The Biblical Law Section will be organizing four open-call
sessions this year. We invite proposals for two open sessions on any aspect of
the study of biblical law, including work related to cuneiform documents, the
Dead Sea Scrolls and other Second Temple Literature, questions of Pentateuchal
criticism, legal history, gender analysis, social-scientific analysis, and
newer methodologies.
In addition to our two open-theme sessions, we will
co-sponsoring two joint sessions:
(1) This session, co-sponsored with the Ancient Education
unit, will focus on legal education in antiquity. We invite proposals that
explore legal education, the transmission of legal knowledge, and the place of
law within broader educational contexts and institutions in the ancient
Mediterranean and Near East. Topics that could be addressed include (but are
not limited to): legal education in the training of scribes in Mesopotamia,
Israel, and other parts of the ancient Near East; legal education and the
transmission of legal tradition in ancient Judaism; legal education and
judicial training in the Persian Empire; the relationship between legal
education and rhetorical training in the Hellenistic and Roman world; and
methodologies in Roman schools of law.
(2) This session, co-sponsored with the Book of Samuel
unit, will focus on the theme "Echoes of Torah in Samuel". We invite
proposals that explore the relationship between biblical law (defined widely)
and the book of Samuel. Topics may include (but are not limited to) common law
in the book of Samuel, allusions to the Torah in Samuel, legal concepts as
reflected in Samuel compared to their reflection elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible,
and developments in biblical law as reflected in Samuel's recensional
history.