SBL Events
For a list of events related to biblical scholarship, see our online calendar.
View the Calendar >>
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2009 International Meeting
Celebrating the Centenary of the PBI
Meeting Begins:
6/30/2009
Meeting Ends:
7/4/2009
Call For Papers Opens: 9/15/2008
Call For Papers Closes: 2/1/2009
Requirements to Submit a Paper Proposal
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Program Units
Ancient Near East
Description: The section encompasses all areas related to the study of the Ancient Near East, including culture, languages, literature.
Call for papers: Paper proposals are welcome on any aspect of the study of the ancient Near East, including culture, languages, literature. We will also be holding a session focused around the theme, "Violence in the ancient Near East"; we especially encourage proposals on this topic.
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Apocalyptic Literature
Description: The unit is concerned with all dimensions of ancient Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature, especially papers that investigate cosmological or scientific speculation in ancient apocalyptic discourse.
Call for papers: The unit is concerned with all dimensions of ancient Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature, especially papers that investigate cosmological or scientific speculation in ancient apocalyptic discourse.
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Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
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 traditions along lines of class and gender.
Call for papers: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha Section invites proposals for an open session. We especially seek 1) papers that concern new approaches to the study of the Apocrypha or Pseudepigrapha or that explore texts in light of new methodologies and 2) papers that address the appearance, role and function of Rome (as empire or city) in canonical and extra-canonical literature. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha Section also will host a panel discussion which takes up the question “Why Study Extra-Canonical Literature?”
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Archaeology
Description: This unit is designed to encourage conversation and collaboration between collaboration between archaeologists and biblical scholars. Our definition of “archaeology” is broad, so we also include papers that present historical reconstructions using archaeological and textual data. Our stated goal is for all of the participants to address how their focused research in archaeology or biblical studies relates to the work of specialists in other areas. To date our sessions have included approximately an equal number of field archaeologists and textual specialists. The sessions thus promote dialogue between the presenters and the participants in the audience. The dialogue include hermeneutical and historical discussions.
Call for papers: This unit is designed to encourage conversation and collaboration between collaboration between archaeologists and biblical scholars. Our definition of “archaeology” is broad, so we also include papers that present historical reconstructions using archaeological and textual data. Our stated goal is for all of the participants to address how their focused research in archaeology or biblical studies relates to the work of specialists in other areas. To date our sessions have included approximately an equal number of field archaeologists and textual specialists. The sessions thus promote dialogue between the presenters and the participants in the audience. The dialogue includes hermeneutical and historical discussions.
For the 2009 International Meeting in Rome we will be accepting papers for one open session on biblical archaeology (Hebrew Bible and New Testament) and one session devoted to the archaeology of the northern Levant and Mesopotamia.
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Art and Religions of Antiquity
Description: *
Call for papers: *
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Bethsaida Excavations Project
Description: The Bethsaida Excavations unit reports on the current progress of the dig and on topics related to the history and traditions of Bethsaida.
Call for papers: The Bethsaida Excavations unit reports on the current progress of the dig and on topics related to the history and traditions of Bethsaida.
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Bible and Its Influence: History and Impact
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 principal focus of this program unit is the exploration of how the Bible has been used and/or influential in contexts outside of a narrow critical-academic one. Papers that explore the broader question of the reception of the Bible in art, literature, film or music are also welcome. For the 2009 meeting in Rome papers that explore the use and/or influence of the Bible in art or architecture may be given priority.
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Bible and Music
Description: This program unit is concerned with all aspects of music in relation to the Bible and biblical studies.
Call for papers: This program unit will include a session of papers devoted to the Bible and Popular Music and an open session for which papers concerned with any aspect of music in relation to Biblical Studies are invited.
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Bible and Visual Culture
Description: This section is devoted to examining expressions of the Bible in visual culture, as found in paintings, sculpture, and other works of art.
Call for papers: As in previous years, The Bible and Visual Culture programme unit of the International SBL invites short papers on the visualization of biblical narrative. In 2009, in view of our location in Rome, we welcome particularly papers related to one of four areas: (1) Early Christian Art, (2) Art from the Italian Renaissance, (3) Italian Artists of the Counter Reformation, and (4) to coincide with the ending of Pope Benedict’s bimillenary celebration in June 2009 of the birth of Paul, we welcome papers that deal with the representation of Paul and the Pauline epistles in art.
