Michael Langlois

After a year-long gestation, the new series I submitted to Éditions du Cerf is ready to be born!

Sous la plume de biblistes, philologues, épigraphistes et historiens des religions, cette collection nous invite à un voyage au Proche-Orient antique, à cette époque énigmatique et fascinante où le scribe est aussi rédacteur, où le texte est encore fluide, et le canon, indéterminé.

Siècles après siècles, les traditions du judaïsme ancien et du christianisme naissant sont partagées et enrichies. Leurs textes évoluent au gré du temps, transmis en d’anciennes langues sur des manuscrits évanescents. Leur autorité varie selon les communautés : certaines les qualifieront de bibliques, d’autres, d’apocryphes.

Ils s’offrent à nous aujourd’hui : voici « L’écriture de la Bible ».

Stay tuned for the announcement of the first volume…

L’écriture de la Bible (PDF)

Update: The first volume is out!

• Mystères et connaissances cachées à Qumrân (Valérie Triplet-Hitoto, édité par Michael Langlois)

The Laboratory of Studies on Monotheisms / Institute of Augustinian Studies (CNRS / EPHE) and the Research Group on Religious Non-Conformisms of the XVIth and XVIIth Centuries and on the History of Protestantisms (University of Strasbourg) organize their Fifth Day of Biblical Exegesis on the following theme :

The Exegesis of Isaiah 8:1-8
Thursday, April 7, 2011 from 10 AM to 4:45 PM

I will be the first speaker of this meeting, with a conference entitled “The Hebrew Text of Isaiah 8:1-8: Problems and Stakes.” Other conferences will follow on various topics such as the Septuagint Greek translation, medieval commentaries, Jewish medieval and modern exegesis, and Protestant readings. This meeting will take place at the University Palace in Strasbourg. Here is the full program: Read the rest of this entry »

The course of Old Testament Textual Criticism that I teach at the School of Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the Catholic University of Paris starts today! This discipline consists in the comparison and evaluation of biblical manuscripts in Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Latin, Syriac, and so on. In what way do they differ? Can we retrieve the original biblical text? Answer: today at 1 PM!

After the holidays, it’s time to got back to class! This semester, I’ll continue my first-year Hebrew course, while teaching an Advanced Hebrew class designed for second- and third-year students in the Bachelor’s program. We’ll look at a number of texts of various literary genres from the Hebrew Bible, focusing on syntax and structure — essential elements of a sound exegesis!

See you tomorrow, January 18, 2011 at 8 AM!

Spring semester has begun at the University of Strasbourg! Beginning tomorrow (January 26, 2010), I’m teaching an Advanced Hebrew class designed for students already familiar with Biblical Hebrew morphology.

By studying various texts from the Hebrew Bible, we will underline the specifics of Biblical Hebrew syntax and develop a methodology of structural analysis. These are fundamental tools in the exegete’s toolbox!