The Book of Psalms is a little Bible, as Martin Luther famously wrote. It is also a rich poetry collection that has inspired authors and composers alike. The Psalms offered a model for private prayer, a prism for theological enquiry, the vehicle of scientific and encyclopaedic knowledge. Their enduring literary force challenged translators, poets and scholars to rework and revise their verses into different languages and formats.

This conference studies the ways in which paraphrases and translations of the Psalms functioned as literary exercises, interpretive statements, and educational tools. We invite contributions that explore the poetic, religious and intellectual negotiation of meaning in these texts, where Jewish poetics, Christian worldviews and classical forms come together. We also solicit insights into the original Hebrew text for a better understanding of the subsequent versions.

We welcome perspectives from transnational languages such as Hebrew, Latin, Arabic, and Byzantine Greek, as well as vernacular languages until 1800. Interdisciplinary approaches which discuss, for example, musical settings of or book historical questions related to relevant texts are equally welcome. Given the conference’s longue durée perspective, we encourage papers that deal with long-distance reception or cross-linguistic comparisons.

The conference takes place at KU Leuven, 12-13 May 2026; accommodation costs will be covered by the organisation and (partial) compensation for travel costs is foreseen, especially for students and scholars with limited funds. Abstracts on the text, the translation and the rewriting of Psalms from their original composition until early modern times can be submitted to Simon Smets by 15 January. More Info here. 

Trinity Western University and the John William Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies are pleased to announce the Septuagint Summer School course, which will take place 11 – 15 May 2026 (see attachment). The course is entitled “The Reception of the Septuagint in the New Testament and the Early Church” and will be taught by Dr. Edmon Gallagher, Professor of Christian Scripture at Heritage Christian University in Florence, Alabama, and author of The Translation of the Seventy: History, Reception, and Contemporary Use of the Septuagint (ACU Press, 2021). Further details are provided in the poster.

Anneli Aejmelaeus passed away in the early hours of Tuesday, November 18, 2025. She retired in 2016 from her position as Professor of Old Testament Exegesis and Middle Eastern Culture and Literature at the University of Helsinki. Early in her career, she studied translation technique of the Septuagint under Ilmari Soisalon-Soininen. For the last 30 years, she focused on textual criticism of the Septuagint, particularly the Books of Samuel.

Shortly before her passing, Aejmelaeus completed the Septuagint edition of 1 Samuel for the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. She also compiled her articles on textual criticism of the Books of Samuel into a collection, which her closest students will edit for publication.

Aejmelaeus led two research projects funded by the Academy of Finland and a research team in the Centre of Excellence "Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions," where she also served as deputy director. She supervised over a dozen dissertations in Finland and Germany and had a significant impact in many international contexts.

The jury is pleased to announce that the John William Wevers Prize in Septuagint Studies 2025 has been awarded to Raphaëlle Berterottière for her paper “Jewish Spiritual Exercises: The Book of Wisdom and Fourth Maccabees in Light of Pierre Hadot’s Understanding of Ancient Philosophy.” Raphaëlle is affiliated to the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), in Paris, where she is doing her PhD under the supervision of Pierluigi Piovanelli. We congratulate her on her original contribution.

The deadline for submitting papers for the current year is 1 September 2026. Papers should be between 4500–5500 words in length. Please submit the paper electronically to Dr. Theo van der Louw at the following address: theo_vanderlouw@sil.org. The winner will be announced early November 2026.

Following the workshop “Negotiating Catenae and Catena Research” held at KU Leuven in June 2025, this second instalment aims to move beyond the traditional approach that considers catenae in isolation, book by biblical book. We find it relevant to adopt a cross-cutting perspective and to study catenae on different biblical books in conjunction.

The workshop welcomes contributions on:

- The Bible of Niketas and the manuscripts it comprises

- The exegetical catenae it contains

- Cross-cutting approaches to catenae, beyond the Bible of Niketas alone

- The figure of the compiler (as visible from prologues, methods etc.).

Proposals for 30-minute papers (title and abstract of no more than 300 words) should be submitted by 1 December 2025 to Tiphaine Lorieux.