The International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament convenes to its 19th congress in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 15-20 July, 2007, under the presidency of Professor Dr Joze Krasovec. For further information, cf. http://www.iosot2007.si/temp/index.html

1) Main papers

International scholars representing all major fields within Old Testament scholarship will present main papers, amongst them two African scholars:

• Dr Mary Jerome Obiorah (Nigeria): Perception of God's house in the Psalter: A study of how the Psalmists understand the temple
• Prof Johann Cook (South Africa): Towards a theology of the Septuagint

2) Short papers

A general call for short papers has been issued (http://www.iosot2007.si/temp/index_03.html), and paper proposals are to be sent to the congress organizers (info@iosot2007.si) between October 2006 and March 2007.

3) Seminars

The congress will host two seminars:

• Samuel and the Deuteronomists (organized by Prof Christa Schäfer-Lichtenberger, Germany)
• Global biblical hermeneutics (organized by Prof Knut Holter, Norway, and Dr Aloo Mojola, Kenya)

The latter seminar is of special importance from an African perspective and has the following program:

A) Context (60 min)

• Knut Holter (Norway): Geographical and institutional aspects of a global Old Testament studies (25 + 5 min)
• Justin Ukpong (Nigeria): Hermeneutic and methodological aspects of a global Old Testament studies (25 + 5 min)

 B) Cases (60 min)

• Nigeria: Mary Jerome Obiorah (women) (15 min)
• Costa Rica / USA: Roy May (land) (15 min)
• India: Monica J. Melanchthon (religion) (15 min)
• Germany: Gerlinde Baumann (violence) (15 min)

 C) Consequences (60 min)

• Louis Jonker (South Africa): The global context and its consequences for Old Testament interpretation (25 + 5 min)
• Aloo Mojola (Kenya): The global context and its consequences for Old Testament translation (25 + 5 min)