Book Sale Ends December 15

Almost all new, recent, and backlisted SBL Press and Brown Judaic Studies titles are available to SBL members at a 30 percent discount during the Annual Meeting Fall Sale. Download the order form, then mail or fax your order by December 15, 2016. If you prefer to order by phone or at the SBL Press Store, make sure to use the promo code FL2016 at checkout to receive your discount.

SBL on Twitter

@BibleOdyssey
shares content related to Bible Odyssey and biblical studies in general.

@SBLSite
a combined channel for communication to SBL members from the SBL Professions, Congresses, and Membership departments.

Bible Odyssey

Any topics you would like to see Bible Odyssey address? Let us know at: bow@sbl-site.org

SBL Calendar

A listing of worldwide events of interest to biblical and religious studies scholars.

Obituaries

Andrew Rippin (1950-2016)

See all ICI Books

SBL Handbook of Style blog

Recent SBLHS2 Blog Posts
Conceptual Metaphor Theory
Le Monde de le Bible
Gospel versus gospel
Mishnaic, Talmudic, and Related Literature Abbreviations

Follow handbook updates on the SBL Handbook of Style blog

Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion about the SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd edition?
If so, please contact SBL Press at SBLHS2@sbl-site.org.

Support SBL with your Amazon Purchases

Council Updates

The SBL Council met at the 2016 Annual Meeting in San Antonio. You can find links to the update, as well as archived updates, on SBL’s home page and here.

New (and Old) SBL Policies

During its November Council meeting, two additional policies were approved:

• Procedures for Requesting Governance and Policy Changes provides a process for SBL members to petition the SBL Council to create a new policy or make changes to existing by-laws and policies.
• Procedures for Making Public Statements provides a process for SBL members to follow in requesting that the Society make an official public statement or resolution.

The publishing of these two new policies provides a good context to reflect on a policy Council published in 2015, “Role of SBL in Making Public Statements” (see SBL Policy Manual, p. 87). As that policy states, we are society of scholars whose mission is to foster biblical scholarship. In so doing, "we aspire to provide a model for engaging critically and respectfully all aspects of religious discourse in the context of civil society. Among a membership that is socially diverse and increasingly international, individual members may espouse intensely-felt opinions on ethical issues that can be diametrically opposed to the opinions of other members. This is a positive state of affairs and an opportunity to exercise the core values of the Society. As a learned society, its role is to encourage the expression of these opposing viewpoints in public fora (including digital, or social media), and to provide a safe space for discussion in which everyone is encouraged to put forward their reasoned opinions while being offered respect and collegiality, and being protected from all forms of hate speech. The Society continues to encourage its members to engage with the major issues that face them in their particular place and moment in history, and aims to provide resources to foster deep discussion of these issues, and critical engagement with them, from a variety of standpoints and perspectives."  Recent social and political events around the world have stirred many members to ask what our discipline has to offer in the public square. In this context, too, we affirm the practice of drawing on the disciplinary practices of biblical studies to engage matters with which our members are concerned in ways that are consonant with the Society's longstanding core values.

Awards Open for Submission

• De Gruyter Prize for Biblical Studies and Reception History
• Paul J. Achtemeier Award for New Testament Scholarship
• David Noel Freedman Award for Excellence and Creativity in Hebrew Bible Scholarship
• Status of Women in the Profession Committee Mentor Award.

William G. Dever Archaeological Fellowship for Biblical Scholars

A two–month travel-study award of $7,000 will be made available in the summer of 2017 to a qualified American non-tenured faculty member in the field of biblical studies who wants to acquire elementary, first-hand experience in field archaeology and research in Israel. Applicants should apply by December 15, 2016 to ASOR, supplying a statement of purpose; a curriculum vitae; and a supporting letter from a senior administrator. The successful applicant is expected to be a member of ASOR; it is also expected that the recipient will submit a final report to ASOR at the end of the fellowship period. More Information

New Books from SBL Press

Stones, Bones, and the Sacred: Essays on Material Culture and Ancient Religion in Honor of Dennis E. Smith
Alan H. Cadwallader, editor

The world of early Christians was not a world lived in texts; it was a world saturated with material reality and concerns: what, where and when to eat or drink; how to present oneself in the space of bodily life and that of death; how to move from one place to another; what had an impact on status or the adjudication of legal charges. All these and more controlled so much of life in the ancient world. The Christians were not immune from the impact of these realities. The collection of essays in this volume honor one who has made a lifetime's work in mining ancient material culture to extract nuggets of insight into early Christian dining practices: Dennis E. Smith.

