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SBL e-Newsletter
A bi-monthly newsletter for members of the Society of Biblical Literature


November 12 , 2010

The SBL 2010 Society Report

The Society Report has been posted.

Fiscal 2009- 2010 Audit Auditor’s Letter and Auditor’s Report

Annual Meeting Book Sale and Catalog

Almost all new, recent, and backlist SBL and Brown Judaic Studies titles are available to SBL members at a 30% discount during the Annual Meeting Fall Sale.

Download the order form, then mail or fax your order by December 15. If you prefer to order by phone or at the SBL Store, make sure to use the promo code FL2010 at checkout to receive your discount.

The SBL Fall catalog is now available to help in your book selection.

Greek New Testament Give Away

The Society of Biblical Literature is pleased to offer, in association with Logos Bible Software, a new, critically edited Greek New Testament in electronic and print formats. The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition, edited by Michael W. Holmes, is freely available for download at www.sblgnt.com. The print edition will be introduced at the Annual Meeting. A limited supply of free copies will be offered at the meeting on a first-come, first-served basis: redeem the ticket in your registration packet at the member desk.

Bible Odyssey Feedback

Stop by and learn about the SBL's new website for the general public, Bible Odyssey, at booth #1500 in the Marriott Imperial Ballroom. We welcome your comments and participation as we develop this exciting project.

Annual Meeting Session Highlights

African Biblical Hermeneutics/Wabash Center for Learning in Theology and Religion (S22-201)
Monday, Nov 22, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
International 10 - Marriott Marquis
This session, co-sponsored by Wabash Center, will be focused on the findings from a Wabash Grant project entitled Teaching Exegesis in Historically Black Theological Schools (HBTS) awarded to Shaw University in 2007. The grant brought together Biblical Studies professors from the six HBTS for three conferences, to confer on the challenges of teaching exegesis in predominantly non-Eurocentric settings.

Exploring Issues in Pedagogy: Diversity in the Classroom (S22-222)
Monday, Nov 22, 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
A705 - Marriott Marquis
The classroom is becoming increasingly diverse, and this diversity is multiple: gender, ethnic and cultural background, religion, language, age, sexual identity and physical ability are all constituents of the diverse classroom. This session will begin discussion on incorporating teaching methods which engage diversity into pedagogical practice.

How To Reveal Oppression (S22-226a)
Monday, Nov 22, 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
Lenox - Hyatt Regency
This session, hosted by the Status of Women in the Profession Committee, takes a "how to" approach to teaching strategies for exposing the oppressive elements in the biblical text and showing how the oppression operates (an aspect of ideological criticism). A panel of women members will answer the pedagogical question of "What are good strategies for communicating these hard points to students in a way they can hear them and work with them?"

Performance Criticism of Biblical and Other Ancient Texts (S20-329)
Saturday, Nov 20, 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Greenbriar - Hyatt Regency
This session will focus on the subversive performance tradition from which the book of Ruth was constructed. After the presentation of a proposal for reconstructing a performance tradition that predated the literary version of Ruth, participants will enact two live performances of Ruth: one that conforms to traditional male expectations and one that explores what a performance by women for women might have been like. Margaret Edson, whose only play Wit received the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1999, will present and participate in the discussion around the performances during this session. Ms. Edson has taught for ten years at John Hope Elementary, a Title I school in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward.

Service-Learning and Biblical Studies (S21-142)
Sunday, Nov 21, 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
International C - Marriott Marquis
This session will focus on some of the innovative work in service-learning and contextualized-learning being undertaken in three Atlanta-area schools: Agnes Scott College (undergraduates), Emory University (undergraduates), and Candler School of Theology (divinity school students).

Translation as Identity Theft?: Recovering the Jewish Origins of Proper Nouns in the New Testament (S20-344)
Saturday, Nov 20, 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
M102 - Marriott Marquis
Join us for a conversation with Willis Barnstone, moderated by Kristin Swenson. Willis Barnstone is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Indiana University. Poet and translator, he has been a Guggenheim fellow and won awards from the NEA, NEH, and the Poetry Society of America, among others. Barnstone's most recent book is The Restored New Testament. Kristin Swenson is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Translator for the Voice and author of a book on the Psalms, her most recent book is Bible Babel. Both authors will have books for purchase and signing available at the session.

