As I sit at the Huck Finn's Cafe in New Orleans, the following random thoughts are running through my mind:Shrimp po-boys are wonderful!
Only at the Society of Biblical Literature Conference can you sit in an Arby's with someone you've never met and discuss Hebrew morphemes.
Portions of the French Quarter, especially Bourbon Street, can well be described as institutionalized debauchery.
I feel sorry for finicky eaters. When they come to a city like New Orleans, they are stuck eating the usual fare while the rest of us enjoy new and different things.
If the SBL conference hotels caved in, would the church noticeably miss the guild of biblical scholars in reference to its mission in the world?
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Any restaurant that automatically has Tabasco Sauce on every table along with the salt and pepper is first-rate in my book!
.Some scholars take themselves and their work much too seriously, while others know they are part of a long-line of diggers and dreamers that will continue long after they are dead.
There are some excellent papers given at SBL.
There are some terrible papers given at SBL.
On Sunday morning, I do not attend any sessions. I find a church in which to worship.
It is good to be a member of a society whose conference is in a different city each year.
Perhaps two of the great things about SBL is seeing old friends and visiting the book displays (and buying, of course).
And the best thing about SBL-- returning home to my family!
8 comments:
"If the SBL conference hotels caved in, would the church noticeably miss the guild of biblical scholars in reference to its mission in the world?"
Great question, Dr. Bevere. If the Church exists for the world, should not its scholarship also do the same? Is it possible to do Christian scholarship that does not serve to better equip the Church to live out its missional identity?
Here is my question: What is your answer to your question?
I've only been in AAR since getting out of school, but I regret the AAR-SBL split. When I was able to go to the meetings (not often enough) I enjoyed going to sessions of both.
Matthew, You discerned exactly where I was going with my comment. Very insightful!
Richard, I too regret the split as do most of the members of both academies. Hopefully, at some point in the future, they will come together once and for all.
You mention the papers given, but can you provide a little detail on the content of same?
DimLamp
Anon:
When I hear a few. The conference actually begins Saturday morning.
If you run into Deirdre Good, say Hi!
OK, lets's get serious here. Your current poll asks about how one prepares turkey. Question: what the heck is the difference between baked and roasted? I ask this as an person ignorant of cooking who prefers his turkey cooked.
CP
CP, Actually that's a wondeful question and I wondered if someone would ask. Many people refer to a turkey baked in the overn as roasted, but it is not. Roasted turkey is turned over a fire as in a rotisserie.
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