- Who are you?
I am Bernd Schipper, a fully trained Old Testament Scholar (Dr. theol.) and Egyptologist (Dr. phil.) and Professor for Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at the Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany.
- Why did you spend last week at the École?
Over the last years I organized summer schools with the University of Oxford. During a stay at the ecole last fall, the idea came up to do such a summer school in Jerusalem. So, after having spoken to the director of the École, br. Jean Jacques Pérennès OP, br. Lukasz Popko OP and I (under participation of br. Anthony OP) organized a program for this years summer school.
- What was the goal of the summer school and who was the public?
The main goal was to give younger scholars (advanced students, doctoral students or even post-docs) the possibility to come for one week to Jerusalem to work on a subject which is genuinely connected to this place – the temple.
- Could you briefly summurize this week?
The summer school presented different perspectives on the “Temple(s) of Jerusalem” by specialists in the field. We had a great start with Joe Uziel and a visit of the City of David and parts of the temple mount. After spending two days in the classroom on the Temple of Jerusalem in the First Temple Period and in the Second Temple Period we made a wonderful trip to Mt. Gerizim.
- Is this week something you’re doing again next summer?
I definitely would do it again and I hope that in a couple of years such a summer school (probably at the same subject) will be possible to held place in the École biblique.
To watch the video made by one of the students, please click here