On 29 June 2026, Louis C. Jonker, Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies at the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, will be a guest at the Old Testament Seminar and the Department of Old Testament Studies at the ETF. The research interests of this renowned scholar focus in particular on the processes by which biblical writings turned into literature (especially the Books of Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah) during the late Persian period and the early phase of the Hellenistic era.
He will hold a guest lecture as part of the Advanced Old Testament Course, where he will provide an insight into the latest findings of his research under the title
Religious Diversity in Achaemenid Yehud: Perspectives from Chronicles, the last Book of the Hebrew Bible
The lecture will take place on 29 June 2026 at 6 pm c.t. in seminar room 7 (Rabinstraße 8). We warmly invite all interested parties to attend!
From the abstract:
The paper will focus on how local sanctuaries are reflected in a literary product of the late Achaemenid period, the book of Chronicles. In Chronicles we hear about numerous attempts to purge the land of idol objects and sanctuaries. Within the apparent understanding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem as the central sanctuary, it is not certain what status some small local sanctuaries had. One of the puzzling places in this regard is Gibeon. In order to gain more insight into how local sanctuaries functioned within the religious diversity of the Persian period, this study will analyse how Gibeon is portrayed in Chronicles.