NOUVELLES DE JÉRUSALEM - Pâques 2019

Students
Nouvelle organisation du doctorat
and procedures for acceptance. At
the same time, an effort was made
to develop a distinctive program
profile that would help mark out
the École as a place of recognized
excellence and special academic
focus. Alongside the traditional
role of the topography course,
a special series of examinations
on the ancient versions (i.e. MT,
DSS, Targums, LXX, Vulgate)
was introduced to this end. The
principle goal in all of the revisions,
of course, was to improve
the quality of students’ formation
as the Church’s professional interpreters
of the scriptures.
research apprenticeship, promoting
student’s technical skills, while
also enhancing familiarity with
broad methodologies, literature, and
themes. In the face of a field continually
fragmenting into a loose confederation
of micro-disciplines, this
is a moment in the program prior to
the formal proposal of a dissertation
project, meant to counteract an
over-hasty over-specialization. It is
our hope and conviction that these
seminars will significantly help us
better serve the Church by preparing
more well-rounded seminary
professors and researchers.
Since its foundation the École biblique
has labored to train exegetes
skilled in the most exacting scientific
standards. Changing circumstances
present new challenges to
this essential and ongoing mission,
however. The massive development
and even industrialization
of the field as an international
global guild has brought with it
the both the stimulation of diverse
university systems and research
perspectives and also the competition
of countless new institutions.
During this development competence
in the humanities amongst
of doctoral candidates has nevertheless
generally declined and
made it difficult to presume the
same linguistic, historical, and
theological formation as was
available to previous generations.
Faced with such challenges, the
Conseil académique of the École
three years ago introduced a significant
process of reform to its
doctoral program.
Several major principles guided
the revisions. First, a conscious effort
was made to regain parity with
peer institutions. This included
identifying and adopting certain
“best practices,” for instance the
creation of a well-defined admissions
process, with clear criteria
One important new element in the
program, first implemented this
semester, is a full year of mandatory
doctoral seminars: four total
courses (2 NT, 2 OT) spread over
two semesters. These seminars are
conceived of as intensive reading
and discussion-oriented courses and
participants are expected to write
a research paper to be presented
and discussed during the course.
Together these four seminars are
meant to serve as a kind of advanced
Fr. Anthony Giambrone, OP
Professor at the École biblique
6 Lettre aux amis de l’EBAF - N° 97 - Pâques 2019