In Memory of Rev. Lawrence Boadt, CSP: A Brief Prayer Service Hosted by Paulist Press Sunday, November 21, 6:30 PM Marriott Marquis - A705

Journal of Biblical Literature

The deadline for subscribing to the Journal of Biblical Literature in time to receive the Winter issue (129:4) is MONDAY! We need to receive your subscription by November 15, 2010 to insure that you will receive your copy. You can renew online at www.sbl-site.org , download the subscription form here, or contact our membership and subscription services department at sblservices@sbl-site.org or call us at 866-727-9955 (toll free within the US) or 404-727-9498.

Congratulations Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht!

The members of the Society of Biblical Literature and the community of publishers honors Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht for its 275 years of academic publishing. Thank you for your commitment and congratulations on your contribution to research and scholarship.

ICI at the Annual Meeting

The Advisory Board of the International Cooperation Initiative (ICI) will meet in Atlanta on Saturday, November 20, at 2:30 in Room A601 in the Marriott Marquis hotel. Anyone who is interested in participating in the work of this group is invited to attend. For more information on the ICI and its programs, please visit http://www.sbl-site.org/InternationalCoopInitiative.aspx.

If you have questions, please contact Leigh Andersen.

ACLS Offers SBL Members Benefit

Did you know? The American Council of Learned Societies offers individual annual subscriptions to its Humanities E-Book (HEB) collection to current Society of Biblical Literature members. HEB provides unlimited access to nearly 3,000 full-text, cross-searchable titles across the humanities and social sciences, from the 1880s through the present through this subscription. The collection includes most titles in two SBL book series: Writings from the Ancient World and Writings from the Greco-Roman World. Become an SBL member or renew your membership in order to take advantage of this and other benefits.

Visit www.humanitiesebook.org for more information on HEB.

Articles of Interest

Art of the Conference Paper
November 3, 2010
By Alessandro Angelini

"Recently, I dedicated two weekends to that time-honored graduate-student rite of passage, the academic conference. In those intervals between the battery of panel sessions spent wandering hotel corridors with dog-eared program in hand, as well as during the last long bus ride back home, I had time to reflect on my colleagues’ performances as well as my own. Simply put, I noticed that there are some practices that contribute toward engaging presentations, and other habits that make for canned, lifeless recitation... "

SBL with the Coalition on the Academic Workforce (CAW)

If you have not already, be sure to complete the Fall 2010 Survey of Contingent Faculty Members, Instructors, and Researchers, sponsored by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce (CAW). To date, the survey has gathered more than 20,000 responses, but we are hoping for many more. Please forward the URL for the questionnaire — http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VNNNRVS — to colleagues and encourage them to complete it. The survey is open until the end of November.

Calendar

Submit your events to Sharon Johnson.

November 2010
11/17-11/19 Symposium on the Johannine Epistles
Hosted by the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta.
The Symposium will feature major presentations by D. Moody Smith, Jr., Judith Lieu, John Painter, and Jan G. van der Watt and short papers by Paul Anderson, R. Alan Culpepper, Peter Rhea Jones, Craig Koester, Andreas Kostenberger, Gail R. O’Day, David Rensberger, Urban C. (Cam) von Wahlde, and others.
Registration: $150 payable to McAfee School of Theology
Hotels:Hampton Inn (Northlake) or Comfort Suites (Northlake)
Program and Schedule (draft copy)

For more information contact: Diane Frazier, 678 547-6470 or Frazier_d@mercer.edu
11/17- 11/20 ASOR Annual Meeting, Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia
11/19- 11/23 SBL Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia
11/20 BIRTHA Postgraduate Women and Religion Conference, Bristol University
The keynote speaker will be Dr Carolyn Muessig, Reader in Medieval Religion in the Theology and Religious Studies department of the University of Bristol, and the concluding address with be given by Dr Martin Seeger, Lecturer in Thai Language and Culture, and Director of Thai Studies at Leeds University.

