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2008 Annual Meeting
Meeting Begins: 11/22/2008
Meeting Ends: 11/25/2008
Call for Papers Opens: 11/17/2007
Call for Papers Closes: 2/29/2008
Requirements for Participation
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Program Units
Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies
Description: Pedagogy and the classroom each provides a hermeneutical and heuristic frame of reference for the reading and interpretation of the Bible. Each classroom is also part of a larger institutional context has its own mission statement and culture. These provide concrete interpretive communities in which reading and interpretation take place. The exploration of the dynamics of teaching within the context of pedagogical concerns, institutional goals and cultures, and specific classroom communities is the goal of the group's agenda.
Call for papers: The Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies program unit, in an effort to diversify the types of sessions it offers during the Annual Meeting, invites proposals for the following types of presentations: Teaching Tips, Papers, Workshops, Roundtables, or Panels. Guidelines for submitting a proposal to the steering committee are as follows: A Teaching Tip is a brief (10-15 minute) presentation devoted to a very specific classroom activity the presenter has found successful in the classroom. Proposals should include a description of the activity and the format of the presentation. An Individual Paper (25-35 minutes) should develop models for teaching and learning, discuss theoretical issues, explore broad themes, and/or investigate values affecting the teaching of the bible in higher education. The proposal should include an abstract of the paper. Workshops (45-60 minutes) are teaching sessions and should actively engage participants in learning new skills and activities useful to teaching the bible. Proposals should include a description of the activity, the format of the presentation, and an overview of the learning goals for the session’s participants. Roundtables (60 – 75 minutes) are meant to encourage discussion among all who are in attendance at the session. Two or three presenters introduce a topic, briefly contribute their expertise and/or perspective, and then frame a series of discussion questions to focus audience participation. Presenters should limit their initial contribution to 7-10 minutes each, so that the majority of the time is spent in conversation. Since these sorts of discussions should model speaking across boundaries and experiences, presenters should introduce multiple viewpoints and diverse voices. Proposals should identify the topic, give the reasons for choosing this topic, include the names of the presenters, and offer a general description of the viewpoints offered by the presenters. A Panel (2 1/2 hours) consists of four or five papers org
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Academy of Homiletics
Description: The Academy of Homiletics, founded in 1965, is a professional guild for teachers of preaching. Our mission is to further the academic discipline of homiletics and to promote scholarship and pedagogy in the field. The Academy brings together professors and teachers of homiletics for research and study of preaching in theological education, for critical reflection on methods and innovations, and for fostering interdisciplinary research with other related areas and disciplines.
Membership in the Academy is open to teachers and doctoral students of homiletics. The
Academy has a membership of approximately 400 colleagues. Although we originated and meet primarily in North America, our membership is international. In addition to our annual meeting, in which we present papers (generated by an annual call for papers on the respective conference theme) in nine work groups organized around particular streams of study in the field, conduct plenary sessions with keynote lectures/addresses/panels, and gather for worship services, the Academy also sponsors the juried, peer-reviewed academic journal, Homiletic. For a full overview of our Academy, we invite you to review our website, www.homiletics.org.
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Adventist Society for Religious Studies
Description: The Adventist Society for Religious Studies (ASRS) is a Seventh-day Adventist academic society of Bible and religion scholars whose purpose is “to provide intellectual and social fellowship among its members and encourage scholarly pursuits in all religious studies disciplines, particularly with reference to the Seventh-day Adventist tradition.” It was formally organized in New York City in 1979. The Society organizes an annual meeting in conjunction with the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) professional meetings held in different cities throughout the United States each year. It also publishes (currently via CD-ROM, and in due course on-line) the proceedings and papers from such meetings.
Call for papers: The Adventist Society for Religious Studies (ASRS) is a Seventh-day Adventist academic society of Bible and religion scholars whose purpose is “to provide intellectual and social fellowship among its members and encourage scholarly pursuits in all religious studies disciplines, particularly with reference to the Seventh-day Adventist tradition.” It was formally organized in New York City in 1979. The Society organizes an annual meeting in conjunction with the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) professional meetings held in different cities throughout the United States each year. It also publishes (currently via CD-ROM, and in due course on-line) the proceedings and papers from such meetings.
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African Association for the Study of Religions
Description: The African Association for the Study of Religions is an academic association of the scholars of religions posted in universities in Africa, and of scholars of the religions of Africa posted in universities outside Africa. It was founded at an IAHR (International Association for the History of Religions) conference in Harare, Zimbabwe, in September 1992 for the purpose of promoting the academic study of the religions of Africa more generally through the international collaboration of all scholars whose research has a bearing on the subject. The AASR seeks to stimulate the academic study of religions of Africa in a variety of ways: providing a forum for multilateral communications between scholars of African religions; facilitating the exchange of resources and information; encouraging the development of linkages and research contacts between scholars and institutions in Africa, and between scholars in Africa and those overseas. The AASR also endeavors to assist scholars to publish their work and travel to professional meetings. The AASR is an affiliate of the IAHR since 1995. It meets at the IAHR quinquennial congress and organizes conferences in Africa. Its members participate in panels at conferences outside of Africa. The AASR publishes the bi-annual AASR Bulletin and maintains a web site: www.a-asr.org. AASR plans for an online journal are at an advanced stage.
Call for papers: The AASR will focus on the subject of "the Interface between Biblical Religion and Public Life in Africa" for its innaugural meeting with the SBL. We will feature a plenary speaker and a general session. For further information, please contact:
Kathleen Wicker
AASR-North American Representative
kwicker@ScrippsCollege.edu
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African Biblical Hermeneutics
Description: This section is devoted to the study of the Bible from African perspectives, and focuses on African issues. A diversity of methods reflecting the social-cultural diversity of Africa is used in reading the Bible. The emphasis is on encouraging readings of the Bible that are shaped by African perspectives and issues, and giving voice to African biblical scholars as they contribute to global biblical scholarship. The unit expects to publish essays from its sessions.
Call for papers: Section 1 - Theme: The Interplay between the Bible, the Body, and Power: Women and Men in Conversation
At the centre of the debate about the impact (and /or use) of the Bible in differing post-independence African contexts, are the issues of bodies and power. In this Section, we welcome proposals by both male and female African biblical scholars, which will either give broader engagement of the dynamics of power, body and the Christian Bible or use the power/body dynamics as a hermeneutical lens to engage particular biblical texts. The engagements must not lose sight of African contexts as the primary site of such contestations
Section 2: Theme: The Bible and Land in Post-Colonial Africa
The African expression, “wealth comes from a field (land)”, ranks among those African wisdom sayings that show the connectedness and rootedness of African peoples with/on the land. The history of slavery, colonialism, missionary activities in Africa reveals the role played by the (Christian) Bible in the issues of land in Africa. Papers which engage issues of restitution (in the broader sense and particularly, land restitution), displacement, exile and poverty, et cetera, as these interact with Bible interpretation in post-colonial African contexts are welcome.
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African-American Biblical Hermeneutics
Description: The purpose of the African American Biblical Hermeneutics Section (AABHS) is to engage in the interdisciplinary and holistic study of the Bible and its place in a multi-faceted and complex African-American cultural Weltanschauung. The section provides a forum for scholarly discussion of any aspect of engagement with the bible from the perspective of African American culture, history, literature, or politics. It encourages interdisciplinary discussions about hermeneutics and culture and strives to encourage emerging scholars in publishing scholarly work in the field and advancing the study of African American hermeneutics.
Call for papers: The AABHS plans 4 sessions for Boston. 1) an open session that covers any area of hermeneutics in the African-American traditions, and may take seriously but is not limited to the notion that Boston historically was a site of resistance in U.S. and African-American history for biblical interpretative endeavors; 2) a call to explore political implications in Pauline texts as a joint session with Paul & Politics Section; 3) review panel for Wil Gafney's Daughters of Miriam and Mignon Jacob's Gender, Power, and Persuasion: The Genesis Narratives and Contemporary Portraits; and 4) an invited review panel for a forthcoming Biblia Africana commentary (this last session may be modified).
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Ancient Fiction and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative
Description: The Section on Ancient Fiction and Early Jewish and Christian Narrative fosters methodologically diverse analyses of these ancient narratives, including: their interplay and interconnections; socio-cultural contexts; representations of reality, including religion; and narrative form, including plot, character, style, voice, etc.
Call for papers: The Ancient Fiction, Early Jewish and Christian Narrative Section invites proposals for two sessions at the 2008 Meeting. The focus for the first session will be post-colonial theory and the ancient romances. The second session will be open, although we would especially welcome papers that
fall under the heading of "Paidea: Writing, Reason and Art".
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Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Bible
Description: This section examines the ways that ancient pictorial material informs interpretations of biblical texts. We welcome papers that explore the relationships between iconographic and textual materials as well as papers that deal exclusively with iconographic issues.
Call for papers: This interdisciplinary consultation examines how the study of ancient Near Eastern iconography can inform interpretations of the Bible. We welcome papers that address the complex ways images and texts interact with one another in the ancient world.
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Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars
Description: The Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars is an international association of biblical scholars who are affiliated with the churches of the Anglican Communion, including the Episcopal Church in the U.S., the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Church of England. Its purpose is to support biblical scholarship at all levels in the Anglican Communion. AABS is dedicated to fostering greater involvement of biblical scholars in the life of Anglican churches, and to promoting the development of resources for biblical studies in Anglican theological education.
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Aramaic Studies
Description: The Aramaic studies section is intended to provide a forum for scholars interested in various aspects of Aramaic language. Previous paper topics have included aspects of the Targumim, Qumran Aramaic, Peshitta, Samaritan papyri, and Elephantine Aramaic.
Call for papers: The Aramaic studies section is intended to provide a forum for scholars interested in various aspects of Aramaic language and its literature. Previous paper topics have included aspects of the Targumim, Qumran Aramaic, Peshitta, Samaritan papyri, and Elephantine Aramaic.
The call for papers is open to any submissions in Aramaic studies. A brief business session will also be held to discuss the future of Aramaic studies.
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Archaeological Excavations and Discoveries: Illuminating the Biblical World
Description: This unit will present the results and insights of archaeological excavations and important discoveries in the Ancient Near East. It will provide access to and reflection on the realia that gave rise to the texts and religions of the biblical world.
Call for papers: This section will have two sessions. The first session, "Archaeology and the Media," will consist of invited papers and an open call for papers that examine and evaluate relationships between the media and archaeology. We invite papers that explore the challenges of interacting with various media (documentary film, TV, newspaper, etc.), and positive and negative examples from past interactions. The second session, "Current Excavations," solicits papers from field and excavation directors that report on their recent field seasons.
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Archaeology of Religion in the Roman World
Description: The goal of this unit is to promote the study of material culture associated with religious activity in the Hellenistic and Roman periods and to showcase new theoretical approaches to this evidence. Presentations related to Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, and Greco-Roman religion, broadly defined, are all welcome.
Call for papers: The Archaeology and Religion in the Roman World Section invites proposals in the following areas: 1) Archaeology of Religion and the Roman Economy 2) Searching for the Poor in Material Remains: Graffiti 3) Reading Ruins: Reading Pausanias.
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Archaeology of the Biblical World
Description: This interdisciplinary unit is dedicated to the archaeology associated with the geographies,
people groups, and time periods related to biblical literature, with special attention to the
contributions of material and textual evidence. This unit adheres to ASOR’s Policy on Preservation and Protection of Archaeological Resources (http://www.asor.org/excavations/policy.pdf). As a unit we are committed to upholding the highest ethical standards relating to provenance. The unit will not be a venue that supports the analysis or authentication of illicit materials.
Call for papers: For 2008 the topics of this unit's sessions will be: Samaria and the Samaritans during the First Millennium BCE and Jerusalem during the Second Temple through Byzantine Periods.
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Art and Religions of Antiquity
Description: This consultation examines the visual and material evidence of the religions of the Mediterranean basin in antiquity (Judaism, Christianity, and Greco-Roman "paganism") as well as the methods by which scholars study these materials alongside textual or documentary evidence.
Call for papers: Art and Religions in Antiquity has three open sessions, with themes that
address the representation of power and alterity in late antiquity.
The first, "The Iconography of Minority Religious Groups in Late
Antique Rome," will specifically address the religious art of minority groups in the Roman Empire. This organizers of this session are particularly interested in papers on the iconography of the so-called “mystery cults” or other “imported” religious movements that articulated their identity with respect to the larger, dominant ideology (including pre-Constantinian Christianity and Judaism).
The second session: "The Iconography of the Border: Non-Christian/Non-Jewish Art and Artifacts in the Ancient World," is designed to draw papers from scholars of traditions other than Christianity or Judaism. Papers in this session may address the art of groups on the fringes or borders of antique society, forgotten and underrepresented traditions, including the religious iconography of the Samaritans, Sassanians, Manichaeans, and other, similar groups.
The third session: “Catching the Eye: Images and Desire in Antiquity” seeks papers that consider the power of images in shaping desire and (conversely) the role of eros in religious visual art.
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Asian and Asian-American Hermeneutics
Description: The unit promotes Asian and Asian American biblical scholarship, highlighting the broad range of diversity that makes up the different Asian and Asian American communities. It also aims to contribute to diversifying biblical scholarship and expanding biblical studies in terms of topics, approaches and discourses.
Call for papers: The Asian and Asian American Hermeneutics Group of the Society of Biblical Literature is a forum in which biblical and religious scholars can advance and contribute to the study of Asian and Asian American interpretation. The group is part of a growing shift in biblical criticism specifically and hermeneutics generally that focuses on the difference that cultural location makes in reading texts. For the 2008 annual meeting, we are planning an invited panel review of Tat-siong Benny Liew’s What Is Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics? Reading the New Testament and co-sponsoring an invited panel review of They Were All Together in One Place? Toward Minority Biblical Criticism (edited by Randall Bailey, Fernando Segovia and Benny Liew). The Asian and Asian American Hermenuetics Group is also planning an open session and invites papers related to reading the Bible and other sacred texts in, from, as well as to Asian and Asian American contexts and communities. We welcome papers that examine methodological issues involved in interpretation and hermeneutics, as well as papers that offer readings of specific texts and passages.
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Association for Case Teaching
Description: Teachers of biblical studies and related disciplines face the challenge of helping students enter the ancient world and the texts that come from it imaginatively, in order to connect them imaginatively with contemporary life. Case teaching offers both a method and a set of dispositions for doing just that. The Association for Case Teaching has partnered with seminaries and colleges for more than thirty years to improve teaching and learning in all theological disciplines. This workshop will continue that tradition by leading participants through two or more cases and sessions of modeling and reflecting upon the nature of case teaching and its usefulness for teaching.
Call for papers: Teachers of biblical studies and related disciplines face the challenge of helping students enter the ancient world and the texts that come from it imaginatively, in order to connect them imaginatively with contemporary life. Case teaching offers both a method and a set of dispositions for doing just that. The Association for Case Teaching has partnered with seminaries and colleges for more than thirty years to improve teaching and learning in all theological disciplines. This workshop will continue that tradition by leading participants through two or more cases and sessions of modeling and reflecting upon the nature of case teaching and its usefulness for teaching.
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Assyriology and the Bible
Description: Assyriology and the Bible section provides the focused context for papers dealing with various Mesopotamian-related topics. It seeks to generate strong integrative research between the disciplines of Assyriology and Biblical Studies by encouraging adept historiographic, philological, literary and/or iconographic work.
Call for papers: The Assyriology and the Bible Section shall host three sessions in Boston, "The Arameans and Aramaic in the Cultural Milieu of the Ancient
Near East: Acculturation, Influence, Transmission?" "Text Builds (on) Text," together with an open session in which we accept proposals on any subject related to the study of Assyriology and the Bible.
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Bakhtin and the Biblical Imagination
Description: The aim of this unit is to explore (utilize, expand, challenge and critique), the insights of Mikhail Bakhtin for use in biblical studies, with the hope that consequent readings will be fresh and appropriate.
Call for papers: There will be two general sessions on Bakhtin and the biblical imagination, including some consideration of Bakhtin and other critical theories/theorists (which also references biblical texts). As usual, presenters need to anticipate that full papers are not read; rather, they are summarized and then discussed.
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Best Practices in Teaching
Description: Most faculty positions in higher education involve a triad of responsibilities: (1) teaching, (2) research/publication, and (3) service (to the institution and to wider publics). The largest single component of most academic positions is teaching. The “Best Practices” program unit will assist scholars in acquiring and sharpening pedagogical skills in specific subject areas and with reference to particular classroom dynamics.
Call for papers: The topic for 2008 is “Teaching Biblical Exegesis/Interpretation.” Papers are invited from persons with significant experience in teaching biblical interpretation (Hebrew Bible or New Testament) in college, university, or seminary settings. Papers may have either a practical or theoretical orientation, but preference will be given to papers with direct relevance to classroom practices.
