Assembling the Cloud of Witnesses

Heythrop College University of London

Centre for Textual Studies

Assembling the Cloud of Witnesses

Essays in Honour of Marie Isaacs (1936 - 2016)

Friday 9 March 2018 at 10.30am

The Heythrop Centre for Textual Studies presents a one-day colloquium in honour of Rev. Dr. Marie Isaacs, a New Testament scholar, the author of The Concept of Spirit: A Study of Pneuma in Hellenistic Judaism and Its Bearing on the New Testament (1976); Sacred Space: An Approach to the Theology of the Epistle to the Hebrews (1992); Reading Hebrews and James: A Literary and Theological Commentary (2002). Marie taught at Heythrop for 30 years, becoming head of the department of Biblical Studies and serving as college Vice-Principal. Alongside her academic career, Marie was an ordained minister and one of the first women ministers in the Baptist Church.

The programme will include contributions by Marie’s former colleagues from Heythrop and King’s College as well as a new generation of Heythrop-associated scholars, paying tribute to Marie’s scholarly work and exploring various areas of biblical studies. The list of confirmed speakers includes:

Nick King, The Spirit in John's Gospel: A tribute to Marie Isaacs

Jenny Dines, Witnesses Under a Cloud: who and what are Hypocrites in the New Testament?

Ann Jeffers, The Case of the Clever Ancestress: the afterlives of Sarah in Hebrews, Philo and the Testament of Abraham

Bridget Gilfillan Upton, Neither History nor Fiction: John's Gospel as Persuasion/Propaganda

Mary Mills, Literary Violence in the Book of Revelation

Sean Ryan, Sacred Space in the Apocalypse: The "shrine of the tent of witness in heaven" (Rev 15:5)

Jonathan Norton, The Rhetorical Purpose of the Hypocrite in Romans 1-3

Alison Fincham, In Training for the Heavenly City: Hebrews 12:1-13

Starting at 10 for 10.30am. Registration fee of £15 will be charged to cover the cost of catering.

Register at: https://shop.heythrop.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/academia-and-outreach/the-centre-for-textual-studies/assembling-the-cloud-of-witnesses

Conference organisers: Dr Jonathan Norton, Dr Sean Ryan (Heythrop Centre for Textual Studies)