Not everyone has institutional funds to cover expenses for conferences like the Society of Biblical Literature. If you are in that situation (e.g. a poor grad student or independent scholar), a great way to keep current on developments in biblical studies is simply to read the abstracts of the papers given every year at the SBL. If you find a paper that really intrigues you, search down the email of the scholar who presented it, and ask them for an electronic copy. Often they are willing to provide one. It’s easy to be intimidated by well-known scholars, especially during one’s student years, but most Bible scholars lead rather modest lives and feel flattered if anyone expresses interest in their work. In any event, if you click on the title of this post, it will take you to the site from which you may view this year’s abstracts. It's useful to "select all" and copy the page into a Word doc. Since it’s electronic format, it’s searchable! That's a big improvement over the print editions which used to be distributed on site.
4 comments:
um--- is there something supposed to be in the post? or is it supposed to be a title and thats it?
Had a little trouble with the ol' blogger system ... I accidentally hit return after typing the title ... hate it when that happens ...
John-
Great points. I have found myself in this very situation.
Many scholars are eager to disseminate the work with a simple request. I have missed 2 SBL's in a row, but have found that the abstracts are a key way to keep up with the meetings.
One word of caution, however, many scholar will rightfully ask that the contents of their paper are for your eyes only due to future publication, or, if requested before the meeting, to not let the cat out of the bag.
Thanks again. A very useful post.
Matthew--yes, you're absolutely right about confidentiality. Glad you appreciated the post.
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