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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 has designated "Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox versions of the Bible" as the theme for the 2009 SBL International Meeting in Rome, Italy. Scholars are invited to submit proposals for papers to be delivered during the conference that deal with the text, contents, theology, history and relevance of apocryphal documents related to the Old Testament or the New Testament, preserved in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox traditions. The unit encourages scholars to submit proposals also for presentations examining the concept of Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in these Eastern and Oriental Orthodox traditions.
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Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Law
Description: The purpose of the Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern 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: Legal distinctions dealing with strangers and foreigners in the Hebrew Bible and in the Ancient Near East
The legal status of gerîm, nokrîm, and neighboring peoples (Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, etc.) has long been an issue of scholarly discussion. One of the pertinent questions in this ongoing debate centers on the amount of "exclusivism" or "inclusivism" in the traditions of the Pentateuch and the correlation between priestly, deuteronomistic and non-priestly/non-dtr layers. Submissions on this specific topic are welcome. A panel discussion may be organized for the conclusion of this special discussion to promote a constructive dialogue among scholars.
Papers dealing with a variety of topics in biblical and ancient Near Eastern law may be considered for a second (open) session..
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Biblical Characters in the Three Traditions
Description: This seminar will explore the interpretation and significance of biblical characters found in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions.
Call for papers: This seminar will explore the interpretation and significance of biblical characters found in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions.
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Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
Description: This program unit explores the interpretative structures, methodologies, and concerns of patristic exegesis and the various assumptions underlying it.
Call for papers: This unit especially invites paper proposals on the Letter to the Hebrews in early Christian interpretation, but will also consider proposals which contribute to our understanding of the structures, methodologies, concerns and assumptions functioning within patristic readings of other biblical texts.
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Biblical Scholarship and Disabilities
Description: The unit seeks to foster scholarship related to disability in all fields of biblical studies. Major areas of concern include medical history of the Ancient Near East and Greco-Roman worlds; the religious, legal, and cultural status of people with disabilities in the biblical and formative Jewish and Christian periods; the representation of disability in biblical and cognate texts, biblical theology of the same, and disability in the history of biblical interpretation.
Call for papers: The unit seeks to foster scholarship related to disability in all fields of biblical studies. Major areas of concern include medical history of the Ancient Near East and Greco-Roman worlds; the religious, legal, and cultural status of people with disabilities in the biblical and formative Jewish and Christian periods; the representation of disability in biblical and cognate texts, biblical theology of the same, and disability in the history of biblical interpretation.
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Biblical Studies and Technology
Description: The section's primary focus is on 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.
Call for papers: The Biblical Studies and Technology section welcomes paper proposals on any area of application of technology to biblical studies. Possible topic areas include: (1) reports on new or ongoing projects using digitizing or encoding to deliver biblical studies resources to scholars; (2) new software or computational techniques for analysis of biblical texts; (3) new research strategies emerging from the digitization of textual resources for biblical scholarship; (4) the pedagogical use of technology for classroom instruction; and (5) reports of technologies related to information structure that may have applicability to biblical studies.
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Biblical Theology
Description: The unit explores the hermeneutical innovations and theological implications of the location of critical biblical interpretation within the confessional communities of the various traditions. Particular attention is given to the relationship between systematic theology, practical theology, philosophical theology, and biblical studies, with respect to their nature and status as discrete disciplines.
Call for papers: The unit explores the hermeneutical innovations and theological implications of the location of critical biblical interpretation within the confessional communities of the various traditions. Particular attention is given to the relationship between systematic theology, practical theology, philosophical theology, and biblical studies, with respect to their nature and status as discrete disciplines.
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Concept Analysis and the Hebrew Bible
Description: The unit examines concepts that unify particular textual units or books in the Hebrew Bible and the interrelationship of competing concepts within the same book or corpus in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., God's love and hate; peace and violence; wealth and poverty).
