SBL Events
For a list of events related to biblical scholarship, see our online calendar.
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2012 International Meeting
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Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Meeting Begins: 7/22/2012
Meeting Ends: 7/26/2012
Call For Papers Opens: 10/15/2011
Call For Papers Closes: 2/1/2012
Requirements for Participation
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Program Units
“Literary Features” – Fact or Fiction: Current Trends in Analyzing Literary Figures in Ancient Near Eastern Texts (EABS)
Description: The research group aims at providing a forum for scholars with an interest in “literary features” in ancient Near Eastern texts, such as paronomasia, Janus parallelism, chiasm, and double entendre, drawing on a variety of methodological frameworks and as such reflecting the current trends in scholarship on the literariness of these features.
Call for papers: The "Literary Features" - Fact or Fiction research group invites papers analyzing literary features in ancient Near Eastern texts with special focus on the method used and its outcome.
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“Others” and the Construction of Early Christian Identities (EABS)
Description: The program unit explores how those who were perceived as “others” were differentiated, excluded and devalued in various early Christian sources, both inside and outside the New Testament canon. Inter-disciplinary approaches addressing the emergence and function of social stereotypes and prejudice help to understand better the early Christian polemic against “others” and, therefore, make it possible to give marginalized others a fair hearing in the study of Christianity. We welcome especially proposals that apply social scientific or cognitive theories to explain how images of “otherness” constructed and solidified early Christian identities. Also welcome are papers that address the function of favourable portraits of “others” for Christian identity construction or portraits of Christians as “others” in non-Christian sources.
Call for papers: The program unit plans to arrange in 2012 two open sessions.
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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: (1) This year, because of combined meetings with the European Association of Biblical Studies, our general open session will run jointly with ISBL Assyriology and the Bible Consultation as well as the EABS Israel and the Ancient Near East Research Group. Papers on any topic related to the ANE at large, Assyriology, Israel and the ANE, or the Bible and the ANE are welcome. (2) We will also have a joint session with the above ISBL Section and EABS Research Group on "Priests and the Priesthood in the ANE" and invite the submission of relevant papers.
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Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Bible
Description: This section, formerly titled Iconography and the Bible, examines the ways that ancient pictorial material informs interpretations of biblical texts and vice-versa. 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: Open session: for the ISBL/EABS joint conference in Amsterdam we welcome papers on the full range of iconographic exegesis. Because of our cooperation with the EABS 'Iconography and Biblical Studies' research group, paper proposals can be submitted on both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament in their iconographic contexts.
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Anthropology and Sociology of the Bible (EABS)
Description: The aim of this unit is to foster ethnographic readings of biblical stories and anthropological and sociological perspectives on the archaeology and history of ancient Palestine in its Near Eastern context. Relevant topics for discussion are Political and historical anthropology of ancient Palestine (city-states, urbanization, state-formation processes, ethnogenesis) Mediterranean anthropology in biblical narratives (patronage, hospitality, feud, honour and shame, food) Sociology and anthropology of religion and ancient Palestinian cultic and ritual data (aniconism, iconography, burial, cultic places, etc.) Sociology and anthropology of biblical studies (the production of academic knowledge and its impact on society)
Call for papers: For the 2012 meeting in Amsterdam, the Anthropology and the Bibe research group will held a joint session with the Sociology and the Bible research group. There is no special topic; all papers are welcome.
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Apocalyptic Literature
Description: The Apocalyptic Literature Section provides the International Meeting’s only general forum for studies related to apocalyptic literature. The Section welcomes papers that engage the wide range of apocalyptic texts, that provide analysis of the history and conventions of apocalyptic literature, and that employ diverse methodological perspectives.
Call for papers: For the 2012 meeting, the Apocalyptic Literature Section invites proposals in three areas:
We welcome paper proposals on all aspects of the study of ancient apocalyptic literature.
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha Section will hold a joint session with the Apocalyptic Literature Section with the theme "Monstrous Bodies," including gigantic and hybrid bodies. This will be the first in a series of sessions over the next few years exploring bodies in the apocalyptic literature, apocrypha, and pseudepigrapha. We welcome papers utilizing a wide range of methodologies, including but not limited to historical and literary analysis, empire studies, cultural theory, body theory, and monster theory.
Finally, we invite proposals on the history of reception, interpretation and/or appropriation of ancient apocalyptic literature. We welcome proposals exploring the full range of reception history from ancient to modern, including but not limited to literature and visual arts.
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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: In addition to a session in which recent publications relating to the
study of apocrypha and pseudepigrapha will be reviewed and discussed, we
invite proposals on a variety of topics.
In 2012, we will also hold a joint session with the Apocalyptic Literature section on the topic of monstrous bodies, including gigantic bodies. This will be the first in a series of sessions over the next few years exploring bodies in apocalyptic literature and apocryphal, deuterocanonical and pseudepigraphical texts. We welcome papers utilizing a wide range of methodologies, including but not limited to historical and literary analysis, empire studies, cultural theory, body theory, and monster theory.
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Apostolic Fathers and Related Early Christian Literature
Description: This unit fosters academic discourse focused upon the “Apostolic Fathers” and supplemental literature, as transmitters of earlier traditions; as reflections of theology, ethics, and worship; as means of identity and community formation; and as subjects of literary and social-theory investigations.
Call for papers: This new consultation has arranged a session with four invited papers to be presented in 2012. The four presentations will examine the use of the documents now found in the New Testament within the "Apostolic Fathers."
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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 includes hermeneutical and historical discussions.
Call for papers: This year in Amsterdam we want to organize a special session on Dutch contributions to archaeological and historical research in the Middle East, in the period before the 21th century: ancient travelers, people working on archaeological excavations, collectors of ancient artifacts, biblical scholars roaming the Promised Land, and text specialists, translators, geographers, archaeologists, and photographers working in the area. Papers on other archaeological subjects are, as usual, very welcome too. These will be joint SBL and EABS sessions.
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Archaeology and Diaspora Judaism
Description: This unit augments archaeology-related sessions organized at the International Meeting by providing focus on diaspora Judaism.
Call for papers: This unit augments archaeology-related sessions organized at the International Meeting by providing focus on diaspora Judaism.
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Assyriology and the Bible
Description: The Assyriology and the Bible Consultation desires to gather together the far-flung papers that deal with Mesopotamian-related topics. In addition to encouraging traditional comparative work related to historiographic, philological, literary and religious studies, it wishes to invite new methods to examine both the conventional areas of research and newer questions related to Orientalism, postcolonial studies, and other ideological areas. This Consultation seeks to generate strongly interdisciplinary research between the Assyriological, biblical studies, and archaeological guilds. Papers relevant to one of the fields but which would provoke thought in the others are welcome, in addition to regular comparative papers. Any paper related to the societies whose languages were written in cuneiform script or the related Semitic scripts are invited.
Call for papers: (1) This year, in light of the combined meetings, our general open session will run jointly with the ISBL ANE Section and the EABS Israel and the Ancient Near East Research Group. Papers on any topic related to the ANE at large, Assyriology, Israel and the ANE, or the Bible and the ANE are all most welcome. (2) We will also have a joint session on priests and the priesthood in Israel and the ANE with the above ISBL Section and EABS Research Group and invite the submission of relevant papers. (3) Additionally, we will co-host a joint session with the ISBL Bible and Empire Section on the subject Israel, Exile, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire and invite the submission of relevant papers. (4) Finally, we are sponsoring an individual session on Nuzi. Some of the papers have been invited, but we have slots available for called papers and welcome paper submission related to the subject.
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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 Empire
Description: A unit examining the influence of imperial political powers on the development of the Bible in its historical context as well as the Bible’s use and reception throughout subsequent history.
Call for papers: For the 2012 IM in Amsterdam there will be at least two sessions. Session I will focus on 'Israel, Exile, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire'; this session will run jointly with the Assyriology and the Bible program unit. Session II will consist of papers examining the use and reception of the Bible in the context of the European empires: from the perspective of those subjected to imperial power as well as by empire-builders themselves.
Papers from both sessions may be submitted for publication, for which the deadline to submit final manuscripts will probably be around October 1, 2012. Abstracts should be submitted via the SBL website in the usual way, no later than 1 February. Queries may be addressed to the chairs (carly.crouch@nottingham.ac.uk, j.stokl@ucl.ac.uk).
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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: There will be three sessions of the Unit at the summer meeting. One will be joint with the EABS 'Biblical World and its Reception'Seminar and will deal with theory and methodology in biblical reception history (papers by invitation). In addition there will be two open sessions whose focus will be on historical, political and cultural aspects of the reception of biblical texts. We would especially welcome papers that reflect use and influence of the Bible in the area where the meeting takes place - Amsterdam/ Netherlands. Papers on other aspects of reception history and the Bible will also be considered.
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Bible and the Moving Image
Description: The Bible and the Moving Image unit, titled the Bible and Cinema until 2011, is devoted to the use, influence, and development of biblical texts, motifs, and themes in the various media of the moving image, including cinema throughout its history, television, and the interactive narratives of gaming media.
Call for papers: The Bible and the Moving Image invites papers for two sessions in Edinburgh 2013.
1) ‘The Bible and Children's film/television’ invites any papers appropriate to the topic.
2) The second session is an open session and invites any papers related to the theme of this Program Unit.
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Bible and the Visual Arts (EABS)
Description: Some of the most engaging and creative insights into biblical narrative are found in paintings that adorn national and provincial galleries throughout Europe. They are a reminder that frequently our reading and understanding of biblical stories are influenced by our encounter with and response to the cultural, especially artistic, representations of a passage. The aims of the research programme, The Bible and the Visual Arts, are to locate distinctive and representative appropriations of biblical paintings in galleries across Europe, draw parallels between ways in which biblical texts engage the reader and biblical paintings the viewer, and to create methodologies that ensure that visual interpretations of the bible play a central role in the 21st century in challenging (or supporting) traditional readings of biblical characters and plots. The benefit of such a research area is that it is multidisciplinary and makes use of insights from a range of disciplines including art history, psychology, gender studies, and postcolonial studies.
