Society of Biblical Literature

Congratulations to Jeremiah Coogan, recipient of the A. R. Pete Diamond Award for Integrative Scholarship for his paper “Synoptic Work: Compositional Practices, Invisible Labor, and the Synoptic Problem.” buff.ly/cGfwZes

Congratulations to International Travel Award recipients, Roxana Flammini and Ihor Kuryliak. We look forward to seeing you in Boston! For more information about SBL Awards please visit our website buff.ly/M9mbS9Y

Congratulations to Magnus Rabel and Medhat Youssef for the conferment of their doctoral degrees!

Congratulations to Robert Costello, Philip Thomas Mohr, and Joseph Mueller for the conferment of their doctoral degrees!

“Supply-chain disruptions and price increases to basic food supplies such as grain could put a population at risk....People of means often took it on themselves in such difficult circumstances to ensure the population had access to a sufficient food supply.—David Wyman

Read the essay “Endangered Benefaction in Galatians” by David Wyman in First Urban Churches 8: Galatia and Lycaonia. buff.ly/UnJ2TNx

“Our exploration of ancient coinage and biblical studies has significant points of connection regarding the Galatian milieu, significantly enhancing our reading of Paul’s epistle.” —Michael P. Theophilos

Read the essay “Roman Provincial Coinage and the Epistle to the Galatians” by Michael P. Theophilos in First Urban Churches 8: Galatia and Lycaonia. buff.ly/UnJ2TNx

“The attraction of the imperial cult cut across the social and economic divide. A fusion of indigenous and Roman gods occurred, whose blessings were mediated by the grace of the Roman ruler as pontifex maximus (high priest), in conjunction with his local imperial priests.” —James R. Harrison

Read the essay “The Augustan Triumphal Arch and Sebasteion at Pisidian Antioch: Imperial Propaganda, the Res gestae divi Augusti, and the Epistle to the Galatians” by James R. Harrison in First Urban Churches 8: Galatia and Lycaonia. buff.ly/UnJ2TNx

Read the essay “Any Excuse for a Party: Zeus and Hermes and Human-Divine Interactions in Asia Minor and Acts 14:8–20” by Alan H. Cadwallader in First Urban Churches 8: Galatia and Lycaonia. buff.ly/UnJ2TNx

SBL Establishes the Doctoral Futures Initiative in Partnership with Peer Organizations - Society of Biblical Literature 2025 has seen a stream of unprecedented attacks on higher education that have been particularly destructive to the humanities and social sciences.

The Doctoral Futures Project sponsored by the ACLS with support from SBL started its work. SBL has lead responsibilities for the Pathways and Inclusion Committee that explores innovations in preparation and admissions practices for humanities PhDs.

Gregory of Nyssa Colloquium 2026 Duke University

The Call for Papers for the 16th International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa is open! The conference will be held at Duke University 9-12 June 2026. Abstracts should be submitted by 01 October 2025.

Webinar Announcement: Biblical Public Scholars(hip) in Perilous Times - Society of Biblical Literature UPDATE SEPTEMBER 9: Registration is now open for the Biblical Public Scholars(hip) in Perilous Times Webinar. Visit the registration page to learn more.

Today's the day! All are invited to Biblical Public Scholars(hip) in Perilous Times, a webinar that explores shared concern of the increasing vulnerability of biblical scholars who engage in public scholarship. buff.ly/jzsmwpT.

Annual Meeting - Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting 2025 SBL Annual MeetingNovember 22–25, 2025Hynes Convention CenterBoston, MA Register Now Guidelines for International Travelers More

Register Today for the SBL Annual Meeting to be held 22-25 November in Boston, MA. For more details on dates, exhibitors, schedules, and travel please go to our website or follow us on Instagram, Bluesky or LinkedIn.

Travel guidelines are available on the SBL website and will be updated as needed for members traveling to the United States for SBL related meetings and events. You are encouraged to consult these guidelines as well those issued by your home country.

buff.ly/KIzNbqi

“What if we envision the communities not as passive recipients of Paul’s message but as active participants in a creative process that seeks to address their complex context of Roman domination and Indigenous cultural resistance?” —Susan M. (Elli) Elliott†

Read “‘No Longer Male and Female’ in Galatians 3:28 and Anatolian Indigenous Androgyny” by Susan M. (Elli) Elliott in First Urban Churches 8: Galatia and Lycaonia. buff.ly/UnJ2TNx

“Metaphoric birth pangs are not used exclusively with apocalyptic conventions in the Jewish Scriptures. Often the Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible and those Jews who composed documents that became part of the church’s Greek Old Testament employed them as a metaphor for a life threatening, painful crisis” —D. Clint Burnett

Check out the essay “ὠδίνω in Greek Epigraphy and Galatians 4:19” by D. Clint Burnett in First Urban Churches 8: Galatia and Lycaonia. buff.ly/UnJ2TNx

“While few first-century inscriptions have survived, enough exist to conclude that by the time Paul wrote to the Galatian churches the Greco-Roman benefaction system was firmly in place in both the north and the south of the province.” —Wesley Redgen

Check out the essay “Benefaction in Galatia: A Proposed Solution to the Galatian Problem” by Wesley Redgen in First Urban Churches 8: Galatia and Lycaonia. buff.ly/UnJ2TNx

Scholars of Biblical and Related Literature welcomes proposals for the annual meeting of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, to be held 6–8 March 2026 at the Marriott Dallas Las Colinas. The call for papers is open until 01 October 2025.

