Search SBL
 







Congresses

2023 International Meeting

Pretoria, South Africa

Meeting Begins7/3/2023
Meeting Ends7/7/2023

Call for Papers Opens: 11/2/2022
Call for Papers Closes: 1/31/2023

Requirements for Participation

Program Units

 

Allusions in the Gospels and Acts

Chang-Wook Jung
Description: This unit is to foster literary-critical and inter-textual approaches to the canonical and extra-canonical gospels and acts of the apostles. The approaches include: (1) uncovering allusive fragments of Greco-Roman, Hellenized-Jewish, and Christian texts in gospel passages and apostle narratives; (2) discussing whether the fragments reflect accidental confluences, non-opposite appropriations of poetic langue, or Christian emulations against anterior texts and traditions; (3) interpreting Christian meanings generated by resonances between anterior and posterior contexts of those allusions.

Call for papers: For the 2023 Pretoria meeting, the Allusions in the Gospels and Acts section requests paper proposals on inter-textual approaches to the canonical and extra-canonical gospels and acts of the apostles and their terms, motifs, ideas, traditions, typologies, characterizations, contextualizations, narrative orders, literary skills, and/or rhetorical tactics. Priority shall be given to proposals for allusions to the Old testament in the Gospel of Luke amd Acts.

Tags:

Ancient Near East

Alice Mandell
Lisa J. Cleath
Description: The ancient Near East section explores the texts and material culture of the ancient world, especially Egypt, the Levant, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia from the birth of writing through the Hellenistic period. Our aim is to study the ancient world with a variety of methods and from a variety of perspectives—anthropological, archaeological, art-historical, economic, legal, literary, philological, sociohistorical, etc. We welcome work that reads the literature or material culture of one region against another, as well as work that is more limited in scope. Each year, we anticipate hosting two panels: one devoted to any aspect of the study of the ancient Near East, and one focussing on a more narrowly defined theme, region, approach, or time period.

Call for papers: The ancient Near East unit in 2023 will have two sessions: 1) an open call session; and 2) one themed session on the theme of "contact." The themed session invites papers that explore models of contact in the ancient Middle East. Topics may include any modes of contact between languages, cultures, people groups, gender identities, social structures, human and divine, human and the earth, and more. Priority will be given to papers that outline a clear and robust theoretical framework and method.

Tags: Anatolian (Hittite, Luwian, Hurrian) (Ancient Near Eastern Literature - Region), Ancient Near East - Bronze Age (History & Culture), Ancient Near East - Hellenistic Period (History & Culture), Ancient Near East - Iron Age (History & Culture), Ancient Near East - Late Antiquity (History & Culture), Ancient Near East - Neo-Assyria (History & Culture), Ancient Near East - Neo-Babylonia (History & Culture), Aramaic (Philology / Linguistics (incl. Semiotics)), Comparative Approaches (Interpretive Approaches), Egyptian (Philology / Linguistics (incl. Semiotics)), Hebrew (classical) (Philology / Linguistics (incl. Semiotics)), Latter Prophets - Ezekiel (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Northwest Semitic - Canaanite (Phoenician, Punic, Moabite, Ammonite) (Ancient Near Eastern Literature - Region), Social-Scientific Approaches (Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology) (Interpretive Approaches), Torah/Pentateuch - Genesis (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint))

Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Bible

Joel M. LeMon
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: 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.

Tags:

Apocalyptic Literature

Ana T. Valdez
James Crossley
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: 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. In addition to the general sessions, this year we also encourage proposals focusing on interpretations, perspectives, and receptions from African contexts in the areas of apocalyptic literature and apocalypticism.

Tags:

Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

Daniel Maier
Janet Elizabeth Spittler
Description: The Section fosters ongoing study of extra-canonical texts, as subjects of literary and philological investigation; as evidence for the history of religion, theology, and cult practice; and as documents of the socio-symbolic construction of traditions along lines of class and gender.

Call for papers: The 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.

Tags:

Apostolic Fathers and Related Early Christian Literature

Taras Khomych
Nancy Pardee
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 unit fosters academic discourse focused upon the “Apostolic Fathers” and supplemental literature (up to the year 250 CE), 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. The call for the 2023 session is open to any papers within this broad area.

Tags:

Bible and Empire

Ana T. Valdez
Steed Vernyl Davidson
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: The Bible is a weighted book for the study of Empires as well as the understanding of the empire-building ideology. This year we will host three sessions. An open session that explores general issues of the relationship between the Bible and Empire. A second invited session examining the concept of Fifth Empire in the newly identified manuscript of the Clavis Prophetarum by António Vieira, SJ, which expands on the traditional interpretation of the divine kingdom while envisaging a future role for the Portuguese Empire. We welcome papers for a third session that raise and explore questions such as: What are the stories of the Bible in African colonialism? Where are the places the Bible is co-opted to justify colonialism in Africa and the different ways this has been applied by various European and African peoples? Was the Bible a means to provide resistance or aid toward the construction of Empire in Africa?

