December 17, 2014 Newsletter
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SBL Newsletter

Bible Odyssey
It was wonderful to meet in person so many Bible Odyssey contributors in San Diego! If you were lucky enough to get a limited edition Bible Odyssey t-shirt, send us your pix and tell us your stories (bow@sbl-site.org). We may post them on our twitter account. Did anyone ask you "who's Josephus"? Or did you hike to the top of a mountain with Phoebe and Junia? We know of at least one maitre d' of a sushi bar in San Diego who now knows who Josephus was…

Follow Bible Odyssey on Twitter @bibleodyssey


SBL Awards Deadlines
The David Noel Freedman Award for Excellence and Creativity in Hebrew Bible Scholarship,the The Paul J. Achtemeier Award for New Testament Scholarship and the De Gruyter Prize for Biblical Studies and Reception History are now open for submissions until 10 January 2015.

Both the Freedman and Achtemeier awards include a $1,000 monetary award and the paper is delivered at the 2015 SBL Annual Meeting in Atlanta. The De Gruyter Prize is $1500, and winning manuscripts are published by De Gruyter .

CHANGE to Annual Meeting Travel Grant application
A change to the deadline schedule and application process for the Annual Meeting Travel Grants has been put in place to bring the process in line with dates for Annual Meeting paper acceptance dates.

Deadlines:
December 2014: Call for Papers opens. Annual Meeting Travel Grant application opens.
1 March 2015: Deadline – E-mail with Intention to submit and CV.
5 April 2015: Deadline – Application form and recommendation letter.
1 May 2015: Award decisions will be announced.

More information >>


SBL Membership and Subscriptions
Login with your member number and check to see when your membership and subscriptions are due to expire.

If you wish to make a donation to SBL before the end of the year and you need any assistance please contact SBLServices@SBL-site.org. Remember if you reside in the United States your donation may be tax deductible.

Now is a great time to update your member data form. Remember that if you fill out the member data form you are automatically entered in a drawing to win one of two iPads. The drawing will take place on January 5, 2015 so fill out or update your member data form before December 31, 2014.

Is it time to renew your subscriptions with SBL? Remember as a member you always have access to the Journal of Biblical Literature and the Review of Biblical Literature on our website. You only need to subscribe if you want the paper editions to be sent to you. If you wish to receive the first issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature for 2015 you need to subscribe by February 15, 2015. Subscriptions for Review of Biblical Literature 2015 need to be received by September 15, 2015.


SBL Calendar
Events for Biblical and Religious Studies

SBL on Twitter
Follow SBL on twitter: @bibleodyssey and @SBLsite.

The former promotes content related to Bible Odyssey and biblical studies in general. The latter is a combined channel for communication to SBL members from the SBL Press, Professions, Congresses, and Membership departments.



Jennifer Strawbridge Wins SBL–De Gruyter Prize for Biblical Studies and Reception History
De Gruyter is delighted to announce Dr. Jennifer Strawbridge as the winner of the first SBL–De Gruyter Prize for Biblical Studies and Reception History. Dr. Strawbridge’s manuscript, “According to the Wisdom Given to Him”: The Use of the Pauline Epistles by Early Christian Writers, was selected as the 2014 winner. The prize includes publication of the manuscript and a prize of $1500. The award was officially presented at the De Gruyter Reception in San Diego.

SBL Member Kudos
Congratulations to SBL Members who were awarded various NEH program grants in 2014.

Tawny Holm
Pennsylvania State University
The Aramaic World through an Egyptian Lens: A Critical Edition of Papyrus Amherst 63

Seth Sanders
Trinity College, Hartford
The Form of the Pentateuch in the History of Ancient Hebrew Literature

Niek Veldhuis, Laurie Pearce
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley Prosopography Services: Implementing the Tool-kit

Caroline Schroeder
University of the Pacific
Coptic SCRIPTORIUM: A Corpus, Tools, and Methods for Corpus Linguistics and Computational Historical Research in Ancient Egypt

Caroline Schroeder
University of the Pacific
Coptic SCRIPTORIUM: Digitizing a Corpus for Interdisciplinary Research in Ancient Egyptian Preservation and Access Humanities Collections and Reference Resources

Matthew Adams
W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research
Long-Term Research Fellowships in Israel at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem

Nathaniel Levtow
University of Montana
Text Destruction in the Bible and the Ancient World Research Programs