This conference brings together doctoral researchers and early career academics from a variety of disciplines and fields to explore the role and place of women in religion. Presenters will be coming from Universities in the UK and from Europe (France and Italy) and panels will include papers on the role and status of women in Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam both in the present and historically, and from a wide range of perspectives (textual, sociological, historical). Registration is free but required as the number of places is limited.
More information and registration form
December 2010
12/3-12/4 Infancy Gospels: Stories and Identities
While the traditions concerning the birth of Jesus have always figured prominently in culture, art and Christian piety, the so-called "Infancy Gospels" have been somewhat neglected in modern research, being viewed as they are as legendary or belonging to folk literature. The aim of this research seminar is to reconsider the canonical and apocryphal traditions on the infancy of Jesus, taking the themes of the identity embodied in the discourses and the multiple ways of reading the texts (historical, narrative, psychanalitic, feministic, artistic, liturgical readings, aso).
This research program will be hold in three sessions in Switzerland in autumn 2010.

Session 3: University of Fribourg, 12/03/2010 - 12/04/2010, with Simon Butticaz, Elian Cuvillier, Luc Devillers, Daniel Gerber, Ursula Ulrike Kaiser, Jean-Daniel Kaestli, Isabelle Saint-Martin, Sever J. Voicu, Benedict Viviano
Information: claire.clivaz@unil.ch
Previous sessions were held in September and November 2010.
Information on all three sessions: http://www3.unil.ch/wpmu/evenfance/

Keep track of 2011 international celebrations of the 400th year anniversary of the King James Bible here

