Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Text of the New Testament Today (Baarda Aland Symposium)







Yesterday (October 16, 2012), we had an exciting symposium here in Amsterdam, entitled The Text of the New Testament Today. It was a symposium in honour of Prof. em. Tjitze Baarda on the occasion of his eightieth birthday and celebrating the publication of the New ‘Nestle-Aland’ (NA-28). The symposium was organised by the Amsterdam Centre of New Testament Studies (ACNTS) in cooperation with the Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung (Münster). We were very privileged to have Prof. Barbara Aland and Dr Klaus Wachtel in our midst, as well as a number of outstanding New Testament colleagues from the Netherlands.

The first part of the meeting (chaired by Dr Arie Zwiep) was on our department’s project on Conjectural Emendation. Dr Jan Krans introduced us into the world of Conjectural Criticism in a presentation entitled “Rückblick und Ausblick. Konjekturalkritik im Nestle und Nestle-Aland (1898 bis heute)”.
 Prof. Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte then lectured on Friedrich Blass’ attempt to restyle Matthew 23:8-10, and Drs Bart Kamphuis presented part of his work for this project under the title “Straatman, the Silenced Women and the Resurrection: The Curious Origin of the Conjectured Omission of 1 Cor. 14:34-35”.

The second part of the meeting (chaired by Prof. Martin de Boer) was on the new Nestle-Aland (NA-28). Dr Wachtel introduced us to the ins and outs of the new edition and Prof. Aland shared some personal memories of her work with the Committee members (most of them no longer among us), and expressed her gratitude for the scholarly work of Tjitze Baarda and their longstanding friendship. She presented the first copy (not really the first, of course) of NA-28 to Baarda as a token of appreciation. NA-28 has made its entry into the Netherlands! Tolle, lege!!

Arie Zwiep (ACNTS, VU University)
[Two images added, Jan Krans, 18/10/2012]