Principal Investigator; Academy of Finland Research Fellow.
I am responsible of the critical decisions in the edition of the Greek 2 Samuel: establishing the putative original text, justifying the choice of readings, and arranging the critical apparatuses. I am especially interested in the relations between the manuscript groups and traditions and text-critical diagnostics: how to recognize the cause and direction of change when variation occur.
Tuukka Kauhanen's profile on the University of Helsinki people finder
Postdoctoral Researcher
I work on the Old Latin witnesses of 2 Samuel. The goal of my project is to clarify the textual charasteristics of the Old Latin manuscripts and to find out how their readings relate to the Greek manuscript evidence. I am specifically interested in the kaige-phenomenon and text-historical research in general. My earlier studies have concerned the Old Latin and source criticism of the Books of Kings as well as the depictions of animals in the Epic of Gilgamesh. I have also published on the similarities of the editing processes of modern films and the Bible.
Timo Tekoniemi's profile on the University of Helsinki people finder
Doctoral Researcher
I wrote my Master’s Thesis on the Hexaplaric readings in the CII manuscript group in 2 Samuel. I am starting research for my doctoral thesis with the topic Symmachus in Samuel.
Sonja Ruohonen's profile on the University of Helsinki people finder
Research Assistant
I wrote my bachelor's thesis as a part of this research project on text-critical analysis of David's Prayer in 2 Samuel. During the process of my thesis I have been assisting with editing the 2 Samuel chapter 7 for the Göttingen edition. I have now begun writing my master's thesis and working as a research assistant.
Doctoral Student
My research focusses on the Christian revisions of the Septuagint, particularly the Lucianic and and Hexaplaric revisions. My forthcoming doctoral dissertation examines the Lucianic revision of 2 Samuel that was made among the Antiochian churches around the beginning of 4th century CE. I am studying the revisional characteristics and the editorial techniques of the reviser(s) that aimed to better Greek, both stylistically and from a narrative perspective, but also to fill the gaps in accordance with the corresponding Hebrew text. I am interested in how early Christians revised and used the texts of the Septuagint in new circumstances.
Paavo Huotari's profile on the University of Helsinki people finder
Project Planner, Programmer
As a member of the data support team, I created digital tools for text processing and data management. My fields of expertise are web application development, visual user interfaces and user experience design. I was responsible for the majority of programming work for the Septuagint of 2 Samuel Web App. I have also launched several open source projects which aid in creating accessible online data management tools for end users.
Hannu Kalavainen's profile on the University of Helsinki people finder
BA Student
I am writing my bachelor’s thesis as a part of this research project. My thesis is a text-critical analysis of 2 Samuel 5:24. I will examine the possibility of a mention of the godess Asherah in the Hebrew text underlying the Greek Septuagint translation: "the grove (= Asherah?) of the Wailing".
University Researcher 2022–2023
My work concerns the Syriac witnesses to the Greek LXX traditions of 2 Samuel. The evidence for this tradition is quite fragmentary. Nevertheless, witnesses to the Greek 2 Samuel in Syriac are found in two main sources, namely 1) the biblical revision of Jacob of Edessa (d. 708 CE) and 2) fragments of the Syrohexapla which are found in lectionary manuscripts, catena sources, and excerpts from the biblical commentaries of the Syriac Church Fathers Ishoʿdad of Merv (fl. 8th cent CE) and Barhebraeus (d. 1286 CE). These readings reveal, among other things, the sustained interest amongst Syriac-speaking Christians in the Greek Bible, in contradistinction to their traditional Bible, the Peshitta, which was translated from the traditional Hebrew Masoretic text.
Outside the project, my work focuses on the textual history of the Old Testament text more broadly. In particular, I specialize in the editorial techniques and scribal practices used in the Old Testament’s transmission, especially in Syriac and Greek Christian circles. I am the editor of Jacob of Edessa’s Book of Daniel-Bel-Dragon-Susanna (Brill, forthcoming) and the Book of Hosea in the Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition (SBL, forthcoming). My first book Early Christian Scripture and the Samaritan Pentateuch: A Study in Hexaplaric Manuscript Activity will be released in late 2023 (de Gruyter).
Bradley Marsh's profile on the University of Helsinki people finder
Postdoctoral Researcher 2020–2022
My research concerns the Ethiopic Version of the Septuagint of 2 Samuel. I am focusing on how the Ethiopic version translates Greek and how it relates to the Greek witnesses and existing manuscript groups. Especially, I am studying the significance of the Ethiopic text when making text critical decisions concerning the Greek text. Besides, I am interested in the translation technique of the Septuagint itself and the use of statistical methods in textual criticism.
Christian Seppänen's profile on the University of Helsinki people finder
Research Assistant 2020–2022
As a research assistant, I did versatile tasks depending on the needs of the research group. I assisted the PI with his textual commentary on the Greek 2 Samuel, including information retrieval and compiling lists of different kinds of readings. I also did my bachelor's thesis as a part of this research group, focusing on the Hebrew-Greek counterparts for psychological terms in 2 Samuel.
Pilvi Sarjala's profile on the University of Helsinki people finder
Research Assistant 2022–2023
So far my main task has been checking and correcting transcriptions of Greek manuscripts and Renaissance editions (Sixtina, Complutensis, Aldina) of 2 Samuel. I will soon start double-checking readings in the apparatus of the Septuagint editions for 1–2 Samuel as well as assisting in inputting and checking Hexaplaric readings for the database of the Hexapla Project (hexapla.org). In addition, I assist in various practical matters.
Anna-Martta Kauppinen's profile on the University of Helsinki people finder
Project member 2019–2020; project associate 2020–
I was a member of the data team and focused on the semantic tagging of the Göttingen Septuagint apparatus. More specifically, created an XML-schema based on the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) guidelines and wrote a computer program to convert the text version of the apparatus to an XML tree.
Josi Purhonen's profile on the University of Helsinki people finder
Project member 2019–2020
As a member of the data team I was responsible for technical design and architecture for linking indirect witnesses to the text of Greek 2 Samuel. I also helped with various configuration and project management tasks such as source code and document management. Currently I am working with my master’s thesis concerning Theodoret of Cyrrhus’ exegesis of 2 Samuel.
Aki Ranta's profile on the University of Helsinki people finder