Call for papers: We invite papers in three categories. Papers that explore: 1) methodological questions such as the refinement of the approach, its relationship with other methods, and its placement within biblical criticism; 2) the dominant concept operative in a particular textual unit or book in the Hebrew Bible; and 3) the recurrence and interrelationship of concept(s) within the Pentateuch, the Historical Books and the Prophets. Papers in later two categories should define the concepts and the extent of the text where the concepts are discerned.
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Critical Theory and Biblical Interpretation
Description: The unit 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: Biblical Interpretation today is characterized by a variety of different concerns and approaches. The focus of this programme unit is on the use of critical theory in Early Christian Studies, broadly conceived. Its scope includes analysis of the biblical texts and contexts, questions of method and theory, and attention to interpretations- interpreters and their contexts. Papers are welcome from such perspectives as postcolonial studies, gender studies, economic studies, racial-ethnic studies, and queer studies. The 2009 International Meeting in Rome offers an ideal setting for a focus on the representation of and stance toward the Roman Empire in the New Testament, in terms of both production and reception. Such a focus is meant as open-ended and may thus include a variety of critical pursuits, such as the following: In terms of production: analyzing the representation of and attitude toward Rome in individual texts; analyzing the representation of and attitude toward Rome in comparative fashion, involving two or more texts; foregrounding specific literary units or sections, issues or themes, for analysis. In terms of reception: addressing the problematic of analyzing the Rome Empire in Early Christian texts; tracing and/or engaging established lines of interpretation in the analysis of Rome in recent criticism; addressing the relation between the imperial-colonial framework of Rome and the imperial-colonial frameworks of modernity and postmodernity. Contributions in dialogue with postcolonial discourse, empire studies, international relations studies, subaltern studies, and related methodological-theoretical approaches will be particularly welcomed. Proposals for papers should be submitted through the on-line system; inquiries should be directed to the programme unit chairs.
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Early Christianity and the Ancient Economy
Description: The Early Christianity and the Ancient Economy unit 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 unit 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 (including 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 issues (such as money), 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 2009 meeting in Rome, and paper proposals for all three sub-projects are welcomed. Papers dealing with aspects of the economy of the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, the City of Rome, and Italy are especially encouraged. Those submitting a proposal should designate in the Abstract the sub-project for which the paper should be considered.
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Ecological Hermeneutics
Description: This unit 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: This unit 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.
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Epigraphical and Paleological Studies Pertaining to the Biblical World
Description: The unit focuses on inscriptions and icons bearing on the Bible world, with special concentration on the meaning and analysis of seals, ostraca , magic bowls, inscriptions, and scripts from the ancient Near East.
Call for papers: The unit focuses on inscriptions and icons bearing on the Bible world, with special concentration on the meaning and analysis of seals, ostraca , magic bowls, inscriptions, and scripts from the ancient Near East. There will be two sessions. One session will be devoted to artifacts found in the Shlomo Moussaieff collection.
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Expressions of Religion in Israel
Description: Formerly titled "Israelite Religion," this program unit focuses on the broad scope of Israelite religion and cult beginning with the first temple period. The section especially encourages exploration of the relationship of religion and cult to specific texts.
Call for papers: This section looks into the developments within Israelite religion and cult occurring within the time frame of the eighth to the third centuries BCE. Papers delineating such change through the use of specific texts diachronically considered are especially encouraged.
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Feminist Interpretations
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: 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.
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Genesis 18-19
Description: The first eleven chapters of Genesis have traditionally been assumed to be universalist in outlook, while chapters 12 onwards have been seen as having a more or less exclusively particularist perspective.
Lately, commentators have shown that this strict division between a universalist Genesis 1-11 on the one hand, and a particularist Genesis 12-50 on the other, cannot be maintained. Rather, the boundaries are blurred. Genesis 12-50 maintains the universalist outlook that emerges from the primeval history (e.g. God’s blessing of Abraham in 12:1-3), but sets it against a particularist focus that was not evident in the earlier chapters. The tension between these two perspectives is explored throughout Genesis, so that particularist narratives such as the love affair of Dinah and Shechem (Gen. 34), or Isaac’s and Rebekkah’s discomfort when Esau marries daughters of the land (Gen. 27) are nuanced by universalist narratives, such as the marriages Judah and Joseph to ‘non-Israelites’, or Pharaoh’s warm welcome of Jacob and his family.
