Attending SBL

Last updated on: November 28, 2015 at 4:25 pm by Kermit Zarley

Attending SBL 2015-11-28T16:25:30-07:00 Kermit Zarley

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Every year for the past seventeen years, the highlight of my year has been attending the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. (I joined this organization in 1999.) It is always held for four or five days the weekend before Thanksgiving in a large city in North America that has a downtown convention hall large enough to accommodate the affair. Many of the leading biblical scholars in the world, but especially from the U.S. and the UK, attend this annual gathering. They do so to network, speak at sessions, show their authored books in the book exhibit hall, and discuss and contract with publishers about their next book or biblical commentary to write. Every year I see people there such as N.T. Wright, James D. G. Dunn, or Bart Ehrman. Sometimes, after this event I post once or twice on this blog about my experience that weekend. This year, the Annual Meeting will be held in Atlanta. The following is SBL’s description of itself with a bracketed paragraph I’ve added at the end:

About the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL)

Founded in 1880 in the United States of America, the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) is the oldest and largest international, interdisciplinary, learned society devoted to the critical investigation of the Bible. The Society has published the flagship journal of biblical scholarship, the Journal of Biblical Literature, since 1881 and has been a member of the American Council of Learned Societies since 1929. With a membership of just over 8,100 scholars, teachers, students, religious leaders, and interested individuals from over one hundred countries, the Society is more diverse than ever before. The mission of the SBL, to “foster biblical scholarship,” is a simple one. It could not be carried out without the more than 1,000 member volunteers who donate their time and talents to this mission.

The SBL offers its members diverse resources in order to accomplish our mission. Many of these are tangible, such as the diverse electronic resources that promote research and teaching. These include, but are by no means limited to, the entire backlist of the Journal of Biblical Literature, the Review of Biblical Literature, and the SBL Greek New Testament. Members of the Society have access to the member directory and the Program Book for our Annual Meeting, allowing them to link with other scholars who share common interests in the field of biblical studies. We provide an annual Job Report that tracks employment in biblical, religious, and theological studies. The SBL Font Foundation is developing specialized fonts for biblical studies that are available to individual scholars at no cost. We support women and underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities in the profession through our mentoring and recruiting programs. Special tools and sessions are provided for students and those outside the academy.

The Society also fosters biblical scholarship through a variety of publishing partnerships. For over a century SBL has provided, through a system of Congresses, a chance for its members to gather and exchange ideas, to network and form relationships. Members receive substantial discounts on registration and housing at these events. These dynamic meetings allow scholars to renew old relationships with colleagues and mentors and to meet and interact with the “great names” in biblical scholarship. The meetings are designed as forums to encompass the diverse needs of our members. They include smaller, intimate regional meetings, the diverse and growing International Meeting, and the largest gathering of scholars in one single place, our Annual Meeting. Over half of SBL’s members attend the Annual Meeting. SBL’s meetings keep scholars active and up to date, provide them access to the latest tools and resources, and expose members to diverse subjects and ideas. Special sessions are provided for students to help prepare them for their future in biblical studies.

Members of SBL have opportunities to publish papers in the flagship Journal of Biblical Literature, write for Bible Odyssey, write a review for the Review of Biblical Literature, and submit books for possible publication with SBL Press. Members also receive substantial discounts on SBL Press books at the congresses and also receive substantial discounts from affiliate organizations on their journals and books. At this time these include, among others, De Gruyter, the Pennsylvania State University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Sage.

[SBL and the American Academy of Religion (AAR) join together each year in holding their annual meetings in the same convention hall in a large city in North America. The two features are a huge book exhibit hall wherein all religious publishers have booths showing their books and hundreds of sessions are conducted in which scholars deliver papers that are discussed.]

Society of Biblical Literature

SBL's Annual Meeting

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