I finally opened my Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting session guide after having it sitting among other mail for about a week. As I was browsing through the different sessions, I noted a few that would be worth attending:

Friday, November 19

Institute for Biblical Research
6:45 PM – 10:00 PM
This is a heavy-hitting lineup. Craig S. Keener is set to do the Introduction, N. T. Wright is set to give the annual lecture and will dialogue with Michael Bird. I may miss part of the opening since my flight will be arrive about an hour before it starts.

Saturday, November 21

SBL Getting a PhD: From Application to Dissertation
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
One of the panelists will be Nijay Gupta, while T. Michael Halcomb will preside. This will be helpful for filling in the some of the gaps in my own journey toward the PhD.

SBL John, Jesus, and History Group
1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Peder Borgen will be presenting a paper on agency motif and Jesus’ mission in the Fourth Gospel. This may be something to include in the thesis. Since Borgen is first, I may attend this then head over to the PhD seekers session.

SBL Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity Section
1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
The alternate would to the other two would be this. Craig A. Evans and Richard B. Hays are both presenting on topics related to the Gospel of Luke.

SBL Development of Early Trinitarian Theology Consultation
4:00 PM – 6:30 PM
I immediately recognize three of the panelists: Paul Anderson, Marianne Thompson, and Harold Attridge. This looks to be an informative session. I am especially interested in some of the insights of the Gospel of John’s influence to the doctrine of the Trinity.

Sunday, November 22

SBL International Greek New Testament Project
9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Two Gospel of John papers. Harold Attridge of Yale will present on redaction in John’s Gospel from an exegetical view. David Parker will also present on the same topic, but address the challenges and achievements.

Monday, November 23

SBL Unity and Diversity in Early Jewish Monotheisms Consultation
1:00 PM  – 3:30 PM
Larry Hurtado will present on Jewish monotheism in the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman period.

There is so much more worth considering. With all this, plus many discounts on books and software, this seems to be a nice icebreaker to my first national SBL meeting. Now if I can make it to the American Maritain Association conference in October, life for 2010 would be complete!

___

Roger Nam alerted me to Rami Arav, whose presentations I should see. Here’s one which I found for Monday:

SBL John, Jesus, and History Group
4:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Arav will give a presentation on the archaeology of Bethsaida and the Gospel of John.