You may now access online a number of the papers presented at the recent Temple Studies Group Symposium III held in London on October 31, 2009.  They have been just recently posted at the group’s website http://www.templestudiesgroup.com/Symposia.htm.  The theme for this symposium was “The Holy Anointing Oil”.  Despite the limited scope of the theme, the papers were all excellent and learning how the ancient temple tradition of anointing with holy oil has been preserved in different traditions was very interesting and enlightening.

So far, only two papers have been posted, but more are forthcoming.  The great news is that the full text of Dr. Margaret Barker’s presentation is posted (for my own humble summary of her words, see here). Also, Dr. Sebastian Brock’s wonderful paper on “The Holy Oil in the Syriac Tradition” is there as well (unfortunately, I have not yet been able to post my notes from his paper, so please check out the link).

I know that a summary of Dr. Laurence Hemming’s paper will soon appear as well on the Temple Studies Group site.  More should be available soon, so please keep checking the site for updates.  These papers represent some of the most excellent research available on this topic, and are highly valuable for anyone interested in temple studies and related themes.