The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), founded in 1880 as the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, is an American-based
learned society
A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership ...
dedicated to the academic study of the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...
and related ancient literature. Its current stated mission is to "foster biblical scholarship". Membership is open to the public and consists of over 8,300 individuals from over 100 countries. As a scholarly organization, SBL has been a constituent society of the
American Council of Learned Societies since 1929.
History
Calvin Stowe
Calvin Ellis Stowe (April 6, 1802 – August 22, 1886) was an American Biblical scholar who helped spread public education in the United States. Over his career, he was a professor of languages and Biblical and sacred literature at Andover Theolo ...
, husband of novelist
Harriet Beecher Stowe, was in the 1830's Professor of Biblical Literature at the innovative
Lane Seminary
Lane Seminary, sometimes called Cincinnati Lane Seminary, and later renamed Lane Theological Seminary, was a Presbyterian theological college that operated from 1829 to 1932 in Walnut Hills, Ohio, today a neighborhood in Cincinnati. Its camp ...
, at the time one of the nation's leading seminaries.
The eight founders of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis first met to discuss their new society in
Philip Schaff's study in New York City in January 1880. In June the group had their first Annual Meeting with eighteen people in attendance. The new society drew up a constitution and by-laws and discussed several papers. Membership dues were set at three dollars. By the end of the year, membership had grown to forty-five and publication of the meeting proceedings were in the planning stages. The ''
Journal of Biblical Literature'' (''JBL'') was launched the following year.
The SBL was not the first association dedicated to biblical studies in North America, but it was the first that was interdenominational. The thirty-two founding members of SBL in 1880 even included a
Unitarian, Ezra Abbott. The society's development was contemporary with increasing interest in
Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...
studies.
The society shortened its name to ''Society of Biblical Literature'' in 1962.
Publications
The Society of Biblical Literature has published the flagship ''
Journal of Biblical Literature'' since 1881. In addition it publishes the journal ''Review of Biblical Literature''. It publishes literature under the imprint SBL Press".
''The SBL Handbook of Style'' is a style manual specifically for the field of ancient Near Eastern, biblical, and early Christian studies. ''The SBL Handbook of Style'' includes a recommended standard format for abbreviation of primary sources in Ancient Near Eastern, biblical, and early Christian studies. ''The Chicago Manual of Style'' (16th ed.) refers writers to ''The SBL Handbook'' "for authoritative guidance". The "Student Supplement" is downloadable, and also contain recommendations for
transliteration
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...
standards.
In 2011 the society was awarded a $300,000 grant from the
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
to produce ''Bible Odyssey'', "an interactive website that brings nonsectarian biblical scholarship to the general public".
In 2016, the Society of Biblical Literature published a jobs report in conjunction with the
American Academy of Religion that provided employment data from the 2014–15 academic year.
Annual meeting
One of the most important functions of the Society of Biblical Literature, is hosting the Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting is hosted in the United States and attended by the majority of SBL membership. The meeting includes presentation of research, voting on business matters of the society, workshops & seminars, a vendor floor and more. The Meeting consists of "more than 1,200 academic sessions, and workshops, along with one of the world's largest exhibits of books and digital resources for biblical studies, the Annual Meetings is one of the largest events of the year in the fields of biblical scholarship, religious studies and theology."
Regional and international meetings
In addition to the annual meeting, multiple regional and an international meeting are held each year. Regional meetings consist of scholars in a geographic area within North America who promote biblical scholarship on a local level. Each region is coordinated by a scholar within the region and regions promote "Regional Scholars", to recognize outstanding scholars in the area. Society of Biblical Literature regions include: Central States, Eastern Great Lakes, Mid Atlantic, Midwest, New England & Eastern Canada, Pacific Coast, Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains & Great Plains, Southeastern, Southwestern and Upper Midwest.
The International Meeting is held annually in a location outside of North America specifically for scholars located out of the region.
Presidents
* 1880–1887
Daniel Raynes Goodwin
Daniel Raynes Goodwin (1811–1890) was an American Episcopal clergyman and academic. He was the fourth President of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and the thirteenth provost of the University of Pennsylvania.
Biography
Daniel Raynes G ...
* 1887–1889 Frederic Gardiner
* 1889–1890
Francis Brown
* 1890–1891
Charles A. Briggs
* 1891–1894 Talbot W. Chambers
* 1894–1895
J. Henry Thayer
* 1895–1896 Francis Brown
* 1896–1897 Edward T. Bartlett
* 1898–1899
George F. Moore
* 1900
John P. Peters
* 1901 Edward Y. Hincks
* 1902
Benjamin W. Bacon
* 1903
Richard J. H. Gottheil
* 1904 Willis J. Beecher
* 1905
William Rainey Harper
* 1906
Paul Haupt
* 1907
James Hardy Ropes
James Hardy Ropes (September 3, 1866January 7, 1933) was an American theologian. He graduated from Harvard College in 1889 and was an instructor there from 1895 to 1898 and an assistant professor until 1903. Ropes was then appointed the Bussey Pr ...
