17 Oct 2006

Reading the Sacred Scriptures - Public Lecture Series at UCC

The Education Department, UCC in association with the Honan Trust will offer a series of six public lectures commencing on Thursday, 26 October.

In this series, a number of religious thinkers, scripture scholars and theologians present the approaches of their tradition to the reading of the sacred scriptures. In particular they ask: what link exists between the Sacred Scriptures and the Revelation of God?

1.     Thursday, 26 October 26 at 8pm
Dr Moojan Momen will present  
"The Reading of Scripture: a Baha'i approach"
Dr Moojan Momen is author of many books including  The Phenomenon of Religion, Introduction to Shí`í Islam, Buddhism and the Bahá'í Faith, Islam and the Bahá'í Faith . He is a medical doctor and presents talks on the Bahá'í Faith around the world.

2.     Thursday, 2 November at 8pm
Professor Carmel Mc Carthy, Professor of Near Eastern Languages, University College, Dublin.
"How the Hebrew Bible Came to be"
Professor Mc Carthy is  author of Saint Ephrem's Commentary on Tatian's Diatessaron, an English Translation of Chester Beatty Syriac MS 709 with Introduction and Notes  and also editor of Biblical and Near Eastern Essays: Studies in Honour of Kevin J. Cathcart. Sheffield University Press, 2004. She is particularly interested in Syriac texts and is a distinguished reader of Aramaic and Hebrew  Scriptures.

3.    Thursday, 9 November at 8 pm    
Professor Sean Freyne, Professor Emeritus Trinity College Dublin,
"How the early Christians read the Hebrew Scriptures"
Professor Seán Freyne is currently President of the International Society for the Study of the New Testament (SNTS). His main research interest is to "integrate historical and archaeological evidence in the study of social and cultural relations in Hellenistic and Roman Palestine." His recent publications include (2000) Galilee and Gospel. Selected Essays, Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr, (2002) Texts, Contexts and Cultures. Essays on Biblical Topics, Dublin, Veritas and (2004) Jesus, a Jewish Galilean. A New Reading of the Jesus Story, London and New York: T. and T. Clark International (Continuum).

4.     Thursday, 16 November at 8pm
Rev. Dr Seamus O Connell, St Patrick's College Maynooth
"Reading Sacred Scriptures- the exegete's problem"
Dr O Connell is an outstanding teacher and well known author of  articles relating to the reading of the scriptures. His question deals with how the scriptures can be used as teaching documents. He is author of "Towards the First Gospel: Redactional Development in the Gospel of Mark" Proceedings of the Irish Biblical Association 26 (2003) and From Best Sources: The Nature and Text-Critical Use of the Greek Old Testament Text of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible. (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 215) Fribourg: Academic Press and Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006.

5.    Thursday, 30 November at 8 pm
Professor John May, ISE and Trinity College Dublin
"The Buddhist Reading of Scripture"
Professor John May has been set  the difficult task of linking Buddhism to its sacred scriptures. Professor May is former head of the Irish School of Ecumenics and a  tireless worker for interfaith dialogue. He is the author of  Transcendence And Violence: The Encounter of Buddhist, Christian and Primal Traditions.
    
6.     Thursday, 7 December at 8pm
Dr Margaret Daly-Denton,
"A Christian Reading of The Song of Songs"
Margaret Daly-Denton is a liturgical composer and a scholar of the writings and worship of the early Christians. She is an experienced teacher of liturgy and biblical studies. Her published articles and her book, David in the Fourth Gospel: The Johannine Reception of the Psalms, explore ways in which the early Christians revered, appropriated and re-interpreted the Scriptures of Israel.  Dr Daly-Denton has been asked to deal with the story of both Jews' and Christians' appreciation of the Song of Songs, a controversial biblical book often charged with being entirely pagan in origin.

This series is part supported by funding from the Honan Trust. The talks are organised and chaired by Dr Fiachra Long, Department of Education, Tel. 021-4902262 or email flong@education.ucc.ie

The lectures take place on Thursdays in Room G19, Kane Building, University College Cork. Members of the public are invited to attend and admission is free.

310MMcS

 
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