January 2011
1/4-1/6 SOTS Winter Meeting
The Society for Old Testament Study's Winter Meeting will be at Collingwood College, University of Durham
More information
1/6- 1/8 BANEA 2011: Annual Conference
The 2011 Annual Conference will be held in the School of World Art Studies at the University of East Anglia. The main theme of the conference will be: Artistry, Artisanship and Divisions of Labour in the Ancient Near East.The Conference organizers welcome proposals for themed sessions, workshops and papers broadly related to the ideas of artistry, artisanship and divisions of labour in the Ancient Near East. Themed sessions that could lead to publication through the BANEA Publication Series are particularly welcome. As in previous years there will also be a session dedicated to recent fieldwork and a general session.
More information
1/6-1/9 2011 AIA and APA Joint Annual Meeting
The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and The American Philological Association (APA) will meet in San Antonio, Texas.
More information at APA or at AIA
1/6-1/9 Linguistic Society of America 85th Annual Meeting
Plenary Speakers:Barbara Johnstone, Carnegie Mellon University;Janet Pierrehumbert, Northwestern University;Ted Supalla, University of Rochester
For Meeting information see:http://www.lsadc.org/info/meet-annual.cfm
For Abstracts information see:http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/callforabstracts2011.pdf
February 2011
2/11-2/13 SBL Midwest Regional Meeting
at Olivet Nazarene University, Bourbonnais, Illinois
More information
2/14- 2/15 Isaiah and Empire
A European Association of Biblical Studies colloquium will be held in Auckland, New Zealand. This colloquium (sponsored by Laidlaw-Carey Graduate School in Auckland, New Zealand) will explore cultural and theological implications of aspects of the book of Isaiah in the context of empire
More information
March 2011
3/4- 3/6 SBL Southwestern Regional Meeting
Marriott Hotel DFW North, Dallas, Texas
More information
3/4- 3/6 SBL Southeastern Regional Meeting
The Gault House, Louisville, Kentucky
More information
3/15 Deadline to the the new summer program for the study of Jewish-Christian encounters at Tel Aviv University
The program is a 6- week English language program, designed for students (in the process of an advanced degree such as M.A., M.Div., M.A.R, Ph.D., etc.) in ancient Judaism and early Christianity. The program will provide students with basic scholarly skills in the Hebrew language and an introduction to the foundational rabbinic texts and to their manner of interacting with early Christian texts. It will expose them to current scholarship and to leading Israeli scholars in these fields, as well as to various archeological sites.
More information
3/17- 3/18 SBL Mid Atlantic Regional Meeting
Hyatt Regency, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
More information
3/18- 3/19 SBL Rocky Mountains-Great Plains Regional Meeting
Illiff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado
More information
3/20- 3/21 SBL Central States Regional Meeting
St. Louis Marriott West, St. Louis, Missouri
More information
3/24- 3/25 God’s Word in English: The King James Version as Translation
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible, SIG VERBI, an international research group of CETRA under the auspices of the faculties of Theology and Arts of the K.U.Leuven and the Department of Translation Studies of the Lessius University College (Antwerp), is holding a conference. The conference fits into the events to commemorate the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, organized by Refo500, of which the K.U.Leuven is a project partner. The aim of the conference is to present research on this remarkable version of the Bible primarily from the perspective of translation, including the effects this piece of translation have exercised on various areas of religious and popular culture, and especially on the theory and practice of translation.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 November 2010 (Please submit abstracts to Dr. Gergely Juhász
 More information
3/27-3/28 SBL Pacific Coast Regional Meeting, Whittier College,Whittier, California
More Information 
3/31- 4/1 SBL Eastern Great Lakes Regional Meeting
Quality Inn & Suites, Richfield, Ohio
More information
April 2011
4/1- 4/2 SBL Upper Midwest Regional Meeting
Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota
More information
4/6-4/8 The City in the Hebrew Bible
The City in the Hebrew Bible Conference will be hosted by the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge.
More information
4/11 Beyond Scare Quotes: Rethinking Words and Things in the Study of Ancient "Judaism" and "Christianity"
A Regional Graduate Student Conference, to be held at the University of Pennsylvania, in conjunction with the 48th Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins
More information
4/29 SBL New England Regional Meeting
Andover-Newton Theological School, Newton, Massachussetts
More information
May 2011
5/1 Deadline to the the new 1 year MA program in Jewish Studies at Tel Aviv University
The Department of Hebrew Culture Studies at Tel-Aviv University invites applications for its new one-year Masters program in Jewish Studies for international students. This is the only Jewish Studies Masters program in Israel that is conducted entirely in English.

The program offers a series of comprehensive encounters with the classical texts of Jewish cultures from biblical to modern times. Its intellectual home in the department of Hebrew Culture Studies at Tel Aviv University, the single largest integrative Jewish Studies department in the world today, enables us to cover a wide range of periods, methodologies, and scholarly interests, while maintaining the highest standards of academic excellence.
More information
5/5-5/8 The Annual Meeting of the Association of Ancient Historians (AAH) will be held at and hosted by Mercyhurst College, Erie PA
More Information
5/13- 5/15 SBL Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting
Eastern Washington University- Spokane Campus, Spokane, Washington
More information
5/21- 6/3 Syria for Scholars
Join colleagues in Biblical Studies on a two-week tour of Syria. Rich in sites of importance for the study of the Hebrew Bible and early Christianity, highlights include: Damascus, an excursion to Baalbek in Lebanon, Ras Shamra (Ugarit), Crac des Chevaliers (the world’s best preserved Crusader castle), Apamea, Tel Mardikh (Ebla), Aleppo, Mari, Dura Europas, and Palmyra.
For a detailed itinerary and pricing information contact Steve McKenzie or visit (Academy International Travel). Login information: Group ID: Syria, Password: travel. You can register online to participate in the tour.
5/29- 5/31 The CSBS/SCÉB 2011 Annual Meeting
The annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies/La société canadienne des études bibliques will be held at University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick.
More information
June 2011
6/8- 6/12 AAUP Annual Conference on the State of Higher Education
The American Association of University Professors will meet at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
More information
6/19- 7/29 The Advanced Summer program for the Study of Jewish-Christian Encounters in the First Centuries CE,
is a 6 week English-language program, designed for advanced students (M.A., M.Div., M.A.R, Ph.D., etc.) in ancient Judaism and early Christianity from the United States and Europe. The program will provide English-speaking students with basic scholarly skills in the Hebrew language and in rabbinic literature and culture. It will expose them to current scholarship and to leading Israeli scholars in these fields, as well as to various archeological sites.
The studies will take place at the Tel Aviv University campus, located in the heart of Tel Aviv. Accommodations are available at the recently renovated on-campus housing.
Application deadline: March 15th, 2011
More Information
6/21- 6/24
Melanesian Association of Theological Schools (MATS) Inaugural Conference
A meeting to reconstitute the Association will be held on the last day of the conference. It is envisaged that the MATS conference will become an annual gathering of educators and postgraduate students from the theological schools of Melanesia and the wider South Pacific.