Call for papers: Papers are now invited for the Bible and Visual Culture seminar of the EABS in 2012. Papers should focus on topics that present an original, distinctive and creative visual interpretation of a biblical text, narrative or character. In keeping with the seminar’s overall aim of exploring biblical works of art in the venue where the EABS and SBL take place, we particularly encourage topics that relate to Dutch art from any century but especially from Rembrandt, the School of Rembrandt and the religious works of Vincent van Gogh. Papers may be of a general nature or they may focus specifically on an individual painting, for example on a painting from one of the two major galleries in Amsterdam, the Rijksmuseum (www.rijksmuseum.nl) or the Van Gogh Museum (www.vangoghmuseum.nl).
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Bible and Visual Culture
Description: Some of the most engaging and creative insights into biblical narrative are found in paintings that adorn national and provincial galleries throughout Europe. They are a reminder that frequently our reading and understanding of biblical stories are influenced by our encounter with and response to the cultural, especially artistic, representations of a passage. One of the aims of the section, Bible and Visual Culture, is to locate distinctive and representative appropriations of biblical paintings in galleries across Europe, draw parallels between ways in which biblical texts engage the reader and biblical paintings the viewer, and to create methodologies that ensure that visual interpretations of the Bible play a central role in the 21st century in challenging (or supporting) traditional readings of biblical characters and plots. The Bible and Visual Culture Section also encourages explorations of the Bible and its influence in other visual media, such as sculpture, book illustration, film, advertising, street art and other aspects of popular culture. The benefit of such a research area is that it is multidisciplinary and makes use of insights from a range of disciplines including art history, psychology, gender studies, and postcolonial studies.
Call for papers: Papers are now invited for the Bible and Visual Culture seminar of the International SBL 2012. Papers should focus on topics that present an original, distinctive and creative visual interpretation of a biblical text, narrative or character.
In keeping with the seminar’s overall aim of exploring biblical works of art in the venue where the SBL takes place, we particularly encourage topics that relate to Dutch art from any century but especially from Rembrandt, the School of Rembrandt and the religious works of Vincent van Gogh. Papers may be of a general nature or they may focus specifically on an individual painting, for example on a painting from one of the two major galleries in Amsterdam, the Rijksmuseum (www.rijksmuseum.nl) or the Van Gogh Museum (www.vangoghmuseum.nl).
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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: The steering committee of the “Bible in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Traditions” opens the Call for Papers for the 2012 Annual Meeting in the fields of critical study of the role of the Bible in eastern Christianity, past and present. 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. The committee would like to encourage scholars to offer papers examining exegetical, theological, history of religions, socio-historical, literary, history of interpretation, and methodological questions.
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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: This unit will sponsor two sessions at the 2012 meeting in Amsterdam. The intention of the first session is to concentrate on the connection between Wisdom and Law. Special attention may be given to the interrelation between Egyptian traditions and biblical ethics. Interested scholars, who focus on this area of studies, are invited to present paper proposals.
The second session is an open session in which scholars may present papers on a range of topics affecting the interpretation of particular biblical laws and law collections or relate such laws and law collections to other legal corpora from the ancient Eastern world.
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Biblical Characters in the Three Traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)
Description: This seminar approaches biblical literature through its most famous and pivotal characters, for it is around them that the subsequent biblical story is organized and arranged. Moreover, these characters have come to enjoy a life and fame that extends well beyond the basic Old Testament, Miqra, and New Testament, and even into the Qur’an and Islamic oral and written texts. As was demonstrated at the recent Tartu seminar, Samaritan texts and traditions (unfamiliar to many) have a contribution to make to the seminar as well. Our work seeks, among other goals, to facilitate a meaningful and informed dialogue between Jews, Christians, Muslims and Samaritans by providing both an open forum at annual conferences, and by providing through our publications a written reference library to consult. A further goal is to encourage and provide a forum in which new scholarly talent in biblical and related studies may be presented.
Call for papers: Biblical Matriarchs: "Arose, arose a mother in Israel"
The Biblical Characters in the Three Traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) Seminar will organize four sessions of invited papers. This seminar aims to discuss the many women in the scriptures, many of whom are named and their activities characterized along side the men in the stories. Some of them are unnamed and their activities are mentioned secondarily to the main events. We accept the notion that women are the pillar of society: "She openeth her mouth with wisdom and her tongue is the law of kindness"(Prov. 31:26). The purpose of this seminar is to let biblical scholars and scholars of cognate fields to present their arguments and ideas and to challenge the audience with new interpretations.
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Biblical Criticism and Cultural Studies
Description: The goal of this unit is to pursue the intersection between the fields of cultural studies and early Christian studies. As such, the unit will encompass a broad variety of foci: the question of method and theory in cultural biblical criticism; the application of cultural analysis to biblical criticism and thus the academic tradition of reading; and the appeal to and deployment of early Christian texts and contexts across other traditions of reading, such as the religious-theological, the cultural-artistic, and the material-social—all broadly defined. This goal follows and expands upon two earlier incarnations: more recently, Critical Theory and Biblical Interpretation; originally, The Bible and Social Location, which ran from 2003-2004 and then changed to The Bible and Critical Theory.
Call for papers: For the 2012 International Meeting, the Section calls for proposals in the following areas, both of which represent the beginning of multi-year projects: (1) Liberationist-Materialist Criticism: papers that address a retrospective-constructive view of liberation hermeneutics at this point in time; and (2) Cultural Biblical Criticism: papers that address, from any number of ideological perspectives, the overall topic of Politics in the New Testament/the New Testament in Politics.
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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 Matthew's Gospel 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 Masculinities
Description: This unit explores expressions of masculinities in biblical literature, following the emergence of masculinities studies—which intersects queer, cultural, ethnic/racial, and postcolonial studies, to name but a few—at the turn of the twenty-first century and their recent advancements. The unit systematically reflects on what the insights arising from such studies can contribute to an understanding of the biblical writers' male ideology, seeks to tackle theoretical issues, and provides applications for, and limitations to, reading HB and NT texts through the prism of the masculinities question.
Call for papers: When, Where & How do "Real Men" Cry?
In this first session of the "biblical masculinities" consultation, the focus is on an essential aspect of masculinities in the biblical world(s), namely the question of where, when and in what form do men express their emotions resulting from physical pain and/or emotional anguish. The chairs of this session invite proposals for papers that are concerned with the construction of masculinities in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures that concentrate on this interrelationship. Papers should interact with current research into masculinities in antiquity and draw upon scholarly works on gender and emotionality.
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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 Biblical Theology Section will organize two sessions in Amsterdam.
For the first session, papers that will evaluate and engage with either "NT theologies" or "OT theologies" or again "theologies of the Hebrew Bible" from within the last two decades will be especially appreciated.
The second session will consist of papers invited on the topic "Biblical Theology: A Discipline with a History."
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Canonical Approaches to the Bible (EABS)
Description: The research group Canonical Approaches to the Bible focuses on the role of the Bible as Canon – an aspect considered as marginally or only a preliminary step to the actual exegesis by the mainstream of historical-critical science for a long time. The canonical approach associates the necessity to explore different shapes of canon (both diachronically and synchronically) as well as the significance of the different communities of faith and practice that emerge from the different shapes of canon. The “canonic quality of the Bible” is not a secondary attribute, as biblical texts come into existence as canon (i.e. highly relevant literature for a community) and for the later recipients, “canon is the primary context” (G. Steins). Canon thus describes literary, sociological and theological aspects of the biblical text. Historical questions are not blanked out; they quite contrary play a vital role as each aspect of canon can also be explored in its historicity. The research group gathers scientists both from Old and New Testament Studies who work on the different shapes and aspects of Canon.
Call for papers: Relationship(s) of the two parts of the Christian bible.For a long time, the discussion how the two parts of the Christian bible are related to each other was reserved to Systematic Theology. Just as the discourse was dominated by terms from dogmatic theology, in the exegetical debate ideological issues tended to be at stake [or: in the focus of attention?], e.g. reflections on covenant(s) or Jewish-Christian relations. The 2012 session of the EABS group “Canonical Approach to the Bible” wants to delineate the complexity and varieties of concepts how the writings that were later on canonized as the “New Testament” relate to “Scripture” (the Hebrew Bible) from a particularly exegetical point of view. Insights from the textual evidence (such as text-criticism or examination of different manuscripts) are as welcome as socio-historical examinations or contributions from the perspective of social/cultural memory theory. It is of particular interest how communities who regarded Jesus as Israel’s messiah dealt with the Hebrew Scriptures and constructed their Jewish identity/identities on its base. Exemplary investigations of how New Testament texts are dealing with Scripture are welcome. Regarding the enormous impact of the canonization of the two-part Christian bible, questions of Wirkungsgeschichte come into play as well. How do different Christian communities today deal with the texts of each part of the Christian canon? The contemporary perspective ought not to be neglected: Informed by the variety of concepts how the Hebrew Scriptures were read in the first four centuries and the Wirkungsgeschichte of the Christian canon we would also like to take a look at the problem in which way(s) the relation of both parts of the canon can be expressed in a theologically and exegetically valid manner today.
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Comparative Studies of Literature from the Persian and Hellenistic Periods
Description: This section, titled Historical Books (Hebrew Bible) through 2011, encourages comparative studies of literature from the Persian and Hellenistic Periods in order to map the common trends (theological; socio-psychological; rhetorical; etc.) occurring in historiographical (biblical; apocryphal; extra-biblical), prophetic and wisdom literature of the period.