Tags:

Bible and Its Influence: History and Impact

Jo Carruthers
Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg
Robert J. Myles
Description: This unit offers a forum for papers on both the theory of reception studies and critical analysis of historical and contemporary case studies related to the Bible’s use and influence, in spheres ranging from art, literature and music to religion, society and culture.

Call for papers: This unit offers a forum for papers on both the theory of reception studies and critical analysis of historical and contemporary case studies related to the Bible’s use and influence, in spheres ranging from art, literature and music to religion, society and culture.

Tags: History of Interpretation (Interpretive Approaches)

Bible and Visual Culture

Caroline Vander Stichele
David Shepherd
Description: The Bible and Visual Culture is premised on the recognition that some of the most engaging and creative interpretations of biblical texts are to be found in visual media from antiquity to the present. Further encouragement to attend to visual interpretations of the Bible is offered by our awareness that such readings have often captured the collective and especially popular imagination to a far greater extent than have many written interpretations and in doing so, these visualizations have shaped and influenced our reading and understanding of the biblical texts themselves. The section offers an academic space for the critical exploration and discussion of biblical texts, characters, motifs and themes as they are represented in visual media including (but not limited to) painting, sculpture, print making, illustration, moving pictures (including film, television and gaming), advertising, street art and other expressions of visual culture. The section welcomes efforts to situate visual interpretations of the Bible within a wider hermeneutical context and to explore the ways in which such interpretations challenge or support other non-visual readings of biblical texts. The nature of the subject explored in this section demands an openness to the insights of a range of different approaches and disciplines beyond biblical studies, including (but again, not limited to) art history, psychology, film, theatre as well as studies in gender and postcolonialism.

Call for papers:

Tags:

Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Law

Anselm C. Hagedorn
Sandra L. Richter
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: The Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Law Section invites the submission of papers on all aspects that promote interdisciplinary research on ancient Near Eastern, biblical, and post-biblical law (including the Graeco-Roman world). Methodological perspectives include, but are not limited to, historical-critical, literary, legal-historical, feminist, and social-scientific approaches. This year wer are especially inviting papers that address issues of contextualization and application of ancient legal material in current societal debates ind Africa and beyond.

Tags: Law (Comparative Religion / History of Religion), Law Codes & Legal Documents (Ancient Near Eastern Literature - Genre)

Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Wisdom

Professor Katharine J. Dell
Nili Samet
Description: The unit 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: The unit seeks to encourage discourse on new ideas and methodologies in the study of Wisdom Literature. The primary focus is Biblical wisdom -- Proverbs, Job, and Qohelet. We also welcome papers on extra-biblical wisdom from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and other areas of the ancient Near East, as well as post-biblical wisdom materials, such as Ben Sira and Wisdom of Solomon

Tags: Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) (Biblical Literature - Deuterocanonical Works), Wisdom (Ancient Near Eastern Literature - Genre), Wisdom and Philosophical Literature (Early Jewish Literature - Jewish Pseudepigrapha), Wisdom of Solomon (Biblical Literature - Deuterocanonical Works), Writings - Ecclesiastes (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Writings - Job (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Writings - Proverbs (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint))

Biblical Characters in Three Traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)

Zohar Hadromi-Allouche
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—foregrounded in the academic study of the treatment of characters across texts and traditions—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: For the 2023 meeting, the seminar will focus on character and colours . From Red David to red Esau, from the black and lovely maiden of the Song of Song to the colourful shirt of Joseph, papers are invited that examine the use of colours in the context of biblical characters within various religious traditions and reception histories, from antiquity to contemporary times.

Tags:

Biblical Hebrew Language and Linguistics

Cynthia L. Miller-Naude
Nili Samet
Description: This unit focuses on Biblical Hebrew language and linguistics. We welcome papers on all aspects of Biblical Hebrew, such as grammar, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, linguistic theory etc. We are also interested in papers that emphasize the contribution of the analysis of Biblical Hebrew to the understanding of the biblical text and exemplify the importance of linguistic analysis as an exegetical tool.

Call for papers: We invite paper proposals for one open session on any topic pertaining to Biblical Hebrew language and linguistics, and for two thematic sessions. Thematic session #1: “Biblical Hebrew and translation and interpretation in Africa”. Both translation and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible depend upon linguistic analyses of various sorts. We welcome papers that investigate the interpretive implications of such analyses and their application to Bible translation, especially within the African context. Thematic session #2: “Biblical Hebrew and literary genres in the Hebrew Bible.” We welcome papers that explore linguistic features of Biblical Hebrew within the context of literary genres such as narrative, poetry, legal materials, proverbial sayings, etc.

Tags:

Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity

Paul A. Hartog
Description: This program unit explores the interpretative structures, methodologies, and concerns of patristic exegesis and the various assumptions underlying it.

Call for papers: This year we intend to focus one session upon papers examining "Echoes of the Exodus" in early Christian literature. We welcome investigations of patristic homilies on the Book of Exodus; the patristic use of Passover and Exodus as redemptive themes or analogies; patristic discussions of the Decalogue and the Mosaic Law; and liturgical echoes of Passover and the Exodus. Proposals on other topics related to biblical interpretation in early Christianity will also be considered. This program unit explores the interpretative structures, methodologies, and concerns of patristic exegesis and the various assumptions underlying it.