N. Clayton Croy, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, 2199 East Main Street, Columbus, OH 43209, ccroy@trinitylutheranseminary.edu
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Bible and Cultural Studies
Description: This interdisciplinary Section encourages comparative analyses of the Bible as artefact and icon in word, image, and sound. We offer a forum for pursuing cultural analyses of gender, race, and class both within the social world of ancient Mediterranean cultures and in dialogue with modern cultural representations.
Call for papers: For an open session, we welcome proposals that read the Bible psychoanalytically. We particularly encourage papers that situate such psychoanalytical readings within the debate between Marxism and postcolonialism, since psychoanalysis has become—in the larger world of literary/cultural studies—a surprising meeting place between these two inquiries that have not necessarily been friendly with each other.
A second panel will be structured on the theme of the “Prison in the Bible/the Bible in the Prison.” Some panelists will be invited, but submissions are also welcome. The following questions are of interest: What in the Bible functions in the place of prisons? What might a prison system look like if constructed on the basis of biblical teachings? How does the paradox between the disciplining function of biblical regulations for behavior and the lack of prescriptions for actual prisons come into culture? What is the place of the Bible in prison? How is the Bible read in prison? What are companions to the Bible in prison, and how do they function?
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Bible and Popular Culture
Description: This unit explores and analyzes the relationship between the Bible and popular culture. It focuses on materials designed for everyday life—comic strips, advertisements, theme parks, popular music, etc. Drawing from a variety of disciplines and analyzing both the printed and visual media, presenters will explore the interaction between biblical text and popular culture.
Call for papers: This unit explores and analyzes the relationship between the Bible and American popular culture. It focuses on materials designed for the everyday life of Americans—comic strips, advertisements, theme parks, popular music, etc. Drawing from a variety of disciplines and analyzing both the printed and visual media, presenters will explore the interaction between text and culture in the United States. All papers dealing with these areas are welcome.
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Bible and Visual Art
Description: The purpose of the section is to provide a forum at the national SBL to explore historical, hermeneutical, theological, iconographic, and/or theoretical aspects related to the interpretation of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures in visual art through the centuries.
Call for papers: One session will include papers analyzing the depiction of biblical themes or narratives in art in Boston museums.
One session, co-sponsored with the Midrash Section, will accept proposals focusing upon midrash and visual art. Presenters may analyze the presence of visual art in midrashic literature (e.g., mosaics, statues, representations) or discuss midrashic approaches and mediated parallels to biblical art.
One session will remain open for any papers that fit the description of the Bible and Visual Art Section: to explore historical, hermeneutical, theological, iconographic, and/or theoretical aspects related to the interpretation of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures in visual art through the centuries.
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Bible in Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Traditions
Description: This program unit will offer a forum for biblical professors and scholars from the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox traditions (the latter including Aramaic, Syriac, Armenian, Arabic, Georgian, Coptic, among others) to engage in critical study of the role of the Bible in eastern Christianity, past and present. A particular aim of this section will be to engage participating scholars in dealing with issues raised by contemporary and critical biblical scholarship. The committee invites presentation and discussion of papers from a variety of approaches and methodologies, including (but not limited to) theological, historiographic, philological, and literary studies.
Call for papers: Our unit's theme for the annual conference in Boston in 2008 is: "The Old Testament as Authoritative Scripture in the Early Churches of the East." Scholars are welcome to submit proposals for papers that explore the authoritative role of the Old Testament in the early churches of the East and its impact on the church's doctrine, liturgy, canon law and spirituality.
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Bible Translation
Description: The Bible Translation Section provides a special opportunity for bringing together academic and practical perspectives on Bible Translation. It focuses on current trends in Bible Translation and on the implications that developments in Translation and Biblical Studies have for Bible Translation.
Call for papers: Papers in the following areas are particularly welcome: current trends in Bible translation methodology; history of Bible translations (ancient and recent); comparison of specific books or passages in existing Bible translations.
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Bible, Myth, and Myth Theory
Description: This section (a) provides a forum for sustained and focused attention on the concept of myth and its place in biblical studies and (b) encourages the development and refinement of multi- and interdisciplinary approaches to this area of inquiry.
Call for papers: The consultation (a) provides a forum for sustained and focused attention on the concept of myth and its place in biblical studies and (b) encourages the development and refinement of multi- and interdisciplinary approaches to this area of inquiry. Proposals are welcome for one open session. We invite proposals for a second session organized around the theme of the New Testament and Myth.
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Biblical Criticism and Literary Criticism
Description: The Biblical Criticism and Literary Criticism Section provides an opportunity for scholars doing literary criticism of biblical texts to describe and illustrate their approaches and to enter into a dialogue with each other, and promotes scholarly awareness of the presuppositions, methodologies, and contributions of biblical literary criticism.
Call for papers: One or two open sessions will be dedicated to literary readings of Hebrew Bible, New Testament and relevant extra-biblical ancient texts.
In addition, the Section is sponsoring one special session (open call and invited papers), "Paul: Between Theology and Theory." Papers will explore the points of intersection between traditional theological readings of Paul and more contemporary theoretical approaches in ways that might encourage dialogue between them and open them to new perspectives. For more info on this session only, contact Andrew Wilson at awilson@mta.ca or Jamie Smith at jamie.smith@ccuniversity.edu
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Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics
Description: This section aims to promote and discuss ongoing research into biblical Greek language and
linguistics, covering the Septuagint and particularly the New Testament. While traditional
language studies are welcome, methods derived from modern linguistic theories and their
applications are encouraged.
Call for papers: We invite paper proposals for one open session which will be dedicated broadly to the application of linguistics to the biblical Greek language, consistent with the description of the section. In addition, the Section is sponsoring one theme session on the “Pragmatic Effect of Word Order on Hellenistic Greek.” Commentators and scholars often appeal to word order to explain patterns in the text such as prominence, focus or theme, but more work needs to be done to substantiate or nuance claims or assumptions such as default word order and the significance of variation. Papers may explore any of the various aspects and claims concerning the significance of word order in the heavily inflected language of Hellenistic Greek. For more information on the sessions, please contact Cynthia Long Westfall at westfal@mcmaster.ca or Randall Tan at randall@opentext.org
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Biblical Hebrew Poetry
Description: This section focuses on all aspects of Hebrew poetry in the biblical canon: archaic poetry, the role of oral tradition, poetic meter, parallelism, structural and nonstructural poetic devices, imagery, metaphor, and figurative language. Papers dealing with any portion of poetry in the Hebrew Bible are welcome.
Call for papers: Four sessions are planned: 1) General Session--all proposals dealing with biblical Hebrew poetry are welcome; 2)"Daughter Zion: Her Portrait, Her Response": papers are welcome that explore the portrait of Daughter Zion as "she" appears in biblical Hebrew poetry. Papers are encouraged to engage the thought of Carleen Mandolfo and her new book Daughter Zion Talks Back to the Prophets as a launching pad for further discussion. "Daughter Zion," in the voice of Carleen Mandolfo, will respond to papers presented; 3) a second session dealing with Daughter Zion: Her Ambivalent Nature--all papers on Daughter Zion are welcome; 4) "The Poetics of Memory": a joint session with the Book of Psalms that will focus on remembering, forgetting, the role of remembered past in the psalms, the role that forgetting plays in lament psalms. Papers have been invited.
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Biblical Law
Description: The purpose of the Biblical Law Section is to promote interdisciplinary research on ancient Near Eastern, biblical, and post-biblical law. Methodological perspectives include historical-critical, literary, legal-historical, feminist, and social-scientific approaches.
Call for papers: We invite proposals for two open sessions on any aspect of biblical law (including cuneiform documents, Dead Sea Scrolls and other Second Temple Literature, questions of pentateuchal criticism, legal history, gender analysis, social scientific, and newer methodologies). Papers for both sessions will be read in part or in whole. Copies of papers are distributed in advance of the meeting through the Section's website. They should be available by October 15, 2008 at: www.biblicallaw.net.
The Biblical Law section and the Rhetoric in the New Testament section of the SBL will also co-sponsor one or two sessions of invited and proposed papers on “The Rhetorical Use of Biblical Law in New Testament and Related Early Christian Texts.” This collaboration will focus on legal texts and traditions from the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, or other Second Temple Jewish texts as they are understood and used in and for argumentation in the literary, rhetorical, historical, and theological context of the texts studied.
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Book of Acts
Description: This Section (1) explores new strategies for reading Acts; (2) proposes solutions to existing exegetical, literary, text critical and historical problems associated with Acts; (3) highlights new areas of inquiry regarding Acts; and (4) assesses the significance of the history of Acts scholarship.
Call for papers: The section on the Book of Acts welcomes paper proposals on any aspect of the study of the Book of Acts.
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Book of Ezekiel
Description: This Section has two aims. First, it seeks to bring together scholars working on the book of Ezekiel to share research and conclusions about the book. Second, it encourages an expressly theological approach to the book.
Call for papers: One session is open for papers dealing with any aspect of the book of Ezekiel; proposals are invited for this session. The second session, by invitation, will focus on the reception history of Ezekiel, with particular reference to liturgical, homiletical and related uses of the book.
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Book of Isaiah
Description: The Book of Isaiah unit provides an international forum for discussion of issues related to the formation, growth and unity of the Isaiah scroll as well as questions of poetic imagery, intertextuality, history of interpretation and reader response criticism.
Call for papers: The Formation of the Book of Isaiah Group will have two sessions for 2008: (1) a session on "The Place and Function of Isaiah 40-55 in the Scroll of Isaiah: A New Look at Hugh Williamson, THE BOOK CALLED ISAIAH." (invited papers) and (2) an "open" session in which papers may be on any topic concerned with the book of Isaiah.
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Book of Psalms
Description: It is the aim of the Book of Psalms unit to promote all aspects of and approaches to the study of the Psalms, with a major focus on the issue of how the Psalter as a collection has an integrity, history, and purpose of its own.
Call for papers: The Psalms Section invites proposals for papers related to the study of the Psalter or of individual psalms. The Psalms Section especially invites proposals for the 2008 annual meeting related to the interpretation of the theology of the Psalter.
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Book of the Twelve Prophets
Description: The Book of the Twelve Prophets Section provides a forum for research
into textual, literary, historical, religious, and ideological aspects of the
Book of the Twelve Prophets. The section is interested in understanding
individual passages as well as all phases of the development of this book.
Call for papers: The section welcomes proposals related to texts within the Minor Prophets with a preference for papers that address the ancient form of the Twelve as a single scroll. The program committee specifically invites proposals addressing connections between the Book of the Twelve and the books of Jeremiah or Ezekiel.
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Children in the Biblical World
Description: This section explores the child characters in the Bible, investigates the lives of children in the ancient world, and evaluates how biblical texts affect children in the post-biblical world. We invite traditional research in biblical studies, as well as interdisciplinary approaches to the topic.
Call for papers: One session will review recent works on children and the Bible, selected by invitation. The other session is open to a wide range of topics dealing with children in the biblical world. Both sessions will provide ample opportunity for discussion.
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Christian Apocrypha
Description: The Section fosters ongoing study of extra-canonical texts, as subjects of literary and philological investigation; as evidence for the history of religion, theology, and cult practice; and as documents of the socio-symbolic construction of Christianity along lines of class and gender.
Call for papers: “Others” in the Early Church: Giving the Lesser-known Disciples Their Due.
This section will take a look at the disciples or early Christians who did not achieve the highest recognition or prominence within the canonical texts.
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Christian Theological Research Fellowship
Description: The CTRF is an Annual Meeting Program Partner. Please contact Alan Padgett, at apadgett@luthersem.edu, for further information on the CTRF's program.
Call for papers: The Bible and the Role of Philosophy: Theology after the Hellenization Thesis. We seek proposals exploring the interaction between the Bible and/or the gospel with philosophy in the ongoing task of Christian doctrine. We imagine papers reacting to the old "hellenization" thesis [Greek philosophy corrupting the pure gospel]; other types are welcome also. Speakers must be either CTRF or SBL members. Proposals can be made to apadgett-at-luthersem.edu as well as the SBL site. Visit www.ctrf.info.
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Christian Theology and the Bible
Description: This unit invites a conversation between the disciplines of Christian Theology and Biblical Studies. We are interested in questions, categories, or hypotheses drawn from the broad tradition of Christian theology which inform readings of the biblical texts, and we aim to foster constructive theological work with biblical texts.
Call for papers: Submissions for papers on the Gospel of John will be welcome. Many approaches could be taken to this: history of interpretation, canonical interpretation, theology of the Gospel, theological exegesis, etc.
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Christianity in Egypt: Scripture, Tradition, and Reception
Description: The aim of this program is to engage scholars with interests relevant to Christianity in Egypt, with a special focus on scripture. This would include, but not be limited to, the study of scriptural texts and commentaries and the interpretation of scripture in theology, monastic literature, art, archaeology, and culture. Social and political themes may also be studied as evidence of the reception of scripture throughout history. Discussions may include sources in Greek, Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, or Latin that are relevant to the program's interests. The program is interdisciplinary and encourages a variety of approaches and methodologies.
Call for papers: The aim of this program is to engage scholars with interests relevant to Christianity in Egypt, with a special focus on scripture. This would include, but not be limited to, the study of scriptural texts and commentaries and the interpretation of scripture in theology, monastic literature, art, archaeology, and culture. Social and political themes may also be studied as evidence of the reception of scripture throughout history. Discussions may include sources in Greek, Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, or Latin that are relevant to the program's interests. The program is interdisciplinary and encourages a variety of approaches and methodologies.
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Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah
Description: Our section provides a collegial forum for graduate students and scholars in which papers can be read, projects initiated, questions explored, new approaches attempted and broader discussions held relating to the research and scholarship of these biblical books.
Call for papers: The Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah Section will run three sessions in 2008. For one session, we invite proposals that address the impact of recent studies on orality and textuality on the study of Chronicles and/or Ezra-Nehemiah, to go with invited speakers. A second session will be an open session: we invite proposals that address any aspect of research on Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah; presentations will be 20 minutes long, followed by time for discussion. A third session will be a retrospective on the past 40 years of research, with invited speakers.
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Cognitive Linguistics in Biblical Interpretation
Description: The field of cognitive science has reshaped longstanding philosophical assumptions about how people use and process language. This section applies cognitive linguistics to biblical studies, with a focus on the ways cognitive approaches help scholars understand and interact with ancient texts.
Call for papers: The consultation invites papers which use the theories and methods of cognitve linguistics to read and interpret biblical texts and/or to read and analyze historical or scholarly biblical interpretations. We have particular interest in papers that show how a cognitive reading could clarify texts which have been problematic or a source of scholarly contention.
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Committee on Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession
Description: *
Call for papers: *
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Computer Assisted Research
Description: The Computer Assisted Research section's primary mission is to encourage the application of ever changing information technology to biblical research and pedagogy. Its focus is upon well-established technologies as well as the emerging and experimental. It is truly multi-disciplinary, spanning the entire range of the Society's interests.
Call for papers: The Computer Assisted Research Section is open to a variety of proposals including, but not limited to 1) demonstrations of new software or techniques for analyzing Biblical materials; 2) demonstrations of websites which give scholars improved access or analysis to existing materials; 3) demonstration of resources to aid in teaching the Bible.
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Construction of Christian Identities
Description: This unit focuses on interdisciplinary study of the making of Christianity, which is understood as a complex phenomenon. The making of Christianity takes place within conflicting intercultural relations among Mediterranean/Near-Eastern religious groups, which contributed to a diversified evolution within early groups of Jesus followers. The unit seeks primarily to describe groups and their religious practices rather than their theological ideas.
Call for papers: For the Annual Meeting of Boston 2008, this Unit plans to invite the speakers for one of its sessions (panel discussion) and to accept papers for the other. The open session will have as a subject: "Ethnicity and the Construction of Christian Identities." Please, feel free to send any proposal for papers, the content of which corresponds to the specific subject of the open session and to the lines established in the General Description of the Section (see above).
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Contextual Biblical Interpretation
Description: The goal of this consultation is to explore the interest in developing a SBL seminar or section on *Contextual Biblical Interpretation,* its different strategies (including “inculturation,” inter(con)textualization, and reading with “ordinary” readers) and its methodological justifications, and the extent to which all interpretations are contextual.
Call for papers: In line with the goal of this group and of its book series of Contextual Bible Studies (Fortress Press), we seek papers on *contextual* biblical interpretations; i.e., readings of the Bible that take the reader’s context into account in some way. Particularly (but not exclusively) we are interested in contextual readings of the books of the Pentateuch/Torah; the gospels. These papers need to make explicit their "contextual" strategies (including inculturation, inter(con)textualization, and reading with “ordinary” readers) and methodologies. For general format see http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/religious_studies/GBC/outline_comm.html
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Corpus Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti
Description: This consultation will 1) read and discuss ancient Greek materials that provide insight into the literary and religious worlds of early Christianity and 2) read and discuss papers that analyze early Christian texts in dialogue with Hellenistic materials.
