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Old Testament Studies at the University of Pretoria: Glimpses of the past and future

Dirk J. Human, Alphonso Groenewald, Esias E. Meyer, Ananda Geyser-Fouch, Sampson S. Ndoga, Gerda E. de Villiers
Verbum et Ecclesia | Vol 38, No 4 | a1789 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v38i4.1789 | © 2017 Dirk J. Human, Alphonso Groenewald, Esias E. Meyer, Ananda Geyser-Fouch, Sampson S. Ndoga, Gerda E. de Villiers | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 10 August 2017 | Published: 20 December 2017

About the author(s)

Dirk J. Human, Department of Old Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Alphonso Groenewald, Department of Old Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Esias E. Meyer, Department of Old Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Ananda Geyser-Fouch, Department of Old Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Sampson S. Ndoga, Department of Old Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Gerda E. de Villiers, Department of Old Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa

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Abstract

In a short historical overview of the academic and social contributions of the Department of OTS at the UP over the past century (1917–2017), this chapter provides a limited picture of how the department has contributed to academia, church and society. In this year of the Faculty of Theology’s centenary celebrations, this chapter contemplates selected highlights of the past and intends to discover the avenues of future vistas through current academic strengths, research foci of personnel and the actualisation of the OT in the African context(s).

From the inception of the UP in 1908, the Faculty of Humanities has been involved in OT related studies, namely the study of the Hebrew language. OTS has become known over many years through individual scholars’ expertise regarding Bible translation and the foci on specific parts of the OT, namely the Pentateuch, Psalms, Prophets or Second Temple literature. World renowned projects started since 1990 to involve several international scholars. These include inter alia Pro Pent, Pro Psalms, Pro Prof and Qumran projects.

Because the department is located at a FT in Africa, it has continuously strived to become theologically relevant for local and African contexts. The department continually envisions excellence and relevant


Keywords

Old Testament Studies (OTS); Pro Pent; ProPsalms; ProProph; Africanization; decolonizing; Qumran Studies; Exegesis; Hermeneutics, Ethics; Old Testament Theology (ies); synchronic; diachronic

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