Genesis 18-19 is important in this regard; its texts set the most strongly particularist concerns, such as the continuation of family lines, circumcision, and covenant, against the intensely universalist themes of hospitality, living among strangers, God’s relationship to Israel and the nations, and the limits of intercession.
In this seminar, we intend to re-examine Genesis 18-19 as a microcosm for the interplay between particularism and universalism that is present throughout Genesis, asking whether how textual problems such as these following might require different solutions in this light.
Call for papers: The first eleven chapters of Genesis have traditionally been assumed to be universalist in outlook, while chapters 12 onwards have been seen as having a more or less exclusively particularist perspective.
Lately, commentators have shown that this strict division between a universalist Genesis 1-11 on the one hand, and a particularist Genesis 12-50 on the other, cannot be maintained. Rather, the boundaries are blurred. Genesis 12-50 maintains the universalist outlook that emerges from the primeval history (e.g. God’s blessing of Abraham in 12:1-3), but sets it against a particularist focus that was not evident in the earlier chapters. The tension between these two perspectives is explored throughout Genesis, so that particularist narratives such as the love affair of Dinah and Shechem (Gen. 34), or Isaac’s and Rebekkah’s discomfort when Esau marries daughters of the land (Gen. 27) are nuanced by universalist narratives, such as the marriages Judah and Joseph to ‘non-Israelites’, or Pharaoh’s warm welcome of Jacob and his family.
Genesis 18-19 is important in this regard; its texts set the most strongly particularist concerns, such as the continuation of family lines, circumcision, and covenant, against the intensely universalist themes of hospitality, living among strangers, God’s relationship to Israel and the nations, and the limits of intercession.
In this seminar, we intend to re-examine Genesis 18-19 as a microcosm for the interplay between particularism and universalism that is present throughout Genesis, asking whether how textual problems such as these following might require different solutions in this light.
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Greco-Roman World
Description: The unit provides a forum for discussing ancient texts, artifacts and concepts from the Hellenistic and Roman worlds and relating them to the study of the New Testament world.
Call for papers:
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Hellenistic Greek Language and Linguistics
Description: Hellenistic Greek forms the basis of studies relative to both testaments as well as much of the ancient world. This section welcomes papers on any aspect of the Greek found in the Septuagint, New Testament, or other Hellenistic literature. Linguistic, grammatical and lexical studies are particularly encouraged.
Call for papers: Hellenistic Greek forms the basis of studies relative to both testaments as well as much of the ancient world. This section welcomes papers on any aspect of the Greek found in the Septuagint, New Testament, or other Hellenistic literature. Linguistic, grammatical and lexical studies are particularly encouraged.
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Historical Books (Hebrew Bible)
Description: This unit discusses the books of Deuteronomy and the Former Prophets both as a whole (Deuteronomistic History) and in its component parts. The section is interested in all facets of this literature and in any scholarly methods used to analyze it.
Call for papers: The Historical Books Section invites proposals for 1) open sessions on the historical books and 2) focused sessions engaging the connections between history writing and identity (re)formation. Evidence of using the past to find a (re)new(ed) identity in socio-political and socio-religious circumstances may be found in Hebrew Bible historiographies. The so-called Deuteronomistic History as well as the works of Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah are often read from the perspective of a community trying to address identity issues in changed circumstances. We seek to examine this perspective further. Any theortectical reflections on the relationship between historiography and identity (re)formation or illustrations from Hebrew Bible historiographies would be welcomed. A few keynote speakers will be invited to introduce the discussion and we also invite proposals.
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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: Theme: Translation as Intertextuality
The Ideology, Culture, and Translation Group invites papers on the theme of translation as intertextuality. Special consideration will be given to proposals that specifically engage the work of Umberto Eco. The purpose of the Ideology, Culture, and Translation Group is to explore the ways in which translation, broadly conceived, intersects with critical theory in and around the field of biblical studies. 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. Papers are not limited to those dealing only with Bible translation.
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Johannine Literature
Description: The main purpose of the unit 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.
Call for papers: The main purpose of the unit 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.
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Judaica
Description: The section is concerned with all aspects of the literatures of ancient, medieval, and modern Judaisms, especially as they intersect with biblical literature. Exploration of Judaism and the arts and material culture are especially encouraged.