Call for papers: This consultation will 1) read and discuss ancient Greek (and Latin) materials that provide insight into the literary and religious worlds of earlyChristianity and 2) read and discuss papers that analyze early Christian texts in dialogue with Hellenistic materials. For 2008 papers on ancient anthropologies are especially requested, as are those that revisit
familiar non-Christian texts with new methods or perspectives. Papers on other topics related to the general interests of this section are also welcome for the open session.
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Deuteronomistic History
Description: This unit is a forum for scholarship pertaining to the books of Deuteronomy and the Former Prophets (Joshua–Kings). Papers may treat material in one or more of these books or in the collection as a whole. Relevant foci include literary history and compositional techniques; theological trends exemplified in the texts; the social and historical milieu or milieus in which they were produced; as well as connections among one or more of these books, whether topical, chronological, or linguistic.
Call for papers: Papers dealing with any aspect of the Deuteronomistic History are welcome.
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Didache in Context
Description: The object of this consultation will be to explore the Didache as a unified document reflecting the faith, hope, and life of Christian sometime between 50-90 CE. Accordingly, papers will concern themselves with the following: (a) the oral/written origins of the Didache; (b) the authorship and use
of the Didache; (c) aspects of the faith, the practice, or the end-time expectations of the Didache communities as seen from the internal logic of the text; from its religious, social, and historical context; or in contrast to other early communities (Jewish, Christian, Roman).
Call for papers: DIDACHE: ETHICS, LAW AND ESCHATOLOGICAL HOPE. Papers in one session will be devoted to issues relating to ethics, law and eschatology in the Didache. Papers for a second session will be accepted on any issue related to the Didache and its community.
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Disputed Paulines
Description: The Disputed Paulines Consultation seeks to explore historical, literary (including rhetorical), and theological matters which bear upon the interpretation of the letters of the Pauline Corpus that many argue are not genuinely or immediately authored by Paul. It is hoped that careful study of these letters will help us better understand both these documents and early Christianity more broadly.
Call for papers: The Disputed Paulines Section invites papers that explore historical, literary (including rhetorical), and theological matters which bear upon the interpretation of these letters. In 2008, one session will be devoted to the theme of the Disputed Paulines and Empire. Proposals on this topic are especially encouraged. At least one other session will be open to papers on various topics within the corpus of the Disputed Paulines.
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Early Christian Families
Description: *Expired*
The Group will focus on a broad and multidisciplinary study of Early Christian families, both with a view to their social functions and transformations, and their role in ideological representations of Christian communities within their Greco-Roman (and Jewish) contexts from 1st - 5th centuries.
Call for papers: The Early Christian Families Group will have two sessions.
The first session has an open theme. We welcome contributions on any topic in the multidisciplinary study of ancient families, including those on non-Christian material. The second session is an invited panel on the theme, "Biblical Families in Later Christian Imagination." The goal of that session is to help New Testament scholars see the how later imaginations of "the Family in the Bible" have shaped the history of biblical interpretation in powerful and pervasive ways. The speakers will be Elizabeth Clark (Duke), Robin Jensen (Vanderbilt), Stephen Shoemaker (Oregon), and Sylvester Johnson (Indiana).
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Early Christianity and the Ancient Economy
Description: The Early Christianity and the Ancient Economy Consultation is the foundational component of an international, interdisciplinary project that seeks to delineate the relationship between early Christianity and the ancient economy in the period from Jesus to Justinian, demonstrating both similarities and differences in attitudes, approaches to problems, and attempted solutions.
Call for papers: The Early Christianity and Ancient Economy Consultation sponsors three sub-projects. The first is "The Ancient Economy," with particular attention given to the economies of Classical Greece, the Hellenistic World, and the Roman Empire (especially the Roman Near East). The second is “First-Century Early Christianity and the Economy,” and the third is “Christianity and the Economy in the Second to Fifth Centuries.” Both the second and the third sub-projects give attention to the relationship of early Christianity to the ancient economy and to Christianity’s own economic aspects. Given the scope of the project, we anticipate that studies will be both synchronic and diachronic, with some contributions focused on specific texts, authors, and events, and others being more comprehensive and thematic in nature. Each of the three sub-projects plans to hold at least one session at the 2008 meeting in Boston. Paper proposals for all three sub-projects are welcomed. Those submitting a proposal should designate in the Abstract the sub-project for which the paper should be considered.
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Early Jewish Christian Relations
Description: The Early Jewish Christian Relations Group deals with the relationships of Christians and Jews as Christians emerged as groups distinct from Jews, and how these groups continued to affect one another in the following centuries. It considers approximately the first four centuries.
Call for papers: The Early Jewish Christian Relations Group invites paper proposals on the following topics:
1. Origen. Papers may address Origen's impact on Jewish-Christian relations, his views on Judaism as they influenced his understanding of Christianity, his use of Jewish sources, or any topic that fits the general theme of "Jewish-Christian relations."
2. Open session. Proposals are welcome on any topic dealing with Jewish-Christian Relations in the first four centuries.
In addition, panelists have been invited to discuss Cambride Press's Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations.
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Ecological Hermeneutics
Description: This Section will focus on hermeneutical principles and models for ecological readings of the biblical text and tradition. Attention would be paid to the anthropocentric bias of texts and readers as well as to discerning alternative traditions sympathetic to ecology, Earth and the Earth community. The aim is to explore the art of reading the text with empathy for the natural world.
Call for papers: The first session will focus on the application of ecological hermeneutics to the apocalyptic traditions in the Scriptures and will be held jointly with the SBL Section, John's Apocalypse and Cultural Contexts Ancient and Modern. Special attention will be paid to identifying with Earth (including all elements of the Earth community - waters, rivers and so forth), as a character in the end times. Proposals may deal with the Revelation of John or other apocalyptic texts. The second session is open and paper proposals on any biblical text are welcomed. Participants are encouraged to take into account the principles of ecological hermeneutics - suspicion, identification and retrieval developed by the Section in recent years.
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Egyptology and Ancient Israel
Description: The principal goal of the Egyptology and Ancient Israel Section is to promote collaboration between biblical scholars and Egyptologists in their comparative examination and analysis of historical and literary connections between ancient Israel, the Hebrew Bible, and the history and literature of ancient Egypt. Where appropriate, the section joins with other related program units to foster interdisciplinary conversation across the wider ancient Near East.
Call for papers: Ancient Egypt and Ancient Israel share features of art and iconography both in motifs and media. The Egyptology and Ancient Israel Section welcomes papers dealing with the art and iconography of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Israel. A session will also be available for papers on other topics covering the interactions between Ancient Egypt and Ancient Israel.
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Ethics and Biblical Interpretation
Description: The aim of the Ethics and Biblical Interpretation section is to study the way the various projects of biblical interpretation and hermeneutics intersect with the concerns of ethics. This consultation will engage ethicists, theologians, and biblical scholars in interdisciplinary conversations.
Call for papers: There will be two sessions in Boston in November, 2008. The panelists and respondent for the first session, on "The Bible, Ethics, and the Environment," have already been invited.
The second session, on "The Bible, Ethics, and the Outsider," is OPEN, and we invite paper proposals that address this topic.
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Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium
Description: The Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium (ECBC) emerged with the rise of the awareness of contextualization and cross-cultural awareness in biblical interpretation. A group of scholars who are of ethnic Chinese origin created ECBC as a forum to address issues relevant to this concern within SBL in the 1990s. Prominent founding members of this group are Dr. Seow Choon-Leong, Dr. Wan Sze-Kar, Dr. Gale Yee, Dr. Mary Foskett, Dr. Jeffrey Kuan, and Dr. John Yieh. The group invites scholars to participate in the forum held annually within the SBL Annual Meeting.
Call for papers: The Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium (ECBC) emerged with the rise of the awareness of contextualization and cross-cultural awareness in biblical interpretation. A group of scholars who are of ethnic Chinese origin created ECBC as a forum to address issues relevant to this concern within SBL in the 1990s. Prominent founding members of this group are Dr. Seow Choon-Leong, Dr. Wan Sze-Kar, Dr. Gale Yee, Dr. Mary Foskett, Dr. Jeffrey Kuan, and Dr. John Yieh. The group invites scholars to participate in the forum held annually within the SBL Annual Meeting.
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Exile (Forced Migrations) in Biblical Literature
Description: This section examines exile, displacement, and migration (forced or involuntary) in biblical literature—its history, associated literature, and conceptualization from a wide range of methodological perspectives.
Call for papers: Exile (Forced Migrations) in Biblical Literature Consultation anticipates at least four sections in 2008. Two sections will be invited panel on "Exilic Scholarship: Honoring the Past and Present," a third section on "Exilic Scholarship: Looking to the Future," and open section(s) on the theme of memory of exile in biblical texts (HB/OT, Intertestamental, DSS, NT). We welcome papers that deal with or relate to memory of exile (forced migrations) across specializations and even disciplines.
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Extent of Theological Diversity in Earliest Christianity
Description: Focusing on the evidence for Jesus' death and resurrection as a narrative used to shape the identity of emergent communities, and on the alternatives to this narrative preserved in early Christian sources, this Consultation explores the origin, nature and extent of theological diversity in earliest Christianity from the beginnings until approximately 180 CE. By fostering a conversation involving the testing of various reconstructions of early Christian history against the range of relevant evidence, the unit seeks to bring greater precision to the study of "orthodoxy and heresy in early Christianity."
Call for papers: Our inaugural sessions at the 2008 meeting will feature only invited papers, but we welcome paper proposals for an open session at the 2009 meeting.
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Feminist Hermeneutics of the Bible
Description: The aim of this unit is to provide a forum for research in issues and questions relating to feminist methods of interpretation. While specifically focused on methodological concerns, we are also concerned to ground that reflection in the reality of engagement with specific texts.
Call for papers: Complexities of methodologies and interplays of social locations have shaped the discourses of counter-traditional biblical interpretation during the past decade, foregrounding categories such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexual identity, etc. To foster theoretical exploration across differences, grounded in particularities, the Feminist Biblical Hermeneutics of the Bible Section is proposing a re-examination of “The Parameters of Feminist Biblical Interpretation” for the next couple of years. The sessions planned for 2008 are calling for papers on:
1) What makes a Feminist Reader?
2) What makes a method of interpretation feminist?
3) Open session on any relevant issues.
To look ahead,
For 2009, we are planning to address the issue of Feminist Biblical Commentaries in terms of genre, function, and impact.
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Formation of Luke and Acts
Description: Recent Lukan studies indicate the formative role of diverse verifiable sources including the Septuagint (e.g., Deuteronomy; the Elijah-Elisha narrative), Greco-Roman writings (e.g., historiography; epic, particularly Homer), and some epistles. The Section aims to check and synthesize such use of sources, thus clarifying the formation of Luke and Acts, and facilitating discussion of broader NT issues.
Call for papers:
Luke's use of the Septuagint will be a focus for the 2008 Annual Meeting. We would like to have one open session devoted to this and one treating all other issues, like Luke's use of Pauline letters and other sources. The employment of intertextual criteria in evaluating the narrative significance of formulaic quotation, direct quotation, paraphrase, allusion, and echo is of interest. The weight of discernable literary structure in a precursor text as impacting narration and personification in Luke-Acts is also of interest. In their "Conclusions: Problems of Method-Suggested Guidelines," the editors of The Intertextuality of the Epistles: Explorations of Theory and Practice
(ed. T. L. Brodie, D. R. MacDonald, and S. E. Porter; NTM 16;
Sheffield-Phoenix, 2006), 284-96, raise other germane points of interest
relevant to Luke's use of the Septuagint and other sources. All papers
addressing any of these formation issues are welcome.
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Function of Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal Writings in Early Judaism and Early Christianity
Description: This unit is focused broadly on questions related to canon, namely: What is the biblical canon? How did it take shape? How did the so-called noncanonical works function in the early Jewish and Christian communities? How do these noncanonical works help us comprehend the shaping of the canon and by whom? What is the relation between a closed canon and the notion of a God who speaks in every generation? With considerable media interest in this subject in recent times, it is important to raise and address some of these important questions.
Call for papers: We are accepting proposals for papers for the SBL 2008 meeting in Boston. Papers that focus on the function or use of so-called apocryphal and pseudepigraphal writings in early Judaism and/or early Christianity are especially welcome. Papers dealing with ancient manuscripts containing this literature will also be welcomed.
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Future of the Past: Biblical and Cognate Studies for the Twenty-First Century
Description: To engage productive dialogue through the cooperative relationship between the SBL and the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity for the purpose of modeling and promoting international collaborative and interdisciplinary research on a wide variety of topics germane to Jewish and Christian origins.
Call for papers: This program unit features scholars and topics related to the Research Projects of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity at the Claremont Graduate University. For this reason, we do not, like most program units of the Society, solicit papers. We do encourage scholars interested in our projects to contact the project directors, who invariably are receptive to collaboration. Thank you for your interest in this unit and the IAC.
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Gender, Sexuality, and the Bible
Description: This group engages in critical discussion with research on sexuality and gender in disciplines such as critical theory, philosophy, literature, cultural studies and the social sciences. It explores the implications of this research for biblical and postbiblical studies.
Call for papers: We seek papers for two sessions in Boston. The first session is an open session, welcoming proposals for papers on any element of research related to gender, sexuality, and the body in the study of the bible and/or antiquity, including their various afterlives and influences. The second session is co-sponsored with the LGBT/Queer Hermeneutics Consultation and is also an open session, welcoming proposals for papers that deal with the theme "intersections of sexuality, race, and ethnicity in biblical interpretation." Questions or further inquiries may be directed to the Chair, Joseph Marchal, at jamarchal@hotmail.com
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Gospel of Mark
Description: The Gospel of Mark Section is a venue for research on the text and themes of the Gospel of Mark and its various contexts.
Call for papers: The Mark Group invites papers dealing with the interpretation of the beginning of the Second Gospel, Mark 1:1-13/15. In considering this specific set of verses, papers will be expected to deal with multiple issues, e.g., the text to be interpreted, Mark’s use of the OT, the extent of the literary unit, etc. A combination of interpretive approaches is encouraged. Send proposals in Word format to: voelzj@csl.edu (preferred method), OR, mail or fax to Prof. James W. Voelz, Concordia Seminary, 801 Seminary Place, St. Louis, MO 63105. Fax number 314-505-7014, including the name James Voelz on faxed materials. Proposals may also be submitted through the Society of Biblical Literature website at http://www.sbl-site.org/
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Greco-Roman Religions
Description: This unit is highly interdisciplinary and comparative, a forum regularly bringing together historians of religion, specialists in Christian origins, classicists, archaeologists, and social scientists from across the world to pursue questions that foster new cooperative research initiatives.
Call for papers: The open session of the Greco-Roman Religions Section, "Hybridization and Creolization in the Greek and Roman Worlds," invites papers that continue the Section’s focus on post-colonial criticism applied to the ancient Mediterranean world, especially papers exploring issues of hybridization and creolization raised by social mobility and consequent encounters with new cult communities, new customs and cultic practices, and the reciprocal negotiations of place and identity generated between the affected groups. The Session welcomes papers that approach these phenomena on the basis of literary, epigraphical, or archaeological evidence, from the full range of methodological perspectives, and especially papers exploring these issues in dialog with such thinkers as E. Said, H. Bhabha, E. Hobsbawm,P. Bourdieu, E. K. Braithwaite, W. Harris, J. Clifford among others. The closed session of the Greco-Roman Religions Section, entitled "Redescribing Graeco-Roman Antiquity: Divinity: Making Gods," continues the series of successive Redescribing Graeco-Roman Antiquity sessions begun in 2005 designed to investigate possible useful frameworks for a more fully conceptualized practice of redescriptive scholarship on Graeco-Roman ‘religious’ antiquity, the goal of which is to bring theoretically informed contemporary redescriptive scholarship, having a metatheoretically aware conceptualization of ‘religion’ as an ‘artificially’ constructed category, to bear on the study of religion in antiquity. The theme for the 2008 panel is Divinity: Making Gods, and focuses on the way in which ‘religion/s’ and divinities in the Graeco-Roman world can be said to be ‘conceptual metaphors’ for an array of other, very human, processes, that is, as rhetorical and symbolic interventions, and conceived as such in self-reflexive scholarship. For more information contact Gerhard van den Heever, vandenheevers@lantic.net.
