St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College represented at the International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature

The 2025 International Meeting, an annual event of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), this year was held in collaboration with the European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS) at Uppsala University, Sweden on June 23-27. SBL was founded in 1880 as the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis in the US, dedicated to the academic study of the Bible and related ancient literature. Its current stated mission is to “foster biblical scholarship.” SBL consists of over 8,300 members from over 100 countries. The SBL International Meeting is held annually outside North America, and provides a unique forum for international scholars to engage in biblical scholarship.

This year, a total number of 804 participants from Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania - including a number of Australian biblical scholars - presented papers and held discussions in 319 sessions that were hosted by 101 research units,. These research units cover a diversity of areas in biblical research, from textual, historical, theological and thematic studies of scriptures, to ancient biblical languages and cultures, the reception history of interpretation and modern applications.

Figure 1 Uppsala, Sweden

With the blessing of His Eminence, Archbishop Makarios of Australia, St Andrew’s Orthodox Greek Theological College was represented by Dr Lydia Gore-Jones, who presented papers in two research units. In the Mariological Discourses unit, she presented a paper entitled “The Cultic Image of Mary in the Liturgical Celebrations of the Eastern Orthodox Church,” which examines the image of the Theotokos, as the personification of God’s dwelling place and the Christian Church, in the hymns of the Divine Liturgy as well as their interactions with biblical texts. Her other paper, entitled “The Kingdom of God as the Central Scheme in the Gospel of Matthew,” was presented in the research unit dedicated to the Canonical Studies of the Bible. The paper examines the central thread of king, kinship and kingdom in Matthew, which strongly demonstrates that St Matthew interpreted the entire Jewish Bible as one prophecy about God reclaiming His kingdom through Israel and her Christ. Through Matthew’s perspective, on the other hand, the paper argues, one can see that ‘kingdom’ is not only a theological concern of the New Testament, but a major theme inherent to Old Testament scriptures.

Figure 2 The Opening Session in the Grand Auditorium, Uppsala University

Both papers were received by the audience with enthusiasm. The deep interest among conference participants in the traditions of Eastern Christianity and the Orthodox Church, such as iconography, hymnography and biblical exegesis, was strongly palpable. However, biblical scholars with Eastern Orthodox backgrounds have only a very small representation in international biblical societies such as the SBL. This is the first time that St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College has been represented at the SBL International Meeting. It is hoped that in future Orthodox biblical scholarship may present a stronger voice in the academic field of biblical research, and that it may in turn contribute to increased studies and knowledge of the Bible among our people and our churches.

Figure 3  Codex Argenteus, or the Silver Codex, a 6^th-century handwritten book containing  the four Gospels translated into the Gothic language, housed at the Uppsala University library