Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Report on the 2007 MAR-SBL Meeting

Sorry to have been off-line for so many days! Part of my excuse is that I was typing up our annual MAR-SBL report. I've just posted a summary of the document on our MAR-SBL website (click here), the text of which reads as follows:



The MAR-SBL’s annual meeting took place this year at the Radisson Hotel at Cross Keys, Baltimore, March 1–2, 2007. The conference included 39 papers related to biblical studies, not including 74 presentations on the AAR side of the program. These numbers are almost exactly the same as last year’s. The SBL plenary address was given by Prof. Mark Goodacre, Duke University: “The Devil is in the Detail: Dispelling Doubts about Dispensing with Q.” The talk was fabulous. Another highlight of the program was the SBL Presidential talk, given by Prof. A. Katherine Grieb of Virginia Theological Seminary: “The Bard and the Bible: Shakespeare and the Interpretation of Scripture.” The address was wonderful indeed, and sparked good conversation. We would like to continue this relatively new tradition. Prof. David Carr organized a semiformal panel on “Analyzing Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible” that also strongly contributed to our program. Prof. Michael Willett Newheart organized a special panel of his seminarians, entitled: “Howard Divinity Students Speak Out on the Historical Jesus.” This year, the Howard Clark Kee Award for the best student paper in the region went to Jackson (“Blake”) Couey. The Conference Hotel provided great rooms and friendly service, and the food at the reception was fabulous. As for finances, the meeting produced an overage of $850, of which the MAR-SBL will receive a 40% share, or $340. To download last year's program (a PDF file), please click here.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Steve,

I agree that it was a fine conference and I'm very happy for Blake. I know this is a bit early, but do you have a tentative date for the 2008 MAR meeting? I'm excited that I'm staying in this region next year. Also, I'm curious to know whether the AAR/SBL split is only for the annual meeting or for the regional ones as well?

Jeremy

Wed Jun 06, 11:46:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger S and C said...

Hi Jeremy,
I am presently in contact with the MAR-AAR folks, and I'll post any information as soon as it becomes available. As far as I know, no exact details are settled as of yet. I do, however, know the answer to your second question. The AAR/SBL split will have no effect our regional meeting. What everyone is saying is that all will continue as before at the regional level. There is also much speculation that the split at the society-wide level will not last too many years, but that remains to be seen, of course. Best, ---S.

Thu Jun 07, 01:35:00 PM GMT-5  

Post a Comment

<< Home