The international workshop On the Trail of the Bible of Niketas: A Transverse Approach to Catenae will take place at Brussels and KU Leuven, on March 30-31, 2026.

The event will comprise two sessions:

• 30 March (Royal Library of Belgium KBR, Brussels): an introductory seminar on Greek palaeography and exegetical catenae;

• 31 March (KU Leuven): a research day bringing together international specialists to present recent work on the catenae of the Bible of Niketas, examining their editorial logic, sources, and intellectual context from a transverse perspective.

More information and full programme: https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/grieks/nieuws/niketas

Takamitsu Muraoka passed way on February 10th, 2026, just one day after his 88th birthday. Born in 1938 in Hiroshima, Muraoka studied general linguistics and biblical languages under Masao Sekine at the Toyko University of Education and then completed a doctorate under the supervision of Chaim Rabin at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1970 on the topic of Emphasis in Biblical Hebrew. After teaching Semitic languages at Manchester University (1970-80) and Melbourne University (1980–91), he taught at Leiden University from 1991 to 2003 where he was Chair of Hebrew, Israelite Anitqiuities, and Ugaritic.

Along with his accomplishments as a scholar of Semitic languages, Muraoka contributed many publications related to Septuagint studies, including A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (2009) and A Syntax of Septuagint Greek (2016). Most recently he completed commentaries on The Books of Hosea and Micah in Hebrew and Greek (2022), Wisdom of Ben Sira (2023), The Wisdom of Solomon in the Septuagint (2024), and a study of the Appendices to the Septuagint Book of Daniel (2025).

After retiring from teaching in Leiden in 2003, Muraoka sought to establish dialogue and reconciliation by lecturing in Asian countries which had been suffered under Japanese militarism during World War 2. These experiences were recounted in his autobiographical account My Via Dolorosa: Along the Trails of the Japanese Imperialism in Asia (2016).

The International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS) invites proposals for twenty-minute papers at its annual meeting, held in conjunction with the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Annual Meeting in Denver (CO, November 21–24 2026). Proposals on any aspect of the Septuagint and cognate literature are welcome. In light of the SBL's upcoming 150th anniversary, we particularly encourage submissions that address the history of the IOSCS within the SBL framework, including (but not limited to) its foundations, major challenges, and key themes over the years. Complementing the general call for papers, IOSCS welcomes proposals for a co-sponsored session with the Book of Jeremiah program unit. This panel will examine theological questions arising from the Book of Jeremiah's dual canonical existence in Greek and Hebrew. Selected papers may be considered for publication in an edited volume. All presenters and panelists must be members in good standing of the IOSCS. For more information, please contact Beatrice Bonanno, or visit the SBL website. 

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.