SBL Establishes the Doctoral Futures Initiative in Partnership with Peer Organizations - Society of Biblical Literature 2025 has seen a stream of unprecedented attacks on higher education that have been particularly destructive to the humanities and social sciences.

The Doctoral Futures Project sponsored by the ACLS with support from SBL started its work. SBL has lead responsibilities for the Pathways and Inclusion Committee that explores innovations in preparation and admissions practices for humanities PhDs.

Webinar Announcement: Biblical Public Scholars(hip) in Perilous Times - Society of Biblical Literature UPDATE SEPTEMBER 9: Registration is now open for the Biblical Public Scholars(hip) in Perilous Times Webinar. Visit the registration page to learn more.

All are invited to Biblical Public Scholars(hip) in Perilous Times, a webinar that explores shared concern of the increasing vulnerability of biblical scholars who engage in public scholarship. Register Today! buff.ly/jzsmwpT.

Annual Meeting - Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting 2025 SBL Annual MeetingNovember 22–25, 2025Hynes Convention CenterBoston, MA Register Now Guidelines for International Travelers More

Register Today for the SBL Annual Meeting to be held 22-25 November in Boston, MA. For more details on dates, exhibitors, schedules, and travel please go to our website or follow us on Instagram, Bluesky or LinkedIn.

"Reading Phil 2:6–11 in the broad literary context of Jewish angel-of-the-Lord traditions makes Holloway’s argument for the passage’s angelic background more complete, compelling, and decisively Jewish in origin." Phillip Munoa, "Who Lies Beneath? Revising Paul Holloway’s Angelic Interpretation of Philippians 2:6–11"

Read "Who Lies Beneath? Revising Paul Holloway’s Angelic Interpretation of Philippians 2:6–11" by Phillip Munoa in #JBL144.2. Your SBL membership gives you access to JBL issues when you log into the SBL site tinyurl.com/a6cbyh55

“At Iconium, curses from Zeus were also invoked on those who were tempted to interfere with tombs. The apostle’s invocation of a curse in a Galatian context was therefore a risky rhetorical move and subject to misunderstanding” —James R. Harrison

Check out the essay "The Cities of North and South Galatia in Epigraphic and Archaeological Perspective" by James R. Harrison in First Urban Churches 8: Galatia and Lycaonia. buff.ly/UnJ2TNx

“The shrewd and innovative use, by Paul and other New Testament writers such as the author of Luke-Acts, of the deeply familiar reservoir of concepts and images associated with Greco-Roman civic munificence, while expounding the tenets of the new faith, had certainly not failed to make its mark.” —Arjan Zuiderhoek

Check out the essay "The Cities of North and South Galatia in Epigraphic and Archaeological Perspective" by James R. Harrison in First Urban Churches 8: Galatia and Lycaonia. buff.ly/UnJ2TNx

“If Paul had elite hearers from north Galatia, they were in a group that did sometimes make public expressions of Galatian identity. However, even under a north Galatian scenario for the letter, it is unlikely that the audience would have been among the high elite.“ —Peter Oakes

Check out the essay “Did Paul Write for Asterix? The Extent of Celtic Ethnicity in Galatia and the Audience of Galatians” by Peter Oakes in First Urban Churches 8: Galatia and Lycaonia. buff.ly/UnJ2TNx

Travel guidelines are available on the SBL website and will be updated as needed for members traveling to the United States for SBL related meetings and events. You are encouraged to consult these guidelines as well those issued by your home country.

buff.ly/KIzNbqi

Gregory of Nyssa Colloquium 2026 Duke University

The Call for Papers for the 16th International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa is open! The conference will be held at Duke University 9-12 June 2026. Abstracts should be submitted by 01 October 2025.

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) welcomes applications for their fellowship programs. The ACLS has more than ten open fellowships with varying award amounts, requirements, and deadlines. buff.ly/5wyIhWf

Webinar Announcement: Biblical Public Scholars(hip) in Perilous Times - Society of Biblical Literature UPDATE SEPTEMBER 9: Registration is now open for the Biblical Public Scholars(hip) in Perilous Times Webinar. Visit the registration page to learn more.

All are invited to Biblical Public Scholars(hip) in Perilous Times, a webinar that explores shared concern of the increasing vulnerability of biblical scholars who engage in public scholarship. Register Today! buff.ly/jzsmwpT.

Annual Meeting - Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting 2025 SBL Annual MeetingNovember 22–25, 2025Hynes Convention CenterBoston, MA Register Now Guidelines for International Travelers More

Register Today for the SBL Annual Meeting to be held 22-25 November in Boston, MA. For more details on dates, exhibitors, schedules, and travel please go to our website or follow us on Instagram, Bluesky or LinkedIn.

Scholars of Biblical and Related Literature welcomes proposals for the annual meeting of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, to be held 6–8 March 2026 at the Marriott Dallas Las Colinas. The call for papers is open until 01 October 2025.