Call for papers: This section accepts papers in any area of Jewish Studies that relate to the interpretation of the Bible, rabbinic and related literature.
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Language and Linguistics
Description: The unit to provides a cross-disciplinary forum for the application of modern linguistic theory and methodology to the study of biblical texts. It serves to encourage interest in linguistics and its advantages for biblical exegesis and interpretation among biblical scholars who do not have prior training in linguistic theory.
Call for papers: The unit to provides a cross-disciplinary forum for the application of modern linguistic theory and methodology to the study of biblical texts. It serves to encourage interest in linguistics and its advantages for biblical exegesis and interpretation among biblical scholars who do not have prior training in linguistic theory.
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Methods in Hebrew Bible Studies
Description: This section focuses on the exploration and application of critical methods for the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. The use of new methods and the consideration of the implications of their application for understanding the text and religion of ancient Israel are especially encouraged.
Call for papers: This section focuses on the exploration and application of critical methods for the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. The use of new methods and the consideration of the implications of their application for understanding the text and religion of ancient Israel are especially encouraged.
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Methods in New Testament Studies
Description: The unit is devoted to the exploration and application of new methods to the New Testament text. The use of literary critical methods is encouraged. The goal of the unit is to develop new ways to understand the development of the early Christian community.
Call for papers: The unit is devoted to the exploration and application of new methods to the New Testament text. The use of literary critical methods is encouraged. The goal of the unit is to develop new ways to understand the development of the early Christian community.
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Mind, Society, and Tradition
Description: This program unit aims to initiate a dialogue and cross-disciplinary theory forming in biblical studies between social-scientific methods and the so-called cognitive science of religion. The cognitive science of religion is a new multidisciplinary field that has emerged in the 1990s. It is interested in cross-culturally recurrent patterns in religious thought, experience, and practice, explaining these regularities in terms of the architecture of the human mind. This field has opened up new ways of understanding religiosity as well as the emergence and development of religious movements, sometimes challenging established theories in classical anthropology and comparative religion. These developments have a potential relevance to biblical studies.
The program unit welcomes papers using either traditional social-scientific or new cognitive approaches, or their combination. Of particular interest are studies focusing on interaction between mind and society, cognition and culture, as well as on the transmission of religious knowledge. Relevant theories and areas include memory studies, social identity theory, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, ritual theories, models of counterintuitiveness, theory of mind, social cognition, emotion, and religious experience.
Call for papers: During the meeting in Rome, the Mind, Society, and Tradition unit will be organizing two sessions. The first session will be titled "Evolution of Biblical Religions: Rethinking Darwin's Heritage". In recent years, there has been renewed interest in applying evolutionary perspectives in cultural and religious studies. Darwin's anniversary in 2009 provides an excellent opportunity to reevaluate the significance of evolutionary theories for the study of Biblical religions. For the second session, we are inviting proposals dealing with social-scientific and/or cognitive approaches in the study of biblical texts and traditions, as stated in the description of the program unit.
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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 and translation; analysis and interpretation of the tractates; codicological analysis; background and provenance of the manuscripts; studies relevant to the larger social and religio-historical contexts of the Nag Hammadi texts, especially their relation to Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman religious traditions.
Call for papers: For the 2009 International Meeting in Rome, we are soliciting papers on any topic on Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism, but preference will be given to papers with regional, geographical and social history focus, such as the Valentinians in Rome or the presence of Gnostic philosophers in Plotinian study circles.
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Palestine and Babylon: Two Jewish Late Antique Cultures and Their Interrelation
Description: This section focuses on the uniqueness of the Palestinian
and the Babylonian rabbinic cultures, and traces their
interrelation: what are typical, or original, Palestinian
exegetical, Halakhic and narrative traditions; what are
the characteristics, of the Babylonian rabbinic culture,
its development and crystallization; how and when did the
Babylonian culture gain prominence in the Jewish culture
of the Byzantine and Medieval periods.
Call for papers: This year the section focuses on the later rabbinic cultures, Amoraic, Saboraic and the parallel Jewish cultures, such as Piyyut, liturgy, Hekhalot, magical texts etc.
