Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

Call For Papers: For the 2017 meeting, we welcome papers that address the following discussion question: "Is this a 'text'?" In scholarly writing about the ancient world, it is still conventional to employ capitalized (and often italized) phrases such as _The Acts of John_, _The Apocalypse of Peter_, and _The Gospel of Thomas_. But what are we referring to when we write that way, or when we publish "translations" and "critical editions" with those "titles" on the cover? Do these scholarly practices adequately capture the dynamic, fluid nature of ancient verbal communication, which comes to light when one compares individual manuscripts? What do we gain or lose by labelling stories about John, sayings of Jesus, or tours of Hell with what sound like "titles" of "texts"? How else might we write about verbal communication in the ancient world that would be more helpful in our quest to appreciate extant written artifacts? We invite proposals for papers that specifically address this topic, and which combine methodological reflection with detailed textual case studies (of Jewish or Christian literature). Proposals are also welcome for an additional open session that will highlight creative, well-developed personal research projects on extra-canonical Jewish and Christian literature. NB: Those with papers on the Apostolic Fathers, Septuagint, or Qumran (unless they directly relate to the discussion question described above), are encouraged to sumbit to those other sections. Please do not submit the same proposal to more than one section.

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