Tags:

Catholic Epistles

Kelly Liebengood
Description: This unit provides a forum for sharing original research regarding all aspects of and approaches to the interpretation of the Catholic Epistles (James, 1–2 Peter, 1–3 John, and Jude) as a collection or individual letters, including a variety of critical methodologies and especially welcome studies demonstrating interdisciplinary approaches.

Call for papers: This unit provides a forum for sharing original research regarding all aspects of and approaches to the interpretation of the Catholic Epistles (James, 1–2 Peter, 1–3 John, and Jude) as a collection or individual letters, including a variety of critical methodologies and especially welcome studies demonstrating interdisciplinary approaches.

Tags: Hebrews and Catholic Epistles (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Hebrews and Catholic Epistles - 1 John (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Hebrews and Catholic Epistles - 1 Peter (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Hebrews and Catholic Epistles - 2 John (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Hebrews and Catholic Epistles - 2 Peter (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Hebrews and Catholic Epistles - 3 John (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Hebrews and Catholic Epistles - Hebrews (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Hebrews and Catholic Epistles - James (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Hebrews and Catholic Epistles - Jude (Biblical Literature - New Testament)

Contextual Interpretation of the Bible (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and New Testament)

Jaqueline S. du Toit
Wei Huang
Description: The goal of this Seminar is to explore the interest in Contextual Biblical Interpretation, its different strategies (including "inculturation", inter(con)textualization, and reading with "ordinary" readers), 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 of Biblical interpretation.

Call for papers: This Seminar underlines the significance of contextual interpretation and its contribution to biblical studies. We invite contributions to 4 sessions (proposed and solicited papers): (1) One joint organized session on the "Bible and Texts in East and South Asian Contexts” with the Culturally Central Texts Project group from SBL; (2) "Interpreting the Bible in pluri-textual contexts in contemporary Africa": Scholars engaged in African biblical hermeneutics have always emphasised the need for an awareness of the realities of the African context when interpreting the Bible. One important dimension of this context is the pluri-textual environment in which the biblical text thrives on the continent. In many families, institutions and communities, the message of the biblical text must necessarily encounter the texts of the Islamic tradition or those of African Indigenous Religions and others. This seminar offers and opportunity to engage the pluri-textual African context as an opportunity and challenge for biblical interpretation in Africa. (3) We invite contributions to two open sessions on the interpretation of the biblical text from within a reader's explicitly articulated context, personal as well as communal, while firmly anchored in a clear methodology.

Tags:

Digital Humanities in Biblical, Early Jewish, and Christian Studies

Peter Michael Phillips
Description: The unit focuses on the transformations of Biblical, Early Jewish and Christian studies in the emerging digital culture. We propose to study interactions between Digital Humanities and Biblical, Early Jewish and Christian studies (literature, manuscripts, art, archaeology, epigraphy, methodology).

Call for papers: The unit focuses on the transformations of Biblical, Early Jewish and Christian studies in the emerging digital culture. We propose to study interactions between Digital Humanities and Biblical, Early Jewish and Christian studies (literature, manuscripts, art, archaeology, epigraphy, methodology).

Tags:

Early Christianity and the Ancient Economy

Jinyu Liu
Description: The 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 program examines economic aspects of early Christian groups from the first to the fifth century CE, understood within the context of the economies of the Roman Empire and its provinces. “Economy” is understood broadly to consist of the production, transmission, and consumption of goods and services, as well as the social, political, and ideological conditions associated with economic systems. We invite papers exploring aspects of the economic organization of early Christian assemblies as well as Rome and its provinces, in addition to those critically assessing the theoretical frameworks (e.g., economic anthropology, régulation theory, New Institutional Economics) and concepts (e.g., class, exploitation, wealth and poverty, gender, ethnicity, and movements of human and material resources) used in the study of the economic history of the Mediterranean basin in antiquity. In recognition of the 2023 International Meeting’s host city, Pretoria, South Africa, papers on any aspect of the economy of South Africa, including religious responses to or appropriations of it, are also welcome.

Tags:

Families and Children in the Ancient World

Jeremy Punt
Louise Tsui-yuk Liu
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: For 2023, the Families and Children in the Bible unit will host two sessions. In a first session, the focus will be on the importance of space in the study of families and children in the Bible. While the spatial environments within which they lived are seldom denied, the spatial turn requires more attention to perceived, conceived and lived space (Lefebvre) which is often under-acknowledged in research on families and children in the Bible. Papers that investigate how families and children are involved or implicated in (the construction of) space and that approach the topic from a variety of approaches and perspectives, such as socio-historical, literary, theological and especially in connection to space or place theory are encouraged. In an open session, we invite papers that address families and children in the ANE, 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. Proposals that seek to investigate in such literature the roles of families and children, and the portrayal of such roles, in relation to various ancient socio-historical contexts are particularly welcome.