Here are some questions that we hope to be able to answer in the session this year:
• Can we identify a Palestinian cultural continuum, where topics, figures, concepts, ideas or exegetical traditions are unique, or almost unique to the Land of Israel? What are the contents that are the basis of the Babylonian culture? Does it use Palestinian sources that are the ones less popular in the Land of Israel?
• Are there places of conflict between the two cultures? How are such conflicts resolved?
• Do we find that the later Palestinian sources succumbed to the Babylonian ones? If so how and when does this happen? Which elements survived from the early culture of the Land of Israel in the later sources?
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Pastoral and Catholic Epistles
Description: The section encourages the study of the Pastoral and Catholic Epistles, including Hebrews, with the goal of a greater understanding of the relation of these letters to the authentic Pauline letters and to the development of the early Church.
Call for papers: All papers related to the Pastoral and Catholic Epistles, including Hebrews, are welcomed.
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Paul and Pauline Literature
Description: The unit provides a forum for presentation and discussion of original scholarly research on all facets of the interpretation of the Pauline Corpus in the New Testament. This includes consideration of exegetical, socio-historical, history of religions, theological, literary, history of interpretation, and methodological questions.
Call for papers: The unit provides a forum for presentation and discussion of original scholarly research on all facets of the interpretation of the Pauline Corpus in the New Testament. This includes consideration of exegetical, socio-historical, history of religions, theological, literary, history of interpretation, and methodological questions.
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Pentateuch (Torah)
Description: The unit provides a forum for presentation and discussion of research on the Pentateuch / Torah, with a particular focus on transmission-historical issues and linkage of that area of inquiry with other more synchronic methodologies.
Call for papers: While papers in all areas of Pentateuch/Torah
studies are welcome, papers are especially encouraged which present
newer approaches to this body of literature, including not only
synchronic analyses, but also approaches such as ritual theory,
comparative scripture studies, cultural memory studies, rhetorical
analysis, intertextuality, and the orality of the Pentateuch.
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Pericope: Scripture as Written and Read in Antiquity
Description: The recurring question during the Pericope sessions is whether the search for the oldest extant delimitation markers of the biblical text helps us to understand the biblical tradition in a better way. In the form of seminars, workshops, and papers the participants will discuss various methods of analyzing delimitation markers. It will be discussed whether the delimitations in the ancient manuscripts reflect and/or depend on ancient exegesis. In addition the question may be addressed whether this testimony from ancient exegesis is of any help for modern exegesis. Those colleagues who wish to discuss questions regarding the methodology are also invited to submit a proposal. Sessions are in the form of seminars, workshops and papers.
Call for papers: The recurring question during the Pericope sessions is whether the search for the oldest extant delimitation markers of the biblical text helps us to understand the biblical tradition in a better way. In the form of seminars, workshops, and papers the participants will discuss various methods of analyzing delimitation markers. It will be discussed whether the delimitations in the ancient manuscripts reflect and/or depend on ancient exegesis. In addition the question may be addressed whether this testimony from ancient exegesis is of any help for modern exegesis. Those colleagues who wish to discuss questions regarding the methodology are also invited to submit a proposal. Sessions are in the form of seminars, workshops and papers.
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Place, Space, and Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean World
Description: Investigates the inherent spatiality of human existence and how it affects human behavior, ideology, identity, and orientation. Ancient Mediterranean texts and societies are studied from a decidedly spatial perspective. Different approaches to spatiality will enrich investigations, e.g. narratological space, critical spatiality, sociological theories on space, space and identity, space and body.
Call for papers: Two sessions are planned for Rome 2009. The first session, Space, Place and Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Prospectives, Perspectives and Methods is a panel of invited papers. The Call for Papers for a second, open session would be Perceptions of Space in the Ancient Mediterranean World. The open session invites papers researching space in different fields (e.g., theology, study of religions, ethnology, sociology) and using different methods of approach (e.g., iconographic, archaeological, theological, literary).
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Poster Session
Description: Posters on all subjects are welcome.
Call for papers: Posters on all subjects are welcome.
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Professional Issues
Description: When a scholar takes up a new appointment (or a postgraduate student joins an existing department) there is more to 'fitting in' than finding a desk, a computer and access to the photocopier. There is also the need to build a place in discussions, a role in meetings, a respect for and valuing of his/her skills/ commitment/ discipline/ methodology/ etc
Call for papers: Was/Is it hard to fit in at your new workplace?