Karen Stern
CUNY Research Foundation, Brooklyn College
Jewish Graffiti in the Ancient Mediterranean World

Eugene Ulrich
University of Notre Dame
The First Critical Edition of II-Isaiah

Michele Salzman
University of California, Riverside
The "Falls of Rome": The Transformations of Rome in Late Antiquity (270-603)

Emran El-Badawi
University of Houston
Before Shariah: Near Eastern Law and Authority in the Long Seventh Century, 570-705 CE

Rebecca Raphael
Texas State University - San Marcos
Physical Represenation and Disability in the Dead Sea Scrolls

More NEH info >>

NEH Public Scholar Grant

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced a new grant opportunity, the Public Scholar Program.

This grant will support well-researched books in the humanities that have been conceived and written to reach a broad readership.

Books supported:

  • a narrative history
  • tell the stories of important individuals
  • analyze significant texts
  • provide a synthesis of ideas
  • revive interest in a neglected subject
  • examine the latest thinking on a topic

Most importantly, they should present significant humanities topics in a way that is accessible to general readers.
This grant is open to both independent scholars and individuals affiliated with scholarly institutions.

It offers a stipend of $4,200 per month for a period of six to twelve months.
The maximum stipend is $50,400 for a twelve-month period. Applicants must have previously published a book or monograph with a university or commercial press, or articles and essays that reach a wide readership.
Application guidelines and a list of F.A.Q.’s
The application deadline for the first cycle is March 3, 2015.

Teaching Interfaith Understanding Seminars

The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) has announced two multidisciplinary seminars on Teaching Interfaith Understanding for full-time faculty members. The seminars will broaden faculty members’ knowledge and perspective to help them strengthen the teaching of interfaith understanding, develop new courses and other resources, and encourage the development of a growing network of faculty members who are committed to teaching this subject.
The seminars, offered by CIC and IFYC and generously supported by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, will cover most costs of participation for those faculty members who are selected.
Click here for more information and the nomination forms needed
Application deadline is February 6, 2015

Jobs Report

The latest iteration of the jobs report focuses on data from January 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014. The report builds on previous versions, which analyzed data from January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012 and January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2010. The market reflected by these data continues to change in ways both large and small. There are underlying constants: a core of faculty positions at private not-for-profit U.S.-based institutions that are mostly tenure-track. The market has varied recently with a small uptick in entry-level and contingent positions and a small downtick in upper-level positions. Course load for the average faculty has decreased, as has the degree to which various skills and experiences are required by hiring institutions.

Holding a Ph.D., prior teaching experience, and interdisciplinary teaching or research abilities continue to be central to a candidate’s repertoire. Indeed, data from the most recent year show that 90% of appointees were hired with the Ph.D. completed. With an average number of applications per position each year since 2005 between 42 and 95, candidates can expect to compete with several dozen peers. They can have confidence, however, that the job applied for will be filled (jobs that remained unfilled had decreased to 3.7% for the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 AY) and that the job landed will most likely be a tenure-track position (over three-fourths (76.2%) of appointments were tenure-track).

Member Data Form

In 2013 SBL launched the expanded member data form to help us better understand our members, who they are, what they do, and where they are located. We collect this data from new members, and ask that our returning members keep their data updated at least once a year. This data allows us to compile reports on our member demographics and career contexts. For example, we can compare and extrapolate issues involving tenure and the rise of contingent faculty, time to degree, and trends in the many disciplines practiced by SBL members, along with many other interesting and useful subjects. With this information, we can better serve our members and the academy. The 2014 Member Data Report is available here. Each year we will be reporting on the results of the member data form. We will be able to see how our field evolves over time. Please remember to update your member data or fill it out if you have not yet done so. It will only take a few minutes of your time. Everyone who has filled out the member data form by December 31, 2014 will be entered in a drawing for one of two iPads at the beginning of the new year.

Seven New Titles from SBL Press

The Writings and Later Wisdom Books
Christl M. Maier and Nuria Calduch-Benages (editors)
The latest volume in the Bible and Women series seeks to provide an ecumenical, gender-sensitive interpretation and reception history of the Writings and later wisdom traditions including Ben Sira and the Wisdom of Solomon. Articles trace the living conditions of women, examine the presentation of female figures in the Israelite wisdom tradition, discuss women and gender relations in single books, and explore narratives about great female protagonists, such as Ruth, Esther, and Susanna, who prove their wit and strength in situations of conflict.