Tags:

Gospel of Mark

Elizabeth Struthers Malbon
Description: Our aim is to provide a forum for scholars and graduate students to explore all aspects of and approaches to the research, hermeneutics, and interpretation of the Gospel of Mark, including (but not limited to) historical, exegetical, theological, methodological, and literary studies. We are especially interested in the investigation of new questions, new areas of inquiry, and new strategies for reading Mark.

Call for papers: Our aim is to provide a forum for scholars and graduate students to explore all aspects of and approaches to the research, hermeneutics, and interpretation of the Gospel of Mark, including (but not limited to) historical, exegetical, theological, methodological, and literary studies. We are especially interested in the investigation of new questions, new areas of inquiry, and new strategies for reading Mark.

Tags:

Healthcare and Disability in the Ancient World

Rebecca Raphael
Description: The unit seeks to foster scholarship related to disability in all fields of biblical studies. Major areas of concern include medical history of the Ancient Near East and Greco-Roman worlds; the religious, legal, and cultural status of people with disabilities in the biblical and formative Jewish and Christian periods; the representation of disability in biblical and cognate texts, biblical theology of the same, and disability in the history of biblical interpretation.

Call for papers: The unit seeks to foster scholarship related to disability in all fields of biblical studies. Major areas of concern include medical history of the Ancient Near East and Greco-Roman worlds; the religious, legal, and cultural status of people with disabilities in the biblical and formative Jewish and Christian periods; the representation of disability in biblical and cognate texts, biblical theology of the same, and disability in the history of biblical interpretation.

Tags:

Hellenistic Greek Language and Linguistics

Jermo van Nes
Paul Danove
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.

Tags: Greek - Attic (Philology / Linguistics (incl. Semiotics)), Greek - Koine (LXX, NT, Patristics) (Philology / Linguistics (incl. Semiotics))

Hellenistic Judaism

Daniela Scialabba
Julian Petkov
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: For the 2023 meeting we welcome paper proposals for two sessions. For the first session we invite papers on any aspect of Hellenistic Judaism, including the reception history and the enduring legacy of Hellenistic Jewish literature. For the second we encourage the presentations on the theme of peace in Apocalyptic, Apocryphal, and Hellenistic Jewish literature.

Tags:

International Organization for Targumic Studies

Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman
Description: The International Organization for Targumic Studies is constituted for the study of the Targumim, ancient Jewish translations of Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, from any academic approach, methodology or purpose. It also includes the study of subjects related to research into the Targumim.

Call for papers: The International Organization for Targumic Studies is constituted for the study of the Targumim, ancient Jewish translations of Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, from any academic approach, methodology or purpose. It also includes the study of subjects related to research into the Targumim.

Tags:

Intersectional Feminism(s)

Blossom Stefaniw
Karen Langton
Description: The aim of this unit is to generate collaborative insights within a broad understanding of intersectional feminism(s). Its purpose is to be inclusive and to challenge hegemonic paradigms and structures (including within feminism). This unit prides itself on championing interdisciplinarity, positionality, and recognition that the personal is political. We particularly welcome papers which reflect the breadth of voices and experiences that comprise global feminisms and encourage contributors from all contexts.

Call for papers: This unit will host three open sessions. The first section welcomes short papers on the use of biblical texts in feminist social praxis engaging the question of how religious texts are used in feminist praxis in the widest possible variety of contexts. The papers, 10-15 minutes in length, are followed by a 15-minute panel discussion meant to stimulate discussion of the state of feminist scholarship today. The second and third section is open to papers 20-25 minutes in length addressing contemporary issues such as the climate crisis, armed conflict, racial and gender discrimination, trafficking and migration. One section is reserved for papers specifically addressing feminism from a South African perspective.

Tags: Gender and Sexuality Criticism (incl. Feminist, Womanist, Masculinity Studies, Queer Theory) (Interpretive Approaches)

Johannine Literature

Bartosz Adamczewski
Dirk G. van der Merwe
Stan Harstine
Description: The unit promotes the study of the Johannine literature, a major component of the Christian Scripture; addressing the issues and concerns having to do with the analysis and interpretation of the literature.

Call for papers: We invite submission of papers on any topic related to Johannine literature, encompassing the Fourth Gospel and the three Johannine letters. Given the tradition of the University of the Cape of Good Hope and the current situation in the world, one session will be devoted to peace and hope in the Johannine literature, encouraging various scholarly approaches to these important issues.

Tags: Gospels - John (Biblical Literature - New Testament)

Judaica

Elad Filler
Shamir Yona
Description: The unit draws together scholars from around the world to explore diverse issues that are related to Hebrew Scripture in its relationship to ancient, medieval, and modern Judaisms: medieval lexicography and poetics, musical exegesis, philosophy, and the study of the Talmud in the Far East.

Call for papers: The Judaica unit invites proposals that are related to Hebrew Scripture in its relationship to ancient, medieval, and modern Judaisms: medieval lexicography and poetics, musical exegesis and philosophy.

