SBL E-Newsletter

Call for Papers Now Open

Paul J. Achtemeier Award for New Testament Scholarship
David Noel Freedman for Excellence and Creativity for Hebrew Bible Scholarship
De Gruyter Prize for Biblical Studies and Reception History

Click on the links above for criteria and guidelines for submitting proposals

The 2014 Travel Grants

Invest in Future Humanities Scholars

Contributions to the Society Fund not only support the Society’s programs it nurtures future generations in the field of biblical, religious, and theological studies. Scholarship awards, travel grants, and special sessions at the annual and international meetings are possible through donations made by the Society’s members. Please consider a gift to the Society today.

Click here to donate now and to find out more how you can further support the Society’s future through estate planning. If you have made your 2013 contribution – Thank you! We appreciate your support!

New SBL Font

Highlighted Sessions for 2013 Annual Meeting in Baltimore

S25-210b
David Noel Freedman Award for Excellence and Creativity in Hebrew Bible Scholarship 11/25/2013 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM Room: 348 - Convention Center
Theme: Honoring the 2013 Award Winner: Jeremy M. Hutton
Douglas A. Knight, Vanderbilt University, Presiding
Jeremy Hutton, University of Wisconsin-Madison
On the Roof of the Temple: Reconstructing Ancient Levantine Small-Scale Altar Usage (30 min) Ann Killebrew, Pennsylvania State University, Respondent (15 min)
Richard Hess, Denver Seminary, Respondent (15 min)

S25-134
Paul J. Achtemeier Award for New Testament Scholarship
11/25/2013 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM Room: Harborview 1 - Sheraton Inner Harbor
Theme: Honoring the 2013 Award Winner: Joshua W. Jipp
Marianne Meye Thompson, Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena), Presiding
Joshua W. Jipp, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Christ the King as Living Law: Paul’s the "Law of Christ" and Ancient Kingship Discourse (30 min)
Julien C.H. Smith, Valparaiso University, Respondent (15 min)
David G. Horrell, University of Exeter, Respondent (15 min)
Discussion (30 min)

After the session, you are welcome to join us for a reception in memory of Paul Achtemeier in the Chesapeake 2 room on Level 3 of the Sheraton.

ICI Update

SBL will be broadcasting six sessions from the Baltimore meeting in November to ICI countries. We have been working through the ICI Liaison Network to identify groups of students and scholars who are interested in participating in one of the sessions. Currently, we have groups in Bolivia, Brazil, Central Africa Republic, Egypt, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, South Africa, and Ukraine that will be taking part. Persons from ICI countries who would like to be part of this initiative are encouraged to contact Leigh Andersen.

The following books were added to the ICI online book depository in September. Please click here for the complete online books list.

Becking, Bob and Susan Hennecke, eds. Out of Paradise: Eve and Adam and their Interpreters. Hebrew Bible Monographs, 30. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2010.

Graham, Susan Lochrie. The Flesh Was Made Word: A Metahistorical Critique of the Contemporary Quest of the Historical Jesus. New Testament Monographs, 27. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2010.

Hock, Ronald. The Chreia and Ancient Rhetoric: Commentaries on Aphthonius’s Progymnasmata. Writings from the Greco-Roman World, 31. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012.

Shantz, Colleen and Rodney A. Werline. Experientia, Volume 2: Linking Text and Experience. Early Judaism and Its Literature, 35. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012.

Sheppard, Beth M. The Craft of History and the Study of the New Testament. Resources for Biblical Study, 60. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012.

New JBL Available Online

SBL Hotel Reservation Reminder

Have you registered for the SBL Annual Meeting yet but forgotten to book your hotel? As a reminder, SBL is working with the Baltimore Housing Bureau this year regarding making reservations for hotel rooms for this year’s meeting. If you haven’t made your housing reservations yet, we urge you to go to your SBL Registration confirmation page and click on the “Book Hotel” link located at the top of the page.

If you have questions about your reservation, or need to make changes, please contact the Baltimore Housing Bureau directly at 800-282-6632 (toll free) or 410-837-4636 (Outside U.S.) or you may also reach them via email at conventionhousing@baltimore.org. You must be registered for the SBL Annual Meeting before you can make your hotel reservation.

For more information regarding housing options, please click here. You may also click here for updated information about the SBL Annual Meeting.

