October 15 , 2010

Bible Odyssey Testers

As you may know, the SBL plans to build a website for the general public on the Bible and critical biblical scholarship, called Bible Odyssey. The NEH gave us a planning grant this past year, and the result of that is a prototype site. We are seeking 10 SBL members to test the site and share their opinions in a recorded conversation at the Annual Meeting in Atlanta. Please contact moira.bucciarelli@sbl-site.org to arrange an appointment. The goal is select 10 people who represent the range of SBL members; participants will receive a free copy of the Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, the condensed edition (paperback).

Even if you don't sign up for an appointment, please look for the Bible Odyssey table in the Exhibitor Hall of the Marriott Hotel, along the far right wall of the Marquis Ballroom. Drop by and take a look or let us know of your interest in the project.

Review of Biblical Literature - Subscribe NOW for 2010!

We have extended the deadline to subscribe to the print edition of the Review of Biblical Literature for 2010. The new deadline is October 25. Members receive a 65% discount on this subscription (for personal use). The cost for members is only $35 ($100 for libraries and non-members)!
Subscribe online (www.sbl-site.org) by logging in with your SBL Member # and clicking "Renew Now" or click here to download the renewal form.

The deadline to subscribe to the print edition of the Journal of Biblical Literature and receive the Winter 2010 issue is November 15. You may subscribe to JBL through the same forms linked above. If you have any questions, please contact sblservices@sbl-site.org.

ACLS E-book Benefit for SBL members

ACLS Humanities E-Book offers individual subscriptions to their digital book collection to SBL members for a cost of $35 for a 12-month subscription. These subscriptions are available via a simple online purchase on their website at www.humanitiesebook.org/sub-ind.html .

ACLS Humanities E-Book is a digital, fully searchable collection of nearly 2,800 high-quality books in the Humanities, recommended and reviewed by scholars and featuring unlimited multi-user access and free, downloadable MARC records. HEB is available on- and off-campus through standard web browsers.

Atlanta Tours

There are five tours offered this year in conjunction with the Annual Meeting. Take an Atlanta City Tour for a general overview of the city or the Atlanta’s Legacy of Leaders Tour that includes the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center and the Carter Presidential Library. The Pitts Theological Library and Carlos Museum at Emory Tour will include presentations of the first seven editions of the Rabbinic Bible, the four great Polyglots, a first edition of Luther’s translation of the Pentateuch, and other early printed Hebrew, Latin, and German Bibles, as well as lexica and grammar. as well as the first five editions of Erasmus’ Greek New Testament, Luther’s September Testament, and other related documents. The exhibit at the Carlos--Traces of the Calligrapher and Writing the Word of God explores Islamic art’s quintessential art form: calligraphy.

The Civil War… Fact and Fiction Tour takes you to Atlanta’s 100+ year-old Cyclorama painting — 42 feet tall and 358 feet in circumference — is said to be the largest painting in the world. and the Margaret Mitchell House, home to the author of Gone With the Wind. Atlanta’s Jewish Heritage Tour takes you to the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, the largest Jewish Museum in the Southeast. On the tour, guests will also drive by The Temple. You may remember seeing The Temple in the movie "Driving Miss Daisy" which was filmed in Atlanta.

Annual Meeting Session Highlights

Biblical Hebrew Poetry/Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures (S21-107)
Sunday, Nov 21, 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Courtland - Hyatt Regency
With the theme “Poetics as a Vehicle for Theology: The Medium, The Message,” builds on P. D. Miller’s 1994 article “The Theological Significance of Biblical Poetry” in the Barr Festschrift as invited participants investigate the way in which various aspects of Biblical Hebrew poetry have impacted and can impact reflection on the Theology of Hebrew Scripture. Participants include Mark Boda, John Goldingay, Andrea Weiss, Erhard Gerstenberger, Julia O’Brien, Patrick Miller, and James Kugel.

Biblical Lands and Peoples in Archaeology and Text (S21-307)
Sunday, Nov 21, 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Regency VI - Hyatt Regency
In this year’s session of Ancient Cities in Text and Archaeology, recent archaeological material from Megiddo, Jezreel and Hazor will face new historical reconstructions and methodological approaches to the epigraphic data.  With four prominent Israeli scholars (Franklin, Finkelstein, Ussishkin and Ben Ami), Rollston and respondents Grabbe and Dever, this session promises to be packed with the most recent data and plenty of “lively” discussion.

