Search SBL
 







Meeting Program Units

2012 Annual Meeting

Chicago, IL

Meeting Begins11/16/2012
Meeting Ends11/20/2012

Call for Papers Opens: 2/8/2012
Call for Papers Closes: 3/7/2012

Requirements for Participation

Sabbath in Text and Tradition


Program Unit Type: Seminar
Accepting Papers? Yes

Call For Papers: The Sabbath in Text and Tradition Group invites papers on two linked themes. Papers may discuss any topic within the two themes, which are meant to suggest possibilities rather than limit them. Authors may approach the topic from any perspective – historical, religio-cultural, textual, tradition history or other theoretical models. Papers will be distributed in advance to members of the Sabbath Group to enhance dialogue and collaboration. The Sabbath and the Created World: Early biblical texts link the seven days of God’s creation with the construction of the Sabbath. Later texts (biblical and post-biblical) seek varied points of origin for Sabbath activities, including the building of the Tabernacle, the manna in the desert, the Exodus in Egypt and others. This session will explore the relationship between creation, the created world and the Sabbath, addressing issues such the various justifications for a seven-day Sabbath cycle; the Sabbath as imitatio Dei; similarity and divergence between divine and human acts of creation and the Sabbath; biblical and post-biblical understandings of the Sabbath’s relationship to Creation; environmental implications of Creation and rest; the sabbatical cycle; the impact of Sabbath observance on the created world and other related questions. The Sabbath and the World to Come: Many biblical texts posit the existence of a “World to Come,” an idealized state that will exist when the world transcends its present reality. The Sabbath has been linked to this future state in numerous ways. This session will examine the biblical and post-biblical Sabbath as they relate to the World to Come, including the Sabbath as foretaste and/or harbinger; the relationship between Messiah, Messianic Age and Sabbath; Sabbath observance as speeding (or non-observance as hindering) the arrival of the World to Come; concepts of perfection and wholeness on the Sabbath and in the World to Come and other related questions.

Program Unit Chairs

Aaron D. Panken

Propose a Paper for this Program Unit

If you are a SBL member, you must login before you can propose a paper for this or any other session. Please login by entering your SBL member number on the left in the Login box.

For all other persons wanting to propose a paper, you must communicate directly with the chair of the program unit to which you want to propose. Chairs have the responsibility to make waiver requests, and their email addresses are available above. SBL provides membership and meeting registration waivers only for scholars who are outside the disciplines covered by the SBL program, specifically most aspects of archaeological, biblical, religious, and theological studies.

Questions About Membership?

  • Call 866-727-9955 Toll Free in the US
  • Call 404-727-9498 Outside the US
  • Fax us at 404-727-2419
  • Email us at sblservices@sbl-site.org
 


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

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