Call for papers: The section "Comparative Studies of Literature from the Persian and Hellenistic Periods" encourages scholars specializing in different textual corpora, but all working on literature from the Persian and Hellenistic periods, to collectively engage in research on the common literary, historiographical, theological, ideological, rhetorical or socio-psychological trends of the literature from these periods. We take the historiographical books of the Hebrew Bible as point of departure, and we want to solicit a series of comparative studies with this literature over the next six years (starting in 2012) at the SBL International Meetings.Our first session at the 2012 meeting in Amsterdam will bring historiographical and wisdom literature from the Persian and Hellenistic periods in comparison. At least two sessions (but possibly three, depending on the number of proposal submissions) will be organized. The first will be a joint session with the Wisdom Section in which a panel of four invited speakers (two specializing in historiographical, and the other two in wisdom literature of the Persian and Hellenistic periods) will be organized. One (or two) open sessions with five open slots (in each) will provide space for other scholars to come and share their comparative research between historiographical and wisdom literature in our collective effort to map out the trends in Persian and Hellenistic period literature. Proposals are therefore invited for these open slots.
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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: The unit invites papers in three categories: 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 inter-relationship 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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Contextual Interpretation of the Bible (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and New Testament)
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. We are especially interested in seemingly “marginal” (from the geographical, gender, faith, class, age, communal and so forth) aspects and in community.
Call for papers: This is an ongoing contracted publication project. Continuing to develop the book series TEXTS@CONTEXTS (Fortress Press; volume on GENESIS, published beginning of 2010 and THE GOSPEL OF MARK, 2010; volumes on EXODUS-DEUTERONOMY and MATTHEW at the Press), we seek papers on *contextual* biblical interpretations (readings of the Bible that take the present-day readers’ contexts into account in some meaningful way) in preparation for new volumes. Particularly (but not exclusively) we are interested in contextual readings of the following biblical books (focused on possible themes): LEVITICUS-NUMBERS (territory and identity, “law” and praxis, divine names, ritual and magic, taboos, gender and family), And SAMUEL-KINGS-CHRONICLES (hereditary monarchy and charisma, cities and temples, social institutions in the making, economy and gender relations); the Gospels of JOHN (identity, honor and shame, hybridity, community); 1 & 2 CORINTHIANS (unity, diversity, identity, cross, holiness, Lord’s Supper), and LUKE-ACTS. We shall also accept papers on other biblical texts, in preparation for future volumes, provided their contextual contents and methodologies are strong. All papers need to make explicit their "contextual" strategies (e.g. inculturation, inter[con]textualization, reading with others, liberation) and methodologies. For general format see http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/religious_studies/GBC/outline_comm.html.
Drafts of accepted papers will be published on Athalya Brenner's homepage (home.medewerker.uva.nl/a.brenner) a fortnight before the event. At the conference papers will be summarized, not read, and discussed extensively.
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Cultural Memory in Biblical Exegesis (EABS)
Description: Cultural memory is a way of dealing with the past in social and cultural life. It transposes the notion of memory as individuals' negotiation/representation of past experience (commemoration and amnesia) into the collective and cultural area. Cultural memory is the shared reproduction and recalling of what has been learned and retained, normally treated as 'the cultural heritage'. It also involves transformation and innovation. As opposed to individual memory, it brings social institutions and power into play. The notion of location and space ('landscape, ethnoscape, a mental map') is a major contributing factor in making the fragmented retrieved past a coherent whole. Cultural memories appear as palimpsests of material artifacts (including buildings and monuments), texts, pictures, and ritual practice. Especially relevant is the negotiation of 'cultural memory' between local identity and 'global' (imperial) culture in this area. The purpose of this programme is to study how memory is inscribed and embodied in biblical culture and its surrounding area. Papers presented will deal with methodological issues of cultural memory and address case studies of memory work in the area of biblical, ancient Near Eastern, and classical studies. Papers dealing with cultural memory can be presented in the field of textual studies, archaeology, or iconography, or as a combined study of the different fields.
Call for papers: The negotiation of authority, places, myth and memory.How do human beings orientate themselves in the world, and how do patterns of human orientation reveal themselves in Biblical and related literature? This question is the focus of the 2012 sessions. The hypothesis is that human orientation takes place in negotiations of authority and through claims to places, myths and memory. Therefore, the sessions will focus on human orientation in the landscape and related to the native land and other belongings, as well as the linguistic means of identity formation and orientation: the creation of foundational myths and memory, the shaping of authoritative and normative texts, etc.
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Digital Humanities in Biblical Studies & Early Jewish, and Christian Studies (EABS)
Description: This research group focuses on the transformation of biblical studies and early Jewish and Christian studies in the emerging digital culture. Initiated in the forties by Fr. Roberto Busa, the field of the Digital Humanities has been so called since 2001. This label is linked to several research centers, with PhD, master and bachelor programs. Biblical studies, Early Jewish and Christian studies are joining progressively this field of research, and the purpose of this seminar is to make visible and to stimulate this field in EABS. Two points have been chosen to start this research group in 2012: manuscripts and academic publishing and research.
Call for papers: In the 2012 meeting we plan to hold sessions on two topics:(1) Digital Humanities and Manuscripts, chaired by David Hamidovic and Claire Clivaz. The process of editing of ancient biblical manuscripts, as well as of editing other ancient Jewish and Christian manuscripts, has been transformed by the emerging digital culture. The digitalization of the manuscripts raises technical questions, such as automatic reading or multispectral imagery, and leads us to new challenges. How do we understand the "text" in the digital culture? In addition, the capacity to study and valorize online a specific manuscript challenges the notion of “critical edition”.?The seminar welcomes proposals of papers about ancient Hebrew, Greek or Arabic manuscripts - either literary or documentary texts - in the fields of biblical studies, early Jewish and Christian studies. We hope to receive papers either on technical points, or new interpretations with digitalization or data managing, or questions about the notion of “critical edition”. (2) Digital Humanities and Academic Publishing, chaired by Andrew Gregory and Claire Clivaz. In the digital culture, the way of looking after sources and data, as well as the way of academic publishing is drastically evolving. The seminar would like to investigate how digital tools and culture influence research on biblical studies, early Jewish and early?Christian studies, from scholarly and editing/publishing points of view. Topics such as new ways of publishing/editing (interactive publications, preprint peer-review, multimedia publications, etc.), or data research and management (the evaluation of websites in research, GIS tools, the use of Wikipedia in teaching, etc.) are welcomed, as well as papers on epistemological reflection on scholarship in the digital culture.
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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 Section sponsors three sub-projects: The first sub-project involves a study of all the major aspects of the economy in the ancient world, especially the Roman Empire. The second sub-project examines first-century early Christianity both in relationship to the ancient economy and in regard to its own economic aspects. The third sub-project does the same for Christianity in the second to the fifth centuries. Both synchronic and diachronic studies are encouraged, as are contributions focused on specific issues (such as money), texts, authors, themes, and events. Paper proposals for all three sub-projects are welcomed, especially those that focus on the economy of the Netherlands during the Roman Empire and/or make use of papyri, inscriptions, and other realia. Those submitting a proposal should designate in the Abstract the sub-project for which the paper should be considered.
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Early Christianity between Judaism and Hellenism (EABS)
Description: The constitutive idea of this seminar is to treat Early Christianity as a multivalent phenomenon, characterized by a fundamental diversity. The focus is on interchanges and interactions between various groups and movements in the ancient Mediterranean world that had an impact on the developing Christianity, including the interrelations between various Christian groupings. Papers offered to this seminar may focus on both canonical and non-canonical writings and may apply a variety of methods.
Call for papers: The focus in this year’s seminar is on the antagonism shown toward nascent Christianity. We especially invite papers that deal with martyrdom and / or non-Christian polemics. Papers dealing with other aspects in accord with the over-all theme of the seminar are also welcome.
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Early Judaism and Rabbinics (EABS)
Description: The Early Judaism and Rabbinics Research programme focuses on the Bible as discussed, received, interpreted, preached in Second temple and Rabbinic Judaism. The programme discusses the various literary texts involved in the on-going cultural adaptations of the Bible in Judaism from 3rd BCE to the beginning of the Muslim Era: Re-written Bible, Philo, Qumran, Midrash, Mishnah, Talmud and more. The programme encourages comparative examination of Jewish and Christian Literature. Late antique and medieval authors elaborated frequently in prose or in verse on biblical accounts. Prose compositions include exegetical and homiletic commentaries, theological treatises and the like. Verse elaborations on the Bible are generally less common and include liturgical poems, verse homilies and other types of sacred poetry. This duality is reflected very clearly in Jewish and Christian texts from Late Antiquity and the early middle Ages. Thus, for example, we have commentary on the book of Genesis in Midrash Genesis Rabbah and in the poetry of Yannai. Similarly, Romanos' Kontakia is comparable to contemporary treatises by Greek Church Fathers and even a more interesting case is Ephrem’s verse and prose homilies on various biblical themes. From a thematic viewpoint we would not expect big differences between verse and prose treatments of the same biblical themes yet even a brief survey reveals that the genre affects frequently the content of a composition.
Call for papers: Versifying Scripture: Dynamics between Poetry and Prose in Late Antiquity and the Middle AgesIn this section we seek to explore the dynamics between verse and prose compositions from a broad perspective. We are interested in questions concerning the literary and cultural aspects of the different genres, the affect of the intended audience of a given text on its rhetoric and style and so on. We hope to include in the section case-study presentations alongside theoretical discussions of the bigger questions pertaining to the subject. Additionally, we plan a textual workshop that will engage its participants in a hand-on analysis of texts in verse and prose on a given biblical theme. Among the questions that relate to the dynamics between verse and prose are the following: - What are the differences and the similarities between the representation of biblical accounts and figures in liturgical poetry and in prose commentaries?
