The TGSA is pleased to announce that the winners of the Spring TGSA Conference Awards go to three doctoral candidates at Wycliffe College. They are conjoint PhD student, Rachel Krohn; conjoint ThD student Dae Jun Jeong; and PhD (University of St Michael’s College) student Charles Meeks. Congratulations! Each candidate has been awarded $300 CAD to offset their travel expenses
Rachel Krohn
Rachel Krohn (Wycliffe College)
In May 2016, Rachel will be traveling to Calgary to attend the 2016 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, which is “the convergence of approximately 70 scholarly associations, each holding their annual conference under one umbrella.”[1]
- She shall present her paper entitled Location, Location, Location: A Canonical Reading of Psalm 126 at the annual conference of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, the most prestigious society for the academic study of the Bible in Canada.
- She will then present a second paper, entitled ‘What Aileth Thee?’ – Anna Bartlett Warner’s Call to Faithfulness in the Midst of Suffering at the annual conference of the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (CETA), whose purpose is “to provide a forum for scholarly contributions to the renewal of theology and the church in Canada.”[2]
- She shall also sit on a panel to discuss Dr. Marion Taylor and Dr. Christiana de Groot’s upcoming book, Women of War, Women of Woe: Joshua and Judges through the Eyes of Nineteenth-Century Female Biblical Interpreters [3] as part of CETA’s conference.
Title:
‘What Aileth Thee?’ – Anna Bartlett Warner’s Call to Faithfulness in the Midst of Suffering
Abstract:
Anna Bartlett Warner (1827-1915), best known for writing the song “Jesus Loves Me,” also published her interpretation of the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael in her larger work, What Aileth Thee?, a devotional commentary on biblical figures in the Old Testament. This paper examines Warner’s interpretation of Hagar’s story in light of the suffering that Warner experienced in her own life. After analyzing Warner’s interpretation in light of her unique context, her work is compared to the interpretation of other 19th century female interpreters. Finally, the value of Warner’s interpretation to contemporary biblical interpretation is considered.
Title:
Location, Location, Location: A Canonical Reading of Psalm 126
Abstract:
In real estate, it is said there are three factors to consider when assessing the value of a property: location, location, location. The canonical approach to interpreting scripture operates by a similar principle: to rightly interpret and fully appreciate the value of a portion of scripture, it is imperative to understand its “location,” i.e., its canonical context. This paper seeks to appreciate the language, poetics, and location of Psalm 126. The “location” of the psalm is understood both in terms of its inclusion in the Psalms of Ascent collection and as a member of the two-testament Christian canon.
Dae Jun Jeong
Dae Jun Jeong (Wycliffe College)
Dae Jun shall be flying to Seoul for 2-7 July meeting of the 2016 SBL International Meeting held in partnership with the Korea New Testament Society, Korea Old Testament Society and the Society of Asian Biblical Studies program unit on the Pentateuch.
Title:
The Meaning and the Function of the Serpent (Exod 7:8-13) in the Plagues Narrative
Abstract:
Many scholars assert that the plagues narrative in the book of Exodus has a distinct literary pattern, like 3+3+3+1. They divide the plagues into three groups and consider the final one, the death of the first-born, as a ‘climax.’ However, they ignore the function of Exod 7:8-13 in the plagues narrative, namely the incident that Aaron’s rod became a serpent.
In the Hebrew Bible, there are so many words mentioning snakes or serpents. Among these words, we can find two words in the book of Exodus, tannîn and nāḥāš. Unlike other passages, the author uses the word, tannîn, in Exod 7:8-13. I think it is the author’s intention for emphasizing this as the first plague of the narrative, because tannîn has more powerful meaning than nāḥāš. Also, if the serpent is considered as the first plague, we can find the new way of interpreting the plagues narrative. Why does the author use the word, tannîn, for the term of the serpent in Exod 7:8-13? What is the author’s intention in positioning the serpent as the first plague? In answering these questions, I will first search tannîn’s meaning in the Hebrew Bible, and search other words which mean snakes or serpents. Secondly, I will look for a similar or paralleled story to the incident of the serpent in the Hebrew Bible for supporting my interpretation about this incident in Exod 7. Thirdly, I will explain the reason why the plague of the serpent must be considered as the first plague in the narrative.
Charles Meeks
Charles Meeks (Wycliffe College)
Charles will be travelling to Chicago in May 2016 to present at the Annual meeting of the North American Patristics Society. His presentation, scheduled for the General Session is entitled The Sacramental Hermeneutic of Hilary of Poitiers.
Title:
“The Sacramental Hermeneutic of Hilary of Poitiers”
Abstract:
The primary purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the nature and practice of the sacraments (baptism and the Eucharist) in light of the significance of the notion of “tradition” (teaching which has been handed down) and “traditions” (practices which have been handed down) in Hilary of Poitiers’ interpretation of Scripture and defense against heresy. Though several masterful efforts have been made in recent years to ascertain a more holistic sense of Hilary’s general theology, Christology, and ecclesiology, only very recently have contributions been made to understanding the practically- constructive elements of his theology—notably, his understanding of sacramentology and soteriology. Whereas most of this scholarship has focused on Hilary’s De Trinitate, this paper will also seek to highlight his De Synodis, a letter-treatise which is built on a sacramental foundation underlying theological polemic and historical review. The goal is to understand how Hilary uses these elements of the life of the Church to delineate what constitutes not only orthodox theology, but also genuine “membership” in the true Church in the context of a portion of a Western Church geographically—and perhaps, until the mid-4th century, theologically— removed from the plethora of councils of the East.
About the TGSA Conference Awards
The TGSA Conference Award is awarded to a graduate (advanced degree) student who requires support for scholarly engagement in an academic conference; and, has exhibited excellence in their studies by maintaining first-class standing and satisfactory progress in their program. The awards are designated solely to support participation in scholarly conferences (for example, the AAR/SBL or Canadian Congress of the Humanities, among others). The TGSA Conference Award will normally be awarded to students who do not qualify for the GCTS Conference Award owing to the restrictions set down by the OSOTF (Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Funds). In the event that there are insufficient applicants who are not eligible for OSOTF funding, then the TGSA Conference Award may be awarded to applicants who are eligible for OSOTF funding.