Tags: Ancient Near East - Iron Age (History & Culture), Apocalyptic Literature and Related Works (Early Jewish Literature - Jewish Pseudepigrapha), Art, Film, Music, and Literature (History of Interpretation / Reception History / Reception Criticism), Babylonian Talmud (Early Jewish Literature - Rabbinic Literature), Biblical Interpretations (Early Jewish Literature - Dead Sea Scrolls), Biblical Texts (Early Jewish Literature - Dead Sea Scrolls), Comparative Approaches (Interpretive Approaches), Dead Sea Scrolls (Early Jewish Literature - Dead Sea Scrolls), Expansions of the Old Testament and Other Legends (Early Jewish Literature - Jewish Pseudepigrapha), Hebrew (classical) (Philology / Linguistics (incl. Semiotics)), Hymns and Prayers (Early Jewish Literature - Dead Sea Scrolls), Jerusalem Talmud (Early Jewish Literature - Rabbinic Literature), Jewish (Ideology & Theology), Jewish Pseudepigrapha (Early Jewish Literature - Jewish Pseudepigrapha), Josephus (Early Jewish Literature - Other), Legal Writings (Early Jewish Literature - Dead Sea Scrolls), Lexicography (Text and Translation), Literary Criticism (incl. poetics, new criticism, formalism, close reading, narratology) (Interpretive Approaches), Mishnah (Early Jewish Literature - Rabbinic Literature), Nonliterary Texts (lists, contracts) (Early Jewish Literature - Dead Sea Scrolls), Other Jewish Compositions (e.g., 1 Enoch) (Early Jewish Literature - Dead Sea Scrolls), Other Rabbinic Works - Exegetical Midrashim (Early Jewish Literature - Rabbinic Literature), Other Rabbinic Works - Haggadic Midrashim (Early Jewish Literature - Rabbinic Literature), Other Rabbinic Works - Halakic Midrashim (Early Jewish Literature - Rabbinic Literature), Other Rabbinic Works - Homiletical Midrashim (Early Jewish Literature - Rabbinic Literature), Other Texts (Early Jewish Literature - Other), Philo (Early Jewish Literature - Other), Prayers, Psalms, and Odes (Early Jewish Literature - Jewish Pseudepigrapha), Rabbinic Literature (Early Jewish Literature - Rabbinic Literature), Rule Documents (Early Jewish Literature - Dead Sea Scrolls), Sectarian Texts (Early Jewish Literature - Dead Sea Scrolls), Targumic Texts (Early Jewish Literature - Rabbinic Literature), Testaments (Early Jewish Literature - Jewish Pseudepigrapha), Tosefta (Early Jewish Literature - Rabbinic Literature), Wisdom and Philosophical Literature (Early Jewish Literature - Jewish Pseudepigrapha)

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: 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.

Tags:

Paul and Pauline Literature

Edward Pillar
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 that focus on how the cultural experiences of present-day readers contribute to a fuller understanding of texts are also encouraged.

Tags: Pauline Epistles (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - 1 Corinthians (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - 1 Thessalonians (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - 1 Timothy (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - 2 Corinthians (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - 2 Thessalonians (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - 2 Timothy (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - Colossians (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - Ephesians (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - Galatians (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - Philemon (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - Philippians (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - Romans (Biblical Literature - New Testament), Pauline Epistles - Titus (Biblical Literature - New Testament)

Pentateuch (Torah)

Meike J. Röhrig
Stephen Germany
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: The unit will host open sessions for presentations on the Pentateuch/Torah from multiple angles, including historical-critical, comparative, and more contemporary methodologies. In light of the experience from last year’s conference, the sessions this year will give room for fewer but longer papers (ca. 30 minutes per paper plus 15 minutes for discussion).

Tags: Torah/Pentateuch (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Torah/Pentateuch - Deuteronomy (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Torah/Pentateuch - Exodus (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Torah/Pentateuch - Genesis (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Torah/Pentateuch - Leviticus (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Torah/Pentateuch - Numbers (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint))

Performance Criticism of the Bible: Texts, Tradition, and Identity

Lee A. Johnson
Description: The Performance Criticism of the Bible: Texts, Tradition, and Identity unit seeks to provide a creative space for scholarly discussion that focuses on performance as a formative dynamic that shaped biblical texts. The insights from the various socio-cultural settings of the International SBL meetings will provide contexts for explorations of performance from arenas disparate, yet relatable to the context of biblical and other ancient texts.

Call for papers: The Performance Criticism of the Bible—Texts, Tradition, and Identity unit is hosting an OPEN session at the 2023 meeting featuring papers that focus on the formative influence of performance on the production of biblical texts, the performance of such texts in ancient contexts, the representation of oral performance in written texts, and performance-related features embedded in biblical and other ancient texts.

