From March 25^th to 27^th, the University of Malta hosted the conference ‘The Book of Psalms and its Plurality: Textual Transmission, Exegetical Methodology, and Theological Hermeneutics.’ https://www.um.edu.mt/events/psalms2025/about/ The conference was organized by Prof. Daniela Scialabba (Pontificio Istituto Biblico), Rev. Prof. Dr Marco Pavan (Pontificia Università S. Tommaso D'Aquino), and Rev. Prof. Dr Stefan M. Attard (L-Università ta’ Malta). Its aim was to stimulate discussion on the formation and interpretation of the Psalms in the light of manuscript evidence. Participants came from Italy, Germany, Malta, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States. They primarily explored Hebrew, Greek, and Syriac manuscripts. Some of the key questions that were addressed were: What is the impact of the study of the manuscript tradition on the methodological discussion about the reconstruction of the Redaktionsgeschichte of the Psalter? Does textual evidence still support the idea of the Psalter as a book? What is the relationship between the Hebrew, Greek, and Syriac manuscript traditions of the Psalter? 

I was the only participant who presented on the Coptic manuscripts of the Psalter. The title of my presentation was ‘The Psalms in the Coptic Tradition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages,’ and my analysis was three-fold: Firstly, I described the surviving Coptic manuscripts of the Psalms. Secondly, I emphasised the relationship of the Coptic Psalms with the Greek tradition and how the Greek Psalms in P. Bodmer XXIV have helped us highlight the numerous times that the Coptic classical text of the Psalms reflects a much earlier Greek tradition than the one solidified in the Septuagint. Finally, I presented our published, digital edition of Psalm 90. 

All in all, the conference was meticulously organized; all papers were insightful and thought-provoking; and the University of Malta was a most cordial host. During the Easter holidays, though, the saddest news was shared with us by Brent Strawn and Drew Longacre, the directors of the Critical Edition of the Hebrew Psalter Project. They announced that the federally-funded grant through the National Endowment for the Humanities to produce the Critical Edition of the Hebrew Psalter was summarily terminated without warning by the US federal government. They added that ‘we are forever grateful and we remain committed to bringing this work to completion as opportunity allows. We are convinced it is of great importance for biblical studies, Bible translation, and larger communities of faith, and we also wish to honor the work our volunteers and supporters have done. Indeed, one of the things that makes us most upset about this termination is that it is not just a cancellation of two researchers at a university somewhere. It is a cancellation of the work of some 200 volunteers drawn from across the world—indeed from every continent on the planet except Antarctica. Thankfully, none of that transcription work will be lost, but for the foreseeable future we will be considerably limited in our ability to manage new transcription work and construct the edition itself.’