Finding Your “Niche” in Biblical Scholarship (S20-314)
Saturday, Nov 20, 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Hanover Hall AB - Hyatt Regency
The session will be geared as a way to help graduate students find their voices as budding scholars. While any scholarly career will obviously have many twists and turns, this session is meant to address the need to find that initial “starting gate.” In order to help bring some clarity, this panel of experienced scholars will share some of their own insights (with the benefit of hindsight) in an autobiographical way.

Ideological Criticism (S20-319)
Saturday, Nov 20, 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Room: Fairlie - Hyatt Regency
With the theme “Secular Biblical Criticism and Introductions to the Bible,” this session looks to explore the ideological biases that are often found in introductions to the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. Particularly the panel will focus on the problem of religious bias often detected in these texts and uncover their subtle infusion of theology that create obstacles for teaching the Bible in the context of the secular study of religion. Participants include Johanna Stiebert, Hector Avalos, James Linville, Esther Fuchs, Zeba Crook, Barry Bandstra, and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza.

Pauline Soteriology (S21-228)
Sunday, Nov 21, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Atrium Ballroom AB - Marriott Marquis
"Cosmic" language permeates Paul's letters, and has long puzzled his interpreters. He can speak of the crucifixion of the cosmos and of himself in relationship to the cosmos. What does this language signify? This session will explore Paul’s use of cosmological terms in relationship to his language about salvation, focusing on two influential letters: Galatians and Romans. Participants include Susan Eastman, Martin de Boer, Beverly Roberts Gaventa, and Edward Adams.

The Babel of Monolingualism: Translation, American English and Empire (S20-341)
Saturday, Nov 20, 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM
Room: M301 - Marriott Marquis
Vicente L. Rafael is Professor of History at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he received the Solomon Katz Distinguished Lecturer award in 2008. Serving on numerous advisory and editorial boards, Prof. Rafael engages important and timely themes, such as language, translation, colonialism, politics, nation-forming, imagination, and culture. This session in sponsored by the Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship at the American Bible Society.

Annual Meeting Career Center

Candidate registration is available through your Annual Meeting registration this year. If you have already registered for the Annual Meeting, please email Gayle Knight to register for the Career Center as a candidate.

Employer Registration is available for institutions that want to post a job and register it for interviews at the Annual Meeting: click here.

Contingent Faculty Survey

SBL and the Coalition on the Academic Workforce (CAW) invite all members of the contingent academic workforce in US colleges and universities to participate in this survey about contingent faculty members’ working lives and working conditions. SBL continues to work actively with CAW on issues related to contingency and the humanities, given the fact that most of the academic workforce is employed in full and part-time contingent positions. The survey has accumulated almost 17,000 responses so far! With a deadline of Nov 30, we hope that many more of you will complete the survey. Graduate student-employees are particularly encouraged to provide their feedback.

ICI Updates

Seven new books were added to the ICI Online Books project in September, including four titles from our newest partner, the Catholic Biblical Association of America. Nine additional titles will be available by the end of October.

Membership of students and scholars in ICI countries has increased 200% since November 2009.

New volunteers are being added each month to the Teaching Collaboration program. Explore the possibilities for teaching and mentoring at http://www.sbl-site.org/educational/ICITeaching.aspx.

Submit your events to Sharon Johnson.

