It is now day three of the EABS conference, and I finally have a chance to blog about the conference. We are on lunch break, so i have found an Internet cafe in downtown Budapest. I will blog more about papers and the first two days of the conference when I get regular computer access, but I wanted to make a quick post while I was here.

First, let me say that if you are planning a conference, Budapest is the way to go. It is a beautiful city and very relaxing. Although most of the conference is at a Catholic university 15 miles north of Budapest, today we are in the city at a Reformed university.

The only papers I have heard so far today were one on Second Isaiah and its original composition. Rainer Albertz gave the paper and wants to date the composition to about 521 BCE. He also pointed to a number of literary factors in the book, but also to oral factors, which suggest that the book was written in order to be read aloud (which is not surprising).

The other paper was horrible. I won’t give the scholars name, although you would not recognize it anyway, but he wanted to argue that Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings were first combined in the second century BCE under Ptolomaic patronage in Alexandria. He rejects the idea of a DtrH (with which I have some problems as well), but his solution is hardly the way to go.

I also met Michael Bird, one of the bibliobloggers at Euangelion. We had a lively discussion about the Episcopal church and his (mis)perceptions of its problems. Of course, he was also kind enough to allow me to solve all the problems of the Baptist church, of which he is a part. I enjoyed chatting with him and a couple of people I met from McMaster Divinity University in Canada.

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