Telephone number:	+31 (0)71 527 2976
E-Mail:	r.h.oosting@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department:	Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Leids Instituut Godsdienstwetenschappen
Office Address:	Witte Singel-complex Matthias de Vrieshof 1 2311 BZ Leiden Room number 2.06a
Personal Homepage:	www.hum.leiden.edu/​religion/​organisation/​institute-staff/​oosting.html

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Research

Reinoud Oosting is currently involved in the project, ‘Bridging Data and Tradition: The Hebrew Bible as a Linguistic Corpus and as a Literary Composition’, which is a joint research project of the Leiden Institute for Religious Studies and the VU University Amsterdam funded by NWO. The aim of this project is to bridge the gap between classical exegesis of the Old Testament and modern computer-assisted analysis of these biblical texts.

Within this project Oosting will concentrate on the Book of Isaiah. The Hebrew text of this prophetic book exhibits a very complex syntax, which is an excellent field to examine the linguistic signals in this text such as verbal valency patterns and the various references to participants. The registration of these signals provides a solid basis for entering the debate with classical exegetes about the development of the Book of Isaiah.

Curriculum Vitae

Reinoud Oosting studied Political Science at Leiden University (1991– 1996) and Theology at VU University Amsterdam (1996 – 2000). After his Master Theology he joined the team of the ‘Werkgroep Informatica’ at the VU University, and participated in several smaller projects. The results of these projects provided the basis for his PhD research on Isaiah 40 – 55. In 2005, the Werkgroep Informatica embarked upon a new project, entitled ‘Linguistic System and Literary Design: Computer-assisted Analysis of non-narrative Texts of the Hebrew Bible’ (2005 – 2009), which was funded by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). Oosting’s part of the project was to prepare a full linguistic analysis of the prophetic text of the Books of Isaiah. One year after the completion of that project, Oosting finished his doctoral dissertation on the role of the participant Zion/Jerusalem in Isaiah 40-55. On February 18, 2011 he has defended his PhD thesis, Walls of Zion and Ruins of Jerusalem: A Corpus-Linguistic View on the Participant Zion/Jerusalem in Isaiah 40-55, at the VU University Amsterdam. His doctoral dissertation was awarded cum laude.

Key publications

• Walls of Zion and Ruins of Jerusalem: A Corpus-Linguistic View on the Participant Zion/Jerusalem in Isaiah 40–55 (doctoral dissertation VU University Amsterdam).
• ‘The Counsellors of the Lord in Isaiah 40-55: A Proposal to Understand their Role in the Literary Composition’, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 32/3 (2008): pp. 353–382.
• with E. Talstra, ‘Jeremiah 32: A Future and its History – Actualisation in Writing and Reading’, in: H. de Wit and G.O. West (eds), African and European Readers of the Bible in Dialogue. In Quest of a Shared Meaning (Studies of Religion in Africa 32), Leiden: Brill 2008: pp. 199–218.
• ‘Appearing in Zion: The Role of Zion in Psalm 84 from a Linguistic Point of View’, Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 29/1 (2003): pp. 87–106.
• ‘Returning (to) Zion: Isaiah 52:8 in Light of Verbal Valency Patterns’, in: The New Things. Eschatology in Old Testament Prophecy (Fs H. Leene; ACEBT Supplement Series 3), Maastricht 2002: pp. 159–166.