What would you like to see more of in your biblical studies work environment?
Provide reflections/suggestions/full papers/contribute to the discussion.
Full papers (20 mins & 5 mins discussion) or Short papers (10 mins & 3 mins discussion) are WELCOME!
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Prophets
Description: This unit 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: The Prophecy unit welcomes proposals for papers on prophecy and prophetic texts in ancient Israel and other areas of the Ancient Near East. Special attention may be given to papers devoted to studying Israelite prophecy in the light of the relation between orality and literacy. Papers should be 20 minutes long with additional 10 minutes left for discussion.
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Psychological Hermeneutics of Biblical Themes and Texts
Description: The objectives of this unit are (i) to present an historical-critical overview of "psychological" approaches to scripture; (ii) to assess the significance of these approaches for ongoing Biblical research, exegesis, and interpretation, and (iii) to provide a forum for considering and developing the future agenda of "psychological criticism" as a sub-discipline within Biblical Studies.
Call for papers: Psychological Hermeneutics of Biblical Themes and Texts invites papers which interpret aspects of biblical studies through the lens of psychological models and perspectives. This section is the arena, therefore, for presentations and discussion dealing with the interface and mutual illumination of the sciences of Psychology and Biblical Studies. Papers will be welcomed which address specific biblical texts, narratives, pericopes; or biblical or biblical-theological themes, interpreted or illumined by means of psychological insights. There will be opportunity for nine substantial papers and discussions of each, organized in three sessions. We would like an international list of presenters with a broad spectrum of psychological themes and perspectives. The sessions will be completed by forming a panel of the presenters to provide an open discussion with the audience. Each presentation will be one hour including discussion.
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Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Description: The unit provides 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.
Call for papers: Rome 2009 will be the last meeting of the seminar on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hebrew Bible. The following topics will be covered: the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls for the textual history of the Hebrew Bible, for the understanding of individual biblical books, for the ancient interpretations of Jewish scriptures, for the understanding of Jewish law, and for ancient Jewish history. The majority of the contributions will be invited lectures. One session however is an open session and we kindly invite persons to send in proposals.
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Relevance Theory and Biblical Interpretation
Description: The sections provides a forum for discussion on Relevance Theory perspectives on biblical narrative and hermeneutics. Topics related to the application of Relevance Theory to biblical interpretation are considered each year, as will more general essays on pragmatics and interpretation.
Call for papers: The sections provides a forum for discussion on Relevance Theory perspectives on biblical narrative and hermeneutics. Topics related to the application of Relevance Theory to biblical interpretation are considered each year, as will more general essays on pragmatics and interpretation.
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Representations of Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible
Description: The aim of this research unit is to underscore the various notions of masculinity that biblical authors of the Hebrew Bible have created and employed to advance various ideological ideas about the roles, offices and prerequisite features of the male leaders in their communities. In order to achieve this goal, the volume draws on a wide variety of literary and cultural approaches to masculinity and covers a range of male characters.
Call for papers: The aim of this research unit is to underscore the various notions of masculinity that biblical authors of the Hebrew Bible have created and employed to advance various ideological ideas about the roles, offices and prerequisite features of the male leaders in their communities. In order to achieve this goal, the volume draws on a wide variety of literary and cultural approaches to masculinity and covers a range of male characters.
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Status of Women in the Profession
Description: The Committee holds sessions each year exploring the nature of the profession as experienced by women biblical scholars. The goal of the sessions are to provide a forum for open discussion, networking, and the sharing of ideas.
Call for papers: The Committee holds sessions each year exploring the nature of the profession as experienced by women biblical scholars. The goal of the sessions are to provide a forum for open discussion, networking, and the sharing of ideas.
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Synoptic Gospels
Description: The Synoptic Gospels, which have formed a coherent unit since antiquity, have played an important role in modern scholarship. This section provides an open forum for the presentation of papers, from a variety of perspectives and using a variety of methods, on these seminal religious texts.