Tags:

Place, Space, and Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean World

Johannes Bremer
Soo Kim Sweeney
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: At the 2023 Pretoria meeting, the Place, Space, and Identity section is running three sessions: (1) With very regard of South Africa, the first will focus on the role of place, space, and land in the Pentateuch texts. How do they affect the conceptual design of the Pentateuch texts either on a synchronic, or diachronic level? What role do connections to the book of Joshua and to the Former Prophets play in this context? (2) The second session is on the theological interplay of questions of sustainability and climate and place, space, and identity as it is reflected in Biblical and non-biblical anciant near eastern texts. (3) The third will be a thematicaly open session.

Tags:

Political Biblical Criticism

Luis Menéndez-Antuña
Jacqueline M. Hidalgo
Description: The unit seeks to pursue, on the one hand, the task of criticism, its vision and mission, in the contemporary world and, on the other hand, the development of a political approach, globalsystemic in orientation, to focus on major crises of the world—migration, inequality, climate—bringing together thereby, in interdisciplinary fashion, Biblical Studies and such other fields as Migration Studies, Economic Studies, and Climate Studies.

Call for papers: For 2023 we welcome papers with two foci: first, at a disciplinary level, we invite contributions that center, both methodologically and theoretically, epistemologies from the Global South. Under this focus, we could imagine papers centered on “the Bible” within local contexts, theoretical critiques of Enlightenment/Modernist biblical studies, epistemologies attentive to the ethos of doing biblical scholarship, decolonial and postcolonial biblical pedagogies, etc. Second, at a political level, we are looking to for contributions that center Blackness and black knowledge broadly construed as well as scholarship describing the implications of such centering. Contributions could include examinations of what we even mean by “the Bible” in Black contexts, Black radical critiques of biblical studies, the place of the Bible and/or scriptures in global negotiations of Blackness and anti-Blackness, the role of biblical arguments in the marginalization of blackness or the centering of whiteness, how biblical exegesis contributed to the Apartheid, how segregation and the political struggles for liberation draw from or dismiss specific biblical events, the role of (South)Africa and its biblical interpreters in shifting discussions about peace, war, conflict in the Bible, etc.

Tags:

Postcolonial Studies

Sung Uk Lim
Description: This unit explores the diversity of postcolonial studies and their relevance in particular contexts, encompassing critical accounts of reception history, postcolonial theory, and fresh proposals for reading biblical texts.

Call for papers: This unit explores the diversity of postcolonial studies and their relevance in particular contexts, encompassing critical accounts of reception history, postcolonial theory, and fresh proposals for reading biblical texts.

Tags:

Prophets

Alphonso Groenewald
Johanna Erzberger
Description: This unit aims to provide an open forum for scholars to present papers on a variety of topics germane to the study of ancient Israelite prophecy and prophetic literature.

Call for papers: The Prophecy unit welcomes proposals for papers on prophecy and prophetic texts in the Bible. Four sessions are planned for the unit. One session will focus on the book of Baruch. Papers will also be accepted for three open session on any topic relevant to ancient Israelite prophecy.

Tags: Former Prophets (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Former Prophets - 1-2 Kings (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Former Prophets - 1-2 Samuel (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Former Prophets - Judges (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Former Prophets -Joshua (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets (not including The Twelve) (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - Ezekiel (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - Isaiah (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - Jeremiah (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Amos (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Habakkuk (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Haggai (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Hosea (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Joel (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Jonah (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Malachi (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Micah (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Nahum (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Obadiah (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Zechariah (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Latter Prophets - The Twelve - Zephaniah (Biblical Literature - Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint))

Psychological Hermeneutics of Biblical Themes and Texts

Heather A. McKay
Pieter van der Zwan
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: Abstracts for papers are now invited for the conference in 2023 with the following theme: "Troubling and / or ignored biblical texts: psychological understanding of problematic emotions". The scope is obviously quite wide in order to gauge which biblical texts turn out as psychologically problematic at present. This could deal with text reception (the psyche IN FRONT OF the text) being that of avoidance, disinterest, boredom, complacency or exhaustion, for instance. At the same time it could also engage with the texts themselves as psychologically problematic (the psyche IN the text): Crucial, however, is that both a clear psychological theory and biblical text should explicitly be stated.

Tags:

Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Angela Kim Harkins
Atar Livneh
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 Qumran and Dead Sea Scrolls program unit is hosting three sessions at the ISBL in Pretoria, South Africa. The first is a session that highlights the Ethiopic texts and the Qumran scrolls. The second session is one on new methodological and theoretical approaches to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Studies that use innovative approaches to the scrolls are welcomed. The third session is a completely open session. We welcome proposals to any of the three sessions. Please be sure that your proposal gives a clear account of the texts and the method that will be discussed in the paper.

Tags:

Quran and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective

Abdulla Galadari
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 2022 international meeting. Suggested topics might include, but are not limited to, the Quran and Islamic tradition in the wider context of its history from Late Antiquity to the Modern period. Special attention is given to Islam’s profound historical relationships with Judaism, Christianity, the biblical heritage, and the Near Eastern context. Comparative inquiry and intercommunal dialogue approaches are welcome. It is imperative that all papers have some comparative approach with biblical literature. Please note that membership in the Society of Biblical Literature is required in order to submit a paper proposal. For more information please contact the program unit chair.