Membership and Subscriptions

Calendar of Events

Submit your events to Sharon Johnson

October 2013
10/9- 10/12	Changing Perspectives in Old Testament Studies: Past, Present, and Future An International Conference at the University of Copenhagen. The conference focuses on the major changes within the field of Old Testament Studies during the past 50 years. It is the aim of the conference to investigate those changing perspectives within a broader context of Hellenistic studies, theories of composition, theories of history, anthropology, archaeology, Ancient Near Eastern religion and comparative literature, Dead Sea texts and cultural memory studies, and to suggest future prospects for the discipline.More information
10/15	Application Deadline-CFP The University of Southern California's West Semitic Research Project (http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp) has finished training the third round of applicants for training in Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) and is looking for another round of applicants. USC'S TRAINING Program is for scholars, conservators, library and museum professionals, archivists and researchers. Participants are trained in the use of Reflectance Transformation imaging (RTI) for documenting ancient texts and artifacts, including the loan of imaging equipment.The objective of this project is to develop an infrastructure for training scholars in the use of RTI technology and subsequently to lend the necessary imaging equipment to participants in the training program so they can do an initial RTI documentation project either in field environments (archaeological sites, etc.) or in libraries, museums and/or other similar venues, worldwide (for examples of RTI images see this video. This initial undertaking should be understood to be a pilot project that can develop into an ongoing, broader documentary effort and preferably may also serve as the catalyst for establishing a scholarly network consortium for image documentation of a given corpus (or corpora) of ancient texts and/or artifacts. All equipment to be lent out is both rugged and compact and is thus ideal for doing sophisticated imaging in remote locations. Twenty awards over three years (approximately seven per year) for traineeships will be provided based on the merit and intrinsic importance of a proposed pilot imaging project as well as the appropriateness of the subject matter for RTI imaging. More information or see http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/projects/imls.shtml, or contact Marilyn Lundberg (mlundber@usc.edu) or Bruce Zuckerman (bzuckerm@usc.edu).
10/23-10/26	Westar Institute Fall Meeting The biannual meeting of the Westar Institute, advancing religious literacy through a twofold mission of fostering collaborative research in religious studies and communicating the results of scholarship to a broad non-specialist public, will take place this Fall in Santa Rosa, California. Critical questions to be considered include: Did Christianity begin with Jesus, Paul, Luke, or Constantine? Which came first, the Gospel of John or the Gospel of Luke? What did the first New Testament look like? How did the debate about rules and rituals shape Christianity? Does the date of Christian origins impact Jewish-Christian relations? Please inquire about student discounts at westar@westarinstitute.org. Program details and registration now available at: http://www.westarinstitute.org/national-meetings/westar-fall-meeting-2013/
November 2013
11/20- 11/22	John, Jesus, and History: Engaging the Legacies of C.H. Dodd and Raymond E. Brown The occasion of this pre-SBL conference at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore is the 50th and 60th anniversaries of Dodd’s books on John and history as well as the ongoing significance of Brown, who taught at St. Mary’s from 1959 to 1971. The conference is sponsored by St. Mary’s and the SBL’s John, Jesus, and History section. The keynote address will be given by Jimmy Dunn. Papers and other presentations will be given by John Ashton, Alan Culpepper, Jonathan Draper, Craig Koester, Wendy E. S. North, Tom Thatcher, Jan van der Watt, and Catrin Williams, as well as Paul Anderson, John Donahue, Michael Gorman, and Jaime Clark-Soles. For further information, contact Craig Koester (ckoester@luthersem.edu) or Michael Gorman (mgorman@stmarys.edu). Registration begins June 1 at The occasion of this pre-SBL conference at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore is the 50th and 60th anniversaries of Dodd’s books on John and history as well as the ongoing significance of Brown, who taught at St. Mary’s from 1959 to 1971. The conference is sponsored by St. Mary’s and the SBL’s John, Jesus, and History section. The keynote address will be given by Jimmy Dunn. Papers and other presentations will be given by John Ashton, Alan Culpepper, Jonathan Draper, Craig Koester, Wendy E. S. North, Tom Thatcher, Jan van der Watt, and Catrin Williams, as well as Paul Anderson, John Donahue, Michael Gorman, and Jaime Clark-Soles. For further information, contact Craig Koester (ckoester@luthersem.edu) or Michael Gorman (mgorman@stmarys.edu). Registration begins June 1
11/23- 11/26	SBL Annual Meeting The SBL Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of biblical scholars in the world. Each meeting showcases the latest in biblical research, fosters collegial contacts, advances research, and focuses on issues of the profession. The Annual Meeting will be held in Baltimore, Maryland More information
11/30	AASR Call for Papers Deadline Its time to start thinking about our next African Association for the Study of Religions Conference and we’re excited to announce that we’ll be turning our attention back to the environment as we meet at University of Cape Town in South Africa, July 30-August 3, 2014. Now is a great time to be thinking about the paper you want to submit. The theme for this year’s conference is: Religion, Ecology, and the Environment in Africa and the African Diaspora. Papers can be submitted online through our online submission system. Read the full conference announcement here. More Information
December 2013
12/31	Deadline for SBL Members iPad Contest Every member who fully completes the SBL Member Profile questions by December 31 will be entered into a drawing to win one of two iPads. You can access the SBL member profile by logging in to the SBL website with your SBLID number. Once you have logged in to the website, click on “my profile” in the Login Box. On the next screen, click on the “Edit Button” under Member Profile. More information