* 1908
Frank Chamberlain Porter
* 1909
Henry Preserved Smith
* 1910
David G. Lyon
* 1911
Ernest de Witt Burton
Ernest DeWitt Burton (February 4, 1856 – May 26, 1925) was an American biblical scholar and president of the University of Chicago.
Biography
Burton was born in Granville, Ohio and graduated from Denison University in 1876. After graduating f ...
* 1912
Lewis B. Paton
* 1913
George A. Barton
* 1914
Nathaniel Schmidt
* 1915
Charles Cutler Torrey
Charles Cutler Torrey (20 December 1863 – 12 November 1956) was an American historian, archaeologist and scholar. He is known for, presenting through his books, manuscript evidence supporting alternate views on the origins of Christian and Isl ...
* 1916
Morris Jastrow Jr.
Morris Jastrow Jr. (August 13, 1861 – June 22, 1921) was a Polish-born American orientalist and librarian associated with the University of Pennsylvania.
Biography
He was born in Warsaw, Poland, and came to Philadelphia in 1866 when his f ...
* 1917
Warren J. Moulton
* 1918
James A. Montgomery
* 1919
Edgar J. Goodspeed
* 1920
Albert T. Clay
* 1921 Kemper Fullerton
* 1922 William R. Arnold
* 1923
Max L. Margolis
* 1924 Clayton R. Bowen
* 1925 Julius A. Bewer
* 1926
Shirley Jackson Case
* 1927
Irving F. Wood
* 1928 Loring Woart Batten
* 1929 James E. Frame
* 1930
William Frederic Badè
* 1931
Burton Scott Easton
Burton, Burtons, or Burton's may refer to:
Companies
* Burton (retailer), a clothing retailer
**Burton's, Abergavenny, a shop built for the company in 1937
**The Montague Burton Building, Dublin a shop built for the company between 1929 and ...
* 1932
J. M. Powis Smith
* 1933
James Moffatt
* 1934
Frederick C. Grant
* 1935
Elihu Grant
* 1936
Henry J. Cadbury
* 1937 George Dahl
* 1938
William Henry Paine Hatch
* 1939
W. F. Albright
* 1940 Chester C. McCown
* 1941
Julian Morgenstern
* 1942–1943
Kirsopp Lake
* 1944
Theophile James Meek A scholar at the University of Toronto, Theophile James Meek (1881–1966) published widely on archaeology, corresponded with Wm. F. Albright, and was a frequent contributor to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' on subjects related to the archaeology ...
* 1945 Morton Scott Enslin
* 1946
Leroy Waterman
Leroy Waterman (July 4, 1875 – May 9, 1972) was a professor of Oriental Languages and Literature at the University of Michigan, an archaeologist of the Middle East, an Old Testament scholar, a translator of the Revised Standard Version Old Testa ...
* 1947
Ernest Cadman Colwell
Ernest Cadman Colwell (19 January 1901 – 24 September 1974) was an American biblical scholar, textual critic and palaeographer.
Life
After graduating from Emory College and Candler School of Theology, Colwell earned a Ph.D. in the Department of ...
* 1948 John W. Flight
* 1949 Floyd V. Filson
* 1950 Robert H. Pfeiffer
* 1951
Erwin R. Goodenough
* 1952 Sheldon H. Blank
* 1953
S. Vernon McCasland
* 1954
Millar Burrows
* 1955
Amos N. Wilder
* 1956 J. Philip Hyatt
* 1957 Sherman E. Johnson
* 1958
William A. Irwin
* 1959
Robert M. Grant
* 1960
R. B. Y. Scott
* 1961
Samuel Sandmel
* 1962
Herbert G. May
* 1963 John Knox
* 1964 Fred V. Winnett
* 1965
Kenneth W. Clark
* 1966
John L. McKenzie
* 1967 Paul Schubert
* 1968
James Muilenburg
* 1969
Frank W. Beare
Frank or Franks may refer to:
People
* Frank (given name)
* Frank (surname)
* Franks (surname)
* Franks, a medieval Germanic people
* Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang
C ...
* 1970
Harry M. Orlinsky
* 1971
Bruce M. Metzger
Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of the ...
* 1972 Walter J. Harrelson
* 1973
Norman Perrin
Norman Perrin (29 November 1920 – 25 November 1976) was an English-born, American biblical scholar at the University of Chicago. Perrin specialized in the study of the New Testament, and was internationally known for his work on the teaching ...
* 1974
Frank Moore Cross
* 1975
Robert W. Funk
* 1976
David Noel Freedman
* 1977
Raymond E. Brown
* 1978
James A. Sanders
James A. Sanders (28 November 1927 in Memphis, Tennessee – 1 October 2020) was an American scholar of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and one of the Dead Sea Scrolls editors. He was the first to translate and edit the Psalm Scroll, which contai ...