Call for papers: Professional scholars and educators are invited to submit a paper proposal from an academic perspective that focuses on issues in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and/or Luke. Panels are also welcome and would have a sixty-minute time allotment. Please contact Prof. Glenna Jackson (gjackson@otterbein.edu) with any questions.
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Syriac Lexicography
Description:
Call for papers:
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Text Criticism Workshop on Samuel and Kings
Description: “Workshop on Textual Criticism of Samuel – Kings” 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: Paper proposals are invited on the text of Samuel and Kings in various languages, including the relationship of these books to Joshua and Judges as well as Chronicles. The Workshop wishes to concentrate on textual issues - no matter how small or large the text unit concerned - and to encourage exchange among researchers - both young and old - interested in textual criticism.
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Whence and Whither?: Methodology and the Future of Biblical Studies
Description: The aim of this section is to explore the changing landscape of biblical studies in the face of post-modernity, with particular attention to the application and implications of critical theory and cultural analysis.
Call for papers: The 'Whence and Whither panel in Rome 2009 will offer THREE sessions. The FIRST will consider the relationship between violence and community identity as manifested in a variety of ancient and biblical texts. Paper proposals should interrogate the various and complex ways violence operates in the formation of group identity through violent rhetoric, revenge fantasies, apocalyptic judgment, curses, calls for Holy War, etc. Papers that explicitly engage critical theory or post-modern approaches are especially welcome as are those that clarify their definition of violence. This panel seeks to understand the frequent connection between violence and the formation of community boundaries as reflected in sacred and other literature of the ancient Mediterranean world. Coordinator of this session is Kim Stratton (Carleton University).
The SECOND session welcomes papers on cinematic Representations of (Biblical) Rome. From Federico Fellini’s 1969 film “Satyricon” to the epic television series “Rome”, broadcasted between 2005 and 2007, the depiction of historical Rome is a recurring theme within visual culture over the last 60 years. Recent publications (e.g. Richard Wrigley’s edited volume Cinematic Rome [2008] and Monica S. Cyrino’s Big Screen Rome [2005]), similarly point to the sustained interest in representations of Rome. The modern world is critically engaged with these ancient representations. Do they tell us more about our world or the ancient world? And how do we know the difference? Film and cultural theory papers are welcome, as well as those that explore the more traditional elements of cinematic representation in a historical framework (is this an accurate depiction of ancient/biblical Rome--why or why not?). This session is coordinated by Laura Copier (University of Amsterdam).
The THIRD session will be on 'Otherness in Children's Bibles'. Papers for this session are by invitation only.
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Wisdom Literature
Description: The unit seeks to provide a forum for the exploration of new ideas in the study of Wisdom Literature. The primary focus is on Biblical wisdom - Proverbs, Job, Qoheleth, and the Wisdom Psalms, as well as Ben Sira. Secondary focus is on wisdom literature from elsewhere in the Ancient Near East, insofar as these bear on biblical wisdom.
Call for papers: Paper proposals are welcome on any aspect of the study of wisdom literature in Hebrew Scripture, the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. This section promotes proposals concerning "Empirical observation and pragmatic teachings vis a vis speculative thinking in wisdom literature."
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Working with Biblical Manuscripts (Textual Criticism)
Description: The unit seeks to foster the study and criticism of biblical and related texts — including examination of manuscripts and other sources, restoration of the text, and especially the investigation of the history of its transmission—in its Late Antique cultural context.
Call for papers: Papers concentrating on any aspect of the practical work with manuscripts of the Bible are welcome: managing variants, computer assisted tools, preservation techniques, evaluating the evidence of versions, papyrological insights, technical developments, social historical studies, scribal habits, producing critical editions, new projects, systematic-theological problems, teaching text-criticism in an academic setting, etc.
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Writings (including Psalms)
Description: The aim of the unit to promote all aspects of and approaches to the study of the texts commonly referred to as the Writings (Ketuvim) in the Hebrew Bible.
Call for papers: Papers are welcome on any of the Writings, particularly those that apply newer interpretive methodologies to specific passages. Moreover, papers that address more general matters, such as the formation of the Psalter, the connection of wisdom and apocalyptic, statecraft and national identity in Chronicles/Ezra-Nehemiah, the poetics of Classical Hebrew poetry, or the linguistics of poetic Hebrew are also encouraged.
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