The Society of Biblical Literature is delighted to announce two new awards for SBL members: The Bernadette J. Brooten Award for Scholarship in Gender, Sexuality, and Embodiment and The Richards Award for Public Scholarship.

The Bernadette J. Brooten Award is sponsored by LGBTIQ+ Scholars and Scholarship and the Status of Women in the Profession Committee. The awards primary goal is to support and encourage early career researchers developing innovative approaches to the critical study of gender, sexuality, and/or embodiment in relation to biblical texts and traditions (broadly cast), especially with projects that foreground feminist, womanist, queer, and, or, as trans approaches.
Learn more about the Brooten Award here.

The Richards Award honors members of the Society of Biblical Literature who have demonstrated excellence in public scholarship. It seeks to recognize the powerful role of sacred texts in society and how those texts shape culture.
Learn more about the Richards Award here.

The deadline for the intent to submits for the A. R. Pete Diamond Award for Integrative Scholarship, David Noel Freedman Award for Excellence and Creativity in Hebrew Bible Scholarship, and Paul J. Achtemeier Award for New Testament Scholarship are due 10 January 2022.
Please visit the award pages for submission requirements and additional information.

The SBL Travel Grant program application process is now open! The International Travel Awards offer opportunities to current SBL members outside North America to attend the Annual or International Meeting. Applications are due 15 Ferbuary 2022.
Learn more about the Travel Grants here.

The Nominating Committee will begin its work submitting names to Council to fill positions open January 2022. SBL Members are encouraged and invited to submit nominations. Members may nominate themselves. All nominees must be members in good standing of the SBL. The following committees will have positions open in 2022: SBL Council (Vice President), Educational Resources and Review Committee, International Cooperation Initiative Committee, Research and Publications Committee, Status of Women in the Profession Committee, and Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession Committee. Nominations should include: a summary of the nominee’s participation in SBL; a statement describing the nominee’s interest in that particular group; and a copy of the nominee’s curriculum vitae. To submit a nomination, please email nominations@sbl-site.org.

The Nominating Committee reviews nominations and nominates to Council members of standing committees and representatives to other organizations as required. The Nominating Committee also nominates to the Society the President, Vice-President, and Council members. Elections for nominees are held at the Annual Business Meeting. (Program Committees nominate and vote on Program Unit Chairs and report to Nominating Committee and Council. The Research and Publications Committee nominates and votes on Book Series Editors and reports to Nominating Committee and Council. Members who attend the Business Meeting will receive a report of all votes by Council, Research and Publications, and Program Committee. For more information on Policies and Governance, see the SBL Policy Manual.)
For a list of the various committees and their responsibilities, see https://www.sbl-site.org/aboutus/committees.aspxand select a committee to read its description.

Dr. Tat-siong Benny Liew, Recipient of FTE’s 2021 Excellence in Mentoring Award

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Tat-siong Benny Liew (current chair of SBL Council) is the recipient of FTE's 2021 Excellence in Mentoring Award! Congratulations Dr. Liew on this well-deserved honor!
Learn more here.

Dr. Margaret Aymer Oget Appointed Academic Dean Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Dr. Margaret Aymer Oget was recently appointed academic dean of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Dr. Aymer Oget is the first woman and person of color appointed to this position at Austin Seminary. Congratulations Dr. Aymer Oget!
Learn more about Dr. Aymer Oget's appointment here.

The Board of Trustees of the Albright Institute (Jerusalem) recently announced the appointment of Dr. Katharina Schmidt to Director of the W.F. Albright Institute. Congratulations, Dr. Katharina Schmidt!
Find the Albright Institute’s formal announcement here.

We are sad to announce the passing of Dr. Charles H. Talbert. Dr. Talbert has made an indelible mark in New Testament studies. He wrote extensively on the literary form of New Testament texts. Dr. Talbert was the editor of the Reading the New Testament commentaries. His commentaries centered on the literary shape and theological message of New Testament texts in their Greco-Roman context.
Learn more about the life of Dr. Talbert here.