The conference will provide a scholarly forum for four broad areas of theological enquiry: OLD TESTAMENT, NEW TESTAMENT, THEOLOGY (SYSTEMATIC AND HISTORICAL), and APPLIED THEOLOGY (MINISTRY, ETHICS, MISSIOLOGY). Presenters will be encouraged to submit expanded versions of their papers for publication in the Melanesian Journal of Theology.

There will be an initial call for abstracts in Nov 2010 with registration to follow in Feb-Mar 2011.
MATS 2011 will be held at Pacific Adventist University in Papua New Guinea (located about 20 km from Port Moresby). Thereafter the conference will be hosted by other theological schools in Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific islands. For details and further information please contact Scott Charlesworth

6/26- 6/29 Sixth North American Syriac Symposium
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
More information
July 2011
7/3-7/8 SBL International Meeting, London, England
7/7-7/9 The Bible in the Seventeenth Century: The Authorised Version Quatercentenary (1611-2011)
Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies: University of York

Speakers Include: Sharon Achinstein, Hugh Adlington, David Appleby, Gordon Campbell, Elizabeth Clark, Karen Edwards, Lori Anne Ferrell, Christopher Haigh, Paul Hammond, Hannibal Hamlin, Tom Healy, Mark Knights, Peter Lake, Barbara Lewalski, Erica Longfellow, Judth Maltby, Scott Mandelbrote, Peter Marshall, Peter McCullough, Nick McDowell, David Norton, Roger Pooley, Joad Raymond, Anne Prescott, Jane Shaw, Jonathan Sheehan, Alison Shell, Yvonne Sherwood, Deborah Shuger, Nigel Smith, Peter Stallybrass, Alex Walsham, Helen Wilcox, Susan Wiseman, Blair Worden, Stephen Zwicker More information
7/18-7/21 Summer SOTS Meeting
The Society for Old Testament Study (SOTS) will meet at St Hilda's College, University of Oxford. The meeting includes a joint day with the British Association for Jewish Studies (BAJS)
More information
7/26-7/28 Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense LX International Biblical Conference
Topic: The Apocryphal Gospels within the Context of Early Christian Theology, Venue: KU Leuven, Faculty of Theology
Proposals for offered papers should be submitted to the president before April 1, 2011
President: Prof. Dr. Jens Schroeter (HU Berlin): schroetj@hu-berlin.de ; Secretary CBL: Prof. Dr. Joseph Verheyden (KU Leuven): jos.verheyden@theo.kuleuven.be For more information please contact the secretary or check the CBL conference webpage at http://www.theo.kuleuven.be/page/centr_collbibl
August 2011
8/2- 8/6 STUDIORUM NOVI TESTAMENTI SOCIETAS
The 66th General Meeting of Society for New Testament Studies (SNTS) will take place at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
More information
September 2011
9/1- 9/3 British New Testament Society
University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, United Kingdom
More information
October 2011
   
November 2011
11/16- 11/19 ASOR Annual Meeting
The American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) will hold their Annual Meeting at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, CA
More information
11/18- 11/22 SBL Annual Meeting,
The SBL Annual Meeting will be held in San Francisco, California.
More information

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