BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Royal Society of Canada Names Three Leading Scholars Fellows

Bible and archaeology news

The Royal Society of Canada (RSC), established in 1882 not long after Canadian independence, is Canada’s National Academy. Its mission is to recognize: “leading intellectuals, scholars, researchers and artists and by mobilizing them in open discussion and debate, to advance knowledge, encourage integrated interdisciplinary understandings and address issues that are critical.”

Eileen Schuller of McMaster University is one of the world’s leading scholars on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Three formidable scholars from the realm of Biblical and archaeological studies will be inducted as fellows to the RSC on November 22, 2014. The recipients include notable Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Eileen Schuller of McMaster University, leading Q researcher John S. Kloppenborg from the University of Toronto and distinguished Middle Eastern archaeologist Michel Fortin of the Université Laval. This designation from the RSC is “is the highest honour a scholar can achieve in the Arts, Humanities and Sciences.”

Schuller, Ph.D. Harvard (1984), became interested in the DSS during her doctoral work under the direction of John Strugnell, one of the original members of the International Team and later editor-in-chief. Since then she has distinguished herself as one of the world’s leading scholars on the DSS. To date she has published eight books, five textual editions, 28 book chapters, 12 peer-reviewed articles and many other types of publications. It is rumored that her students refer to her as “the flying nun” because of how much she travels for her scholarship, truly fulfilling the role of an RSC Fellow.

Students of Kloppenborg, Ph.D. University of St. Michael’s College (1984), also have a nickname for him—Q-borg. This is not because he is a huge Star Trek fan, but because of his discipline-dominating work on the hypothetical document Q, one solution to the so-called Synoptic Problem. Kloppenborg is the chair of the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. He has published 23 books (with five more out this year), 37 peer-reviewed journal articles and 67 chapters in books and has mentored a plethora of doctoral students. He is a world-renowned speaker and one of the preeminent New Testament scholars of our time.

As the director of the Department of Historical Sciences and the head of the Laboratory of Archaeology in the Near East at the Université Laval, Professor Fortin is especially well-versed in the archaeology of Syrian sites. With five books, 42 chapters in books (with four more due out in 2015) and 33 peer-reviewed journal articles, Fortin is a true giant in the field of Biblical archaeology. In the summer of 2011, Fortin served as the scientific advisor for the Montreal Science Centre’s exhibition “Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology.” He says that he doesn’t blame the younger generation of archaeologists for coming into the field after watching the Jones movies, as he himself chose archaeology after watching Ten Commandments.

Interested in the history and meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls? In this free eBook, learn what the Dead Sea Scrolls are and why are they important. Find out what they tell us about the Bible, Christianity and Judaism when you download our free Dead Sea Scrolls eBook.