- What is the impact of the performative context of texts on the way they treat and represent biblical themes?
- Are there differences between prose and verse texts within the oeuvre of one author and if so what could we learn from that?
We seek submissions that deal with these questions or similar ones from a variety of disciplinarian and methodological approaches and encourage especially comparative discussions of Jewish and Christian texts. In recent years we witness a surge of interest in the dynamics between verse and prose and we hope that this section would provide a stimulating opportunity for the discussion of questions concerning this matter.
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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: Proposals are invited for papers that engage with different aspects of the ecological readings of the biblical texts including the interpretation of specific texts and methodology. (For examples, see, Habel and Trudinger, Exploring Ecological Hermeneutics, SBL 2008). Encouragement is given for papers with themes that link to local ecological issues (e.g., relation with land and sea, and their “management” - land "reclamation", floods, etc).
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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. A special session will be devoted to analysis of the artifacts in the private collections of Chaim Kaufman. Meir Lubetski , Baruch College, CUNY. Meir.Lubetski@baruch.cuny.edu. 646 312 4212.
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Epistle to the Hebrews
Description: This unit is designed to encourage conversation about the historical, hermeneutical, and theological issues raised in Hebrews. Special attention will be given to papers that engage topics relevant to the portion of the Epistle under consideration each year.
Call for papers: Proposals are welcome for papers on any topic related to study of Hebrews. A special session with prearranged papers will address key issues in the interpretation of Hebrews 1-2.
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European Research Centre for Ancient East-Mediterranean Cultures (CAMC)
Description: The European Research Center for Ancient East-Mediterranean Cultures (CAMC) is structured as a joint venture between the University of Tartu, Estonia, the University of Münster, Germany, and the University of Helsinki, Finland, and has its seat at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Tartu. Juridically it is a Consortium of the following chairs / departments:
1. Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Tartu,
2. Old Testament, Tartu,
3. New Testament, Tartu
4. Classical Philology, Tartu,
5. Ancient History, Tartu,
Besides the academic research and teaching at these three Universities the CAMC has officially the status of the "Baltic Branch of the Fondazione Mediterraneo", Naples, and is thus one of the leading Estonian-German bodies which is responsible for the cultural and social co-operation between Estonian and German academic institutions and the Anna Lindh foundation for the dialogue between cultures, the Swedish Institute, both located in Alexandria and the Fondazione Mediterraneo in Naples, Italy. Its domicile is located at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Tartu, Estonia.
The objectives of CAMC are established as set out in the statutes of both, the University of Tartu and the Fondazione Mediterraneo, Naples, which will be proposed to the institutions of the partnership. The main objectives are generally:
-to identify, develop and promote areas of cultural and historical convergence between the countries and peoples of the Mediterranean on the academic level.
-to hold a close and regular dialogue between Mediterranean academic institutions and those of Estonia, Finland and Germany, by promoting the understanding of Mediterranean culture.
-to serve as a catalyst for promoting cultural cooperation and mobility between Mediterranean and Finno-Ugric speaking people on different levels (e.g. scholar, student exchange, etc.) targeting in particular the young and activities relevant to young academic people.
Call for papers: The European Research Center for Ancient East-Mediterranean Cultures (CAMC) is structured as a joint venture between the University of Tartu, Estonia, the University of Münster, Germany, and the University of Helsinki, Finland, and has its seat at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Tartu. Juridically it is a Consortium of the following chairs / departments:
1. Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Tartu,
2. Old Testament, Tartu,
3. New Testament, Tartu
4. Classical Philology, Tartu,
5. Ancient History, Tartu,
Besides the academic research and teaching at these three Universities the CAMC has officially the status of the "Baltic Branch of the Fondazione Mediterraneo", Naples, and is thus one of the leading Estonian-German bodies which is responsible for the cultural and social co-operation between Estonian and German academic institutions and the Anna Lindh foundation for the dialogue between cultures, the Swedish Institute, both located in Alexandria and the Fondazione Mediterraneo in Naples, Italy. Its domicile is located at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Tartu, Estonia.
The objectives of CAMC are established as set out in the statutes of both, the University of Tartu and the Fondazione Mediterraneo, Naples, which will be proposed to the institutions of the partnership. The main objectives are generally:
-to identify, develop and promote areas of cultural and historical convergence between the countries and peoples of the Mediterranean on the academic level.
-to hold a close and regular dialogue between Mediterranean academic institutions and those of Estonia, Finland and Germany, by promoting the understanding of Mediterranean culture.
-to serve as a catalyst for promoting cultural cooperation and mobility between Mediterranean and Finno-Ugric speaking people on different levels (e.g. scholar, student exchange, etc.) targeting in particular the young and activities relevant to young academic people.
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European Seminar in Historical Methodology (EABS)
Description: The European Seminar on Methodology in Israel's History (or, more briefly, the European Seminar in Historical Methodology) is an independent seminar (membership by invitation only) which will be holding sessions at the EABS meeting. The aim of the Seminar is to address the lack of methodological debate among most biblical historians by focusing on the principles and techniques of ancient and modern historiography about ancient Israel. After its initial debate on how far a history of ancient Israel can be written, and what sort of history, it has focused on particular historical periods or events, assessing the evidence available and considering the possibilities of a modern critical description. As its 17th meeting in 2012, the ESHM will draw a close to its regular meetings. Although we might get together for certain special discussions in the future, we feel that we have accomplished our main purpose and wish to pass the torch to a younger generation of biblical scholars who work in history. The meeting this year will have a different format, in that short papers will be read in the meeting itself. Members will each give a presentation of their views about writing the history of Israel (or the Southern Levant) and reflect on what they have learned since the Seminar first met in 1996. Once short papers are given by long-term members, a panel discussion is planned in which members of the audience will have the opportunity to put questions to Seminar members.
Call for papers: Topic for 2012 Amsterdam Meeting: Conclusions about Writing HistoryThis is a closed group (papers by invitation only). Members of the Seminar include: Hans Barstad, Edinburgh; Bob Becking, Utrecht; Ehud Ben Zvi, Edmonton; Joseph Blenkinsopp, Notre Dame; Philip Davies, Sheffield; Diana Edelman, Sheffield; Philippe Guillaume, Bern; Axel Knauf, Bern; Niles Peter Lemche, Copenhagen; Nadav Na'aman, Tel Aviv; Thomas Thompson, Copenhagen. Previous publications of the Seminar: Can a History of Israel Be Written?, 1997; Leading Captivity Captive, 1998; Did Moses Speak Attic?, 2001; Like a Bird in a Cage, 2003; Good Kings and Bad Kings: The Kingdom of Judah in the Seventh Century BCE, 2005; Ahab Agonistes: The Rise and Fall of the Omri Dynasty, 2007; Israel in Transition: From Late Bronze II to Iron IIA (c. 1250-850 BCE): Volume 1 The Archaeology, 2008; Israel in Transition: From Late Bronze II to Iron IIA (c. 1250-850 BCE): Volume 2 The Text, 2010; Enquire of the Former Age, forthcoming 2011.
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Exile and Identity in the Hebrew Bible and Near Oriental Literature and Policy (EABS)
Description: Language and ideology of exile and deportation play considerable roles in all the books of the Hebrew Bible. Population transference and creation of identities were widespread means of subjugation and control of conquered peoples all over the ancient Near East in the first millennium BCE. It affected Palestine as much as it affected other areas from the ninth-second century BCE. The session seeks to explore literary, historical, political, social and religious terminology and practise of exile as metaphors and reality in the Hebrew Bible and Near Eastern literature of the first millennium BCE.
Call for papers: Papers will be invited, but members are also welcome to submit proposals.
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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. It provides a forum for scholars to explore rapidly expanding conceptions of "Israelite religion." Contributors interpret biblical traditions and artifactual discoveries in Israel in the light of comparable traditions and material evidences in neighboring countries.
Call for papers: Continuing the discussion of deities in Israelite and Northwestern Semitic religions inaugurated in 2011, the theme for this year is “Permutations of Astarte.” We invite proposals that spotlight Astarte’s manifestations and worship in Mediterranean religions from 1000-332 BCE. Several powers play significant roles in her development: Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, and also perhaps Israel. One line of questioning might consider Astarte from the point of view of gender, roles, and status in diverse pantheons. Another approach could focus on names and avatars specific to certain regions. (For example, she was called Ba‘alat at Byblos and Tanit at Carthage). This approach might emphasize linguistic and onomastic evidences, or deal with facets of Phoenician or Phoenician-Punic religion. A third approach might detail aspects of her cult, including temple personnel."Expressions of Religion in Israel" will have both open and invited sessions.
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Families and Children in the Ancient World
Description: This unit provides a forum for presenting and discussing issues related to families, children and biblical literature. The section is open to presentations on the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Testament and early Christian, Rabbinic and Greco-Roman material from a variety of perspectives and using a variety of methods.
Call for papers: At the SBL in Amsterdam we plan two sessions. The first will be a joint session with a EABS group, “Politization of Bibles and Biblization of Politics: Brotherhood[s]/Fraternity, Sisterhood[s]/Sorority”. After earlier explorations of how biblical “families” are largely defined by scholars as well as “ordinary” readers according to their contemporaneous needs and wishes, our inquiry is extended into one aspect of familial reality and metaphor: fraternity and sorority, brotherhood and sisterhood. Our goal in this session is to trace how, why, when and by whom kinship terms get abstracted into other social and ideological realities, already in the Jewish and Christian bibles and beyond them. Paper proposals are invited on and around these topics, both in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament. Papers in dialogue with postcolonial discourse, queer studies, empire studies, international relations studies, subaltern studies, and related methodological-theoretical approaches will be particularly welcome. (For more detail, cf http://www.eabs.net/rgroupDetails.aspx?ID=58).
