The love of beauty is my greatest defining trait. I require a daily dose of beauty, which I find in nature, in music (I am unrepentantly in love with baroque) and in literature.

I perceive beauty first of all in nature, especially through my passion for birdwatching, but also for observing all moving creatures (butterflies, reptiles, serpents, animals). An explorer’s spirit, even a hunter’s instinct, is inherent in such a pursuit. Amid nature, one must walk slowly, pay attention to detail, listen, wait patiently, seek out the less obvious.

However, it is not the beauty of the writings that steered me directly to the study of the Old Testament, but rather the love of languages. In my youth, I found languages captivating and began learning a few, namely Greek and Latin. Contact with these languages and my call to religious life led me to the Bible. After obtaining my first degree, I completed graduate studies in Rome, first at the Gregorian University, and later at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. Once back in Canada, I earned a doctorate at Dominican University College (DUC) in Ottawa, with a thesis on the Septuagint Book of Job (Paris, Gabalda, 2001). Since 2002, I have been teaching the Old Testament at DUC.

Professors of the Old Testament are said to be a trifle odd. Indeed, they must master over a thousand years of history, become familiar with the ancient prescientific world, and study books that are difficult to understand and sometimes fraught with violence. They can be described as scriptural archaeologists. I prefer to draw a parallel between my teaching and career in exegetics, and what I do in nature: explore what is not easily perceived, contemplate beauty and take note of detail. That explains why I have always been especially drawn to textual criticism and ancient versions, especially the Greek Septuagint. In recent years, I have developed a liking for the history of exegesis while editing a work by P. Lagrange. Among the biblical books, the Book of Job continues to hold particular interest for me.