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Greek Bible
Description: The Greek Bible section focuses on the use of the Greek versions (the Septuagint or other Greek versions) in biblical exegesis by Hellenistic Jewish authors, the New Testament writers, the Church Fathers, Greek historians or philosophers, and medieval Jewish scholiasts, as well as on the methodologies they employ.
Call for papers: Theme for 2008: Interpretive Intertextuality in the Greek Scriptures
The Greek Bible unit invites papers on the use of Greek Scripture by later Greek translators of Jewish canonical or deutero-canonical books. Examples would be the use of Greek Pentateuch in the translation of the prophets, the Greek Proverbs in Sirach,or the Greek Psalter in Job. The use of the Greek versions in the New Testament will be excluded in this themed session. However, papers will be accepted for an additional open session on any aspect of the Greek Bible. All papers accepted must demonstrate the use of the Greek text in distinction from the Hebrew Bible.
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Healthcare and Disability in the Ancient World
Description: This unit, titled Disability Studies and Healthcare in the Bible and the Ancient World, seeks to foster scholarship related to disability, illness, medicine, and healthcare in the biblical world and text. Major areas of interest include: the religious, legal, and cultural status of persons with disabilities or illness in the biblical and formative Jewish and Christian periods; the representation of disability and illness in biblical and cognate texts; the theology of such texts; the history and archeology of medicine and healthcare in the ancient Near East and Greco-Roman worlds; and the subjects of disability, illness, medicine and healthcare in the history of biblical interpretation.
Call for papers: The Unit plans to have three sessions at the 2008 meeting. The FIRST SESSION will be an open session for which submissions exploring biblical theology (broadly defined) as it relates to disability, healthcare, and the body are encouraged. This session will be co-sponsored with the Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures section. The SECOND SESSION will be an open session for which all submissions on disability, illness, medicine, and healthcare and biblical studies or cognate literature are welcome. All methods are invited. The THIRD SESSION will be a discussion by invited panelists of Saul Olyan's Disability in the Hebrew Bible published by Cambridge University Press. Inquiries about the sessions should be addressed to either R. Magdalene (rachelmagdalene@augustana.edu) or J. Schipper (schipper@temple.edu).
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Hebrew Bible and Political Theory
Description: Politics was as central to the life of ancient Israel as it is in our modern world. It is found
throughout the Hebrew Bible and cognate literature. This unit attempts to study political
phenomena in this corpus with methodological rigor.
Call for papers: This unit seeks papers that examine biblical texts through the prism of political theory, broadly conceived. As other program units already explore feminist ideology and African-American hermeneutics, this unit seeks interdisciplinary papers that employ theoretical models concerning, for example, notions of nationhood, citizenship, law, class and hierarchy, economic distribution, kingship, and the like. Alternatively, papers may analyze the biblical text through the political thought of the great thinkers, classical, medieval or modern.
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Hebrew Bible, History, and Archaeology
Description: This program unit exists to foster discussion of the relationship between archaeology in all its aspects (including survey, excavation, and epigraphic data) and the history of the ancient Israelite kingdoms and/or the Hebrew Bible.
Call for papers: Papers are invited for sessions of the Hebrew Bible, History and Archaeology section. These papers will address the history or archaeology of ancient Israel through the use of texts, archaeology, and anthropological approaches.
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Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literature
Description: The Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literature Section provides a major forum for research on specific points of contact between the Bible and the literatures of Israel's neighbors, to better elucidate the Bible as a collection of ancient Israelite writings.
Call for papers: The Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literature Section provides a major forum for research on specific points of contact between the Bible and the literatures of Israel's neighbors, to better elucidate the Bible as a collection of ancient Israelite writings.
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Hebrews
Description: The famous and almost proverbial saying that Hebrews appears to its viewer as a “melchisedekitisches Wesen ohne Stammbaum” was uttered by Franz Overbeck in the year 1880, during the high noon of historicism. The missing genealogy that Overbeck lamented meant peculiarly to him a lack of historical context. This perceived “lack” was the consequence of flawed presuppositions originating in ideological frameworks, and consequently led New Testament scholarship to view Hebrews as the “enigmatic,” the “other” one, and furthermore led to the neglect of its historical context by Hebrews scholarship. Consequently, the context was judged as “irrelevant” for Hebrews interpretation. Recent scholarship on the contrary has developed a particular interest in Hebrews’ context. Therefore, while maintaining the distinctiveness of Hebrews it is the aim of this Group to explore extensively and facilitate scholarly research on Hebrews’ relations to other early traditions and texts (Jewish, Hellenistic and Roman), so that Hebrews’ historical, cultural, and religious identity may be mapped in greater detail.
Call for papers: The “Hebrews Consultation” has been renewed as “Book of Hebrews in Context Group.” The group plans to sponsor each year two, or at most three sessions. The first session customarily contains papers by invited speakers on a specific topic. The papers of this first session—as usual for groups—will be made available to the group’s members in advance and will not be delivered in full at the session. The second session invites proposals either shaped around the same topic or any other topic concerned with the Book of Hebrews and/or its context. About every two to three years a third session will be added, either with book reviews or as joint session. Whereas group members are given priority in attendance and participation at the first session—others may attend and participate as space and time allows—, attendance at the second and third session will be unrestricted. Application for membership in the Hebrew’s group is made through Dr. Gabriella Gelardini to the steering committee and is extended to those who agree to prepare and participate. Individuals interested in becoming members of the Hebrew’s group are invited to contact Dr. Gabriella Gelardini. The specific topics of the following years will be: The socio-historical and cultural content and context of the Book of Hebrews (2008: Greco-Roman; 2009: Jewish). The literary, philosophical, and theological content and context of the Book of Hebrews (2010: Comparative; 2011: Methodological). The reception history of the Book of Hebrews (2012: In ancient, medieval, modern, and postmodern texts and culture; 2013: In modern and postmodern scholarship). For information and membership application contact: Gabriella.Gelardini@unibas.ch. For further information and PDFs of the 2005-2007 papers visit our group’s website: www.hebrews.unibas.ch.
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Hellenistic Judaism
Description: This section is devoted to the history of (a) Judaism of the Hellenistic period (that is, "Hellenistic" understood chronologically from Alexander the Great to Augustus), (b) Greek-speaking Judaism in antiquity (that is, "Hellenistic" understood linguistically), and (c) the interaction between Judaism and its host cultures in antiquity ("Hellenistic understood culturally and socially).
Call for papers: In 2008, we will dedicate two sessions to the writings of Greek Jewish
authors such as Artapanus, Aristeas the Exegete, Demetrius the
Chronographer, Eupolemus, Ezekiel the Tragedian, and Philo the Epic Poet. We invite submissions of proposals on these and other writings preserved in
excerpts by Alexander Polyhistor, Eusebius, etc. We are planning to hold one panel on Artapanus and another on these authors more generally. Proposed papers may deal with any aspect of their writings, but papers that deal with broader issues are encouraged (e.g., how do such works enrich our
understanding of the negotiation of Jewish identities in
Hellenistic cultural contexts? What might they tell us about the history of
exegesis and the creative redeployment of Hellenistic literary genres? What
are the challenges involved in reconstructing their aims and provenance?)
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Hellenistic Moral Philosophy and Early Christianity
Description: The unit was formed with the goal of providing a forum for discussing ancient texts from the Hellenistic and Roman worlds and relating them to the study of the New Testament world (including early Jewish and early Christian materials outside the New Testament per se).
Call for papers: Three sessions are planned in 2008. (a) The first session will have reports on new textual discoveries regarding works of Philodemus such as On Frank Criticism and On Death. It will also provide a survey of research on Philodemus and Early Christianity. The program for this session has already been finalized. (b) The second session will continue the discussion of the topos On Household Management inaugurated at the 2007 Annual Meeting. Proposals are invited for papers on the topos On Household Management and Early Christianity. (c) The third will be an open session. Papers will be accepted on any aspect of Hellenistic moral philosophy and early Christianity.
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Historical Jesus
Description: Historical Jesus research is one of the oldest and most debated areas in Biblical Studies. We encourage critical analyses of historical methods, recent trends and contemporary reception, and we give scholars and students opportunities to present their latest Jesus research.
Call for papers: The Historical Jesus Section provides a forum for both seasoned and less experienced scholars to offer contributions to the ongoing task of reconstructing the person, mission, and views of Jesus in a historically responsible manner.
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History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism
Description: This section is devoted to both historical and literary study of the Rabbis of Late Antiquity (ca. 70 CE - 640 CE). We encourage studies that are interdisciplinary and comparative, and that take into account the wider social and cultural environments in which the Rabbis worked.
Call for papers: The section will sponsor two sessions, one of which is open and the other is for invited speakers. We will co-sponsor a third session with the Josephus Group. For the open session all proposals relating to the group’s topic will be considered. The closed session will feature invited speakers on the topic “Jacob Neusner and the Scholarship on Ancient Judaism.” We are also soliciting proposals for a sponsored session with the Josephus group on the topic “Josephus and the Rabbis.” In this joint session of the Josephus Group and the History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism Section we seek presentations that will offer new insight into the connection between Josephus and the rabbis. Papers may deal with any aspect of the topic – literary, historical, religious, cultural, archaeological, etc. For this session, papers will be due in advance a month before the conference to allow for the preparation of a response.
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History of Interpretation
Description: The purpose of the section is: (1) To encourage the investigation of the history of biblical interpretation, especially with respect to the socio-historical context of the interpreters; (2) To support scholars by providing a forum for presentation and critical discussion of their works at the annual meeting; and (3) To encourage conversation among scholars investigating different time periods and geographical areas for their mutual benefit.
Call for papers: The History of Interpretation section welcomes a variety of proposals on
topics relating to the history of Biblical interpretation. We are
particularly interested in the following areas: comparative exegesis,
Patristics, Rabbinics, and medieval interpretation.
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Homiletics and Biblical Studies
Description: The Homiletics and Biblical Studies Section encourages dialogue among scholars in both fields who share an interest in critical exegesis, its various methods, and the unique hermeneutical and theological problems inherent to the relationship between biblical interpretation and proclamation.
Call for papers: Invited panel session: Perspectives on Preaching from Paul. Invited panel session: Hearing the Voices of Others: Collaborative and Contextual Approaches to Preaching. One open call session. The Homiletics and Biblical Studies section invites papers dealing with the relationship between biblical interpretation and proclamation. All proposals and submissions should be sent to Chuck Aaron ( cla56@aol.com ) and Ruthanna Hooke ( rhooke@vts.edu ) for review.
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Ideological Criticism
Description: This Section approaches the Bible through critical philosophical perspectives and explores how power shapes and is shaped by the Bible and its reception. We embrace various definitions of ideology and approaches to uncovering the political stakes of the Bible and of its uses and influences.
Call for papers: We invite paper proposals for two open sessions:
Activism and the Bible III- This will be our third consecutive session devoted to the ways in which the Bible has been used to promote or to oppose activism aimed at instigating social change. Proposals on any topic related to this issue will be considered.
Beyond Ideology- This session will explore whether there are experiences—dreams, sex, pain, or death, for example—that are not shaped by ideology and whether, if there are such experiences, they transcend ideology, serve as its foundations or both. Proposals are sought for papers that use biblical texts or issues in biblical scholarship to investigate this question.
For both these sessions, proposals from graduate students and persons from groups that have been historically underrepresented in the SBL are especially welcome.
We will also have two sessions devoted to invited panels; one will discuss the Bible as a construct of scholarship, the other will be a conversation between contributors to "Still at the Margins: Biblical Scholarship Fifteen Years After the Voices from the Margin" ed. by R. S. Sugirtharajah.
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Ideology, Culture, and Translation
Description: This Group explores theoretical dimensions and implications of translations and translation practice. Critical engagements with the translation, translation practices, or translation history of any texts relevant to the study of Bible and Christianity (ancient and modern) are welcome.
Call for papers: The Ideology, Culture, and Translation program unit has just been renewed as a Group. Interested parties are invited to contact the program chair in order to join. Members and non-members alike are invited to submit paper proposals for the 2008 meeting, where we will conduct one open session. Papers are not limited to those dealing only with Bible translation. Critical engagements with the translation, translation practices, or translation history of any texts relevant to the study of Bible and Christianity (ancient and modern) are welcome.
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International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies
Description: The IOSCS is an Affiliate of the SBL. For further information on the IOSCS, please contact the program unit chair.
Call for papers: The International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies solicits papers for its annual meeting in Boston, to be held in conjunction with the SBL. Proposals should be presented through the SBL Annual Meetings website. Please direct any queries to Leonard Greenspoon at ljgrn@creighton.edu.
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Intertextuality in the New Testament
Description: The purpose of this unit is to provide a forum for presentation and discussion on intertexual interpretations of New Testament passages. This unit focuses on ways in which the language of texts are recited, echoed, reconfigured, or recontextualized by other texts from the LXX, Greco-Roman philosophers, orators, decrees, Second Temple sources, Hebrew Scriptures, or another ancient source.
Call for papers: For 2008, the Consultation has planned two sessions: (1) Reconfiguring Houses and Family Households (major session); and (2) Exploring the Pauline Letters (mini session). Papers for these two sessions have already been solicited. Persons interested in future sessions should contact the program unit chair, B. J. Oropeza (boropeza@apu.edu).
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Israelite Prophetic Literature
Description: This section aims to provide an open forum for scholars to present papers on a variety of topics germane to the study of ancient Israelite prophecy and prophetic literature.
Call for papers: We invite proposals for three sessions: Session 1. Post-colonial Readings of the Prophets--Papers that explore Israelite prophetic literature using Post-colonial approaches with specific attention to constructions of empire and/or identity (including, resistance, struggle, and/or conformity). Session 2. Relative Efficacy of Divine Punishment and Restraint--Papers that examine representations of the efficacy of divine punishment and divine restraint within prophetic discourse. Of particular interest are papers that examine this theme in light of diverse issues such as: the multivalent presentation of covenant as motivation for salvation and cause for destruction, the distinctiveness (or commonality) of Israel's election, and the operation of divine mercy. Session 3. Open session--Papers on any aspect of the study of Israelite prophecy and prophetic literature.
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Israelite Religion in its Ancient Context
Description: A forum for the study of religion in Israel and Judea within their larger Southwest Asian and East Mediterranean contexts. Aims to bring together a wide variety of questions, perspectives, periods, disciplines, theories, methods, and kinds of data, e.g., verbal text (literary and pragmatic), visual art, artifacts and architecture; philology (broadly), art-history, sociology and anthropology, and history; theology, ritual, gender, and ethnicity. Above all, the forum seeks to facilitate the systematic framing of questions and analysis of religion in theoretical terms, with theoretical scholarship.
Call for papers: For 2008, "Israelite Religion in Its West Asian Environment" seeks papers dealing with the religions of Israel and neighboring lands, as expressed through multiple disciplinary studies. These include textual (including epigraphic) and archaeological studies, gender studies, iconographic and art historical analyses, studies in comparative religions, ethnographic comparanda and more. Attention can be paid to the religion of the home and family, as well as to that of the city and state, and the royal and priestly elites. Abstracts from graduate students must include the name of a faculty adviser.
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Jesus Traditions, Gospels, and Negotiating the Roman Imperial World
Description: The section aims to encourage the exploration of the diverse ways (accommodation; cooption, ambivalence; self-protective protest; challenge; alternative communities and contestive practices; exposure of imperial strategies etc.) in which Jesus traditions and gospels negotiate the Roman imperial world.
Call for papers: This section encourages the exploration of the diverse ways (accommodation; cooption, ambivalence; self-protective protest; challenge; alternative communities and contestive practices; exposure of imperial strategies etc.) in which Jesus traditions and gospels negotiate the Roman imperial world. We welcome papers on any aspect of this topic. We especially invite papers that engage 1) Thomas and Empire, and 2) ways in which covenant traditions impact imperial negotiation in Jesus Traditions and gospels.
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Jewish Christianity / Christian Judaism
Description: The broad aim of this research unit is to clarify the religion, history, and sociology of the ancient groups traditionally called, collectively, “Jewish Christianity,” but increasingly “Christian” or “Jesus-believing Judaism.” The group also seeks to clarify the issues involved in conceptualizing such groups as a distinct category of religion in antiquity.
Call for papers: One theme for the year 2008 is "Opponents and Enemies Within:
'Too-Christian' Jews and 'Too-Jewish' Christians." For this theme, the unit welcomes papers that explore the growing awareness of mutually exclusive Christian and Jewish identities in early Christian and early Jewish/Rabbinic sources by paying special attention to emerging heresiological discourses that seek to identify and expel unacceptable Jewish religiosity within Christian communities and unacceptable Christian religiosity within Jewish communities.
Proposals are also welcome for an open session on any topic related to the goals and general subject of the program unit, and for a session that deals with Jewish Christianity/Christian Judaism and Q, to be organized together with the Q Section.