The other will be a an open session in which we encourage submissions ona broad range of topics relating to children and families. We particularly encourage papers relating to issues of disability/illness, whether in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, Early Christianity, or the Greco-Roman world in general. Submissions from a variety of perspectives, such as gender, medicine, archaeology and literature, are very much welcome.
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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: For the 2012 SBL IM in Amsterdam, the Feminist Interpretations unit will organize four sessions. 1) Open call: We invite papers on methodological issues specifically relating to exegesis in feminist interpretation and gender studies. Papers are invited on divergent methodologies (e.g., historical critical, narratology, intertextuality…) and their relevance for gender studies. 2) Invitations will comprise a session on feminist exegesis and cultural studies, specifically on the reception history of gender relevant themes and texts of the Bible. 3) Open call: Feminist exegesis and traditional exegesis - two separate fields? After more than 40 years of scientific feminist exegesis there are still publications of traditional exegesis reading not even any of the publications done by women with gender awareness. This session calls for papers that reflect the relationship of feminist and traditional exegesis and the lack of reception of Gender studies, especially in research done based on historical critical methods, but also gaps in feminist exegesis concerning themes or methods. 4) Open call: Junior section of gender relevant exegesis. In this section we expect papers of young researchers presenting their studies.
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Forced-Return Migrations (Exile-Return) in Biblical Literature
Description: The forced migration and return migrations periods (exile-return) have been prominent for biblical literature. This new International Consultation fosters research and dialogue on displacement and resettlement issues pertaining to the 6th and 5th centuries B.C.E. We welcome traditional historical, literary, redactional, sociological, post-, paleoclimateological, theological and others methods toward a better understanding of these periods. Studies on the metaphor of exile or forced and return migration studies: im/migration, intergeneration, acculturation, assimilation, transnationalism, development induced displacement, internal displacement, refugee, repatriation, disaporic homecoming, ethnic return studies—are highly encouraged.
Call for papers: In Amsterdam, we are planning several sessions. First, we are calling for papers that deal with "exile" or forced migrations in the Hebrew Bible, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, DSS, and the New Testament, including Greco-Roman literature. Papers may consider the "concept" of exile, historical issues, or methodological approaches to the period. In addition "exile" or "displacement-resettlement" in relation to the "land of Israel" are also welcomed. Secondly, we are also calling for papers that deal with texts of the post-exilic or "return migrations" period; tropes or themes that deal with interpretation of biblical prophecies in relation to return and redemption or more broadly, how return is understood or interpreted in the Hebrew Bible and/or Second Temple Literature. These papers may also focus on issues of methodology and the application of that method.
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Gender Criticism and the Bible (EABS)
Description: Gender criticism is a rapidly growing field, with an important development of new theoretical perspectives. From focus solely on women in biblical texts and in the world “behind” the texts, attention has today shifted to critical analyses of gender discourses, focusing on both masculinity and femininity. The field today also includes queer studies, where an awareness of the instability in constructions of gender and sexuality opens for new readings.
Call for papers: Gender Criticism and the Bible provides a forum for gender criticism in the EABS, and especially for papers contributing to the theoretical development on the field. We welcome both Hebrew Bible and New Testament scholars as well as scholars from related disciplines (Jewish studies, Early Christianity, the Graeco Roman World, etc).
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Graeco-Roman Society and the New Testament (EABS)
Description: The research group will focus a) on various aspects of the social life of the Graeco-Roman world (e.g. household networks and religion, kinship, friendship and other relationships, slavery, prostitution, social and geographical mobility, social groups, everyday life in Graeco-Roman cities etc.) that consist part of the socio-historical context of the New Testament texts and could therefore provide insight into them, and b) on artifacts from the Graeco-Roman world (e.g. inscriptions, papyri and archeological findings) that can shed light to various aspects of the New Testament texts and events.
Call for papers: Papers that present interdisciplinary approaches to the topics under discussion and offer new insights and interpretations of New Testament texts placing them within their socio-historical context are welcome.Two sessions are scheduled for the meeting of 2012 in Amsterdam: - an open session where papers on any topic within the range of the interests of the research group as described above are welcome
- a session focused on “Inscriptions and the New Testament”. Inscriptions have always provided useful evidence not only for understanding the New Testament vocabulary but also for illuminating events and situations described or implied in the New Testament texts. The ever growing epigraphic data provides the biblical scholarly research with a valuable pool of information that can be used through interdisciplinary readings in reconstructing the socio-historical context of the NT texts and the early Christian communities.
Therefore, papers that deal a) with methodological issues regarding the constructive use of the epigraphic data in the NT exegesis, b) with the evaluation of the work done in this field by previous scholars (e.g. A. Deissmann, R. Horsley etc), c) with particular cases of utilization of the epigraphic data in the lexicographical research of the NT, and d) with the use of the inscriptions in illuminating the social, political or religious background of the NT, are welcome.
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Healthcare and Disability in the Ancient World
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 plans to have at least two sessions at the 2012 meeting. One of these will be an invited session focused on the topic of the categorization of disabilities in the Bible and its surrounding cultures, with special attention given to the categories of blindness, deafness and muteness. The other session(s) will be open, and paper proposals are welcome on any aspect of the study of health and disability related to the Bible. Paper proposals that attend to the same issues as the invited session - categorization, blindness, deafness, and muteness - are encouraged, though any proposals relevant to the general topic of the Unit are welcome.
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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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Hellenistic Judaism
Description: This section is dedicated to the study of all aspects of Judaism related to Hellenistic times. The Hellenistic period includes its chronological, cultural, and linguistic dimensions.
Call for papers: A centre of intellectual and religious tolerance, Amsterdam has traditionally promoted diversity and attracted radical intellectuals. In many ways it mirrors the humanism and multiculturalism of the Hellenistic world. For the 2012 ISBL conference, we welcome all papers that address the diversity of Hellenistic Judaism. Those papers that focus on underrepresented groups and historically neglected opinions are especially welcome. Further, in honour of the great Dutch painting tradition, we would also accept papers on the legacy of Hellenistic Judaism expressed in visual art.
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Israel and the Production and Reception of Authoritative Books in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods (EABS)
Description: The goal of this research programme is to explore the social processes, ideological matrices, and matters of identity formation involved in the production and use of authoritative texts in the Persian and Early Hellenistic periods. How the various books in the Hebrew Bible have been shaped in order to serve as guidelines and authoritative illustrations for behaviour for the emerging Jewish communities in Yehud or in the diaspora in the Persian and early Hellenistic periods; How some books were intended to socialize their readers by constructing shared images of the past; How authoritative books shaped and reflected a system of shared sites of memory that contributed to self-understanding and social cohesion; How and why books became authoritative and what 'authoritative' may mean in this regard; Anything related to the production and reception of authoritative books in the Persian and Early Hellenistic period, from socio-political considerations to studies of the discursive environment within which the books emerged or read and reread.
Call for papers: Thematic sessions may deal with individual books, collections of books; or may focus on some aspect of the production and reception of the relevant books. Papers will be invited, but members are also welcome to submit proposals.The theme for 2012 is "Cities as Sites of Memory in the Persian and Early Hellenistic Period. What kind of memories were evoked by specific cities or by physical aspects, quarters, or structures of a city more generally? In which ways did these memories impact the social mindscape of the community? The deadline for submitting proposals for this session is Sept. 30, 2011. Depending on the response, we will decide whether to hold two sessions on this topic or only one. Although several papers will be invited, there will be sufficient space for new proposals and for a general discussion on the topic. This session follows in the footsteps of our very successful 2011 session on the matter, which included papers devoted to Jerusalem, Tyre, Samaria, Shechem, and Babyon. A volume will emerge from these sessions. For more information about this Research Programme please go to http://www.eabs.net/rgroupDetails.aspx?ID=21.
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Israel in the Ancient Near East (EABS)
Description: This research group is designed to provide a common forum for scholars investigating issues of religion, language and culture in the ancient Near East and welcomes participants from across the range of subjects and time periods.
Call for papers: The Israel in the Ancient Near East research group announces an open call for papers for the 2012 meeting in Amsterdam. The sessions will be running jointly with the Ancient Near East program unit of SBL. There will be a general session as well as a session focussed on priests and priesthood in the ancient Near East.As this is a joint conference with the SBL International Meeting, abstracts should be submitted via the SBL website to the Israel in the Ancient Near East unit no later than 1 February 2012. NB: Abstracts longer than 250 words will not be considered.
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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: We invite submission of papers of any topic related to Johannine literature, encompassing the Fourth Gosepl and the three Johannine letters. A session will focus on the role of culture and history in biblical interpretation of the Johannine literature.
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Joint Meeting of the Oudtestamentisch Werkgezelschap in Nederland en België and Society for Old Testament Study
Description: The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) will organize the 2012 SBL International Meeting July 22-26 in conjunction with the 2012 annual conference of the European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS) and the triennial joint meeting of the Oudtestamentisch Werkgezelschap in Nederland en België (OTW) and the Society for Old Testament Study (SOTS). With delight the organizations herald this congress as a unique opportunity to advance biblical scholarship, to facilitate broad and open dialogue, and to demonstrate the strength of global collegiality.
Call for papers:
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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: We accept papers in Biblical interpretation and other aspects of the literatures of ancient, medieval, and modern Judaisms that intersect with the Hebrew Bible. One session will be dedicated to Jewish Bible interpretation. A second session may focus on the region surrounding Amsterdam, specifically the region’s role in biblical interpretation, translation, culture, and history.