Tags:

Rethinking Biblical Written Tradition through Slavonic Interpretations

Anissava Miltenova
Ljubica Jovanovic
Description: Some of the lost Second Temple texts have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, but, for reasons still unknown, a number have been preserved only in Slavonic version, from centuries later. These Slavonic manuscripts have been used to restore the lost Greek originals and to fill in the gap in the textual tradition. While welcoming these classical text critical approaches, this program unit focuses more strongly on the appropriation and adaptation of these texts in the Slavic cultures that received them and looks for papers that study the Vorlage and transmission of Slavonic versions as well as Slavic interpretations of the Bible.

Call for papers: We are calling for the presentations on all traditions of the Slavonic biblical literature as laid out in the description of our unit. This year we will dedicate a session on the reproduction of biblical texts, i.e., biblical borrowings in florilegia. Generally, we look at the context of biblical citations and interpretations and how they are used in Slavonic texts. Next, we accept all papers on the topics of Slavic religion, Old Slavic language and its scripts. Also, we invite the proposals on art, architecture, music, or film related to the Bible and Slavic cultures. Finally, we plan a session on the Slavonic manuscripts wherein we raised the ethical issues about the fate of museum collections worldwide and have a look on their digitization and accessibility to the wider audience. The comprehension of Slavonic religious literature requires the knowledge of the theology of the authors and copyists. We look forward to the cooperation of the Biblicists, Slavists, and theologians in a diverse environment of South Africa.

Tags:

Return Migration in Biblical Literature

John Ahn
Description: Return is a literary trope and social phenomenon in the Hebrew Bible, Intertestamental, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament, and other literary cultures. In Homer’s Iliad, Odysseus returns home. As a new field (1980s), return migration studies offer new critical insights on historical, literary, and sociological matters related to biblical and extra-biblical studies.

Call for papers: Return is a literary trope and social phenomenon in the Hebrew Bible, Intertestamental, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament, and other literary cultures. In Homer’s Iliad, Odysseus returns home. As a new field (1980s), return migration studies offer new critical insights on historical, literary, and sociological matters related to biblical and extra-biblical studies.

Tags:

Ritual in the Biblical World

Giancarlo Voellmy
Pekka Pitkänen
Description: The Ritual in the Biblical World Section focuses on the nature, meaning and function of ritual found in textual sources (HB, NT, non-canonical) in the larger context of the material culture of the ancient world, employing insights and methods of the field of ritual theory and ethnography.

Call for papers: The Ritual in the Biblical World section is inviting papers for an open session on all aspects of ritual activities, with their textual, as well as archaeological and iconographical expressions. Considering Pretoria as this year's hosting city, we encourage papers engaging in a comparative approach, setting in relation biblical / ancient near eastern with African cultures. Sessions will be formed according to the response to this call for papers.

Tags:

Septuagint Studies

Tuukka Kauhanen
Description: This unit is open to all papers devoted to the Septuagint and related versions.

Call for papers: All abstracts are expected to name the most important source texts, methodology, and a concrete research question. In addition, the abstract should explain how the proposed paper is connected with previous research and current developments in the field of Septuagint studies.

Tags:

Status of Women in the Profession

Meira Kensky
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.

Tags:

Stylistics and the Hebrew Bible

Talia Sutskover
Zvi Shimon
Description: The unit will offer a forum for scholars interested in stylistics and the Hebrew Bible. The goal is to explore the relation between form and meaning of the text drawing on a variety of approaches (rhetorical, narratological, cognitive, ideological…).

Call for papers: For the Pretoria meeting in 2023 we will organize two sessions: one thematic and one open session. The first session welcomes papers discussing ambivalence and complexity in Biblical Narrative. There are those who view the Bible as characterized by polarized thinking and holding a dichotomous worldview indicative of the simplicity of outlook of early Israel. This position is grounded on the claim that the Bible makes wide use of polar contrasts such as the contrast between total righteousness and absolute wickedness. Our unit wishes to uncover the more complex and ambivalent perspectives in the Bible, to appreciate the literary and narrative tools used to present this complexity and ambivalence, and understand the reasons – ideological, historical, redactional - for their existence. We are interested in studies pointing to complexity and the gray zone in character evaluation and ideological perspective. The second session will be open to all who are interested in stylistics and the Hebrew Bible, including semantic, structural, grammatical, phonetic or other features. The goal is to explore the relation between form and meaning of the text drawing on a variety of approaches (rhetorical, narratological, cognitive, literary, ideological...).

Tags:

Synoptic Gospels

Thomas Goud
John P. Harrison
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: Scholarship on the Synoptic Gospels as a coherent unit has often focussed on the “synoptic problem” and given special attention to source and redaction criticism with a view to sorting through the relationship(s) between Matthew, Mark, and Luke. While that discussion is certainly still active, there are also important historical, rhetorical, and canonical approaches to these three texts. In addition, there is a large body of scholarship carried on by “Matthean,” “Markan,” and “Lukan” specialists. This has led us to the question: “Where are Synoptic Gospel studies as ‘synoptic’ heading?” For 2023 we invite papers for open sessions in three categories: i) papers that address the question of the state and future of Synoptic Gospel studies as “synoptic”; ii) papers that address topics that interact with at least two of the Synoptic Gospels; and iii) papers focussed specifically on any aspect of one of the Synoptic Gospels.