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Johannine Literature
Description: Our mission is to address issues and concerns having to do with the analysis and interpretation of the Johannine literature--a major component of the Christian Scriptures, encompassing for our purposes the Gospel of John and the three Johannine letters. The section has historically been committed to highlighting new voices and issues in the field.
Call for papers: We invite submission of papers on any topic related to Johannine literature for our open session at the 2008 meeting. For the second session, we plan to continue our 2007 discussion of the interplay between the Johannine literature and the broader Mediterranean milieu. We are calling for proposals that explore how the Johannine literature interacted in the world of antiquity from the first through the sixth centuries. Arenas of interaction might include texts, worship practices, creedal statements, art or material culture.
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John's Apocalypse and Cultural Contexts Ancient and Modern
Description: This section provides an interdisciplinary forum for nontraditional and traditional methods to interact in the exploration of the meaning and significance of the Apocalypse of John and related literature in both their ancient and modern cultural contexts.
Call for papers: The first session will focus on the application of ecological hermeneutics to the apocalyptic traditions in the Scriptures and will be held jointly with the SBL Section, Ecological Hermeneutics. For this session, special attention will be paid to identifying with Earth (including all elements of the Earth community - waters, rivers and so forth), as a character in the end times. Proposals may deal with the Revelation of John or other apocalyptic texts. For the second session, the steering committee welcomes submissions on any topic that is related to the focus of this program unit (nontraditional and traditional methods for exploration of the meaning and significance of the Apocalypse of John and related literature in both their ancient and modern cultural contexts).
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John, Jesus, and History
Description: The John, Jesus, and History Group will highlight issues related to the Johannine tradition and the composition-history of the Fourth Gospel and the Johannine Epistles, with special emphasis on the place of these documents in contemporary study of Christian origins. Dialogue on these issues will be encouraged through the group’s annual meetings and through other venues throughout the year.
Call for papers: The John, Jesus, and History Group will host one open session at the 2008 meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. Proposals should develop glimpses of the historical Jesus through the lens of the Johannine Passion Narrative, including discussion of the arrest, trials (Jewish and Roman), and death of Jesus. Topics of interest to the group that fall outside the scope of these issues may also be considered as long as they deal centrally with some aspect of John, Jesus, and history issues. Papers may reflect a variety of methodological perspectives, including those that compare/contrast John’s account to those in other ancient sources. Preference will be given to proposals that interact directly with questions of John's historicity (either in favor of John's historicity or against John's presentation) arguing critically why one's thesis is tenable. Please include a detailed abstract.
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Josephus
Description: The Josephus Group will support the Brill Josephus Project, which is publishing all of his works with translation and commentary. We shall reach out collaboratively to the SBL community with a wide variety of topics related to the study of Josephus.
Call for papers: 1) Reading Temples in Josephus: we invite papers related to reading the role of the Jerusalem Temple and other temples in the texts of Josephus; 2) Text Transmission, Reception, and Translation of Josephus: we invite papers concerning the textual transmission, reception, and translation of Josephus’s texts. Papers using any methodology or approach are welcome. Also, please see the call for papers under the History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism Section for the topic “Josephus and the Rabbis.” In this joint session we seek presentations that will offer new insight into the connection between Josephus and the rabbis. Papers may deal with any aspect of the topic – literary, historical, religious, cultural, archaeological, etc.
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Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
Description: The JFSR is the oldest interdisciplinary, interreligious feminist academic journal in religious studies. Founded in 1985, it is published twice annually, in the spring and fall. Located at the intersection of feminist theory and studies in religion, it welcomes contributions that explore a diversity of feminist theories, practices, cultures, and religions. Its editors are committed to rigorous thinking and analysis in the service of the transformation of religious studies as a discipline and the feminist transformation of religious and cultural institutions. Website: http://www.fsrinc.org/jfsr/
Call for papers: The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion will be hosting one or two invited scholarly roundtables for the next meeting. One session will likely be on postcolonial feminisms and the Bible and the other on Collaboration in Difference.
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Karl Barth Society of North America
Description: The purpose of the Society shall be to encourage a critical and constructive theology in continuity with the work of Karl Barth by such means as 1) the provision of whatever assistance is possible to the Karl Barth Foundation of Switzerland especially in its purpose "to collect and preserve the entire writings of Karl Barth and literature about him, including letters, and to prepare and publish a complete edition of the writings of Karl Barth"; 2) the establishment on the North American continent of a collection as complete as possible of Karl Barth's writings and works about Karl Barth in order to facilitate research projects; and 3) the organization of various types of conference to explore the resources of Karl Barth's work for theology.
Call for papers: The purpose of the Society shall be to encourage a critical and constructive theology in continuity with the work of Karl Barth by such means as 1) the provision of whatever assistance is possible to the Karl Barth Foundation of Switzerland especially in its purpose "to collect and preserve the entire writings of Karl Barth and literature about him, including letters, and to prepare and publish a complete edition of the writings of Karl Barth"; 2) the establishment on the North American continent of a collection as complete as possible of Karl Barth's writings and works about Karl Barth in order to facilitate research projects; and 3) the organization of various types of conference to explore the resources of Karl Barth's work for theology.
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Korean Biblical Colloquium
Description: The purpose of this organization is to promote Korean scholarship in biblical studies and related fields and to facilitate fellowship and networking among Korean scholars in those fields. Members of KBC include Koreans and others who are engaged in biblical studies and related fields and who are interested in developing Korean perspectives in those fields and sharing their scholarly experiences with fellow Korean scholars.
Call for papers: Open call for papers. The Korean Biblical Colloquium welcomes paper proposals in biblical and its related studies.
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Lament in Sacred Texts and Cultures
Description: This unit engages scholars to bring various methodologies to bear on critical issues of the biblical book of Lamentations and other 'laments' from ancient and contemporary contexts.
Call for papers: Proposals are welcome that bring various methodologies to bear on critical issues of the Book of Lamentations, Lament Psalms, Job and other "laments from ancient and contemporary contexts.
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Latino/a/e and Latin American Biblical Interpretation
Description: The issue of contextualization at the level of reception or interpretation, involving not only location but also perspective, has become paramount in Biblical Studies in recent years. For some time now, a good and growing number of Latino/a American and Latin American biblical scholars have been addressing the problematic of reading the Bible explicitly from their particular placements and optics in society and culture. This proposed Consultation seeks to pursue such work in sustained and systematic fashion by bringing together scholars—Latino/a and Latin American as well as others with an interest in such discussions—from across the spectrum of biblical criticism. Its scope is conceived as broad: first, the biblical texts as such, both testaments; second, readings and readers of these texts in modern and postmodern biblical criticism; lastly, traditions of reading the Bible outside academic criticism. Its approach is also envisioned as wide-ranging: open to a variety of methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives, from the more traditional to the more recent.
Call for papers: The issue of contextualization at the level of reception or interpretation, involving not only location but also perspective, has become paramount in Biblical Studies in recent years. For some time now, a good and growing number of Latino/a American and Latin American biblical scholars have been addressing the problematic of reading the Bible explicitly from their particular placements and optics in society and culture. This proposed Consultation seeks to pursue such work in sustained and systematic fashion by bringing together scholars—Latino/a and Latin American as well as others with an interest in such discussions—from across the spectrum of biblical criticism. Its scope is conceived as broad: first, the biblical texts as such, both testaments; second, readings and readers of these texts in modern and postmodern biblical criticism; lastly, traditions of reading the Bible outside academic criticism. Its approach is also envisioned as wide-ranging: open to a variety of methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives, from the more traditional to the more recent.
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Latter-day Saints and the Bible
Description: This unit examines the interpretation and use of the Bible by Latter-day Saints beginning with Joseph Smith down to the present. Papers draw on tools used in biblical studies and address topics of broad interest to the academy of biblical scholars.
Call for papers: This session will be an open session. Papers are invited on any topics directly pertinent to the Latter-day Saints and the Bible, including the translation or interpretation of passages in the Old or New Testament, the LDS reception of the Bible, or intertextual studies between the Bible and restoration scriptures.
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Letters of James, Peter, and Jude
Description: The Letters of James, Peter, and Jude Section considers research on these letters that contribute to understanding them and their social contexts. It encourages the use of rhetorical, social-scientific, sociorhetorical, ideological, and hermeneutical methods, as well as other cross-disciplinary approaches in addition to the historical-critical method.
Call for papers: This section considers research on the NT letters of James, 1 and 2 Peter, and Jude. The plan for 2008 is to have two sessions: (1) a special session focused on social-scientific perspectives on 1 Peter, and (2) a general sesssion on any research concerning these letters. Both sessions are open to accepting paper proposals. The focused session on social-scientific perspectives on 1 Peter could include research based on any of the social sciences, including sociology, social psychology, social history, economics, anthropology, archaeology, etc. If you have any questions, please contact Robert Webb, chair. In addition, we will have a joint session with the Philo of Alexandria Group that explores ancient theories of psychagogy and notions of perfection of the soul. Papers have been solicited on the topics of Philo's theory of psychagogy, James and the perfection of the soul, psychagogy in Stoicism, and notions of the soul in Second Temple Judaism.
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LGBTI/Queer Hermeneutics
Description: Sexual orientation and kinship continues to be contested in public, ecclesial and academic communities across the globe and Biblical interpretation underpins much that is oppressive in these efforts. This section provides a forum for interrogating issues related to these interpretations and for formulating interpretive methods that emerge from the diversity of LGBTI/Q experience and thought.
Call for papers: This consultation will be offering 2 sessions, one of which is accepting proposals. One session is co-sponsored with the Gender, Sexuality and Body Consultation and welcomes proposals for papers that deal with the theme: "Intersections of sexuality, race, & ethnicity in biblical interpretation." The other session is co-sponsored with the Bible and Cultural Studies Section and offers invited-only papers/panel on the theme: "Intersections of sexuality, gender, & empire in biblical interpretation.
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Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew
Description: The goals of the unit: to provide a forum where scholars can share the
results of their research on different aspects of Biblical Hebrew; advocate
the advantages of linguistic methods for biblical studies; build a platform for
interdisciplinary partnership with other disciplines and units.
Call for papers: The Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew section solicits papers for two sessions. The themed session is open to any paper that analyzes the biblical Hebrew stem system or a subset of stems (binyanim). The other session is a general session open to any paper that applies a well-articulated modern linguistic theory to some aspect of biblical Hebrew.
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Literature and History of the Persian Period
Description: The Literature and History of the Persian Period Group emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to biblical texts and related literature of the 6th-4th centuries BCE by bringing together archaeologists, Assyriologists, classicists, Egyptologists, and sociologists, to name but a few, with biblical scholars specializing in various facets and texts pertinent to this era.
Call for papers: The Literature and History of the Persian Period Group seeks papers for two sessions. The first deals with textual and archaeological problems pertaining to Nehemiah's wall. The second deals with the problems of ethnic self-identity in the Persian period. For both sessions, a mix of invited and submitted proposals will be considered.
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Mapping Memory: Tradition, Texts, and Identity
Description: Memory theory deals with the way communities reconstruct and commemorate their pasts. Its methods bear on critical issues such as orality and literacy, the history of tradition, textual artifacts, ritual, and historical Jesus research. Through a series of invited, open, and joint sessions, the Group will showcase applications of memory theory to new and classic research problems in biblical studies and related fields.
Call for papers: The Mapping Memory Group is planning at least one open session. Paper proposals are welcomed that involve direct application of some aspect of memory theory to research problems in biblical studies, ancient Judaism, or Christian origins. (A second, joint session with invited papers will be held with the Bible in Ancient and Modern Media Group.)
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Masoretic Studies
Description: The purpose for this section is to discuss, research and promote the field of Masoretic Studies among Hebrew Bible Scholars. Masoretic Studies seeks to clarify the translation and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible text through the use of the Masorah, to further our understanding of the history of the Masorah, and to explore related fields (e.g. grammar, Rabbinic Studies).
Call for papers: The International Organization for Masoretic Studies will hold its 21st Congress in conjunction with the SBL meetings in Boston, 2008. A general announcement will be sent to all IOMS members. If other SBL members are interested in receiving the official Call-for-Papers or in further details on the Congress, including the submission of paper proposals, please contact Harold P. Scanlin, Secretary of IOMS, at harold.scanlin@verizon.net.
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Matthew
Description: The Matthew Section sponsors invited and submitted papers, panels, reviews and welcomes submission on any topic related to Matthean scholarship.
Call for papers: The Matthew Section will hold two sessions in 2008. One of these will be an open session for proposals on any Matthean topic. The other will be an invited session on "Reading the Gospel of Matthew within the Global Context." This session will consider the implications of such factors as ethnicity, social or economic status, geographical setting, or political context for reading the Gospel of Matthew. Papers may also address the task of reading the Gospel of Matthew in the face of prominent global issues such as economics, the environment, or human rights. While most papers for this session will be invited, the Matthew Section will also consider any proposals submitted on this theme.
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Meals in the Greco-Roman World
Description: The Greco-Roman banquet, which was a complex and highly influential
Hellenistic institution, will be explored as a lens into Greco-Roman social bonding and
boundaries and as a pivotal consideration in reconstructing the history of
early Christianity and Judaism.
Call for papers: The Greco-Roman banquet, which was a complex and highly influential
Hellenistic institution, will be explored as a lens into Greco-Roman social bonding and
boundaries and as a pivotal consideration in reconstructing the history of
early Christianity and Judaism.
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Midrash
Description: The Midrash Section is a scholarly forum for the comprehensive, interdisciplinary study and analysis of the particular mode of interpreting the Bible developed and utilized by the rabbis of late antiquity.
Call for papers: One Session will be open to any proposal related to midrash research.
One Session will focus upon the translation of midrashic texts; discussing theories, religious and cultural issues as well as translation practice and text-bases.
One session will be co-sponsored by the Bible and Visual Arts Section
and the Midrash Section.
We will accept proposals focusing upon midrash and visual art.
Presenters may analyze the presence of visual art in midrashic
literature (e.g., mosaics, statues, representations) or discuss
midrashic approaches and mediated parallels to Biblical art.
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Mysticism, Esotericism, and Gnosticism in Antiquity
Description: This unit is dedicated to the critical investigation of religious currents of secrecy (esotericism), knowledge (gnosticism), and/or their revelation through religious praxis (mysticism) as they developed during the formative periods of Judaism and Christianity (500 BCE-500 CE). This unit is committed to the examination of texts and artifacts created and used in early Jewish, Christian, Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Persian, and Babylonian contexts. We are open to the application of a wide range of historical, comparative, and critical methodologies, including reception history for those who wish to study the effects of these texts and artifacts in later historical periods.
Call for papers: The Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism group has launched a new multi-year project to determine possible provenances of early mysticism in Judaism and Christianity. We are operating in rough chronological order beginning with the Ancient Near East. We wish to create a forum to discuss how, why, and in what forms mysticism emerges at various times, locations, and communities prior to 500 CE. Papers from the sessions will be collected for inclusion in series of volumes called After Paradise Now: Essays Exploring the Provenances of Mysticism in Early Judaism and Christianity. For 2008, we have a limited number of openings for papers from scholars with expertise in Enochic literature and/or the New Testament, examining forms of mysticism that emerge from these provenances.
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Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism
Description: The Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section provides a forum for current international research on the Coptic codices discovered at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945. Research areas include issues of text, interpretation, social and religio-historical contexts, codicology, and translation.
Call for papers: The Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section seeks proposals for three open sessions on a variety of themes. Those which interest the steering committee include martyrdom, ethics, or papers on specific texts and methodological approaches. This year, we particularly encourage "interdisciplinary" papers that think across the margins of subfields in Early Christianity, including papers that treat subjects within Gnosticism and Neoplatonist thought, or that focus on Nag Nammadi and/or other early Christian apocryphal writings.
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National Association of Professors of Hebrew
Description: The NAPH is an Affiliate of the SBL. For additional information on the NAPH, please contact the program unit chair.
Call for papers: The National Asociation of Professos of Hebrew, 2008 Annual Meeting, is sponsoring five sessions. Session One, Annual Meeting of Officers and Membership.Session Two, Theme:"Angeology in Classical Hebrew Literature." The purpose of this session is to explore the presence and function of angels in classical Hebrew texts. Papers exploring sources such as Bible, Qumran, Targum, and the various genres of Rabbinic and Medieval literature will be considered for possible inclusion.Session Three, "Communicative Language Learning for Biblical Hebrew." Participants in a trial study will report and demonstrate the method. Invited respondents will provide comment and evaluation.Sessions Four and Five, no theme.
