A new successful doctoral defence

On Thursday, February 27, 2025, Fr. Dominic Okoye, OP, successfully defended his thesis: The Rhetoric of “Innocent Blood” language in the Manasseh Narrative (2 Kgs 21: 1-18).

In front of the academic community of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem and participants from other institutions, the friar from the Dominican province of St. Joseph the Worker (Nigeria, Ghana) brilliantly presented the fruit of his years of research and responded to his examiners’ questions and criticisms with concise, well-argued answers. “The analysis of Bible history through the prism of rhetoric is what makes your thesis particularly interesting,” said one member of the jury.

The jury, chaired by ÉBAF director Fr. Olivier Poquillon, OP, included Dr. Peter Zilberg (Bar-Ilan University) second reader, Dr. Blažej Štrba (visiting professor at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum), Dr. Barbara Schmitz (distance learning, professor at the University of Würzburg), and finally Fr. Martin Staszak, OP, prior of the Convent of St. Stephen and thesis director. As Fr. Martin recalled, the idea for this thesis emerged in Rome, during a meeting between the two brothers at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, where Fr. Dominic was then studying.

While the subject may seem very circumscribed, it nevertheless combines several fields of research. The central pericope belongs to the Deuteronomistic writings, with their multifaceted, composite presentation of Israel’s history from a religious perspective. However, this historiography does not really correspond with factual history. Manasseh, religiously compromised and tolerant of Assyrian worship in Jerusalem, nevertheless succeeded in making the country prosper through this Realpolitik. Is the reproach of having filled Jerusalem with innocent blood nothing more than a rhetorical accusation?

To study the Deuteronomistic work, Brother Dominic therefore turned to the analysis of rhetorical techniques and the study of Akkadian language and culture, including the social and economic realities of Judea in the 7th century BC. It is also by confronting these elements with archaeological data that Brother Dominic has developed his literary analysis in all its complexity.

Graduating insigne cum laude, fr. Dominic is a good illustration of the unique advantages offered by the ÉBAF for the successful completion of theses in biblical sciences.

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