* 1979
Joseph A. Fitzmyer
* 1980
Bernhard Anderson
Bernhard Word Anderson (September 25, 1916 – December 26, 2007) was an American United Methodist pastor and Old Testament scholar.
Information
Born in Dover, Missouri, Anderson earned degrees from the College of the Pacific and Pacific Sch ...
* 1981
James M. Robinson
James McConkey Robinson (June 30, 1924 – March 22, 2016) was an American scholar who retired as Professor Emeritus of Religion at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California, specializing in New Testament Studies and Nag Hammadi S ...
* 1982
Lou H. Silberman
* 1983
Krister Stendahl
Krister Olofson Stendahl (21 April 1921 – 15 April 2008) was a Swedish theologian, New Testament scholar, and Church of Sweden Bishop of Stockholm. He also served as dean, professor, and professor emeritus at Harvard Divinity School.
Life ...
* 1984
Roland E. Murphy
Roland Edmund Murphy (July 19, 1917 - July 20, 2002) was an American Catholic priest of the Carmelite order, a biblical scholar and a specialist in the study of the Old Testament. He was the George Washington Ivey Professor of Biblical Studies at ...
* 1985
Wayne A. Meeks
* 1986
James L. Mays
* 1987
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
* 1988
Philip J. King
* 1989
Paul J. Achtemeier
Paul John Achtemeier (3 September 1927 – 28 January 2013) was Herbert Worth and Annie H. Jackson Professor of Biblical Interpretation Emeritus at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, now Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He ...
* 1990
Walter Brueggemann
Walter Brueggemann (born March 11, 1933) is an American Protestant Old Testament scholar and theologian who is widely considered one of the most influential Old Testament scholars of the last several decades. His work often focuses on the Hebrew p ...
* 1991
Helmut Koester
* 1992
Norman K. Gottwald
* 1993 Victor P. Furnish
* 1994
Phyllis Trible
* 1995
Leander E. Keck
* 1996 Gene M. Tucker
* 1997
Hans Dieter Betz
* 1998
Patrick D. Miller
Patrick D. Miller, Jr. (24 October 1935 – 1 May 2020) was an American Old Testament scholar who served as Charles T. Haley Professor of Old Testament Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1984 to 2005. He was an ordained minister in t ...
* 1999
D. Moody Smith
* 2000
Adele Berlin
* 2001
Harold W. Attridge
* 2002
John J. Collins
* 2003
Eldon Jay Epp
* 2004
David L. Petersen
* 2005 Carolyn Osiek
* 2006
Robert Kraft
* 2007
Katharine Doob Sakenfeld
Katharine Doob Sakenfeld (born 1940) is an American Old Testament scholar. She is Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis Emerita at Princeton Theological Seminary, having previously been William Albright Eisenberger Professor of Old Tes ...
* 2008
Jonathan Z. Smith
* 2009
David J. A. Clines
* 2010
Vincent L. Wimbush
* 2011
Carol Newsom
* 2012
John Dominic Crossan
* 2013
Carol Meyers
* 2014
Fernando Segovia
* 2015
Athalya Brenner-Idan
* 2016
Beverly Gaventa
* 2017
Michael V. Fox
* 2018
Brian K. Blount
* 2019
Gale A. Yee
* 2020
Adele Reinhartz
Administrative officers
Secretary
* 1880–1883 Frederic Gardiner
* 1883–1889 Hinckley G. Mitchell
Recording Secretary
* 1889–1890
Charles Rufus Brown
* 1890–1915 William H. Cobb
* 1916–1933
Henry J. Cadbury
* 1934–1946 John W. Flight
* 1947–1950
Kenneth W. Clark
* 1951–1952
Louise Pettibone Smith
* 1953–1961 Charles F. Kraft
* 1961 (''
pro tempore'')
* 1962–1963 Kendrick Grobel
Executive Secretary
* 1964–1965 Kendrick Grobel
* 1965 Richard T. Mead (''pro tempore'')
* 1966 Lawrence E. Toombs
* 1967 Walter J. Harrelson
* 1968–1974
Robert W. Funk
* 1975–1976
George W. MacRae
* 1977–1980
Paul J. Achtemeier
Paul John Achtemeier (3 September 1927 – 28 January 2013) was Herbert Worth and Annie H. Jackson Professor of Biblical Interpretation Emeritus at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, now Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He ...
* 1981–1987 Kent Harold Richards
Executive Director
* 1987–1995 David Lull
* 1995–2010 Kent Harold Richards
* 2010–present John F. Kutsko
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
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External links
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Society of Biblical Literature in the American Council of Learned Societies directory. Updated September 15, 2008.
{{authority control
Ancient Near East organizations
Biblical exegesis
Biblical studies organizations
Member organizations of the American Council of Learned Societies
Organizations established in 1880