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New Testament Mysticism Project
Description: Seminar members plan to collectively write a commentary covering mysticism in the New Testament. The Seminar will progress systematically through each New Testament text, writing overviews of each text as well as commentaries on relevant pericopes. Each entry will include the original language passage, a new translation, a line-by-line commentary, an interpretative history of the pericope through the Ante-Nicene period, literature parallels, and select bibliography. Entries will be discussed at the meetings, revised, and edited by April D. DeConick, Andrei Orlov and Kevin Sullivan into a three-volume commentary called New Testament Mysticism. Volume 1: The Synoptic Gospels, Luke-Acts, Johannine Literature, and the Catholic Epistles. Volume 2: The Pauline and Deutro-Pauline Epistles. Volume 3: Hebrews and Revelation.
Call for papers: The working Seminar sessions for Boston are closed. All commentary entries are invited. We are continuing our work on New Testament Gospel passages. We meet on Friday, before the annual meeting begins.
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New Testament Textual Criticism
Description: The New Testament Textual Criticism Section seeks to foster the study and criticism of the text of the New Testament—including examination of manuscripts and other sources, evaluation of their textual variation, restorations of texts, and the investigation of the history of its transmission—in its cultural and historical contexts. SBL has had a group dedicated to this topic as far back as 1946.
Call for papers: The New Testament Textual Criticism Section invites paper proposals on any aspect of New Testament textual criticism. Especially welcomed are proposals that treat the social history of the textual transmission of New Testament (and related) texts; individual or groups of papyri or manuscripts; the versional witnesses; or a re-evaluation of the text-types or text families.
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Nida Institute
Description: For information please contact: Kent Richards at kent.richards@strategypoints.org.
Call for papers: For Information, please contact:
Steve Berneking
sberneking@americanbible.org.
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North American Association for the Study of Religion
Description: The North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR) was initially formed in 1985 by E. Thomas Lawson, Luther H. Martin, and Donald Wiebe, to encourage the historical, comparative, structural, theoretical, and cognitive approaches to the study of religion among North American scholars; to represent North American scholars of religion at the international level; and to sustain communication between North American scholars and their international colleagues engaged in the study of religion.
Call for papers: The North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR) was initially formed in 1985 by E. Thomas Lawson, Luther H. Martin, and Donald Wiebe, to encourage the historical, comparative, structural, theoretical, and cognitive approaches to the study of religion among North American scholars; to represent North American scholars of religion at the international level; and to sustain communication between North American scholars and their international colleagues engaged in the study of religion.
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Novum Testamentum Graecum: Editio Critica Maior
Description: The unit presents the on-going work on the Editio Critica Maior (ECM), a comprehensive text-critical edition of the Greek New Testament that exhibits the history of the Greek text through its first millennium as documented in manuscripts from the second century until the invention of letterpress printing. It provides scholars engaged in the tasks of exegesis and textual criticism with all the relevant materials found in Greek manuscripts, patristic citations, and early translations. The selection of Greek manuscripts rests on an evaluation of all known primary witnesses, and each of the manuscripts selected is cited completely with all its variants. This opens the way for a new understanding of the history of the text, the more so because all relevant evidence is stored on databases. The primary line of the ECM presents a text based on a careful application of internal and external criteria, streamlined by the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method.
Call for papers: The unit presents the on-going work on the Editio Critica Maior (ECM), a comprehensive text-critical edition of the Greek New Testament that exhibits the history of the Greek text through its first millennium as documented in manuscripts from the second century until the invention of letterpress printing. It provides scholars engaged in the tasks of exegesis and textual criticism with all the relevant materials found in Greek manuscripts, patristic citations, and early translations. The selection of Greek manuscripts rests on an evaluation of all known primary witnesses, and each of the manuscripts selected is cited completely with all its variants. This opens the way for a new understanding of the history of the text, the more so because all relevant evidence is stored on databases. The primary line of the ECM presents a text based on a careful application of internal and external criteria, streamlined by the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method.
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Orality, Textuality, and the Formation of the Hebrew Bible
Description: This section is a context for exploration of how recent research on orality and textuality might inform study of the use and formation of the Hebrew Bible. A focus of this group is dialogue of Biblical studies with research in other disciplines on orality, textuality and their interaction.
Call for papers: We invite papers for the 2008 Annual Meeting on the theme "Toward a more adequate theory of the verbal art." We particularly welcome papers that build on insights of what some have termed "orality-scribality-memory studies," such as: the importance of broader competencies (not just chirographic) of ancient scribes, the roll of scrolls in recitation and memorization in the ancient world, the particular dynamics of literary composition in ancient oral-written cultures, and reflections of oral-written dynamics in the shape and variation in ancient biblical texts.
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Paleographical Studies in the Ancient Near East
Description: This section addresses paleographical problems in ancient Near Eastern epigraphy. It concentrates primarily on the Northwest Semitic alphabetic scripts, but also includes studies of Ugaritic and cuneiform. Participants should connect chronological conclusions of paleography with historical issues within the Bible.
Call for papers: Paper proposals are welcome on any aspect of the study of ancient Near Eastern scripts (i.e., papers focusing primarily on either palaeography or epigraphy). One session is planned for the 2008 meeting.
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Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds
Description: The Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds Group explores how the ancient papyri illumine the world of early Christianity and will appeal to scholars interested in paleographic, linguistic, and textual questions, as well as those who specialize in the social and cultural history of early Christianity.
Call for papers: The Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds Group explores how the ancient papyri illumine the world of early Christianity and will appeal to scholars interested in paleographic, linguistic, and textual questions, as well as those who specialize in the social and cultural history of early Christianity.
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Paul and Politics
Description: The purposes of the Paul and Politics Group are to bring together several currently separate but often overlapping lines of investigation and interpretation of the apostle Paul, his mission, his letters, and his longer-range impact. Those lines of investigation include "Paul and the politics of the churches," "Paul and the politics of Israel," "Paul and the politics of the Roman Empire" and "Paul and politics of Interpretation."
Call for papers: At the 2008 annual meeting, the Paul and Politics Group will hold one session with pre-invited panelists and one open session. The open session is jointly sponsored with the African-American Biblical Hermeneutics Section. For this session we invite papers that explore political implications in Pauline texts that relate in some way to African-American issues and concerns. When submitting a paper for this session, please submit your proposal to both program units. The Paul and Politics Program Unit includes in its scope four overlapping kinds of politics: "Paul and the politics of the churches," "Paul and the politics of Israel," "Paul and the politics of the Roman Empire" and "Paul and the "Paul and politics of Interpretation."
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Paul and Scripture
Description: This seminar will provide a forum for a group of Pauline scholars to examine, debate, and work toward the resolution of a series of questions that have arisen in recent years concerning the way the apostle Paul interpreted and applied the Jewish Scriptures. The Seminar maintains a bibliography of related materials at http://paulandscripture.westmont.edu/wikindx
Call for papers:
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Pauline Epistles
Description: The Pauline Epistles section aims to stimulate critical analysis of the letters of Paul by offering a platform for new research. The section maintains a historical orientation and typically focuses on situating the undisputed Pauline letters in their immediate social, political, religious, and intellectual contexts.
Call for papers: For the 2008 meeting we invite offers of 25-minute papers on any Pauline
subject for three open sessions; the fourth session will be of invited
speakers on the subject of 'Alain Badiou and Pauline theology'
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Pauline Theology
Description: The unit has been set up in order to explore central issues in Pauline theology. No single understanding of "Pauline theology," or of how it is to be delimited from other aspects of Pauline discourse, is assumed at the outset. A complementary goal is the introduction of Pauline textual and theological insights into conversations with other fields, for example, with brain research, ecology, and race.
Call for papers: Two sesssions are being planned for 2008 with invited papers and responses.
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Pentateuch
Description: The Pentateuch Section provides a forum within the SBL for presentation and discussion of research on the Pentateuch, with a particular focus on transmission-historical issues and linkage of that area of inquiry with other more synchronic methodologies.
Call for papers: The Pentateuch Section is accepting paper proposals in all aspects of pentateuchal studies. We are especially interested, however, in papers which explore the literary relationship of the Pentateuch to the Former Prophets and the literary formation of Genesis 1-11. Due to the great interest in our program, we especially encourage proposals from scholars who have not previously participated or have not read a paper in recent years.
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Performance Criticism of the Bible and Other Ancient Texts
Description: This interdisciplinary unit is intended to foster discussion about how the creation and interpretation of biblical and other ancient texts has been shaped by their oral transmission and aural reception by ancient communities, using the methods associated with performance criticism.
Call for papers: This consultation is interdisciplinary, accepting papers from scholars from biblical studies, classics, and theatre arts who are interested in employing the methods of performance criticism to determine how ancient texts may have been shaped by their authors’ awareness that the texts would be performed for an audience. There will also be one book review panel session.
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Philo of Alexandria
Description: Philo’s works are invaluable sources about not only his own thought and exegesis but also such related fields as Judaica, philosophy, history, Classics, New Testament, and early Christianity. This Seminar focuses on these topics and on commentaries-in-preparation on Philonic treatises.
Call for papers: We invite proposals for one open session on any aspect of the writings of Philo of Alexandria. In addition, the Philo of Alexandria Group will host one session of invited papers on the theme 'Interpreting Philo's De Vita Contemplativa'.
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Poster Session
Description: By emphasizing dialogue, posters provide an effective vehicle for exchanging information and ideas with other scholars and for making some of the latest research available to a wider audience within the SBL.
Call for papers: By emphasizing dialogue, posters provide an effective vehicle for exchanging information and ideas with other scholars and for making some of the latest research available to a wider audience within the SBL.
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Prophetic Texts and Their Ancient Contexts
Description: The objectives of this group are: (1) to foster as much discussion as possible among participants in the sessions without limiting the number of participants; (2) to involve a wide variety of viewpoints from the international academy interested in "prophetic texts and their ancient contexts"; and (3) to encourage creativity and diversity among those interested in this field by inviting proposals for papers within the described parameters.
Call for papers: We invite papers that study the prophetic texts in a way informed by their ancient contexts. The theme of the 2008 session is "Constructions of Prophecy in the Former Prophets.”
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Pseudepigrapha
Description: The goals of this section include: to provide a forum for scholarly discussion of Jewish and Christian pseudepigrapha; to encourage the broader study of pseudepigrapha for its relevance in understanding early Judaism and Christianity; to facilitate both cross-disciplinary interaction and further integration of the study of pseudepigrapha within biblical studies.
Call for papers: The Pseudepigrapha Section will hold four sessions. One session will be open with papers proposals welcome. Papers ought not necessarily to be limited to texts traditionally identified as Old Testament Pseudigrapha but may include other texts(literary, epigraphical, artistic, etc.) from Judaism during the Second Temple period, such as the Apocrypha of the Jewish Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, Josephus, etc. Paper proposals should argue a clear thesis and give a concrete sense of the texts that will be subject to analysis. Discussion of method will also be welcome.
A second session to be conducted jointly with the Religious Experience group will in part be by invitation. The session also invites paper proposals on the topics of spirit/s, possession, tongues, dreams, prayer, and other dimensions of performative ritual experience. Papers that connect findings from the pseudepigrapha with other early texts (NT, Qumran literature, Philo, Gnostic gospels, etc.) are highly desired. Paper proposals should include the argument of the proposed paper with texts used to corroborate.
A third session will be closed, with invited participants on the general subject of problematizing the category 'pseudepigrapha'.
A fourth session will be joined with the Qumran group.
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Psychology and Biblical Studies
Description: The objectives of the Psychology and Biblical Studies Seminar are (i) to provide a forum for developing the future agenda of "psychological criticism" within Biblical Studies; (ii) to assess the significance of these approaches for ongoing Biblical research, exegesis, and interpretation, and (iii) from time to time to to present an historical-critical overview of "psychological" approaches to scripture. As always, we request that reference to the biblical languages be included where relevant.
Call for papers: We invite paper proposals on the theme Psychology meets Jesus: Insights, Challenges, and Dangers. Papers might propose psychological approaches to understanding Jesus, critique previous psychological interpretations of Jesus, or examine how contemporary readers relate to Jesus.
There will be an invited panel session on Wayne Rollins and D. Andrew Kille, Psychological Insight Into the Bible, (Eerdmans, 2007).
We also invite any proposals for papers that address Biblical texts, themes, figures and/or readers using the concepts and interpretive tools of any field of psychology.
Contact Chair D. Andrew Kille at psybibs@att.net or the Psychology and Biblical Studies website at www.psybibs.org for more information.
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Q
Description: The Q Section offers a forum for research on the “Sayings Gospel” Q. Since Q provides access to earliest Jesus tradition and to the theology and social history of Jewish Christianity, the Q Section integrates a broad variety of issues and methods. The Q Section website is http://neues-testament.uni-graz.at/de/forschen/internationales-q-projekt/sbl-q-section.
Call for papers: For the 2008 meeting the Q section will organise three sessions: 1. Q, the Synoptic Problem and Compositional Issues. The session is the third in a series discussing issues related to the use of documentary sources in the composition of the gospels.
2. Open session accepting proposals related to Q studies in general.
3. A joint session with the Jewish Christianity/Christian Judaism section looking at the nature of the potential relationship between Q and the community that may be behind that text and the phenomenon that has been termed Jewish Christianity.
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Qumran
Description: The Qumran Section of the SBL provides an equal-opportunity forum for presentation and discussion of views relating to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Qumran settlement, and the people of that place and of those documents. The Qumran Section has three goals: (1) It provides a forum for scholarly discussion of any aspect of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the material culture of Qumran, and the history, literature, and worldviews of the people associated with them. (2) It encourages new discussions and new approaches in the field of Dead Sea Scrolls studies. (3) It strives for integrating the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls with other fields of biblical and related studies.
Call for papers: The Qumran section invites papers for a co-sponsored session on the social history of scribal practice, with an emphasis on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Papers are welcome on wide-ranging topics, including the material evidence of the scrolls; the economics and technology of manuscript production; scribal practice and gender; literacy; and the social status of scribes. Some papers for this session will be invited in advance. We also invite papers for an open session on the texts, thought, history, and material culture of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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Qur'an and Biblical Literature
Description: Recent scholarship recognizes the need for dialogue and cooperation in understanding the relationship of the Bible and biblical literature to the Qur'an and Muslim exegesis. The aim of this unit is to encourage scholars to consider the importance of the Qur'an and Muslim exegesis for understanding the Bible and its interpretation, and vice-versa.
Call for papers: Recent scholarship recognizes the need for dialogue and cooperation in understanding the relationship of the Bible and biblical literature to the Quran and Muslim exegesis. The aim of this unit is to encourage scholars to consider the importance of the Quran and Muslim exegesis for understanding the Bible and its interpretation, and vice-versa. For 2008, this section welcomes both individual proposals, and/or panel submissions organized around a single theme. Suggested topics and themes for 2008 may include, but will not be limited to, apocalyptic drama, life after death, sectarian polemics, the body, uses of scripture, notions of canon, the Muslim Bible, and "A Common Word."
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Reading, Theory, and the Bible
Description: The Reading, Theory, and the Bible Section provides a forum to encourage innovative and experimental approaches to biblical studies, to facilitate critical reflection on the role of theory in reading, and to support biblical scholarship informed by cross-disciplinary conversation.
Call for papers: Reading, Theory and the Bible plans to sponsor two sessions for the 2008 Annual Meeting. For one session, which will include some invited participants, proposals are welcome for papers that bring biblical scholarship into dialogue with theoretical reflections on imagined geographies, cartography, place and/or space. A second session is open and proposals are welcome for papers that engage contemporary theory for purposes of biblical interpretation. Reading, Theory and the Bible sponsors innovative, experimental work on Bible (Bible being interpreted in the broadest sense to include all commentaries and intertexts). We exist to accommodate work that pushes the boundaries of scholarship, and we work on the assumption that questions of provenance, philology, and history are amply accomodated by other groups in the SBL. We also encourage innovative presentation.
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Recovering Female Interpreters of the Bible
Description: This unit focuses on the recovery of work by female biblical interpreters before the twentieth century who wrote from various faith and ideological standpoints. These female interpreters will be considered in their cultural and historical contexts, with the intention of analyzing their neglected contributions to the study of biblical literature.
Call for papers: For one session, paper proposals are welcome on women writers who interpreted texts that deal with issues of gender in the Pauline texts. For the second session, paper proposals should deal with women writers that interpreted "texts of terror" from the Hebrew Bible (e.g. Gen 21).
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Redescribing Christian Origins
Description: The Seminar contributes to the study of Christian origins by problematizing current consensus
views, unexamined assumptions, and categories. It recontextualizes and redescribes key data
through comparative analysis. It accounts for (i.e., explains) the production and continued
function of cultural artefacts (mainly texts but not entirely) in terms of social theory.