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Material Culture and the “New Testament World”: New Finds and Insights
Description: Discoveries from the material world of the ancient Mediterranean are continuously transforming our perception of early Christian groups and their interaction with the societies they lived in. The diversity of early Christian milieux corresponds to the complexity of cultures and ways of life in the thriving cities and territories of the ancient world. “New Testament Word” is therefore not meant to treat NT texts or communities as something special or isolated, it rather emphasizes that the NT originated in a world whose material remains are as necessary to study as its textual expressions – each according to the best suitable methods. Papers in this session should help open the eyes for such diversity and complexity and cover topics from around the Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean.
Call for papers: We will organize a single session for which papers on sanctuaries, holy places and “holy spaces” in public or private contexts are especially welcome: methodological considerations as well as case studies on sites and texts.
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Metaphors in the Hebrew Bible (EABS)
Description: The research group on metaphors has been working for ten years now. We are interested to analyze metaphors in the Hebrew Bible under various methodological approaches. In 2012 we will turn our attention to metaphors of fear/sadness and joy. To look for such metaphors brings us to a new endeavor exchanging ideas about how to express emotions.
Call for papers: We invite papers dealing with any sort of metaphors as expressions for fear or joy regardless the Biblical passage or scripture. Papers on metaphors of emotions are welcome.
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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: There is no special focus to this unit. Session focus depends on the presented papers.
The range of papers that can be proposed spreds far: from further developement or criticism of the traditional methods and social criticism to special hermeneutical interests like linguistics and feminism.
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Mind, Society, and Tradition
Description: This program unit aims to initiate cross-disciplinary theory-forming in biblical studies and a dialogue between social-scientific methods and the so-called cognitive science of religion. The cognitive science of religion is a new multidisciplinary field that emerged in the 1990s. It examines 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 in general, as well as the emergence and development of religious movements, sometimes challenging established theories in classical anthropology and comparative religion. These developments have potential relevance for biblical studies. The program unit welcomes papers using social-scientific or cognitive approaches, or their combination. Of particular interest are studies focusing on the 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. 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: At the 2012 International Meeting, the Mind, Society and Tradition program unit will be organizing two sessions. The first will focus on the theme “Mind and Society in the Biblical World: Toward Integrative Models.” For this session, we are encouraging proposals which focus especially on the interaction between various cultural/social approaches and (broadly understood) cognitive theories. Relevant issues include the relationship between cultural and social memory, theories of social cognition and learning, discussions of the cognitive turn and constructivism, attempts to develop and apply various socio-cognitive, cultural-cognitive or biocultural models for the study of culture and religion, but other suggestions dealing with the interaction of cognition and culture/society are welcome, as well.
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: Paper proposals are welcome on all topics appropriate for the Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section, but we especially encourage the submission of paper proposals on the topic of Sethian gnosis and Sethian texts, particularly the Apocryphon of John, the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, and the Gospel of Judas. The Section will be introduced by a presentation on Codex Tchacos and the Gospel of Judas by Marvin Meyer.
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Nonbiblical Dead Sea Scrolls: Themes and Perspectives
Description: This unit provides a forum for scholars to engage in critical discussion concerning the non-biblical Dead Sea Scrolls. The consultation encourages presentations that employ diverse methodological and theoretical perspectives on the Scrolls with the hope that consequent interpretations will be fresh and appropriate. Such a forum will also allow scholars to employ insights from various disciplines, including but not limited to, the social sciences, critical theory, literary and cultural studies, intertextuality and early biblical interpretation, and other thematic studies, and to consider the methodological issues associated with this task.
Call for papers: Varieties of Religious Experience in the Scrolls.
This unit welcomes proposals for papers on the non-biblical Dead Sea Scrolls and encourages critical discussion from a wide range of disciplines and perspectives. This session focuses on religious experience and related phenomena in the Scrolls. Topics under consideration include, but are not limited to, aspects of prayer, ritual, religious expression and sensory imagery, as well as the application of psychological and cognitive scientific approaches to the non-biblical Scrolls. Scholars are also invited to reflect on theoretical and methodological concerns related to the study of religion and its expression in the Scrolls.
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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 this program unit will concentrate on the TANHUMA corpus. Tanhuma is a wide and diverse corpus of literature created by rabbinic culture in the Land of Israel roughly at the same period as the Babylonian Talmud. Although the Tanhuma was a wide spread and dominant literary corpus, it fell into oblivion at some point during the following centuries, ‘losing’ the place to the Talmud in Medieval Europe, and to other more ‘classical’ midrashim in modern scholarship.
The aim of these series of session of the SBL is to call attention again to the Tanhuma corpus, and to the culture that it represents.
At the first stage we would like to keep the scope of presentations as wide as possible, tackling all the aspects that can be studied about the Tanhuma; here are some possible topics:
* A definition or description of the Tanhuma corpus
* The poetics of the Tanhuma
* The Tanhuma and the Babylonian Talmud
* Tanhuma’s journey into Europe
* The representation of the Tanhuma in the Geniza
* The culture which is represented in the Tanhuma
* Non-rabbinic influences on the Tanhuma
* Halacha and custom in Tanhuma
* Sources of the Tanhuma
* The place of the Tanhuma on the Jewish-rabbinic cultural continuum.
The idea is to invite the scholars that are working on the Tanhuma to participate regularly and discuss and learn this particular corpus, and hopefully come up with good quality publications, or even a common project.
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Paragraphing in Modern Bible Translations and Ancient Manuscripts (EABS)
Description: Previous research has shown that the delimitation of pericopes, verses, strophes and other sections determines exegesis to a large extent. In a new seminar with a widened scope attention will be paid to paragraphing in modern translations (especially European translations) and in ancient biblical texts (Hebrew Bible and New Testament) and translations (e.g. Septuagint, Vulgate, Peshitta). Recent overviews show that there is hardly any consensus among commentators and translators with regard to the delimitation of pericopes in the Bible. Previous research has established that it is very helpful to compare modern paragraphing with the delimitations found in ancient manuscripts. Examples of such research abound already, not only in many contributions to the series Pericope (Scripture as Written and Read in Antiquity, see http://www.pericope.net), but also in other works, like Jack Lundbom’s commentary on Jeremiah in The Anchor Bible, as well as a recent work by Marjo Korpel and Johannes de Moor, The Silent God (Leiden 2011). The latter work discusses several examples of blank spaces in Hebrew texts that seem to coincide with significant rhetorical silences.
Call for papers: All scholars interested in paragraphing in modern translations and ancient manuscripts (e.g. those working on a commentary or on a translation of the Bible) are invited to join this new seminar. Collecting delimitation data (both ancient and modern) may be beneficial to future publications of the participants. For the EABS/SBL meeting in Amsterdam 2012 we welcome especially paper proposals that focus on paragraphing in European Bible Translations.The seminar will have invited papers and is also open to paper proposals. Scholars are invited to send in their proposals and ideas to Marjo Korpel: m.korpel@uu.nl.
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Pastoral and Catholic Epistles
Description: The section encourages the study of the historical, hermeneutical and theological issues raised by the Pastoral and Catholic Epistles.
Call for papers: The section encourages the study of the historical, hermeneutical and theological issues raised by the Pastoral and Catholic Epistles. In this session we will privilege the exploration of at least one of the following intertextual connections: (1) between letters within the corpus known as the Catholic Epistles (e.g. 1 Peter and James); (2) a particular Catholic Epistle (e.g. 1 Peter) and Paul’s letters (e.g. Romans), the Jesus Tradition, and/or the Hebrew Bible; (3) or a particular letter within the Catholic Epistles and a text within the wider Greco-Roman context.
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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. Papers on these questions are invited.
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Pauline Literature (EABS)
Description: The seminar “Pauline Literature” was initiated by members of the research group Hermeneutics, Exegesis and Theology of the corpus Paulinum and the corpus Johanneum. It has a strong historical-critical focus including material evidence from the first century world of Paul. At the same time, this seminar wants to foster dialogue between historical and contemporary perspectives, between exegesis and present day scientific studies.
Call for papers: At the 2012 meeting in Amsterdam which is a joint meeting with SBL International the research group "Pauline Literature" is aiming to have three meetings:Session 1 will be a general session with an open call for papers from any part of Pauline Literature. Paper proposals with an abstract of approximately 300 words may be addressed to Reimund Bieringer at Reimund.Bieringer@theo.kuleuven.be. Session 2 will deal with the topic “Ritual and Pauline Theology in Early Christian Meals.” Paper proposals with an abstract of approximately 300 words may be addressed to Reimund Bieringer at Reimund.Bieringer@theo.kuleuven.be. Session 3 will focus on the topic “From Corinth to Amsterdam: Religious Plurality in Paul’s Time and Ours.” This is a closed session with invited speakers from biblical exegesis and religious studies. The papers will be circulated beforehand.
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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: (1) We invite proposals for one open session on any topic related to the Pentateuch / Torah, consistent with our usual focus on transmission-historical issues or the linkage of that area of inquiry with other methodologies. (2) We also invite papers for one session concerning the book of Numbers. Any and all methodological approaches are welcome, but especially welcome are transmission-historical papers. (3) In recognition of being in Amsterdam this year, we wish to invite papers for another session on the topic “Early Critical Biblical Scholarship on the Pentateuch: From Spinoza to Welhausen.” Historically oriented papers on the early Dutch and German critical Pentateuchal scholars, beginning with Spinoza, and/or their methods and results are acceptable. In addition, papers either employing or critiquing these early critical methodologies and/or results are acceptable. (4) We also invite papers involving feminist or gendered perspectives on the Pentateuch, esp. the Pentateuch legal materials, for yet another session.