Tags:

Textual Criticism: Manuscripts & Methods

Jeff Cate
Leonardo Pessoa da Silva Pinto
Description: This program unit is devoted to the textual criticism of early Jewish and early Christian writings: This includes the Jewish Bible, early Jewish literature, and the Old Testament (in Hebrew and Aramaic, Greek, and other ancient languages), as well as early Christian literature and the New Testament (in Greek, Latin, and other ancient languages). We offer a forum for the investigation of all types of material witnesses related to the text of this literature—tablets, manuscripts, ostraca, inscriptions—and for the consideration of the textual form of this literature reflected in its citation and use by ancient authors and in writings from antiquity through the Middle Ages. This consists not only of contributions that deal with the Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin textual witnesses, but also those that engage evidence in Ugaritic, Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Coptic, Armenian, and other linguistic traditions. A wide variety of additional issues related to textual criticism are also addressed, including epigraphy, manuscript studies, papyrology, codicology, paleography, scribal habits and the production of texts, the history of transmission (and its cultural, social, and religious settings), the practice of textual criticism from antiquity to modern times, restoration and conservation, the use of modern technology in studying this material, the production of critical editions, and discussions of particular passages.

Call for papers: This program unit is devoted to the textual criticism of early Jewish and early Christian writings: This includes the Jewish Bible, early Jewish literature, and the Old Testament (in Hebrew and Aramaic, Greek, and other ancient languages), as well as early Christian literature and the New Testament (in Greek, Latin, and other ancient languages). We offer a forum for the investigation of all types of material witnesses related to the text of this literature—tablets, manuscripts, ostraca, inscriptions—and for the consideration of the textual form of this literature reflected in its citation and use by ancient authors and in writings from antiquity through the Middle Ages. This consists not only of contributions that deal with the Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin textual witnesses, but also those that engage evidence in Ugaritic, Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Coptic, Armenian, and other linguistic traditions. A wide variety of additional issues related to textual criticism are also addressed, including epigraphy, manuscript studies, papyrology, codicology, paleography, scribal habits and the production of texts, the history of transmission (and its cultural, social, and religious settings), the practice of textual criticism from antiquity to modern times, restoration and conservation, the use of modern technology in studying this material, the production of critical editions, and discussions of particular passages.

Tags:

The Language of Pain in Ancient Israel and Early Judaism

Danilo Verde
Martina Weingärtner
Description: This program unit intends to research how pain was experienced, conceptualized, expressed, and related to in ancient Israel and early Judaism, by investigating linguistic expressions of pain in all Jewish sources at our disposal from prior to ca. 200 CE.

Call for papers:

Tags:

Ugarit and Its World

Shamir Yona
Shirly Natan Yulzary
Description: The unit explores the ancient city of Ugarit, its culture, cult, texts, history, and material culture. We also have interest in research that uses Ugaritic Studies to shed new light on different aspects of the Hebrew Bible and other ancient Near Eastern texts.

Call for papers: The “Ugarit and its World” section explores the religions, languages, literature, social structure, and economy of the Late Bronze Age kingdom of Ugarit. Situated on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean between Egypt and Hatti, Ugarit was subject to ever-shifting political dynamics. Its location also allowed Ugarit to evolve into a cosmopolitan kingdom. Ugarit is perhaps most famous for its texts that preserve everything from mundane land transactions to lofty mythological literature. The epic and mythological texts, in particular, have drawn a great deal of attention for the thematic and poetic similarities to both contemporary literature and literature in the Hebrew Bible. Therefore, we welcome papers that focus on Ugarit and its contemporaneous context as well as comparative papers that contribute to the field of Hebrew Bible studies. This year we intend to focus on the interpretation of texts and on cultural perspectives on Ugarit. We invite papers that focus on cultural connections between ancient peoples and between literary corpora. The goal of these sessions is to better understand the Syro-Palestinian cultural continuum throughout the Late Bronze Age.

Tags:

Writings (including Psalms)

George Athas
Sophia A. Magallanes-Tsang
Description: The aim of the unit to promote all aspects of and approaches to the study of the texts commonly referred to as the Writings (Ketuvim) in the Hebrew Bible.

Call for papers: Papers are welcome on any part of the Writings, especially research applying newer interpretive lenses, methodologies, and discoveries to specific passages or books. In 2023, we especially welcome papers considering the compilation of the Psalter. Such papers might focus on the historical processes in the formation of the Psalter, the nature of the compilation, or how its shape might impact reception and interpretation.

Tags:
 


JOIN   |  DONATE   |  CONTACT   |  SBL TWITTER   |  BIBLE ODYSSEY TWITTER   |  PRIVACY POLICY

© 2024, Society of Biblical Literature. All Rights Reserved.