Paper $44.95, ISBN 9781628370577
Hardcover $59.95, ISBN 9781628370591
344 pages • Bible and Women 1.3

Historical Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew: Steps Toward an Integrated Approach
Robert Rezetko. and Ian Young
In this book the authors work toward constructing a more philologically robust approach to the history of ancient Hebrew that overcomes the chasm of academic specialization. The authors illustrate how cross-textual variable analysis and variation analysis advance research on Biblical Hebrew and correct theories based on extra-linguistic assumptions, intuitions, and ideologies by focusing on variation of forms/uses in the Masoretic text and variation between the Masoretic text and other textual traditions.

Paper $89.95, ISBN 9781628370454
Hardcover $109.95, ISBN 9781628370478
720 pages • Ancient Near East Monographs 9

The Buried Foundation of the Gilgamesh Epic: The Akkadian Huwawa Narrative
Daniel E. Fleming and Sara J. Milstein
Contrasts in characterization and narrative logic distinguish the adventure to defeat the monster Huwawa from what precedes and follows it in the Gilgamesh Epic. The Huwawa narrative stands on its own, so that the epic must have been composed from this prior Akkadian composition. This is the SBL Press edition of the hardcover published by Brill.

Paper $35.95, ISBN 9781628370324
248 pages

A Phoenician-Punic Grammar
Charles R. Krahmalkov
Carefully selected examples from texts and dialects of the whole Phoenician-Punic period bring to life the grammatical description of this language: its phonology, orthography, morphology, syntax, and usage, and its history and dialects. This is the SBL Press edition of the hardcover published by Brill.

Paper $42.95, ISBN 9781628370317
330 pages

A Grammar of Egyptian Aramaic
Takamitsu Muraoka and Bezalel Porten
This complete grammar of Egyptian Aramaic, as presented in texts of Egyptian provenance dating from the middle of the first millennium BCE, covers phonology, morphology, morphosyntax, and syntax. This volume is essential for every Aramaist, Semitist, and historian in the field. This is the SBL Press edition of the hardcover published by Brill.

Paper $59.95, ISBN 9781628370379
470 pages

“You Are a Priest Forever”: Second Temple Jewish Messianism and the Priestly Christology of the Epistle to the Hebrews
Eric R. Mason
This study re-evaluates the priestly Christology of Hebrews and the presentations of the messianic priest and Melchizedek in the Qumran texts, arguing that the latter do indeed provide the closest parallels to Hebrews’s thought. This is the SBL Press edition of the hardcover published by Brill.

Paper $31.95, ISBN 9781628370300
244 pages

New Testament Textual Criticism: The Application of Thoroughgoing Principles, Essays on Manuscripts and Textual Variation
J. K.  Elliot
Those interested in the New Testament text and in Greek manuscripts or working on the history of exegesis or the Greek language which thoroughgoing criticism encourages will find this a valuable collection, providing an overview of Elliott’s contribution to the discipline. This is the SBL Press edition of the hardcover published by Brill.

Paper $79.95, ISBN 9781628370287
678 pages

To order, go to the SBL Press Store or click on the link for the desired format above.

SBL Press Customer Service —  P.O. Box 2243 — Williston, VT 05495-2243 USA
Phone: 877-725-3334 (North America); 802-864-6185 (elsewhere)
Fax: 802-864-7626

ICI Books posted in December

Habel, Norman. The Birth, the Curse and the Greening of Earth: An Ecological Reading of Genesis 1–11, Earth Bible Commentary, 1. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2011.

Lee , Kyung Sook and Kyung Mi Park, eds. Korean Feminists in Conversation with the Bible, Church and Society, Bible in the Modern World, 24. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2011.

Burke, David G., John F. Kutsko, and Philip H. Towner, eds. The King James Version at 400: Assessing Its Genius as Bible Translation and Its Literary Influence, Biblical Scholarship in North America 26. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013.

Aitken, James K., Jeremy M. S. Clines, Christl M. Maier, eds. Interested Readers: Essays on the Hebrew Bible in Honor of David J.A. Clines, Miscellaneous Titles. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013.

Davis, Andrew R. Tel Dan in Its Northern Cultic Context, Archaeology and Biblical Studies, 20. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013.

ICI On-line books program >>


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