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Persian Period
Description: This seminar focuses on the history and literature of Yehud in the context of the Persian period, 539-333 BCE. We have particular interests in imperialism and its effects, pluralism within the period, practices of religion within the household, and the development of temple, cult, and canon.
Call for papers: This group focuses on the history and literature of Yehud in the context of the Persian period, 539-333 BCE. We have particular interests in imperialism and its effects, pluralism within the period, practices of religion within the household, and the development of temple, cult, and canon. This year we will devote at least one session to papers dealing with criteria for distinguishing texts from the early, middle, and late Persian period. Proposals for this and other topics relevant to the goals of the consultation are welcomed.
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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 anticipated, both consisting of a mix of invited and open papers.The theme of the first session is 'Body and Space / Body in Space / Body as Space.' Papers investigating the experience of the body (or the self) in space and/or as space from different perspectives will be welcomed. Contributions from diverse fields, e.g. narratological, critical-spatial, feminist, sociological and psychological perspectives, will be considered.The theme of the second session is 'Everyday Space in the Ancient World.' Papers investigating the everyday, or ordinary, spaces encountered, or implied, in ancient texts will be welcomed. How are such spaces (e.g. home, agora, etc.) and pathways represented in their own right, and how are they placed in relation to sacred spaces (which may also be everyday spaces themselves)? What does the investigation of everyday spaces tell us about the formation of identity in the ancient world? Again contributions from diverse fields will be considered. Contributions from the field of archaeology will be welcomed as well.
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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: It is a valuable outcome of stimulating and interactive seasons that students continue to discuss and argue around the topic outside of session times. Therefore, this year we are looking for 10 minute - ideally provocative or questioning - submissions on the topic: Behaviour and Roles of Learners in Collaborative Learning Sessions.
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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: Because ISBL is meeting jointly with the European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS), Oudtestamentish Werkgezelschap in Nederland en België (OTW) and the Society for Old Testament Study (SOTS), the co-chairs invite proposals on any area of research related to the Prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible: interpretation, reception, history, or criticism.
For one session, we will be meeting jointly with the "Vision and Dream Accounts in the HB, NT, Early Judaism, and Late Antiquity" program unit (EABS).
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Psychological Hermeneutics of Biblical Themes and Texts
Description: Psychological Criticism complements approaches that consider texts and their impact/s from the perspective of the reader, alongside literary, rhetorical and theological approaches, identifying how texts operate within the minds of their readers, or portray thoughts and motivations of the characters in their narratives.
Call for papers: 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. This year we are focussing on:
- The function and meaning of dreams in biblical literature
- Psychological hermeneutics of stories and characters in Mark
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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: The special theme for 2012, the 60th anniversary of the discovery of Cave 4, is the nature of “the library” at Qumran. The overarching question we wish to consider is whether or not the documents from the different caves make up a library of a particular group or another type of collection. We are seeking papers that address questions on the character of the collection of texts, particularly concerning diversity and homogeneity, intentionality, origins, and ideology. The session will be a mix of invited speakers and other participants. We will also have an open session for which we welcome proposals on a variety of topics related to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran.
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Quran and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective
Description: This unit seeks to foster comparative research on the Quran and Muslim culture, discourse, and devotional life. We encourage papers and panels that examine the Quran and Islamic tradition in the wider context of the history of the Western monotheisms; explore Islam’s profound historical relationships with Judaism, Christianity, and the biblical heritage; and promote comparative inquiry and intercommunal dialogue more generally.
Call for papers: The Quran and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective unit of the ISBL welcomes proposals for both individual papers and pre-arranged panels at the international meeting at Universiteit von Amsterdam, July 22-26, 2012.
Suggested topics might include, but are not limited to: parallels to biblical, Jewish, and Christian tradition in the Quran and Islamic literature; the relationships between Jewish, Christian, and Muslim exegetical traditions; the various discursive expressions of intercommunal exchange and relations, including both dialogue and polemic; Islam in European discourse; and Muslim cultural, religious, social, and political life in the West. We especially welcome papers of a theoretical or methodological nature that explore the ramifications of the comparative study of the Bible and Jewish and Christian tradition alongside the Quran and Islamic tradition.
Proposals for panels or individual papers can be submitted online at http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Internationalmeeting.aspx. The deadline for submission of proposals is February 1, 2012. Please note that membership in the Society of Biblical Literature is required in order to submit a paper proposal.
Please contact the program unit chairs for more information: Michael Pregill, Dept. of Religious Studies, Elon University (michael.pregill@gmail.com); Zohar Hadromi-Allouche, Divinity and Religious Studies, University of Aberdeen (z.hadromi-allouche@abdn.ac.uk)
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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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Ritual in the Biblical World
Description: The Ritual in the Biblical World Consultation 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: We invite papers for an open session on all aspects of ritual activities, with their textual, as well as archaeological and iconographical expressions, in the larger context of their cultural and religious functions in Ancient Israel and Late Antiquity.
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Social History of Modern Biblical Scholarship (EABS)
Description: The purpose of this programme is to foster cross-disciplinary and collaborative research into the social history of modern biblical scholarship. A growing number of scholars have pursued such research of late, with the salutary effect of producing self-reflexive histories of the cultural, ideological and political entanglements of biblical studies as an academic discipline. This research programme intends to provoke more professionally trained biblical scholars to examine the social and historical construction of the field in which they practise; and give concentrated visibility to emerging work that defines this trajectory among the sub-divisions of contemporary biblical research. The programme was launched in 2007, with lectures by scholars who have devoted significant energies to this type of intellectual history. All colleagues who are currently carrying out research on this topic or interested in participating in the programme, are cordially invited to contact the chairs.
Call for papers: We will have two sessions:(1) The Politics of Interpretation. This session will focus on the political context of Biblical interpretation or on the role of interpretation in politics. One part of the session will be a panel discussion of Halvor Moxnes, Jesus and the Rise of Nationalism. A New Quest for the nineteenth century historical Jesus. I.B. Tauris 2012. The rest of the session will be devoted to related papers from early modern and modern periods. Presentations in this session is by invitation. (2) Presuppositions and prejudices. This session will deal with the role of cultural prejudices and/or presuppositions in Biblical scholarship from the early modern times to post-modernity. This sessions is open for proposals, we especially encourage papers that deal with the role of anti-Semitism or philo-Semitism.
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Sociology of the Bible (EABS)
Description: In the light of increasing interest in the use of the social sciences in Biblical Studies, this research programme concentrates on the use of sociological theory and method in particular, but expands the role of sociology in Biblical studies to cover a number of distinct, yet related areas of interest. The extension of the role of sociology in Biblical studies is predicated on the notion that since sociology emerges from and seeks to address the rise of modernity, its nature and its possible futures, any use of sociology to understand the ancient social worlds of the Hebrew Bible, Qumran, and the New Testament, involves appreciating the nature of the social realities in which we live and conducting a constant dialogue in which past and present are both needed to be interwoven but also kept separate. The past and present need to be kept separate so as to appreciate both the continuities and the ruptures between modern social forms and social life and social life in the past.
Call for papers: For the EABS/SBL International Conference in Amsterdam in 2012 the Sociology and Biblical Studies Research Group will be holding the following sessions.- A Joint Session with the The Biblical World and its Reception Research Group in which the role of sociology/social sciences in the empirical study of reception, for example, will be discussed. The session is Chaired by John Lyons (W.J.Lyons@Bristol.ac.uk) and Emma England (E.E.England@uvn.nl).
- A Joint Session with the Anthropology and the Bible Research Group, Chaired by Emanuel Pfoh (hence proposals to him at EPfoh@yahoo.com.ar) and will be an open session.
- Finally there is to be one open session of the Sociology and the Bible Research Unit (Chaired by David Chalcraft, at D.Chalcraft@sheffield.ac.uk
There is an open call for papers, but papers around the themes of the social scientific/ sociological approach to disaster, trauma and collective memory are particularly welcome as are any papers addressing methological issues/the relation between the various social sciences in Biblical Studies. The full range of interests of the group can be found on the EABS website. It is intended to publish the best papers (from these sessions and others) on the disaster, trauma and collective memory themes in the new monograph/book series edited by Chalcraft for Phoenix Press which will specialise in social scientific/sociological Biblical studies.
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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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Study of the Historical Jesus (EABS)
Description: The research group is devoted to study of the historical Jesus. Beginning in 2012, the group will run a four-year program on Jesus and the Scriptures. It will host continual discussion of the methodological possibilities and challenges inherent in the enterprise of studying how the historical Jesus used and was affected by the sacred Scriptures of Israel. Each year, in addition to that, the research group will feature a session that focuses on Jesus’ interaction with a specific group of writings within the Bible: (1) the ‘historical books’; (2) the Prophets; (3) the Psalms; and (4) the wisdom literature.
Call for papers: For the 2012 meeting, proposals are invited for the two planned sessions.The theme of the first session is ‘Jesus and the Historical Books’. It will accommodate papers that discuss how the historical Jesus was influenced by, or consciously used, specific motifs, stories or passages from the so-called historical books of the Bible. The second session will be open to broader methodological and theoretical issues pertaining to the study of Jesus’ interaction with the Scriptures of Israel. Among the infinite number of questions that could be raised here are the following: How do we distinguish between the historical Jesus’ use of the Scriptures on the one hand, and primitive Christian appeal to the same writings, in the Gospels? To what extent is knowledge of how Jesus’ contemporaries interpreted the Scriptures helpful for understanding his use of the Bible? What are the implications of different text forms and ‘translations’ (such as the Targums)? Can recent advances in the field of intertextuality be of value for the study of the historical Jesus and the Scriptures? When submitting a proposal, please specify which of the sessions your paper is intended for and also make sure that the abstract clearly demonstrates how your paper pertains to the historical Jesus.
