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Meeting Program Units

2023 Annual Meeting

San Antonio, Texas

Meeting Begins11/18/2023
Meeting Ends11/21/2023

Call for Papers Opens: 1/23/2023
Call for Papers Closes: 3/14/2023

Requirements for Participation

Biblical Law


Program Unit Type: Section
Accepting Papers? Yes

Call For Papers: The Biblical Law section plans four sessions for the 2023 Annual Meeting. We invite proposals for two open sessions on any aspect of the study of biblical law, including work related to cuneiform documents, the Dead Sea Scrolls and other Second Temple Literature, questions of pentateuchal criticism, legal history, gender analysis, social-scientific analysis, and newer methodologies. Our third session will be co-sponsored with the Gender, Sexuality, and Bible section and will consist of invited and proposed papers. It will focus on gender identity (beyond the binary opposition between man and woman) and legal status, and will consider the role that gender plays in conferring specific legal rights, obligations, and social statuses in Near Eastern and biblical law. We invite proposals that explore questions related to this theme, such as: How does (or doesn't) sexuality define the social/legal status of women, especially in the areas of marriage and adoption? How does gender define the institution of inheritance? Although it appears that patrilineal descent was considered the customary norm, what do texts reveal about the legal autonomy of women in such systems? Were gendered legal statuses (i.e., father/mother/brother/sister) based on biological or social definitions? Could people legally change their gender? Our fourth session will consist of invited papers on the topic "How God Became a Lawgiver." These papers stem from a recent ERC-funded project at the University of Zurich and will cover a variety of topics on divine law and the place of the Torah in ancient Near Eastern legal history.

Program Unit Chairs

Andrew D. Gross
Hilary Lipka

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.

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