Call for papers: The Redescribing Early Christianity Group will continue the bifocal approach of analyzing primary texts and examining competing scholarly theories of explanation and interpretation begun at the 2007 Annual Meeting under the rubric: “The Second Century’s Invention of the First.” Thus we solicit studies that will explore ways in which first-century texts, ideas, and movements were appropriated, reinterpreted, or reimagined in second-century Christianity. We are particularly interested in proposals that will explore the “genealogical phenomenon,” that is, the tendency among various second-century sources to collect and enshrine earlier figures as predecessors for their own formations. This notion encompasses efforts during this period to construct lineages among Jews (e.g. Mishnah), Christians (e.g. notions of apostolic origins), and others (e.g. collections of philosophical lives).
Papers accepted on this topic will join those already announced as part of the Group’s initial two-year schedule: Todd Penner on “Redescribing Early Christian Redescription: Methods, Taxonomies, and Modernity”; Christine Thomas on “The Beginnings of Christian Historiography and Identity Formation in the Second Century”; Emma Wasserman with a critique of the way scholars employ the terminology of “perspectives” or “worldviews,” along with suggested alternative conceptions that do not treat groups or cultures in a monolithic fashion; and Steve Wilson on “Marcion’s Redescription of Apostolic Christianity.”
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Religious Experience in Antiquity
Description: This section investigates the experiential elements of religions from the ancient near east to late antiquity, with a particular interest in examining (1) the relationship between texts and experience, (2) religious practices in the context of ritual, prayer, ecstasy, dreams and visions, 3) the role of embodied experiences (cognitive, neurological, and sensory) in the generation of religious ideas and commitment.
Call for papers: The Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Early Christianity Section invites papers on ancient articulations of religious experience, broadly defined. All related topics are welcome, but this year, we are particularly interested in papers focusing on methodological issues involved in defining and exploring religious experience, and/or in papers that use a clear and innovative methodology. Also favored are the following topics: expressions of religious experience within communities, experiential aspects of dreams or visions, and religious experience at Qumran.
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Religious World of Late Antiquity
Description: A forum for scholars working comparatively and thematically in the period and regions in which Christianity, Judaism, Manichaeism, and Islam formed within a rich environment of other religious traditions, where norms of authority, belief, practice, and identity were contested and settled.
Call for papers: We are organizing two sessions for 2008. The first, BLOOD-FLOWS in Opposition and Convergence, is inspired by recent work by C. Bynum, D. Biale, and J. Branham, and looks at blood both symbolic and real, both menstrual and sacrificial, both salvific and dolorous, both martyrs' and criminals' – how is it placed, directed, excluded, and signified in ritual and text? The second, FALSE TEXTS, takes a comparative look comparatively at the various ways pseudepigraphy and deceptive “framing” were brought into use in late antique religions.
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Rethinking the Concept and Categories of 'Bible' in Antiquity
Description: This section is devoted to critical scrutiny of terminology and categories used in biblical studies for texts, such as ‘Bible,’ ‘rewritten Bible,’ ‘and canonical.’ We encourage (1) historical and ideological explorations into how texts were thought of in Israelite, Second Temple, and Early Christian periods, and (2) proposals for improving current conceptions and nomenclature.
Call for papers: For the 2008 meeting we encourage papers that (1) deal with ancient Jewish authors' or communities' views of earlier Jewish literature, such as issues of its status, function, categorization, and authority. (2) We also encourage proposals for improving the nomenclature of our discipline in light of the ancient realities.
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Rhetoric and Early Christianity
Description: This section has historically explored the continuously-evolving field of
rhetorical criticism of the New Testament in all its diversity. Marking a slight
shift in focus, 'Rhetoric and Early Christianity' will extend RNT's refined
critical lens to address a broader spectrum of source material.
Call for papers: This year the Rhetoric and New Testament Section is pleased to sponsor three sessions. For our General Session, we invite papers that will showcase either the use of rhetorical criticism to interpret a New Testament (or related) text or broader issues pertaining to rhetorical criticism and the interpretation of the New Testament (and related literature). A second session will host invited papers on the rhetoric of Stephen's speech in Acts 7. A third session, co-sponsored with the Biblical Law Group, will host invited papers on the rhetoric of Biblical Law passages used in the New Testament.
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Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity
Description: The Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Seminar provides a forum for collegial work on the Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Commentary Series, and for the public exploration of facets of sociorhetorical interpretation that promise to contribute to the work of biblical scholars not directly associated with the project.
Call for papers: The Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Seminar will offer three sessions. The first two will be prearranged seminars, one exploring the ways in which critical spatiality theory informs the practice of sociorhetorical interpretation, and a second reviewing the forthcoming book by L. G. Bloomquist, _Understanding Texts_. The third session will focus on the exploration of texts from the Hebrew Bible using socio-rhetorical interpretation. Potential presenters should indicate in a proposal what aspects of socio-rhetorical interpretation they intend to utilize, and what they expect the fruitfulness of this exploration to be.
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Ritual in the Biblical World
Description: The Ritual in the Biblical World Section focuses on the nature, meaning and function of ritual found in textual sources (HB, NT, non-canonical) in the larger context of the material culture of the ancient world, employing insights and methods of the field of ritual theory and enthnography.
Call for papers: The consultation plans to have two sessions, one dealing with the
interaction of ritual and ritual theory in images, and the other an open
session. Since the field of iconography has matured over the past decades
in terms of methodology and resources it is time to tap this rich source
of information about ancient perspectives on all aspects of life for a
systematic study of rituals. We encourage discussion of particular
regions and cultures of the biblical world through their iconography, as well
as more focused methodological studies dealing with the larger issue of
ritual theory and images. We also invite contributions about ritual in
the biblical world more generally for our open session.
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Romans through History and Cultures
Description: Reception of Romans throughout the history of the church and today, in the East and the West, in the "first" and in the "two-thirds" world, by religious and secular readers. Special attention to the interface of these diverse readings and of contemporary critical interpretations.
Call for papers: The sessions of 2008 will focus on the reading of Romans by the Greek Fathers and in the tradition of the eastern and oriental orthodox christianity. We invite papers which deal with Romans as a whole or particular passages or chapters of the letter in light of these traditions.
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Sabbath in Text and Tradition
Description: This unit brings together scholars of biblical and post-biblical texts and traditions for sustained, cross-disciplinary conversation about the Sabbath’s origins, development and meaning; provides constructive venues for papers, reviews, presentations, critique and feedback; and promotes collaboration in producing publications on the Sabbath.
Call for papers: This unit brings together scholars of biblical and post-biblical texts and traditions for sustained, cross-disciplinary conversation about the Sabbath’s origins, development and meaning; provides constructive venues for papers, reviews, presentations, critique and feedback; and promotes collaboration in producing publications on the Sabbath.
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Sacrifice, Cult, and Atonement
Description: The Sacrifice, Cult, and Atonement section is a forum for studying the practices, interpretations and reception history of sacrifice and cult in the Hebrew Bible, Ancient Judaism, Christianity, and their larger cultural contexts (ANE, Greco-Roman religion). Methodological perspectives include – but are not limited to – historical criticism, tradition history, comparative and literary approaches, ritual theory, and sociological analysis.
Call for papers: At the 2008 Annual SBL Conference the Sacrifice, Cult, and Atonement consultation will offer two sessions. The first is entitled: "Sacrificial Rituals, Concepts, and Metaphors," and the second: "Sacrificial Concepts in Early Christianity." Four papers will be presented in each session followed by a five-minute discussion each; a general discussion panel is to conclude each session.
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SBL Forum
Description: *
Call for papers: *
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Scripture as Artifact
Description: Scriptures are not simply texts: their artifactual qualities, most obvious in ritual contexts, permeate
the more “mundane” reading, handling, and storage of scripture. The role of scripture as artifact
might even considerably influence what people think of scripture as text. This consultation provides
a forum in which scholars can compare uses of scripture as artifact and text in various religious traditions
for the purpose of working out an empirically based theory of the social and psychological
processes underlying scriptural practice.
Call for papers: Theme: Conceptual bleeding between artifactual and semantic properties. Not only are scriptures often regarded as having two sets of properties--one related to them as physical artifacts and the other related to them as meaningful texts--but sometimes those properties are crossed, such that material aspects of the text are regarded as meaningful, and the semantic properties of the text are regarded as physical. In this session we are particularly interested in papers that describe instances of such cross-over. Both case studies and theoretical papers are welcome.
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Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity
Description: The purpose of the Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity Section is to provide a context in which new scholarship on intertextuality and early biblical interpretation can be presented and critically evaluated. Specifically, the section is devoted to examining how the Hebrew Bible was used and interpreted in the literature of early Judaism (including rabbinic literature) and early Christianity (to ca. 400 CE) and to considering methodological issues associated with this task.
Call for papers: The purpose of the Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity Section is to provide a context in which new scholarship on intertextuality and early biblical interpretation can be presented and critically evaluated. Specifically, the section is devoted to examining how the Hebrew Bible was used and interpreted in the literature of early Judaism (including rabbinic literature) and early Christianity (to ca. 400 CE) and to considering methodological issues associated with this task.
The Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity Section welcomes proposals in 2008 for one session on early Jewish and Christian interpretations of scriptural passages depicting violence and cruelty. Proposals for papers on other topics will also be considered for a more general session.
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Second Corinthians: Pauline Theology in the Making
Description: Existing Pauline Theologies are either based on the ripe fruit of Paul’s theologizing in Romans (e.g., J. Dunn) or give a synthesis of theological themes across the board of Paul’s letters. The focus of this Seminar is how Paul develops his theology in his second letter to the Corinthians. We shall trace aspects of his theology on a trajectory from their very beginning in concrete historical situations and compare them to their reuse in more abstract contexts. Attention will also be given to their potential pre-Christian or early Christian pre-history and their post-history in what has been called the Pauline school. The main focus will be on the way concrete historical circumstances shaped the genesis of certain theological themes and how they changed when new circumstances arose or when the link to concrete circumstances got lost. Each theological theme will therefore primarily be studied in its epistolary context of 2 Corinthians and in light of the historical situation in which it was developed. The comparison with other letters is not intended to create one unified Pauline theology, but rather, in the contrast with other instances, to understand better the specifics of the theme under study.
Call for papers: Existing Pauline Theologies are either based on the ripe fruit of Paul’s theologizing in Romans (e.g., J. Dunn) or give a synthesis of theological themes across the board of Paul’s letters. The focus of this Seminar is how Paul develops his theology in his second letter to the Corinthians. We shall trace aspects of his theology on a trajectory from their very beginning in concrete historical situations and compare them to their reuse in more abstract contexts. Attention will also be given to their potential pre-Christian or early Christian pre-history and their post-history in what has been called the Pauline school. The main focus will be on the way concrete historical circumstances shaped the genesis of certain theological themes and how they changed when new circumstances arose or when the link to concrete circumstances got lost. Each theological theme will therefore primarily be studied in its epistolary context of 2 Corinthians and in light of the historical situation in which it was developed. The comparison with other letters is not intended to create one unified Pauline theology, but rather, in the contrast with other instances, to understand better the specifics of the theme under study.
In 2008 we welcome paper proposals for a session on the theology of 2 Corinthians in general and a session on “Reconciliation, Atonement and Not Counting Trespasses in 2 Corinthians.”
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Semiotics and Exegesis
Description: This section offers a forum (1) for exploring the nature and significance of semiotic theories for the reading and interpretation of biblical texts (Hebrew and Christian scriptures) and (2) for examining the ways various methods dependent upon such theories of meaning production and communication contribute, in conjunction with other critical approaches, to the critical conversation about biblical hermeneutics, textual interpretation and contextual understanding.
Call for papers: This section offers a forum (1) for exploring the nature and significance of semiotic theories for the reading and interpretation of biblical texts (Hebrew and Christian scriptures) and (2) for examining the ways various methods dependent upon such theories of meaning production and communication contribute, in conjunction with other critical approaches, to the critical conversation about biblical hermeneutics, textual interpretation and contextual understanding.
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Service-Learning and Biblical Studies
Description: This workshop will focus on ways service-learning can be incorporated into a biblical studies curriculum. This workshop will provide 1) an arena for service-learning practitioners to come together to share ideas and insights of successful projects and 2) to “brainstorm” new ways that service-learning can be utilized to enhance curriculum and serve local communities.
Call for papers: This workshop will focus on ways service-learning can be incorporated into a biblical studies curriculum. This workshop will provide 1) an arena for service-learning practitioners to come together to share ideas and insights of successful projects and 2) to “brainstorm” new ways that service-learning can be utilized to enhance curriculum and serve local communities.
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Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism
Description: This section is dedicated to a study of formative Christianity and formative Judaism utilizing a broad methodological perspective that places an emphasis on interpreting the data within specific social, cultural, and linguistic contexts. We function as a clearinghouse for developments in social historical methodology and perspectives for our period. (previously Social History of Early Christianity)
Call for papers: The Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism Section invites papers for three sessions: (1) A session devoted to ancient trash and concepts of waste: What can ancient garbage and trash heaps; refuse practices; and ideas about the disposability of objects, lives, souls, and the like tell us about the social history of early Judaism and early Christianity? To what extent can we draw conclusions about gender, class, demographics, economics, and ancient proclivities on the basis of what gets cast off and thrown away? What meaning might be recycled from the contents and contexts of ancient trash? (2) A co-sponsored session devoted to the social history of scribal practice, with an emphasis on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Papers are welcome on wide-ranging topics, including the material evidence of the scrolls; the economics and technology of manuscript production; scribal practice and gender; literacy; and the social status of scribes. Some papers for this session will be invited in advance. (3) An open call for papers on any topic of pertinence to the social history of formative Christianity and/or Judaism.
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Social Sciences and the Interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures
Description: This quintessentially interdisciplinary unit combines the skills that are unique to classic biblical scholarship with exciting and vibrant conversations and developments from disciplines in the social sciences, including anthropology, sociology, psychology, and political science.
Call for papers: The section particularly encourages papers utilizing methods and theories from the social sciences for the interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures. For one session, the section encourages papers that apply a social-scientific theory or method to the interpretation of the rise of David (1 Samuel 16 - 2 Samuel 5).
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Social Scientific Criticism of the New Testament
Description: The Social Scientific Criticism of the New Testament Section program encourages the self-conscious employment of recognized models, methods, or theories of the social sciences in order to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the texts and social world of the New Testament.
Call for papers: The Social Scientific Criticism of the New Testament Section program encourages the self-conscious employment of recognized models, methods, or theories of the social sciences in order to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the texts and social world of the New Testament. One session, consisting of invited papers and responses, will be devoted to reexamining the honor/shame interpretive model. The other session is open and invites papers that examine the texts and social world of the New Testament and early Christianity from a social-scientific perspective.
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Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions
Description: This new group is devoted to the study of the religions of the ancient Mediterranean basin broadly conceived. The Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions aims to focus particular attention on the polytheistic religious traditions of Greece, Rome and the Near East, their interaction with each other, and with the monotheistic religious traditions of the region. Please visit out website (www.samreligions.org) for further information.
Call for papers: This new group is devoted to the study of the religions of the ancient Mediterranean basin broadly conceived. The Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions aims to focus particular attention on the polytheistic religious traditions of Greece, Rome and the Near East, their interaction with each other, and with the monotheistic religious traditions of the region. Please visit out website (www.samreligions.org) for further information.
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Society for Pentecostal Studies
Description: The Society for Pentecostal Studies began in 1970 and is an organization of scholars dedicated to providing a forum of discussion for all academic disciplines as a spiritual service to the kingdom of God. The purpose of the society is to stimulate, encourage, recognize, and publicize the work of Pentecostal and charismatic scholars; to study the implications of Pentecostal theology in relation to other academic disciplines, seeking a Pentecostal world-and-life view; and to support fully, to the extent appropriate for an academic society, the statement of purposes of the World Pentecostal Fellowship. http://www.sps-usa.org/
Call for papers: The Society for Pentecostal Studies began in 1970 and is an organization of scholars dedicated to providing a forum of discussion for all academic disciplines as a spiritual service to the kingdom of God. The purpose of the society is to stimulate, encourage, recognize, and publicize the work of Pentecostal and charismatic scholars; to study the implications of Pentecostal theology in relation to other academic disciplines, seeking a Pentecostal world-and-life view; and to support fully, to the extent appropriate for an academic society, the statement of purposes of the World Pentecostal Fellowship. http://www.sps-usa.org/
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Society for the Arts in Religious and Theological Studies (SARTS)
Description: The Society was organized to provide a forum for scholars and artists interested in the intersections between theology, religion, and the arts, to share thoughts, challenge ideas, strategize approaches in the classroom, and to advance the discipline in theological and religious studies curricula. The goal of the Society is to attract consistent participation of a core group of artists and scholars of theology and religion in order to have dialogue about the theological and religious meaning of the arts, and the artistic/aesthetic dimension of theological and religious inquiry.