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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: Study of the Synoptic Gospels is critical for a literate understanding of religious discussions and imperatives in today's world. Proposals from all perspectives and academic methods as they pertain to the synoptic gospels are welcome and will be scheduled in four categories: the first will focus on Mark, the second on Matthew, the third on Luke, and the last on the comparative analysis of two or more of the synoptics. While all topics are welcome, the subject of poverty in the synoptics is especially encouraged. Global issues of poverty are at a crisis state and the world of biblical scholarship needs to continue to be even more involved as advocates for a biblical literacy that places the impoverished and marginalized at center stage for study and action. Please indicate in your proposal which category your paper will fit best. Also, please indicate if you are willing to chair the Synoptic Gospels Unit for a three-year term, beginning after the International Meeting in 2012, or to serve on the steering committee.
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The Bible in the Iberian World: Fundaments of a Religious Melting Pot (EABS)
Description: That the Iberian Peninsula represents a fundamental hub between Christianity, Judaism and Islam is common knowledge. However, theologians and historians have been studying these phenomena as isolated events and not as part of a much larger Iberian world characteristic, one that should be understood in terms of the broader Western thought. This sessions’ goal, though experimental, is to provide a space of discussion for those of us who work with biblical themes in the context of the Iberian world, including not only the peninsular space, but also its colonial spaces, e.g., American, African and Asian places where Portuguese and Spaniards played an influential role starting in the Early Modern period. Moreover, the subjects to discuss are not limited nor to a particular time frame nor to a specific chronological period for this first phase. Our initial objectives are to underline the importance of the Iberian world as a space of communication, or not, between the different religions of the Bible, of biblical interpretation, and how the Iberian world was prone to be influenced by the Bible.
Call for papers: Amsterdam: a centre of religious Iberian polemics, rivalries, and encounters.Northern European cities, and particularly Amsterdam, were soon transformed in one of the most important centers of Iberian culture in the Early Modern period. Amsterdam in particular and the United Provinces in general, became a meeting place for Iberian economic, religious, and cultural networks. There, and from there, is possible to observe how Christian and Sephardic Jews initiated new relationships between them no longer as limited by the actions, and its consequences, of the Portuguese and Spanish Inquisitions. Under the title of Amsterdam: a centre of religious Iberian polemics, rivalries, and encounters, we are searching for papers for 2012 that explore this broader subject from a wide variety of religious and cultural perspectives: the subject of the New Christians identities and the return to the Torah, the intellectual debates over religious subjects (e.g., Spinoza, Manasseh ben Israel, Isaac Abrabanel, Samuel Usque, António Vieira, John Dury, Uriel da Costa, etc.), the production of new books by the Sephardim printings (e.g., Siddurim and liturgical literature, rabbinic commentaries by Iberian rabbis, etc.) and the biblical post-expulsion Diaspora traditions (e.g. the Polyglot Bible of Amberes, the Bibles of Ferrara and Constantinople, etc.).
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The Bible in the Twenty-First Century: Politization of Bibles and Biblization of Politics (EABS)
Description: Biblical Interpretation today is characterized by a variety of different concerns and approaches. The focus of this program unit is on the use and misuse of biblical texts in past and present politics, in the broadest sense; and conversely, on the use and misuse of politics in biblical interpretation and transmission. The scope may include analysis of the biblical and related texts and contexts, questions of method and theory, and especially attention to interpretations- interpreters and their contexts. Papers are welcome from such perspectives as psychology and psychoanalysis, philosophy, postcolonial studies, gender studies, social studies, economic studies, racial-ethnic studies, and queer studies.
Call for papers: Politization of Bibles and Biblization of Politics: Brotherhood[s]/Fraternity, Sisterhood[s]/Fraternity.In recent years we have focused on various ways and means used by communities for adapting “their” bibles for political ends, in the widest signification of “political”, the past as well as the present. Continuing our project of investigating how bibles are conceived today, and how they are defined and enlisted for shaping societies and for remembering the future, be those societies religious or secular, last year we examined notions and methodologies employed for reading biblical “families”. Concluding that biblical “families” are largely defined by scholars as well as “ordinary” readers according to their contemporaneous needs and wishes, we now extend our inquiry into one aspect of familial reality and metaphor: that of fraternity, sorority, brotherhood and sisterhood. Our goal in this session is to trace how, why, when and by whom kinship terms get abstracted into other social and ideological realities, already in the Jewish and Christian bibles and beyond them. Paper proposals are invited on and around these topics, both in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament. When papers are in dialogue with postcolonial discourse, queer studies, empire studies, international relations studies, subaltern studies, and related methodological-theoretical approaches, they will be particularly welcome. Drafts of papers will be posted about a month before the conference on Athalya’s homepage, http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/a.brenner/page3.html. During the session, papers will be summarized in panel fashion in order to leave ample time for a general discussion.
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The Biblical World and its Reception (EABS)
Description: This seminar aims to provide a forum in which participants can engage in the theoretical issues pertaining to the reception of the 'biblical world' throughout the last 2500 years and/or present specific examples of how biblical and chronologically related texts have been appropriated within later cultural, political and artistic contexts. Insights drawn from a wide range of range of disciplines are encouraged and the reception history of any relevant text from the biblical period will be considered suitable material for presentation and discussion.
Call for papers: For Amsterdam, the seminar will be holding two invited joint sessions, one with EABS' Sociology and the Bible group and the other with SBL's Use, Influence, and Impact of the Bible seminar. We also invite papers for an open session on any topic relevant to the seminar's interests. The info has also been added to the EABS website (http://eabs.net/rgroupDetails.aspx?id=34).
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Unaccommodated Evil: The Crisis of Monotheism in Late Antiquity (EABS)
Description: Several religious systems in antiquity developed in the direction of monotheism. This tendency is apparent in, among others, Greek tradition and especially in the religions of Israel as well as derivative religious traditions (e.g. Samaritanism, Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism, Islam, Mandianism). Yet as religions or philosophical worldviews developed monotheistic outlooks it may be observed that along with it they offered more and more complex explanations of the cosmos. This phenomenon resulted in a problem which is seen in complex explanations about evil perpetrated by humanity as well as evil experienced by them. Indeed, and significantly, more unusual perspectives on evil may be conceived of that are not connected to humanity. It is this latter type of evil that is conceptualized in a different way and was integrated into religious systems differently than other notions were. Developments related to the problem of evil in this regard could in fact lead to a breaking point for a monotheistic system which may result in a polytheistic or dualistic framework (e.g. in Gnosticism and Manicheanism). This observation is not to be understood as the conclusion of a history of religions research project, but rather a departure point that brings focus to questions that shall be discussed within a theoretical framework to explore problems for the development of evil within monotheism. Questions would include: How meaningful is the concept of “monotheism” when categorizing or describing religions and worldviews? To what degree is the expression “evil” a worthwhile category for systematizing? What is the relationship of evil to the devil in different religious systems? What is the correlation of demons to evil? Is there something like “evil” in non-polytheistic religions? To what degree does necessity play a role in religions and philosophy when explaining the cosmos and evil? What etiological myths exist that relate to evil and especially the devil?
Call for papers: This unit organize an invitation-only session.
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Vision and Dream Accounts in the HB, NT, Early Judaism, and Late Antiquity (EABS)
Description: This group looks across the borders of HB/NT, seeking shared methods of relating to and interpreting accounts of divine experience.
Call for papers: Papers relating to any aspects of dream/ vision reports are welcome. Papers exploring methodological issues connected with the interpretation of texts in which dream/ vision reports feature are particularly encouraged.
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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: For one session we solicit paper proposals that address methodological questions related to women and the Early-Christian apocrypha. We are especially interested in papers that deal with (one of) the following topics: 1. the relationship between canonical and apocryphal writings and possible reasons for their inclusion/exclusion from the canon; 2. definitions of orthodoxy and heresy, including their constructed character; 3. the cliché that apocryphal writings and heretical movements are more women-friendly and inclusive than canonical and orthodox ones; 4. the possible construction of a social history 'behind' the text, e.g. how female figures in the heavenly realm relate to real women in the communities. A second session will have invited papers only.
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Wisdom Literature
Description: The Wisdom Literature section seeks to encourage an ongoing discourse on new ideas and methodologies in the study of Wisdom Literature. The primary focus is on Biblical wisdom - Proverbs, Job, Qoheleth, the Wisdom Psalms and other texts influenced by wisdom ideas, as well as Ben Sira and Wisdom of Solomon. The section is also concerned with the relationship between biblical wisdom literature and cognate texts of the ancient Near East.
Call for papers: Papers on any topic related to biblical wisdom and its ancient Near Eastern parallels are welcome for open sessions. As well as one or more open sessions there will be two other sessions of invited papers only. The first will be a joint session with the “Comparative Studies of Literature from the Persian and Hellenistic Periods” section in which a panel of four invited speakers) two specializing in historiographical, and the other two in wisdom literature of the Persian and Hellenistic periods) will be organized. The second will be an invited session on “Ecclesiastes and Intertextuality.”
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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 textual criticism are welcome, in particular the practical work with manuscripts. Examples of topics: papyrological insights, scribal habits, preservation techniques, technical developments, computer assisted tools, producing critical editions, evaluating the evidence of fathers or versions, discussion of particular passages, social historical studies, 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: Once again we welcome papers on any of the Writings, including the Psalms. There is no theme this year. The Psalter is usually well represented, and Psalms papers are welcome, but we encourage papers on the less studied books as well. Finally, papers that address more general matters, such as the formation of the Psalter, the connection of wisdom and apocalyptic, statecraft and warfare in Chronicles/Ezra-Nehemiah, or the poetics of Classical Hebrew poetry are acceptable.
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