Second Enoch Seminar (2003 Venice), conference

Palazzo Sullam, Venice, Italy

Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan

The Second Enoch Seminar (2003) is an international Conference organized by the Enoch Seminar.

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Overview

The Second Enoch Seminar was held in Venice [Italy] on "Enoch and Qumran Origins."

The success of the First Enoch Seminar convinced the promoters to expand the call to a larger number of international scholars and specialists in the Enoch literature and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Second Enoch Seminar was organized by the University of Michigan (Dept. of Near Eastern Studies and Frankel Center for Judaic Studies) and for the first time, by the Michigan Center for Early Christian Studies, in collaboration with the City of Venice, the Catholic Dioceses and the Jewish Community of Venice, the Segretariato Attività Ecumeniche of Venice, and the Italian Biblical Association BIBLIA. It probed the role played by the Enoch literature in shaping the ideology and the practice of the Essene movement and the Qumran community, focusing on the work of five international specialists—John Collins, James VanderKam, George Nickelsburg, Florentino García Martínez, and Gabriele Boccaccini.

15 papers (and 32 short papers) circulated in advance and were discussed at the conference in plenary sessions. In attendance were 53 scholars from 10 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America). Among the newcomers: Matthias Albani, Albert Baumgarten, Stefan Beyerle, James Davila, Marcello Del Verme, Torleif Elgvin, Ida Fröhlich, Lester Grabbe, Matthias Henze, Armin Lange, Erik Larson, Timothy Lim, Emile Puech, Annette Reed, Jacques van Ruiten, Lawrence Schiffman, Shemaryahu Talmon, and James VanderKam.

The final session of the Enoch Seminar, a panel at the Scuola Grande of San Giovanni Evangelista, marked the beginning of another conference on Jewish and Christian messianism, Il Messia tra memoria e attesa, open to the public and jointly organized with the Italian Biblical Association BIBLIA, with more than 200 participants. Enoch Seminar members Gabriele Boccaccini, John Collins, James Charlesworth, and Ithamar Gruenwald offered papers together with Italian specialists Rinaldo Fabris, Bruno Maggioni, Sergio Caruso, Amos Luzzatto, and Paolo De Benedetti.

The Proceedings of the Second Enoch Seminar were published in 2005 by Eerdmans [Enoch and Qumran Origins: New Light on a Forgotten Connection, ed. Gabriele Boccaccini]. An additional volume on the early Enoch literature was planned and published in 2007 by Brill [The Early Enoch Literature, ed. Gabriele Boccaccini and John Collins]. The Proceedings of the BIBLIA meeting were published in 2005 in Italian by Morcelliana [Il messia tra memoria e attesa, ed. Gabriele Boccaccini].

Participants

• Matthias Albani, University of Leipzig, Germany
• Jeff Anderson, Wayland Baptist University at Anchorage, USA
• Albert I. Baumgarten, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
• Andreas Bedenbender, Humboldt University, Germany
• Stefan Beyerle, Oldelburg University, Germany
• Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan, USA
• Piero Capelli, University of Venice, Italy
• James H. Charlesworth, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA
• Sabino Chialà, Comunità di Bose, Italy
• John J. Collins, Yale University, USA
• Michael Daise, William and Mary College, USA
• Philip R. Davies, Sheffield University, England
• James R. Davila, St. Andrews University, Scotland
• Marcello Del Verme, University of Naples, Italy
• Torleif Elgvin, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Norway
• Yaron Eliav, University of Michigan, USA
• Mark A. Elliott, University of Toronto, Canada
• Esther Eshel, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
• Hanan Eshel, (1958-2010), Bar-Ilan University, Israel
• Ida Fröhlich, Catholic University of Budapest, Hungary
• Florentino Garcia Martinez, Groningen Qumran Institute, Netherlands
• Claudio Gianotto, University of Turin, Italy
• Lester L. Grabbe, University of Hull, England
• Ithamar Gruenwald, Tel Aviv University, Israel
• Charlotte Hempel, , England
• Matthias Henze, Rice University, USA
• Martha Himmelfarb, Princeton University, USA
• Michael A. Knibb, emeritus, King’s College London, England
• Klaus Koch, emeritus, University of Hamburg, Germany
• Helge S. Kvanvig, University of Oslo, Norway
• Armin Lange, University of North Carolina, USA
• Erik W. Larson, Florida International University, USA
• Timothy H. Lim, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
• Corrado Martone, University of Turin, Italy
• George W.E. Nickelsburg, emeritus, University of Iowa, USA
• Pierluigi Piovanelli, University of Ottawa, Canada
• Emile Puech, France, and Ecole Biblique, Israel
• Annette Y. Reed, McMaster University, Canada
• John C. Reeves, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA
• Henry W. Rietz, Grinnell College, USA
• Liliana Rosso Ubigli, University of Turin, Italy
• Jacques van Ruiten, University of Groningen, Netherlands
• Paolo Sacchi, emeritus, University of Turin, Italy
• Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University, USA
• David W. Suter, Saint Martin’s College, USA
• Shemaryahu Talmon, (1920-2010), Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
• Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar, Groningen Qumran Institute, Netherlands
• Patrick Tiller, ,
• James C. VanderKam, Notre Dame University, USA
• Megan Williams, University of Michigan, USA
• Benjamin G. Wright, Lehigh University, USA

Guests

• Mauro Perani, University of Bologna, Italy
• Ralph Williams, University of Michigan, USA
• Cecilia Lakin, director, University of Michigan, USA

Secretaries

• Aaron Brunell, University of Michigan, USA
• Jason von Ehrenkrook, University of Michigan, USA
• J. Harold Ellens, University of Michigan, USA
• Ronald Ruark, University of Michigan, USA
• James Waddell, University of Toledo, USA