Recommended Biblical Resources

PLEASE NOTE:
This project is not (yet) sponsored or approved by the Society of Biblical Literature.
It is still a draft proposal for the SBL's Computer Assisted Research Section.
The following materials are only tentative suggestions intended to illustrate this project.


The following subject-area websites are sponsored, co-sponsored, approved,
and/or highly recommended by [SBL?  CARG?] for the academic study of biblical literature:

[Note: so far, this table lists only the currently existing program units of the SBL, in order to show some of the gaps that would need to be filled.]


Hebrew Bible, Ancient Israel, Judaisms

Individual Books and Groups of Books:

  • Pentateuch (Section)
  • Biblical Law (Section)
  • Deuteronomistic History (Section)
  • Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah (Section)
  • Prophets (Consortium):
    • Israelite Prophetic Literature (Section)
    • Formation of the Book of Isaiah (Group) 
    • Formation of the Book of the Twelve (Seminar) 
    • Theological Perspectives on the Book of Ezekiel (Seminar) 
    • Prophetic Texts and Their Ancient Contexts (Consultation) 
  • Biblical Hebrew Poetry (Section)
  • Book of Psalms (Section)
  • Literature and History of the Persian Period (Group)
Ancient Near East (Consortium):
  • Hebrew Bible, History, and Archaelology (Section) 
  • Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literature (Section) 
  • Israelite Religion in Its West Asian Environment (Section) 
  • Egyptology and Ancient Israel (Section)
  • Ugaritic Studies and Northwest Semitic Epigraphy (Section)
  • Wisdom in Israelite and Cognate Traditions (Section)
  • Constructions of Ancient Space (Seminar)
Judaisms (Consortium):
  • History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism (Section) 
  • Hellenistic Judaism (Section) 
  • Qumran (Section) 
  • Philo of Alexandria (Group) 
  • Pseudepigrapha (Group) 
  • Archaeology and Texts from Late Antiquity (Consultation)
  • Related Topics  (SBL program units not yet in consortia):
    • Art of Hebrew Bible Commentary (Consultation)
    • Josephus (Seminar)
    New Testament and Early Christianity

    Individual Books and Groups of Books:

    • Synoptic Gospels (Section)
      • Matthew (Section)
      • Mark  and Methodology (Consultation)
      • Luke-Acts (Group)
    • Johannine Literature (Section)
    • Pauline Epistles (Section)
    • Letter of James (Consultation)
    • John's Apocalypse and Cultural Contexts Ancient and Modern (Consultation)
    Historical Jesus and Extracanonical Sources (Consortium): Early Judaisms and Early Christianities (Consortium):
    • Early Jewish/Christian Relations (Section) 
    • Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity (Section) 
    • Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism (Section) 
    • Women in the Biblical World (Section) 
    • Ancient Fiction and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative (Group) 
    • Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism (Group) 
    • Prayer in the Greco-Roman World (Group) 
    • Wisdom and Apocalypticism in Early Judaism and Early Christianity (Group) 
    Related Topics (SBL program units not yet in consortia):
    • Greco-Roman Religions (Section)
    • Hellenistic Moral Philosophy and Early Christianity (Section)
    • Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism (Section)
    • Early Christian Families (Group)
    • Manichaean Studies (Group)
    • Ancient Myths and Modern Theories of Christian Origins (Seminar)
    Interpretations and Perspectives

    Theory (Consortium):

    • Ideological Criticism (Section) 
    • Reading, Theory, and the Bible (Section) 
    • Semiotics and Exegesis (Section) 
    Methodological Perspectives:
    • Biblical Criticism and Literary Criticism (Section)
    • Feminist Hermeneutics of the Bible (Section)
    • History of Interpretation (Section)
    • Psychology and Biblical Studies (Section)
    • Rhetoric and the New Testament (Section)
    • Social Sciences and the Interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures (Section)
    • Social Scientific Criticism of the New Testament (Section)
    • Character Ethics and Biblical Interpretation (Group)
    • New Historicism and Biblical Studies (Consultation)
    • Social History of Biblical Scholarship (Consultation)
    Theological Perspectives:
    • Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures (Section)
    • Bible and Contemporary Theologies (Group)
    • Christian Theology and the Bible (Group)
    • Biblical Theology (Consultation)
    Cultural Perspectives:
    • African-American Biblical Hermeneutics (Section)
    • Bible and Cultural Studies (Section)
    • Bible in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean (Section)
    • Ascetic Impulse in Religious Life and Culture (Group)
    • Asian and Asian-American Biblical Studies (Group)
    • Lamentations in Ancient and Contemporary Contexts (Consultation)
    • New Testament Studies and Postcolonial Studies (Consultation)
    Archaeology (Consortium)
    • Archaeological Excavations and Discoveries: Illuminating the Biblical World (Section) 
    • Archaeology of Religion in the Greco-Roman World (Section) 
    • Hebrew Bible, History, and Archaeology (Section) 
    • Paleographical Studies in the Ancient Near Eastern (Section) 
    • Archaeology and Texts from Late Antiquity (Consultation) 
    • Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology (Consultation) 

    Languages, Texts, and Translations
    • Aramaic Studies (Section)
    • Bible in Ancient and Modern Media (Section)
    • Bible Translation (Section)
    • Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics (Section)
    • Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew (Section)
    • New Testament Textual Criticism (Section)
    • Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (Section)
    • Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds (Consultation)

    Teaching, Research Tools, Technology

    Teaching:

    • Academic Teaching of Biblical Studies (Group)
    Research Tools:
    • Biblical Lexicography (Section)
    Technology:
    • Computer Assisted Research (Section)
    • Electronic Standards for Biblical Language (Seminar)

     
     
     
     
     



    OVERALL  STRUCTURE  of the  RBR:
    (what this project might look like and how it might be organized)

    Top Level:  "Recommended Biblical Resources" Mainpage

  • All (or at least most) of the SBL's official "Sections" are listed and arranged topically.
  • The smaller program units (Groups, Seminars, and Consultations) could also be included.
  • The current "Consortia" could work together, and new "Consortia" could be formed.
  • Some overlapping topics could be combined, and some missing gaps might be filled in.
  • Second Level:  Section-Sponsored Pages
    Each Section (through its Steering Committee or a separate Website Committee) sets up a webpage or website to cover its own field:
  • Model 1:  The Section Steering/Website Committee creates one simple page listing a few "approved" or "recommended" websites in its field.
  • Model 2:  The Section Steering/Website Committee "adopts" or "co-sponsors" a large existing Website, and helps upgrade/expand it.
  • Model 3:  The Section Steering/Website Committee "creates" or "sponsors" its own official Website, with its own original content.
  • Third Level:  Subject-Specific Websites
  • Model 1:  All "recommended" Websites are of high academic quality; together they cover their field comprehensively.
  • Model 2:  The one "sponsored" Website is as comprehensive and objective as possible, yet still selective and creative.
  • Model 3:  The Section's official  Steering/Website Committee "creates" or "sponsors" its own new Website, with its own content.

  •  
     
     
     
     
     
     


    THE THREE C's
    (key aspects to assure quality of each Section-Sponsored Page and/or Subject-Specific Websites)

    Comprehensive in Content -

    Collaborative in Effort - Creative in Approach -
     
     
     
     
     
     



    Some Excellent "Supersites" in Biblical and/or Religious Studies:
    [There are many others - apologies to the creators of any not listed here!]

     



    This proposal was conceived and written by Prof. Felix Just, S.J.