Call for papers: The Society was organized to provide a forum for scholars and artists interested in the intersections between theology, religion, and the arts, to share thoughts, challenge ideas, strategize approaches in the classroom, and to advance the discipline in theological and religious studies curricula. The goal of the Society is to attract consistent participation of a core group of artists and scholars of theology and religion in order to have dialogue about the theological and religious meaning of the arts, and the artistic/aesthetic dimension of theological and religious inquiry.
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Søren Kierkegaard Society
Description: The purpose of Søren Kierkegaard Society (SKS) is to encourage study and discussion of the thought of Søren Kierkegaard in all its dimensions and ramifications, including its sources and influences. Affiliated with the American Academy of Religion (AAR), Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), and the American Philosophical Association (APA), the Society alternates its annual business meeting between AAR/SBL and APA conventions. The Society encourages scholarship on Kierkegaard at the national and regional meetings of the AAR/SBL and APA through an Executive Committee which includes members of both organizations.
Call for papers: The purpose of Søren Kierkegaard Society (SKS) is to encourage study and discussion of the thought of Søren Kierkegaard in all its dimensions and ramifications, including its sources and influences. Affiliated with the American Academy of Religion (AAR), Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), and the American Philosophical Association (APA), the Society alternates its annual business meeting between AAR/SBL and APA conventions. The Society encourages scholarship on Kierkegaard at the national and regional meetings of the AAR/SBL and APA through an Executive Committee which includes members of both organizations.
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Space, Place, and Lived Experience in Antiquity
Description: This unit seeks to engage diverse methodological and theoretical perspectives on social practices in antiquity as mediated through place or larger spatial frameworks. Presentations exploring the creation, use, or understanding of space or place through material remains and/or texts are welcome.
Call for papers: We invite papers for either of two sessions in 2008. One session is being planned around the topic of spatial practices in the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament, for example, the ways in which people actually moved through space. The other session is an open session, for which all proposals on the themes of this unit are welcome.
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Synoptic Gospels
Description: The Synoptic Gospels as a unit plays an important role in modern scholarship, including, but not limited to, generating debate about the relationships among the gospels. This section provides a forum for the discussion of papers from a variety of theoretical perspectives and critical methods on the content and formation of the Synoptic Gospels and what they reveal about the contexts of their composition.
Call for papers: The Synoptic Gospels Section will include four sessions, three of which are open to proposals. Two sessions are open to proposals pertaining to all topics related to the Synoptic Gospels and Synoptic studies. Two sessions include invited papers: a session devoted to "The Secret Gospel of Mark after Fifty Years," and a session devoted to "Teaching Synoptic Studies." The "Teaching Synoptic Studies" session is open to proposals regarding how one deals with the Synoptic Problem in a pedagogical context and to what ends.
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Teaching Biblical Studies in an Undergraduate Liberal Arts Context
Description: This unit addresses the unique opportunities and challenges of teaching
biblical studies in undergraduate liberal arts institutions. Sessions promote
the sharing and evaluation of pedagogical objectives, strategies, and
assessment tools, cultivate professional networks, and lead to published
results.
Call for papers: We invite paper proposals dealing with topics on the opportunities and challenges of teaching biblical studies in the Liberal Arts context.
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Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible
Description: The Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible section concerns itself with the origin and nature of all forms of the biblical text. The discipline involves the comparison of data from the various witnesses to the biblical text (Masoretic text, Septuagint, Dead Sea Scrolls, etc.), and the evaluation of that data.
Call for papers: The section solicits papers on all aspects of textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible for one (or two) open session(s). We will focus one further session on a session devoted to "Ethiopic biblical manuscripts presently in North America and their relevance for textual criticism." Most of the papers in this session will be invited, but persons with special interest or knowledge in this area are invited to propose a paper.
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Textual Criticism of the Historical Books
Description: This unit aims at enhancing cooperation and exchange of ideas between scholars working on the text of Samuel and Kings in various languages. (At the present, there is activity in editorial projects on critical editions of the Septuagint text, various projects on the daughter versions of the Septuagint, and projects around the Hebrew text aiming at commentaries,text-editions, or monographs on text-history.) Such cooperation is necessary, due to the very complicated nature of the textual history of these books, and promises good results, as it is the advantage of all parties to be informed of the progress of work by their colleagues.
Call for papers: "Cruces Interpretum - Keys to New Solutions" is the theme for the workshop sessions in Boston. Coping with problems of textual criticism often helps you advance the most. Of course, there are cruces interpretum that do not yield to you. But you can also make the observation that difficult cases often turn to function as keys to new solutions. The workshop will include papers on such texts - or potential key texts - concerning the text of Samuel and Kings in the various languages. There will be room for a few papers in addition to the invited ones.
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The Bible in Ancient (and Modern) Media
Description: The Bible in Ancient (and Modern) Media Section provides opportunities to analyze the relationship between the original media world of Jewish and Christian communities and the functions and interpretations of biblical (and related) texts. Approaches using modern media must emphasize how the approach significantly influences the understanding of biblical literature in its ancient context.
Call for papers: Stories are re-told, re-shaped. New versions are created, sometimes because of cultural and political changes, and sometimes simply through the activity of what John D. Niles calls “strong tradition bearers,” those tradents who also transform the tradition as they pass it along. For this session, we invite papers that explore the ways that biblical traditions are preserved through adaptation.
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Theological Interpretation of Scripture
Description: This seminar explores the hermeneutical innovations and theological implications that ensue when critical biblical interpretation is conducted within diverse confessional communities, especially, but not only, those of the Christian tradition. It is this complex exploration itself that amounts to what may be called theological interpretation, an approach to biblical interpretation that gives particular attention to (1) the relationship between theological and other approaches to biblical studies, including historical criticism; (2) the significance and the challenges of expanding the contexts of biblical interpretation to include canon, creed, community, and constructive theology; (3) the relationship between biblical studies and systematic theology, practical theology, and philosophical theology; (4) the impact of theological convictions and religious practices (both traditional and contemporary) on biblical interpretation, and of theological interpretation on religious and academic communities; and (5) the actual theological interpretation of biblical texts. (Formerly Theological Hermeneutics of Christian Scripture)
Call for papers: For 2008, the Group has planned two sessions: (1) What Can We Learn about Theological Interpretation from Premodern Exegetes? and (2) Theological Interpretation of the Bible: A Critical Assessment of Contemporary Practices. Papers for these two sessions have already been solicited. Persons interested in announcements regarding the work of the Group, or with ideas for future sessions should contact the program unit chair, Joel Green (jbgreen@fuller.edu).
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Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures
Description: The purpose of the Theology of Hebrew Scriptures section is to promote sustained reflection, dialogue, and research on the various theological ideas, themes, and motifs that are found throughout the Hebrew Bible. It seeks to facilitate Jewish-Christian dialogue, creating a venue where Jewish and Christian interpreters can reflect together on a theological interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Call for papers: The Theology of Hebrew Scriptures section will be running three sessions in 2008. We invite papers to an open session of Theology of Hebrew Scriptures. This session will give participants the opportunity to share new work of a distinctively theological nature on the Hebrew Scriptures.
The second session will be the first of a 3 year series of conversations between Christian and Jewish biblical theologians on a pre-set selection of theological themes and topics. In 2008 we will have an invited panel that will help us consider how our respective communities understand the nature of covenant. Participants for this session are by invitation only. A third session will be an open session for which submissions exploring biblical theology (broadly defined) as it relates to disability, healthcare, and the body are encouraged. This session will be co-sponsored with the Disability Studies and Healthcare in the Bible and Near East section.
Questions about these sessions should be addressed to either Juliana Claassens or Esther Hamori.
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Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship
Description: “This distinctively Christian research organization is devoted to the exploration, development, and dissemination of the theology of T. F. Torrance and other theologians contributing to this endeavor. The society exists to promote and sustain fellowship and truth-seeking (fides quaerens intellectum) in theological reflection upon the Christian faith, within the mainstream of the Christian Church and tradition in light of the theological legacy of Thomas F. Torrance. We are a Christian Fellowship serving the Christian faith and the renewal of the Church of Jesus Christ. Membership is open to all scholars, pastors and laypersons who are interested in research in Christian theology and related disciplines, and are in accord with the above mentioned mission statement. We support free inquiry and critical examination of the many facets of theology and religion especially as these relate to issues that concerned Torrance himself such as the relationship between science and religion, how to interpret specific Christian doctrines and their implications for today and how biblical theology relates with and informs doctrinal theology. We seek to bring T. F. Torrance’s important thinking into conversation with other significant theologians in an academic way so as to advance a better understanding of the nature of and meaning of contemporary Christian theology. Our website, www.tftorrance.org, contains information about membership, meetings, the Board of Directors and about T. F. Torrance himself. Please check our website for the most up-to-date information about our scheduled meetings.”
Call for papers: “This distinctively Christian research organization is devoted to the exploration, development, and dissemination of the theology of T. F. Torrance and other theologians contributing to this endeavor. The society exists to promote and sustain fellowship and truth-seeking (fides quaerens intellectum) in theological reflection upon the Christian faith, within the mainstream of the Christian Church and tradition in light of the theological legacy of Thomas F. Torrance. We are a Christian Fellowship serving the Christian faith and the renewal of the Church of Jesus Christ. Membership is open to all scholars, pastors and laypersons who are interested in research in Christian theology and related disciplines, and are in accord with the above mentioned mission statement. We support free inquiry and critical examination of the many facets of theology and religion especially as these relate to issues that concerned Torrance himself such as the relationship between science and religion, how to interpret specific Christian doctrines and their implications for today and how biblical theology relates with and informs doctrinal theology. We seek to bring T. F. Torrance’s important thinking into conversation with other significant theologians in an academic way so as to advance a better understanding of the nature of and meaning of contemporary Christian theology. Our website, www.tftorrance.org, contains information about membership, meetings, the Board of Directors and about T. F. Torrance himself. Please check our website for the most up-to-date information about our scheduled meetings.”
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Transmission of Traditions in the Second Temple Period
Description: The unit will concentrate on the transmission of traditions particularly in the Second Temple period. It will focus on both transmission processes themselves and the practical mechanics employed in such processes. While literary evidence is central to this investigation, physical manuscripts, other material artefacts, iconography, and traces of oral transmission processes will be factored into the discussion whenever possible. In the textual evidence particular emphasis will be placed on texts in which two or more empirically attested versions of the same story (or book) differ considerably. All such cases in the different available corpora from the general time period will be taken into consideration.
Call for papers: We have several invited and confirmed speakers, but are open to a few more. We are looking forward to an exciting session.
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Ugaritic Studies and Northwest Semitic Epigraphy
Description: Our purpose is to foster the academic study of ancient Ugarit, the associated cuneiform alphabetic texts, and ancient Northwest Semitic epigraphic texts, especially in order to explore areas of commonality between these fields of study and Biblical literature.
Call for papers: The Ugaritic Studies and Northwest Semitic Epigraphy section is issuing an open call for papers for 2008.
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Use, Influence, and Impact of the Bible
Description: This program unit explores how the Bible has been used and/or influential in the way it has been received in society. The focus is upon the reception of the text in contexts other than a narrow critical-academic one.
Call for papers: The question of how texts and readers interact is an old one. In this unit we are particularly concerned with the question of how, if at all, the Bible can be shown to have made a difference. A second closely related area of enquiry is how the Bible has been used. 'Use' and 'influence', of course, often overlap. Proposals for papers that deal with these issues are welcome and there will be at least one 'open' session where papers that relate to the general concerns of the section will be presented. For the 2008 meeting papers that deal with the influence and/or use of the book of Psalms in particular are particularly encouraged as are papers that relate to the theme of the use/influence of the Bible in ethics.
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Violence and Representations of Violence in Antiquity
Description: This section promotes a robust discussion of violence and its representations in the ancient world. Papers utilize a variety of approaches and theoretical tools to consider what constitutes violence, seeking to advance knowledge about power and its effects in antiquity while also providing analogical materials for thinking about contemporary manifestations of religiously inflected violence.
Call for papers: One session of the Violence and Representations of Violence among Jews and Christians Section will involve an invited panel on the "fatal charades" and violent spectacles of the Roman Empire, highlighting the work of Prof. Kathleen Coleman, Harvard University, and including a response from her.
The section also invites paper proposals for an open session on any topic dealing with violence and representations of violence among Jews and Christians (and others) in antiquity and late antiquity. Special consideration will be given to papers that engage trauma theory and/or the work of Susan Sontag on the "pain of others," as well as papers that include archaeological remains or art historical materials.
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Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion
Description: The Wabash Center encourages excellent teaching in departments of religion and theological schools through careful attention to the issues that every faculty member faces including course design, assessment, student learning goals, understanding the institutional context and the broader purposes of teaching. We offer programs at the SBL Annual Meeting as well as workshops, colloquies, and conferences which are organized throughout the year. Fully funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. and located on the Wabash College campus in Crawfordsville, Indiana, we also offer grants for institutions or individuals who wish to propose projects or research relating to teaching and learning. Our consultants program can facilitate on-site faculty conversations about pedagogical issues through a brief application process available online. Teaching and learning resources (both books and those available through the Internet) are also available through our website. See our website for a full listing of programs, grant deadlines, and resources: www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu.
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Warfare in Ancient Israel
Description: This section will 1) explore and develop new and ongoing areas of inquiry regarding texts, practices, experiences, and ideology concerning warfare in ancient Israel and the ancient Near East; 2) offer analyses of specific issues associated with warfare in ancient Israel and sketches of programmatic approaches to the study of warfare in general; 3) assess the significance of the history of scholarship on warfare in ancient Israel; and 4) establish a collaborative and incremental investigation of various dimensions of warfare in ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible that moves toward the production of a comprehensive reference work.
Call for papers: The Warfare in Ancient Israel Section will sponsor two sessions in 2008: 1) an open session (accepting papers), and 2) a session of invited papers (not accepting papers). For the open session: The Warfare in Ancient Israel Section invites twenty-five minute papers. Papers may explore any topic related to the study of warfare in ancient Israel, the biblical literature, or other relevant traditions. The section particularly invites papers related to the textual, iconographic, social, and cultural constructions/depictions of warriors and/or victims. A variety of methodological and theological approaches are welcome, and papers that make use of interdisciplinary perspectives from outside biblical studies are especially desirable. For more information, contact Brad E. Kelle (bradkelle@pointloma.edu).
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Wisdom and Apocalypticism
Description: We support work on Jewish & Christian sapiential & apocalyptic texts,
ideas, and their interplay, committed to inquiry into both production &
circulation and to grounding analysis in social-historical locations, as
relates to knowledge production, economy, gender & sexuality, and race &
ethnicity.
Call for papers: The Wisdom and Apocalypticism in Early Judaism and Early Christianity Section plans two sessions of invited papers in 2008, continuing our work of interrogating the performance of sapiential and apocalyptic traditions in antiquity. We seek greater refinement regarding “orality” and “textuality,” with reference to the use of sources, the modes of performance (including scribal activity), and the modes of reception of traditions and texts. Our main goal is to understand the social forces and social effects involved in the production of sapiential-apocalyptic texts. We are planning papers on Ben Sira, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Revelation, and 4 Ezra.
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Wisdom in Israelite and Cognate Traditions
Description: The Wisdom Section seeks to provide a forum for the exploration of new ideas in the study of Israelite and cognate conceptions of wisdom, focusing on wisdom in the Hebrew Bible and Deuterocanon along with related literature from elsewhere in the ancient Near East.
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Women in the Biblical World
Description: This section explores the multifaceted lives of women in the biblical period. It is a forum for inquiry into literary and material culture, including biblical and extra-biblical texts, the history of their interpretation, and the relevant cultural milieu.
Call for papers: 1. Open Session: The Women in the Biblical World Section invites proposals for an open session. 2. An Invited Round Table on the Role of Feminism in the Study of Women in the Biblical World. 3. Proposals are invited for a session devoted to biblical women in film.
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Writing/Reading Jeremiah
Description: The Writing/Reading Jeremiah group invites new readings and constructions of meaning with the book of Jeremiah "this side" of historicist paradigms and postmodernism. We welcome all strategies of reading Jeremiah that seek to reconfigure, redeploy, and move beyond conventional readings of Jeremiah. Our manifesto: not by compositional history alone, nor biographical portrayal alone, nor their accompanying theological superstructures; rather, we seek interpretation from new spaces opened for reading Jeremiah by the postmodern turn.
Call for papers: Paper proposals are welcome on any aspect of the study of the book of Jeremiah. The Reading/Writing Jeremiah Group gives special attention to theoretically and methodologically explicit new readings and constructions of meaning "this side" of historicist paradigms.
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Z 2012 Test PU
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