The Hermeneutics of Torah: Proverbs 2, Deuteronomy, and the Composition of Proverbs 1–9

Bernd U. Schipper

This revised and extended English edition of Bernd U. Schipper’s 2012 German study of Proverbs incorporates the results of his continued research and writings on Proverbs. For nearly a century, many biblical scholars have argued that the main theological traditions, such as the divine law, God’s torah, do not appear in the book of Proverbs. In this volume, however, Schipper demonstrates that Proverbs interacts in a sophisticated way with the concept of the torah. A detailed analysis of Proverbs 2 and other passages from the first part of the book of Proverbs shows that Proverbs engages in a postexilic discourse around “wisdom and torah” concerning the abilities of humans to fulfill the will of YHWH exemplified in the divine torah.

Paperback • Hardcover • E-book

In the Shadow of Empire: Israel and Judah in the Long Sixth Century BCE

Pamela Barmash and Mark W. Hamilton, editors

The essays in this volume revisit issues of exile and occupation during the sixth century BCE through texts, iconography, and material culture. Unlike previous studies that focused narrowly on the Babylonian exile of the Judahite elites, this volume widens the geographical and temporal scope to include the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Empires. Contributors Pamela Barmash, Ryan P. Bonfiglio, Caralie Cooke, Lisbeth S. Fried, Martien A. Halvorson-Taylor, Mark W. Hamilton, Matt Waters, and Ian D. Wilson lay a firm foundation for future work on the long sixth century.

Paperback • Hardcover • E-book

Armenian Apocrypha from Adam to Daniel

Michael E. Stone

In this collection of Armenian apocryphal texts, Michael E. Stone focuses on texts related to heaven and hell, angels and demons, and biblical figures from the Hebrew Bible and apocrypha. The texts, introductions, translations, annotations, and critical apparatus included in this volume make this collection a key resource for students and scholars of apocryphal and pseudepigraphical literature.

Paperback • Hardcover • E-book

The Studia Philonica Annual XXXIII, 2021: Studies in Hellenistic Judaism

David T. Runia and Gregory E. Sterling

The Studia Philonica Annual is a scholarly journal devoted to the study of Hellenistic Judaism, particularly the writings and thought of the Hellenistic-Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria (circa 15 BCE to circa 50 CE). Volume 33 includes a special section on the history of editions of Philo, five general articles on Philo’s work, an annotated bibliography, and thirteen book reviews.

Hardcover • E-book

The First Urban Churches 6: Rome and Ostia

James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn, editors

Volume 6 of The First Urban Churches reexamines preconceived understandings of the early church within Rome and the port city of Ostia. James R. Harrison introduces the material and documentary evidence of both cities. Seven additional essays examine a range of topics, including the Ostian Synagogue, the Letter to the Romans, and 1 Clement. The volume closes with an evaluation of the archaeological and ecclesiological arguments of Peter Lampe’s From Paul to Valentinus, followed by Lampe’s response.

Paperback • Hardcover• E-book

John Chrysostom, Homilies on Colossians

Pauline Allen

Pauline Allen translates Frederick Field’s text of John Chrysostom’s twelve homilies on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. Chrysostom concentrates in part on the apparently prevalent angel worship in Colossae (in modern Turkey). These homilies provide many details about everyday life in the late Roman period, such as the position of slaves and their treatment as well as various aspects of raising healthy, educated children. The themes of conflict between pagans, Jews, and Christians in the community, as well as the distinction between rich and poor in late antiquity, run throughout the homilies. This latest text and translation volume from WGRW is an essential resource for scholars and students interested in the history of the church.

Paperback • Hardcover • E-book

New from Brown Judaic Studies

Going West: Migrating Personae and Construction of the Self in Rabbinic Culture

Reuven Kiperwasser

This new book by Reuven Kiperwasser examines the social, cultural, and religious aspects of third- to sixth-century narratives involving rabbinic figures migrating between Babylonia and Palestine. Kiperwasser draws on migration and mobility studies, comparative literature, humor and satire studies, as well as social history to reveal how border-crossing rabbis were seen as exporting features of their previous eastern context into their new western homes and vice versa. Through their writing, rabbinic authors articulated the nature and legitimacy of their own scholastic practices, knowledge, and authority in relationship to their internal others.

Paperback • Hardcover • E-book

The Studia Philonica Annual XXXIII, 2021: Studies in Hellenistic Judaism
Hardcover
E-book

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