiatives alongside those of the regional committees to seek out potential members and also to seek to ensure that the range of interests reflected in seminars reflects the diversity within the discipline.
Regional Liaison Committees
Latin America Caribbean Liaison Committee
Holding a Regional Conference in Santiago de Chile, 2-5 September, at the Universidad Católica, envisaging ca 30 attendees.
Publication of 2016 Montreal pre-conference on Johannine writings in time for Chile meeting.
Asia Pacific Liaison Committee
Regional conference in Taipei, Taiwan, 19-21 October 2018. About half of the APLC will participate as well as scholars presenting papers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Japan, and Singapore.
Eastern European Liaison Committee
Conferences
- Regional conference in Belgrade, May 31 to June 3, 2018, ca 30 participants, 20 papers on “Why Does Reception Matters?” (esp. on Jonah)
- Athens pre-conference with 12 scholars presenting from Russia, Slovakia, Armenia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Greece.
- Regional conference on Matthew to be held in Moscow, September 24-29, 2018
- Regional conference on the relationship between OT and NT to be held in Sofia, October 11-14, 2018, also to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Bibliotheca Biblica Sofia
- 8th EELC East-West symposium on Biblical Anthropology to be held in Caraiman Monastery, Romania, May 26-31, 2019; preparatory visit to Bucharest 22-26 November 22-26, 2017
- Lviv Ukrainian Catholic Faculty of Theology visit by Prof. Michael Sommer, spring 2018, to plan future cooperation
Publications
- May 2018 Russian translation of the Minsk 2010 conference volume published by Belarusian State University
- Rodoljub Kubat / Predrag Dragutinović (Hrsg.): Leksikon biblijske Egsegese (LBE), Beograd: Pravoslavni Bogoslovski Fakultet u Beogradu, Biblijski Institut: Sluzhbeni Glasnik, 2018, 533 pp., ISBN 978-86-7405-192-4) (Biblical Institute Belgrade has published a Lexicon of Biblical Exegesis), articles by over 100 authors, international and Serbian
- Annali di Storia dell’Esegesi 34/2 (2018) Olomouc (Czech Republic) 2016 regional conference volume on James (ed. Tobias Niklas)
- Moscow 2016 regional conference volume in preparation (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019?))
Joint conference New Testament Society of Southern Africa (NTSSA)3-6 April 2018 at North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa on “Early Christianity and Social Boundaries.”
Conference on “Bible and Orality in Africa.”11-13 September 2018, Catholique University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), Nairobi, Kenya.
Sponsorships
For the Athens Meeting sponsorships have been approved for members from Bulgaria, Romania (4), Slovakia, Kenya, Nigeria and for invited guests from Russia (4), Armenia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Greece (2), Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, Chile, Bolivia. 12 sponsorships @ 1200 GBP are available for which LCs can nominate sponsorees. Three LCs are initially allocated 2 nominations each and the LC organising the pre-conference, 6. The latter can then treat the value of the 6 sponsorships plus the equivalent of one more as a fixed budget 7 x 1200 for proposed expenditure to cover the costs both of sponsorships and of running the pre-conference. Many of these are part sponsorships (e.g. without the travel component). Accordingly, the Eastern European LC has been able to make 18 nominations for sponsorship as well as cover the pre-conference.
Supporting Scholars in the Regions
- Arrangement with Stellenbosch University continues for scholars to become Research Associates with access to their Electronic Library facility. Applications to be directed through the Assistant Secretary for International Initiatives, not sent to University directly.
- There has been an increase in the availability of on-line resources.
- Members can also provide support and mentoring, including assistance with resources.
William Loader Assistant Secretary for International Initiatives