Saturday, November 12, 2005

Pre SBL Buzz

It is a week to go before the Society of Biblical Literature's Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, and at this time of year there is an enjoyable "buzz" around the biblioblogs, e-lists and internet generally as people make their plans, frantically write their papers, and try to find a spare slot for that meeting with a publisher / friend / colleague / former colleague, etc. I have found myself staring at my diary several times over the last couple of days and wondering how to fit everything in, and whether I'll be able to get to any papers just because I want to be there, rather than because I am responsible in some way.

But one thing seems different to me this year. This may be just because I was so out of the loop with my housing and financial woes that I was not able to concentrate properly, so I'd be interested to hear whether this is other people's perception too. Normally at about this time, the internet is awash with contributors' papers. I have often made the flight with a armful of print-outs of papers, but don't anticipate doing the same this year. Rick Brannan has his available for our session on blogging, on which more anon. In Thoughts on Antiquity, Chris Weimer mentions the Seminar Papers, which you can find on the SBL site here:

SBL Seminar Papers

It's the first time I've checked this up -- must have missed it before now, but I am struck that there are only seven papers available, and five of those are from the Matthew section, which suggests some coordination on their part. I may be misremembering, but this looks like a lot less than last year, the first year of internet-only seminar papers. And it is less still than when the fat book used to come out.

Anyway, I am speaking this year in the Matthew section and I am just putting the finishing touches to my paper and hope to upload here soon.

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