October 2010
10/21-10/22	The Jewish War against Rome (66-70/74): Interdisciplinary Perspectives A symposium at the Qumran Institute of the University of Groningen More information
10/23	Festschrift Conference honoring Reverend Professor Paul N. Tarazi, Little Falls, New Jersey, USA  For more information please see the flyer at (http://ocabs.org/TaraziFestschrift2010.pdf).
10/27	Workshop for Aspiring Academics, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh Registration is now open for the first Aspiring Academics workshop in Scotland, organised by the Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies. The deadline for registration is September 30th 2010. Designed for research students in philosophy, theology, religious studies, biblical studies and history and philosophy of science, this workshop offers an opportunity for aspiring academics to gather and share information and advice, and to develop the skills necessary for a successful academic career in your discipline. See the webpage for more information
November 2010
11/1	Call for papers Deadline for the Association of Ancient Historians (AAH) Annual Meeting. The Thematic title of the 2011 meeting is “Adaptation in the Ancient World.” Papers are now solicited in the following areas of inquiry:Maritime interconnectivity in the Mediterranean (Chair, Elizabeth Green, Brock University); Greek and Roman Historiography (Chair, John Marincola, Florida State University); Ancient Political Theory (Chair, Ryan Balot, University of Toronto); Tyranny and Response (Chair, Sian Lewis, University of St. Andrews); New Directions in the History of War (Chair, Lee Brice, Western Illinois University); Swords and Sandals: The Ancient World in Modern Media (Chair, Rachael Goldman, CUNY); Religious Innovation and Empire (Chair, Robert von Thaden, Mercyhurst College); Women and Religion in Greece and Rome (Chair, Michelle Salzman, UCLA) Egypt (Chair, Carlis White, Slippery Rock University); The Ancient Near East (Chair, Cindy Nimchuk, Mercyhurst College); Open panel(s) for strong papers in other categories (Chairs, TBA) More Information
11/5-11/6	Infancy Gospels: Stories and Identities While the traditions concerning the birth of Jesus have always figured prominently in culture, art and Christian piety, the so-called ‘Infancy Gospels’ have been somewhat neglected in modern research, being viewed as they are as legendary or belonging to folk literature. The aim of this research seminar is to reconsider the canonical and apocryphal traditions on the infancy of Jesus, taking the themes of the identity embodied in the discourses and the multiple ways of reading the texts (historical, narrative, psychanalitic, feministic, artistic, liturgical readings, aso). This research programm will be hold in three sessions in Switzerland in autumn 2010. Session 2: University of Geneva, 11/05/2010 - 11/06/2010, with Frédéric Amsler, Jean-Claude Basset, Valentina Calzolari, Andreas Dettwiler, Adriana Destro et Mauro Pesce, Christian Grappe, François Rosset, Andrea Taschl-Erber A previous session was held in September 2010 and the final session is listed in December. Information on all three sessions: http://www3.unil.ch/wpmu/evenfance/
11/17-11/19	Symposium on the Johannine Epistles Hosted by the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta. The Symposium will feature major presentations by D. Moody Smith, Jr., Judith Lieu, John Painter, and Jan G. van der Watt and short papers by Paul Anderson, R. Alan Culpepper, Peter Rhea Jones, Craig Koester, Andreas Kostenberger, Gail R. O’Day, David Rensberger, Urban C. (Cam) von Wahlde, and others. Registration: $150 payable to McAfee School of Theology Hotels:Hampton Inn (Northlake) or Comfort Suites (North Lake) Program and Schedule (draft copy) For more information contact: Diane Frazier, 678 547-6470 or Frazier_d@mercer.edu
11/19- 11/23	SBL Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia
December 2010
12/3-12/4	Infancy Gospels: Stories and Identities While the traditions concerning the birth of Jesus have always figured prominently in culture, art and Christian piety, the so-called ‘Infancy Gospels’ have been somewhat neglected in modern research, being viewed as they are as legendary or belonging to folk literature. The aim of this research seminar is to reconsider the canonical and apocryphal traditions on the infancy of Jesus, taking the themes of the identity embodied in the discourses and the multiple ways of reading the texts (historical, narrative, psychanalitic, feministic, artistic, liturgical readings, aso). This research programm will be hold in three sessions in Switzerland in autumn 2010. Session 3: University of Fribourg, 12/03/2010 - 12/04/2010, with Simon Butticaz, Elian Cuvillier, Luc Devillers, Daniel Gerber, Ursula Ulrike Kaiser, Jean-Daniel Kaestli, Isabelle Saint-Martin, Sever J. Voicu, Benedict Viviano Information: claire.clivaz@unil.ch Previous sessions were held in September and November 2010. Information on all three sessions: http://www3.unil.ch/wpmu/evenfance/
January 2011
1/6-1/9	Linguistic Society of America 85th Annual Meeting Plenary Speakers:Barbara Johnstone, Carnegie Mellon University;Janet Pierrehumbert, Northwestern University;Ted Supalla, University of Rochester For Meeting information see:http://www.lsadc.org/info/meet-annual.cfm For Abstracts information see:http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/callforabstracts2011.pdf