Michael Langlois

My lastest book is out! It is a detailed study of the textual witnesses of Joshua 10: the masoretic Hebrew text, the Septuagint old Greek version and its later recensions, but also a new deciphering of the Hebrew Dead Sea Scroll fragments discovered in Qumran cave 4!

I am then able to offer an original reconstruction of this chapter’s textual history… A journey to the heart of the Bible!

Michael Langlois, Le texte de Josué 10. Approche philologique, épigraphique et diachronique (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 252). Fribourg, Academic Press / Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011. 280 p.

Here is a summary of the book:
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The Book of Qoheleth stands apart from all other books of the Hebrew Bible. It alternates irony, fatalism, spleen, but also invitation to joy; no wonder how difficult it looks even for the diligent Bible reader!

The “Qoheleth Paradox“: that’s the title of my talk at IFES Strasbourg on February 16, 2012 at 8 PM. Come to the Protestant University Chaplaincy, 7 avenue de la Forêt Noire. See you on Thursday!

The course of Old Testament Textual Criticism that I teach at the School of Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the Catholic University of Paris starts tomorrow!

This discipline consists in the comparison and evaluation of biblical manuscripts in Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Latin, Syriac, and so on. In what way do they differ? Can we retrieve the original biblical text? Answer: tomorrow at 4 PM!

After the holidays, it’s time to got back to class! This semester, I’ll continue my first-year Hebrew course, while teaching an Advanced Hebrew class designed for second- and third-year students in the Bachelor’s program. We’ll look at a number of texts of various literary genres from the Hebrew Bible, focusing on syntax and structure — essential elements of a sound exegesis!

See you tomorrow, January 26, 2012 at 8 AM!

The first volume of “Writing the Bible” series is just out!

Written by Valérie Triplet-Hitoto, edited by your servant with a foreword by Francis Schmidt, it focuses on the interpretation of Dt 29:28 in light of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Here is the teaser I wrote for the back cover:

« Les choses cachées sont pour Yhwh notre Dieu, et les choses révélées sont pour nous et pour nos fils pour toujours, afin que nous mettions en pratique toutes les paroles de cette Loi » (Dt 29,28). Ce verset intrigue. Il fascine. Que sont ces choses « cachées », dont seul Dieu semble avoir connaissance ? Sont-elles cachées à tous et à jamais ? N’y a-t-il pas moyen d’en recevoir la révélation ?

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