Although school is out for summer, work hasn’t slowed down for the Director of Trinity Western University’s Dead Sea Scrolls Institute. While the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered over 70 years ago, recent news of forgeries and fresh finds has made for some exciting and problematic discussions. As a result, these are interesting times for Dr. Andrew Perrin.
2018 has been busy for Perrin. He has served as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in Germany since February. Plus, he was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Religious Identities of Ancient Judaism in May this year. Both roles have allowed him to collaborate more with other leading scholars in antiquities to better understand and report on a part of history that serves as the foundations of Western Civilization.
Over the past semester, Perrin was in Budapest, Munich, Helsinki and Berlin co-hosting conferences and presenting papers. Most notably, July 25 and 26 Perrin co-hosted a conference with Prof. Loren Stuckenbruck (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) in Munich on “Four Kingdoms in Ancient Historiographies.” The conference brought together top tier academics who examined how the Bible’s Book of Daniel and other Jewish and Christian writings from antiquity through the medieval period structured history, critiqued imperial powers, and provided a vision for hope in times of adversity and instability. The conference was the first major collaboration in his new role as the Canada Research Chair in Religious Identities of Ancient Judaism.
"This event is an excellent example of how our research in this area serves as a departure point for studies and collaborations on a much larger scale with colleagues working around the world in a diversity of fields," says Perrin.
TWU graduate student Matthew Hama attended the conference. “It was hugely formative for me as a student. The conference provided a unique opportunity to closely interact and connect with a variety of major voices in the field of Dead Sea Scrolls research. Being able to listen in on and engage in cutting edge research at the ground level was tremendously valuable in my development as an up and coming scholar,” says Hama.
Video of some presentations from the conference will be available by fall 2018 on the TWU Dead Sea Scrolls Institute’s social media channels. Dr. Perrin and Prof. Stuckenbruck will publish the findings of the workshop in the prestigious Themes in Biblical Narrative series (Brill Publishers) in 2019.
FOR MEDIA: Dr. Perrin is available for media interviews about his recent presentations, research and writing detailed here below. He is also able to contribute an article on any of the topics below.
International Conference on Ancient Near Eastern Science of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Budapest, May 15-16
Presented: The writers of the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls were well-versed in the traditions and literatures of ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean cultures. In a paper on the Aramaic “Prayer of Nabonidus,” which closely resembles the story of Daniel 4, Dr. Perrin provided a new interpretation of this fragmentary Dead Sea Scrolls texts in light of ancient practices for divination in Assyria and Babylon.
International Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi Codices
Berlin, July 20-22
Presented: Two archaeological discoveries from the 1940s irrevocably changed the study of early Christianity and ancient Judaism: the Gnostic codices found near Nag Hammadi (Upper Egypt) in 1945 and the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at Qumran (Israel-Palestine) in 1947. Dr. Perrin presented on “Expressions of Pseudepigraphy in the Qumran Aramaic Fragments and First Impressions in the Nag Hammadi Codices” to help shed light on how ancient scribes might present new materials in the names and voices of more ancient figures.
Four Kingdoms in Ancient Historiographies Conference
Munich, July 25-26
Co-hosted and presented: Perrin says the apocalyptic dreams and interpretations found in the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Scriptures are arguably the most familiar uses of the four kingdoms motif. He presented on “The Extent and Limits of Four Kingdoms Patterns in the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature
Helsinki, July 30-Aug 3
Presented: Dr. Perrin presented a paper on the culture of the scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient texts. “We have scrolls, of course, but know very little about the scribes that composed and copied these materials! My paper tries to work towards understanding the worlds behind the texts,” says Perrin.
Biblical Archaeological Review
September 2018
Perrin’s article outlines why the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls matter today, using examples from both the Old and New Testaments.
Didaktikos
September 2018
Perrin writes about the question and problems arising from forgeries of Dead Sea Scrolls texts turning up on the market today. The article highlights both academic and theological issues related to the materials.
In September Andrew Perrin returns to Langley, British Columbia where he is an Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and Director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western University (TWU), the only centre in North America dedicated to manuscript discoveries in the Judean Desert and material finds of the Qumran community. For news, events, and research opportunities at the Trinity Western University Dead Sea Scrolls Institute follow the Institute on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
For more information:
Linda Munro
t: 778-839-9649
media@twu.ca