OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES (« Studi Anticotestamentari »). — A series of monographs by the “Oudtestamentisch Werkgezelschap in Nederland,” which devotes special attention to Semitic philology, Palestinian and Oriental archaeology, textual criticism, and also to exegesis proper, though perhaps less to biblical theology, judging by the volumes published to date.
The monographs, ranging from short notes to full-length books (e.g., B. D. Eerdmans’s Psalms, 1947), are written in French, English, or German. The Association, which includes Catholic professors among its members, was founded in 1939. The first volume appeared in 1941, published by E. J. Brill, the well-known Orientalist house in Leiden. To date, the president of the Association and editor of the series has been P. A. H. de Boer. The Association also organizes scholarly discussions among professors and exegetes in the Netherlands on biblical problems and maintains ties with other Old Testament study groups (e.g., the “Society for Old Testament Study” [v.]) in whose founding, in 1950, it played a role in Leiden. The “International Organisation of Old Testament Scholars” (v. VETUS TESTAMENTUM) was established there.