Sabbatical Report

Tremper Longman III Fall 2007

First of all I would like to thank the college, its administration, and its board of trustees for giving me a sabbatical in the Fall of 2007. I would like to report on my activities during this time. My style is to work on multiple projects at one time. Thus during my sabbatical I finished certain projects, made progress on others, and began some new ones. I also had the opportunity to teach at some other institutions. Plus for those who are interested, my wife and I had a lovely month in a house on Buzzard’s Bay and a lovely time in Hawaii for ten days….

Research and Writing Projects

Book Projects

I finished Jeremiah and Lamentations (NIBCOT; Hendrickson). This is a four hundred page commentary on these biblical books that is done and is slated for publication in May 2008.

I made great progress on a book How to Read Exodus for InterVarsity Press. I have written 40000 words and have another 5 to 7 thousand to go and expect to finish in February 2008. This book is the fourth in a series that I have done for IVP press since 1988….

I also made progress on a commentary for Job for Baker Books and a textbook on Psalms and Wisdom for Zondervan. I wrote the commentary on Job 1-6 and three of twelve chapters of the textbook.

I also did some Dictionary articles for a big dictionary Brill is doing.

Editing Work

I do a lot of editing work on a number of series, so I will not mention them all here, just two big ones.

I am co-editor (along with Peter Enns) of the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Psalms, Wisdom and Writings. This is part of a series that IVP has done affectionally known as the “Black Dictionaries.” It is a 600000 word dictionary with about one hundred contributors. Pete and I have put the finishing touches on this dictionary (I also wrote about 20000 words worth of articles). This volume is scheduled for publication in May 2008.

I am General Editor of a million word, two hundred contributor general dictionary entitled the Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary. I spent a considerable amount of time writing and editing for this volume during my sabbatical. I have written so far about 70000 words for this dictionary most during my sabbatical.

Translation Work

I did a considerable amount of work on a project tentatively entitled The Expanded Bible of which I am one of three translators. This project had me working with the Greek text of James and Acts during my sabbatical. Thomas Nelson will be publishing this work and the NT is slated to be done in 2008. My co-workers in this project are Dan Taylor and Mark Strauss, both Westmont graduates.

Lectures

During my sabbatical I delivered the following special lectures.

“Reading the Psalms Devotionally,” public lecture at the Presbyterian Theological Centre, Melbourne, August 2007.

“The Theology and History of the Exodus: The State of the Question,” the Eliza Ferrie annual lecture in Sydney, Australia, August 2007.

Panelist at National Geographic Live! Discussion of E. Cline, From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible (2007). Washington D.C. September 2007.

Courses

I also taught the following courses from July to December:

Introduction to the Old Testament: The University of Peking Preaching from the Book of Psalms: The Presbyterian Theological Seminary: Sydney Preaching from the Book of Psalms: The Presbyterian Theological Seminary: Melbourne Biblical Hermeneutics: Reformed Theological Seminary, Washington D.C. campus Biblical Theology: City Seminary, New York City