Annual Meeting Book Sale

Almost all new, recent, and backlisted SBL Press and Brown Judaic Studies titles are available to SBL members at a 30 percent discount during the Annual Meeting Fall Sale. Download the order form, then mail or fax your order by December 15, 2018. If you prefer to order by phone or online at the SBL Press Store, make sure to use the promo code FL2018 at checkout to receive your discount.

ARCE Annual Fellowship Competition Opens

The American Research Center in Egypt invites applications to conduct independent humanities research during the 2019-2020 academic year in Egypt. Doctoral, postdoctoral, early career and senior humanities scholars are eligible to apply. Application period: November 1, 2018 – January 15, 2019. For additional information visit: www.arce.org/fellows

National Humanities Alliance Advocacy Webinar

Join the NHA November 15 at 2:00 pm EST, the week after the midterms, for a Between Two Bookshelves Webinar on how to build strong relationships with members of the new Congress.
Click here to RSVP.

New Member Benefit

As a benefit to SBL members, Logos Bible Software offers a 15% discount on base packages.

SBL on Twitter

@BibleOdyssey
shares content related to Bible Odyssey and biblical studies in general.

@SBLSite
a combined channel for communication to SBL members from the SBL Professions, Congresses, and Membership departments.

@SBLPress will be posting new publications, e-book releases, and special sales.

Support SBL with your Amazon Purchases

SBL Obits

Professor Rolf P. Knierim and Mrs. Hildegard E. Knierim

SBL Calendar

See Events on the SBL Calendar

Annual Meetings Information

If you’ve registered for the SBL Annual Meetings 2018, please review some announcements below.  If you haven’t registered, there is still time!  Go here for more information.

Print your badge prior to arrival and wear your badge every day.  The badge is your pass to all conference sessions, speakers, and the exhibit hall.  In an effort to cut down on lines we encourage our attendees to print their badge prior to arrival and have sent links and instructions to all registrants on how to do this.  If you did not receive this email, please contact us at annualmeeting@sbl-site.org.  Bins with plastic name badge holders and lanyards will be located in the Colorado Convention Center lobby so you do not have to go to the registration desk to pick up anything!

Use our mobile app.  Download our mobile app and have everything you need to know about the Annual Meeting directly on your mobile device. You can start preparing early by viewing session listings and building your personal itinerary ahead of time. Learn about event buzz (or even generate some yourself!) and communicate with other attendees before and during the Annual Meeting.  Use this app to view exhibitor info and map locations or take session notes.  Click here for more details and to download the app!

Hotel cancellations or changes.  If you booked a room through SBL and need to make any changes or cancellations to it, please contact the hotel directly at this time.

For more information about the Annual Meetings, including information on when the exhibit hall is open, transportation information, Instagram contests, coffee breaks, etc. please go to our website here.

Special sessions of note at the Annual Meeting:

Presidential Address
17 November 2018, 7:00 PM–8:00 PM
Four Seasons Ballroom 4, Denver Convention Center
Brian Blount, “The Souls of Biblical Folks and the Potential for Meaning”

SBL-Westar Institute Jesus Scholar Lecture
19 November 2018, 7:00 PM–8:00 PM
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 2015 Glenarm Place, 08205
Bernard Brandon Scott, “In the Beginning is the End: A Comparison of the Jesus Seminar and John Meier’s Marginal Jew”

NEH at the Annual meeting

An NEH program officer will be available at this year's annual meetings to talk one-on-one about their twenty six grant programs and possible applications. Visit the NEH booth (#728) in the exhibit hall in Denver or write Daniel Sack at dsack@neh.gov for an appointment. More information on the NEH and grant programs is at neh.gov.

Thank-you Annual Meeting Sponsors!

• Diamond Level - Westminster John Knox Press
• Platinum Level - Baker Academic & Brazos Press
• Gold Level - Baylor University Press
• Bronze Level - Wipf and Stock Publishers
• Sponsor - Zondervan Academic
• Sponsor - Accordance Bible Software

2019 International Meeting Call for Papers Open

SBL will hold its 2019 International Meeting in Rome, Italy. The meeting provides new, unique, and exciting opportunities to make connections, expand our scholarly perspectives, and support the work of colleagues across the world. We look forward to your contribution and participation. Submit your paper today!

New Annual Meeting Program Unit Applications

Applications for new program units for the Annual Meeting are due January 15. Submit your application here.  

Awards Open for Submission

As of October 1, the following awards are open for submission.

• A. R. Pete Diamond Award for Integrative Scholarship


• David Noel Freedman Award for Excellence and Creativity in Hebrew Bible Scholarship


• Paul J. Achtemeier Award for New Testament Scholarship


• SBL – De Gruyter Prize for Biblical Studies and Reception History

New from SBL Press

Hittite Local Cults
Michele Cammarosano

This English translation of the Hittite cult inventories provides a vivid glimpse of the religion, economy, and administration of Bronze Age provincial towns and villages of the Hittite Empire. These texts report the state of local shrines and festivals and document the interplay between central power and provincial communities on religious affairs. Brief introductions to each text make the volume accessible to both students and scholars.

Paperback • Hardcover • Kindle • Google Play

Tradition and Innovation: English and German Studies on the Septuagint
Martin Rösel

Recent research into the Septuagint has revealed numerous examples for modifications of the meaning of the Hebrew text in the course of its translation into Greek. This collection of essays by one of the leading scholars on the Septuagint shows how complex the translation of individual books was, provides reasons for differences between the Hebrew and Greek Bibles, and paves the way for a theology of the Septuagint. Articles introduce the field of Septuagint studies, the problem of the Letter of Aristeas, and the Hellenistic environment and the hermeneutics of Hellenistic Judaism.

Paperback • Hardcover • Kindle • Google Play

Negotiating the Disabled Body: Representations of Disability in Early Christian Texts

Anna Rebecca Solevåg

Negotiating the Disabled Body explores how nonnormative bodies are presented in early Christian literature through the lens of disability studies. In a number of case studies, Solevåg shows how early Christians struggled to come to terms with issues relating to body, health, and dis/ability. These efforts to interpret unruly and extraordinary bodies appear in the texts in a multitude of ways, from healing in the gospels to inflicting disability in the Acts of Peter and from theologizing in Paul’s letters to using disability as invective in Papias. Solevåg uses the concepts of “narrative prosthesis,” gaze and stare, stigma, monster theory, and crip theory to examine early Christian material to reveal the multiple, polyphonous, contradictory ways in which nonnormative bodies appear.

Paperback • Hardcover • Kindle • Google Play

Books and Readers in the Premodern World: Essays in Honor of Harry Gamble
Karl Shuve, editor

Recent research into the Septuagint has revealed numerous examples for modifications of the meaning of the Hebrew text in the course of its translation into Greek. This collection of essays by one of the leading scholars on the Septuagint shows how complex the translation of individual books was, provides reasons for differences between the Hebrew and Greek Bibles, and paves the way for a theology of the Septuagint. Articles introduce the field of Septuagint studies, the problem of the Letter of Aristeas, and the Hellenistic environment and the hermeneutics of Hellenistic Judaism.

Evaluating the Legacy of Robert W. Funk: Reforming the Scholarly Model
Andrew D. Scrimgeour, editor

Robert W. Funk, professor of New Testament, former Executive Secretary of the Society of Biblical literature, and founder of Scholars Press and the Jesus Seminar, was one of the most gifted, controversial figures in modern biblical scholarship. The volume includes nineteen of his essays, correspondences, interviews, and administrative papers pertaining to the Society of Biblical Literature and Scholars Press. Colleagues introduce each section with reflections on the life and contributions of Funk.