Apocrypha at SBL 2006
As I write this some of our colleagues are enjoying themselves in Washington for the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. Why am I not with them? I have skipped the SBL for several years now under the pretense that I want to devote my energies to my book. Usually that means I miss SBL and continue to avoid the book but this year I am actually busy at work.
For those who cannot attend SBL but are curious about the papers being presented this year, I offer the following list:
November 18 (morning): Apostle as Conveyor of Authority
Edward Dixon, Yale Divinity School: “A Hope for Status Inversion in the Acts of Thomas”
Simon S. Lee, Harvard University: “Peter and the Transfiguration Event in 2 Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter”
Catherine Playoust, Harvard University: “James and Peter in the Apocryphon of James”
Glenn E. Snyder, Harvard University: “Third Corinthians: An Orthodox Production of Scripture”
November 18, 2006 (afternoon): Mary Magdalene and Apostolic Authority
Judith Hartenstein, Philipps Universität, Marburg: “Mary Magdalene the Apostle: A Re-interpretation of Literary Traditions?”
Jane D. Schaberg, University of Detroit Mercy: “Magdalene Christianity: A Collection of Fragments, or an Actual Reality in Early Communities?”
Esther A. de Boer, Theological University of Kampen, the Netherlands: “‘Surely, He Has Not Spoken to a Woman’”Responses from Elaine Pagels, Christopher Matthews, Philip Sellew, and Ann Graham Brock.
November 20, 2006: Open Session
Janet Elizabeth Spittler, University of Chicago: “Tuna Redivivus: Dried Fish Returned to life in Herodotus, the Alexander Romance and the Acts of Peter”
Nicholas Perrin, Wheaton College: “The Thomasine Community and a Case of Double Identity”
Matthew Burgess, Yale Divinity School: “‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ James ‘the Lord’s brother’ as a Source of Authority in Early Christianity”
Jeremy W. Barrier, Texas Christian University: “Tertullian and the Acts of Thecla or Paul? Readership of the Ancient Christian Novel and the Invocation of Thecline and Pauline Authority”
Mariko Yakiyama, Claremont Graduate University: “The Christian Ideal of Marriage in the Apocryphal Acts of Andrew and the Writings of Clement of Alexandria”
Also of interest:
November 19: Pseudepigrapha~The Pitfalls of Categorization: A Panel Discussion of James R. Davila, The Provenance of the Pseudepigrapha: Jewish, Christian, or Other?
Pierluigi Piovanelli, University of Ottawa: “In Praise of ‘The Default Position,’ or Reassessing the Christian Reception of the Jewish Pseudepigraphic Heritage
Chad Day, University of North Carolina, Charlotte: “‘The Way Forward’ or Two Steps Back? Assessing Davila’s ‘The Provenance of the Pseudepigrapha’”
Magnar Kartveit, School of Mission & Theology, Misjonshogskolen i Stavanger, Norway: “The Jewish source in the Ascension of Isaiah”
John C. Reeves, University of North Carolina, Charlotte: ‘“A Demonstrably Jewish Text’? Reconsidering the Similitudes of Enoch”
And in the joint session for the Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism Section and Archeology of Religion in the Roman World Section (November 21):
Reidar Aasgard, University of Oslo: “The First Rural Christians: Excavating the Milieu of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.”
Ans in the Synoptic Gospels Section (November 21):
Michael F. Bird, Highland Theological College: “Sectarian Gospels for Sectarian Communities?: The Non-canonical Gospels and Bauckham’s ‘Gospel for All Christians’”
Phew! I think that’s all of them. If you were able to attend any or all of these sessions and would like to offer a report, please send an e-mail to me or post a comment.