NOUVELLES DE JÉRUSALEM - Printemps 2020

News
The École biblique has a new Grand Chancelor
A look on the institutional life of the École.
On July 13th, the General Chapter
of the Dominican Order elected a
new Master of the Order, Fr. Gerard
Timoner. As he is ex-officio
the Grand Chancelor of the École
biblique, the event provides us an
occasion to share with our friends a
word on how the École is governed
and about our relationships with different
partners involved in our life.
Created by the Dominican Order
in 1890, the École biblique was
approved by the Holy See in 1892
and is ruled by statutes approved by
the Congregation for Catholic Education
at the Vatican, like any other
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ecclesiastical faculty. But the Dominican
friars assigned in Jerusalem
are directly chosen and sent by
the Master of the Order. As such, we
are a community of friars under the
immediate jurisdiction of the Master,
even if we still also belong to a
Dominican province (e.g. France,
Germany, Vietnam, Poland, etc.)
where we go back when our time in
Jerusalem is over.
Founded by Fr. Lagrange OP as the
École pratique d’études bibliques,
the École became in 1920 École
biblique et archéologique française
de Jérusalem when the French
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-
Lettres recognized it as a French archaeological
school, like the French
schools of Athens, Rome and the Far
East, founded some years before.
This gives us a special link with
the French Foreign Affairs ministry,
which supervises and supports
the French archaeological schools
abroad. A source of some financial
subsidies, this link is important as
our political situation is quite fragile
in a foreign country.
The École offers two academic degrees
to students who follow the
program: Elève titulaire or Elève
diplômé after a cursus of one or two
years respectively. Since 1983, the
École additionally has the capacity
of granting the ecclesiastical doctorate
in biblical studies. In addition
to our doctoral students, who come
from around the world, we receive
two students each year, sent by the
French Academy, who specialize in
archaeology or epigraphy.
Nouvelles de Jérusalem - N° 99 - Printemps 2020
Despite this unique link with two
different institutions, one ecclesiastical
and one civil, the École biblique
functions as a normal faculty.
The director, appointed for 4 years
by the Master of the Order after a
consulting vote of the professors, is
assisted by a vice-director, a secretary
of studies and the administrator.
They are in charge of the current life
of the faculty. An academic council,
composed of all the professors,
meets monthly to discuss the work
of the École, prepare the programs,
choose the jury for the doctoral defenses
and vote for the acceptation
of the students’ dissertations, etc. A
scientific council, composed of experienced
scholars and administrators
from different countries, assists
the director in the definition of the
academic policies of the École.
Who is the new Master of the Order?
Fr. Gerard Timoner, 51, was born
in the Philippines where he joined
the Dominicans in 1985. After his
studies in Manila, he completed
his formation by a specialization
in theology in Nijmegen under
the direction of Fr. Edward
Schillebeeckx OP. Rector of the
Major seminary at the University of
Santo Tomas in Manila, Fr. Gerard
Timoner was elected prior
provincial of the Dominicans in the
Philippines, then named the Socius
to the Master of the Order for Asia-
Pacific, a position he still held at the
moment of his election. He is now
the 88th successor of St Dominic.
Fr. Jean Jacques Pérennès OP
Director of the École biblique