The Society of Biblical Literature is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies (since 1929), with the stated mission to "Foster Biblical Scholarship". It is the oldest and largest international scholarly membership organization in the field of biblical studies. Membership is open to the public, including over 8,500 individuals from over 80 countries.[194871]

The founding meeting took place among eight founders in the New York City office of Philip Schaff, in January 1880. Eighteen people attended the first annual meeting in June of that year. The society's ongoing activities include an annual meeting in North America that it claims is "the largest international gathering of biblical scholars". There are also annual regional meetings throughout the United States and an additional annual meeting held outside North America. The 2009 Annual meeting will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana from November 21-24.[194872]

The society publishes several serials, including:

• an academic journal, the Journal of Biblical Literature (since 1881)
• a review of relevant publications, the Review of Biblical Literature
• a newsletter, the SBL Forum

The SBL serves as the authorized North American distributor for books published by Sheffield Phoenix Press (SPP) and as the distributor for the Brown Judaic Studies Monograph Series (BJS). The society publishes a number of other monographic series, including Academia Biblica, Archaeology and Biblical Studies, Biblical Encyclopedia, Early Judaism and Its Literature, Global Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship, History of Biblical Studies, Masoretic Studies, Reprints from Brill, JSOT Press, Resources for Biblical Study, Semeia Studies, Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Studies in Biblical Literature, Symposium, Text-Critical Studies, The New Testament in the Greek Fathers, Writings from the Ancient World and Writings from the Greco-Roman World. With the new Ancient Near East Monographs, the SBL became one of the leaders in the production of on-line, open-access monograph series.

The society provides some helpful electronic resources for biblical scholarship, including resources for teachers and students of all levels as well as clergy.[194873] The society's handbook of style provides guidelines for academic publications, including a detailed system of romanization of Hebrew. The society also distributes high-quality fonts for biblical languages free of charge on its web site.[194874] Some of the fonts are in the public domain, while others are offered to individual scholars for non-profit use only.

The society is active in technology research for biblical scholarship, maintaining affiliations with technical organizations such as OASIS and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the Open Scripture Information Standard.

History

The Society of Biblical Literature was the "first association of teachers and clergy on an inter-school and inter-confessional basis" to be formed in the United States.Originally named the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, the title was shortened to its current name in 1962.

"It appears that Frederic Gardiner of Berkeley Divinity School in Middletown, Connecticut, initiated conversations with Philip Schaff and Charles Augustus Briggs of Union Theological Seminary in New York about the need for such a group. The outcome was a preliminary meeting held in Schaff's study in New York City on the second of January, 1880, 'to take into consideration the formation of a Society for the promotion of study in Biblical Literature and Exegesis.'"James Strong of Drew Theological Seminary, and four other men, also attended this first meeting in Schaff's office.

The inaugural public meeting followed shortly, over the 4th and 5th of June. Among the eighteen who attended this meeting were Francis Brown and Joseph Henry Thayer. Schaff presented a paper titled 'The Pentecostal and the Corinthian Glossolalia'.Officers for the society were elected, the first president being Daniel Raynes Goodwin (1811–1890), who served for seven years until 1887. Goodwin had previously been president of Trinity College .

Over the following ten years scholars who joined the Society included: Henry Preserved Smith (1881), William Rainey Harper (1882), Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1882), George Foot Moore (1883), Ernest DeWitt Burton (1883), James Rendel Harris, Caspar René Gregory of Leipzig, Shailer Mathews and Nathaniel Schmidt.

Articles about Wikipedia

• Szesnat, Holger. 'Who knows? Wikipedia, Teaching and Research'. SBL Forum (2006).
• Halverson, Taylor David. 'Wikipedia or Wackipedia? On the Reasoned Use of New Technology'. SBL Forum (2006).

References

1. SBL @ American Council of Learned Societies official site.
2. Ernest W. Saunders, Searching the Scriptures: A History of the Society of Biblical Literature 1880–1980, (Chico: Scholars Press, 1982).
3. Searching the Scriptures. Appendix I, Manuscript Record of the Preliminary Meeting, 2 January 1880.
4. Phillip Schaff, '"The Pentecostal and the Corinthian Glossolalia" recorded in summary form within the Proceedings of the First Meeting of the Society, New York, June 4, 1880', Journal of Biblical Literature 51 (1930): 27-32.

External links

• " About Us" at the Society of Biblical Literature web site. Retrieved October 21, 2005.
• " Society of Biblical Literature" in the American Council of Learned Societies directory. Updated September 15, 2008.
• Attridge, Harold W. and James C. VanderKam (eds). Presidential Voices: The Society of Biblical Literature in the Twentieth Century. Society of Biblical Literature, 2006.
• LeMon, Joel M. (editor). Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style. Society of Biblical Literature, 2004. Updated September 15, 2008
• A Blog on the 2008 Meeting of the SBL

Literature

• Alexander, Patrick H. and others (editors). The SBL Handbook of Style: For Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999. ISBN 1-56563-487-X