Philo and Qumran

This morning I attended the first session of two sessions on Philo:On the not too good picture above you can see Martinez lecturing, while Collins and Najman are attentive listeners.






Philo of Alexandria
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Room 103-B - Pennsylvania Convention Center
Theme: Linguistic Border Crossing: Philo of Alexandria and the Dead Sea Scrolls
John Collins, Yale University, Presiding
Florentino Garcia Martinez, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Divine Sonship at Qumran and in Philo (30 min)
Hindy Najman, University of Toronto
Revelation in the Desert: The Case of the Therapeutae and the Essenes (30 min)
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, University of Durham
To What Extent Did Philo's Treatment of Enoch and the Giants Presuppose a Knowledge of the Enoch-related Sources Preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls (30 min)

It was certainly interesting to here and see F. Garzia Martinez, this expert on the Qumran Scrolls, and I do think he demonstrated his mastery of the sources in this lecture. The other two were also interesting, and I do hope all three papers will be printed in the next volume of Studia Philonica.

The English of Martinez was sometimes somewhat difficult to follow, and Najman, who is an excellent scholar, is also an impresssive fast speaker, adding explanatory parantheses along the way. I must admit, however, not having English as my mother tongue, that I would have been greatly helped if there had been some handouts, giving the main aspects of the arguments presented. This is not something experienced only in this session; by no way,- many presentations suffer in a similar way. But that is no excuse. Please; do start considering using handouts.
Hence I have to wait some time to have a fuller understanding and enjoyment of these important papers.

Those who have followed the biblioblogs for some times, will perhaps remember that similar comments of mine sparked a debate among bibliobloggers last year. The viwpoints offered then, can be reread here, and here and here..
Most of them are still valid.

Update Nov 25:
Mark Goodacre supports my plea for the use of handouts.