The Vision of the Priestly Narrative: Its Genre and Hermeneutics of Time
Suzanne Boorer

Boorer explores the theology of an originally independent Priestly narrative (Pg), extending through Genesis–Numbers, as a whole. In this book she describes the structure of the Priestly narrative, in particular its coherent sequential and parallel patterns. Boorer argues that at every point in the narrative’s sequential and parallel structure, it reshapes past traditions, synthesizing these with contemporary and unique elements into future visions, in a way that is akin to the timelessness of liturgical texts. The book sheds new light on what this material might have sought to accomplish as a whole, and how it might have functioned for its original audience.  

The First Urban Churches 2: Roman Corinth
James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn, editors

Volume two of The First Urban Churches focuses on the urban context of Christian churches in first-century Roman Corinth. An investigation of the material evidence of Corinth helps readers today understand properly the challenges, threats, and opportunities that the early Corinthian believers faced in the city. The authors in this collection of essays focus on the inscriptions, archaeological remains, coins, and iconography of ancient Corinth in order to reconstruct the past and its social, religious and political significance. The essays demonstrate decisively the difference that such an approach makes in grappling with the meaning and context of the Corinthian epistles in the New Testament.

The Studia Philonica Annual is a scholarly journal devoted to the study of Hellenistic Judaism, particularly the writings and thought of the Hellenistic-Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria. More than fifteen scholars from around the world offer contributions to this special edition of the Annual in honor of Professor David T. Runia on the occasion of his 65th birthday and retirement from his post as Master of Queens College, University of Melbourne. Professor Runia is internationally recognized as one of the world's foremost experts on Philo of Alexandria. As founder of The Studia Philonica Annual, he has been editor or coeditor for twenty-seven years. He initiated a Philo Bibllography project prior to the Annual and incorporated the bibliography into the Annual from the outset. It serves as the primary bibliography for Philonic studies worldwide.

Hardcover $61.95, ISBN 9780884141815
Kindle, ASIN B01M3T0GHK
Google Play, ISBN 9780884141822 
476 pages • 2016 • Studia Philonica Annual 28

Womanist Interpretations of the Bible: Expanding the Discourse
Gay L. Byron and Vanessa Lovelace, editors

Gay L. Byron and Vanessa Lovelace bring together scholars from the US, the Caribbean, and India in this collection of cross-generational and cross-cultural readings of the Bible and other sacred sources. Each article addresses contemporary topics, including the #BlackLivesMatter movement, domestic violence, and human trafficking, while at the same time uncovering the complicated portrayals of children, women, and other marginalized persons in biblical narratives. Contributors employ gender and feminist criticism, social-scientific methods, postcolonial and psychoanalytical theory, and hip-hop culture to reveal the inherently intersectional dynamics of race, gender, and class at work in womanist thought and analysis. 

Metaphor, Morality, and the Spirit in Romans 8:1–17
William E. W. Robinson

In this innovative book, Robinson examines the metaphors Paul uses in Romans 8:1–17 to reveal the roles that the Spirit and believers play in moral conduct. To do so, Robinson applies conceptual metaphor theories to well-known but enigmatic metaphors like “walk according to the Spirit” and “the Spirit dwells in you.” In the process, he addresses thorny theological issues such as whether Spirit and flesh signal an internal battle within believers or two conflicting ways of life. Finally, Robinson shows how this study is relevant to related Pauline passages (e.g., Galatians 5:16–25) and to biblical interpretation in general. 

Bible through the Lens of Trauma 
Elizabeth Boase and Christopher G. Frechette, editors

In recent years there has been a surge of interest in trauma, trauma theory, and its application to the biblical text. This collection of essays explores the usefulness of trauma theory as a lens through which to read the biblical texts. Each of the essays explores the concept of how trauma might be defined and applied in biblical studies. Using a range of different but intersecting theories of trauma, the essays reflect on the value of trauma studies for offering new insights into the biblical text. Including contributions from biblical scholars, as well as systematic and pastoral theologians, this book provides a timely critical reflection on this emerging discussion.

Do you have a question, comment, or suggestion about the SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd edition?
If so, please contact SBL Press at SBLHS2@sbl-site.org.