SBL's
two largest meetings are held over several days and are divided up into
sessions that are organized by program units. Program units cover the gamut of
SBL member interests from Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literature to Computer
Assisted Research to Gender, Sexuality, and the Bible. The Annual Meeting and
the International Meeting each has its own set of program units. To see
the current year’s program units, follow the links on the right side of
this page. Units from previous years are listed in the varios program books in the Program Book Archive (see
below) and in that year’s Society Report.
There are three types of program units:
Consultation: 3 year term—usually the first incarnation of a program
unit; formed to explore the viability of and interest in a subject; can be
short-term units responding to current trends or topics/methods/inquires new to
the SBL program.
Section: 6 year term—offers presenters most access for unsolicited
papers; required to have at least one open session each year; session types
include paper readings, panel discussions, and workshops that involve practical,
hands-on, learning opportunities related to teaching and/or research
applications.
Seminar: 6 year term—long-range collaborative research
topics/papers that require active participation and well-defined research
topics or projects; unit chairs collect papers before meeting and distribute to
participant group; papers are summarized and discussed, not read, at meetings.
Proposing a New Program Unit or Special Session or Renewing an Existing Program Unit
Program unit proposals are reviewed within the SBL office
for completeness and then by the respective program committee as a whole. Proposers must use the forms linked to below. Questions related to developing a proposal should be sent via email to Christopher Hooker, Director of Membership and Programs.
Annual Meeting
*New program unit proposals are due January 15 of the year in which the unit
would begin.
International Meeting
*New program unit proposals are due September 1 of the year prior to the meeting of the proposed start date (e.g., a proposal for a unit to begin at the 2021 International Meeting is due on September 1, 2020).
*Renewal proposals are due September 1 of the final year of the unit's current term.
Special Sessions
Special sessions, including book
reviews, should be discussed with and programmed as a part of current program
units whenever possible; proposers are responsible for contacting related
program units. Some topics, however, fall outside of or beyond the scope of
current units and/or require special attention. Proposals for such sessions
must follow the forms below and will be reviewed based on the criteria for
review of program unit proposals and renewals (see above).
Seminar Papers Archive
Beginning in 2004, the print edition of Seminar Papers was discontinued, with a selection of papers presented at the meeting being made available online. The online version of Seminar Papers was discontinued in 2010. The archive of the online Seminar Papers is available on the SBL website.
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