Edit: With AARSBL2017 fast approaching, and with the final timetable now in place, I’ve updated the list below to include venues and new times for some panels. There are some unfortunate clashes between panels with related content, but to the extent that this testifies to the importance these issues are now assuming for the field (i.e. there’s so many panels on related issues that some of them have to clash), that’s a good thing.

This year’s Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, to be held in Boston on November 18–21, features a bumper crop of sessions, panels, and papers on issues to do with authenticity, forgery, provenance, and the ethics of studying the past. No less than four sessions are devoted to these themes, alongside papers addressing these matters in sessions of the Qumran, Redescribing Early Christianity, and Digital Humanities program units, and a book review session on Candida Moss and Joel Baden’s new book on the Green collection and Museum of the Bible. It promises to be a fantastic meeting for those interested in these issues: indeed, one could nearly construct an entire meeting attending papers about this.

Thanks to all those who have organised these panels and shown how important these issues are. It’s going to be a great meeting!

For convenience, I list below the relevant sessions that I have noticed – for full details, including abstracts, head to the online program booklet. There’s probably sessions and papers I missed – apologies in advance, and do let me know so I can update the post (for a list of edits see the end of the post).

S18-235 Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds
11/18/2017
1:00 PM to 3:15 PM
Dartmouth (Third Level) – Boston Marriott Copley Place (MCP)

Theme: Authenticity and Dating

Roberta Mazza, University of Manchester, Presiding

Malcolm Choat, Macquarie University and Tommy Wasserman, Orebro School of Theology
The Cable Guy: Constantine Simonides and his New Testament papyri

Andrew Smith, Shepherds Theological Seminary
Analysis of Ink from Ancient Papyri through Raman Micro-Spectroscopy

Kipp Davis, Trinity Western University
Dead Sea Scrolls papyri, scribal features and questions of authenticity

Charles E. Hill, Reformed Theological Seminary
Dating and Breaking Up (the text): Textual Division as a Non-Paleographical Aid in Dating Biblical Texts

 

S19-147a Scholarship, Archaeology, and New Media
11/19/2017
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Tremont (First Level) – Boston Marriott Copley Place (MCP)

Robert Cargill, University of Iowa, Introduction

Panelists:
Nina Burleigh, Newsweek Magazine
Ariel Sabar, The Atlantic
Caroline T. Schroeder, University of the Pacific
Christopher Rollston, George Washington University
Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

 

S19-238 – Qumran
11/19/2017
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
309 (Third Level) – Hynes Convention Center (HCC)

Theme: Discovering and investigating manuscript and scribal features of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Alison Schofield, University of Denver, Presiding

Oren Gutfeld, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Randall Price, Liberty University
The Discovery of a New Dead Sea Scroll Cave at Qumran

Ira Rabin, BAM Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing
Material analysis: authentication or forgery detection?

Arstein Justnes, Universitetet i Agder
Yet Another Fake? A Pre-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like manuscript

Sarah Yardney, University of Chicago
Assessing Current Methods for Reconstructing Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls: A Quantitative Approach

Eibert Tigchelaar, KU Leuven
A Critique of Frank Moore Cross’ Typological Development of the Jewish Scripts

 

S19-335 Redescribing Early Christianity
11/19/2017
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Belvidere B (Second Level) – Hilton Boston Back Bay

Theme: Pseudepigrapha, Deception, and Heresy

Sarah Rollens, Rhodes College, Presiding

Mark Letteney, Princeton University
Authoritative Forgeries and Authentic Apocrypha in Late Antiquity

Anna Cwikla, University of Toronto
The Coptic Apocalypse of Peter as a Pseudepigraphon

Glen J. Fairen, University of Alberta
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Wrote Them: Taking Seriously the Heresoligical Invention of Marcion

William Arnal, University of Regina, Respondent

 

S20-136 Provenience and Policy
11/20/2017
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Clarendon (Third Level) – Sheraton Boston Hotel (SB)

Theme: A panel and discussion about the SBL Policy on Scholarly Presentation and Publication of Ancient Artifacts and Its Implementation

Christine Thomas, University of California-Santa Barbara, Presiding

Daniel Schowalter, Carthage College,
Introduction

Roberta Mazza, University of Manchester
Policy and Papyrology

Christopher Rollston, George Washington University
Policy and Cuneiform

Sidnie White Crawford, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
Policy and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Erin Darby, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Policy and Archaeology

Susan Ackerman, Dartmouth College
Issues of Provenience and Policy in ASOR

 

S20-246 Use, Influence, and Impact of the Bible
11/20/2017
9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Adams A (Third Level) – Hilton Boston Back Bay (HBB)

Theme: The United States of Hobby Lobby

In this session, invited discussants will respond to Candida R. Moss and Joel S. Baden’s Bible Nation: The United States of Hobby Lobby (Princeton UP, 2017).

Mark Chancey, Southern Methodist University, Panelist

Malcolm Choat, Macquarie University, Panelist

Peter Manseau, Smithsonian Institution, Panelist

John Fea, Messiah College, Panelist

Ariel Sabar, The Atlantic, Panelist

 

S20-204a Avoiding Deception: Forgeries, Fake News, and Unprovenanced Material in Religious Studies
11/20/2017
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Orleans (Fourth Level) – Boston Marriott Copley Place (MCP)

Hosted by the Student Advisory Board

Why is provenance important? Although the forgery of documents and artifacts has always been a primary concern in religious studies, recent events surrounding the colloquially designated “Jesus’ Wife Fragment” and various unprovenanced fragments touted as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls have propelled scholars into a new era of forgery studies. While some may suppose that scholars are easily able to identify and disprove such items as forgeries, the complicated landscape in which such materials surface and are distributed has necessitated the adaptation of scholarship to remain diligent in preserving authentic items of history for study. This panel will address the challenges facing scholars in identifying and disproving forgeries in our current era. Invited speakers will similarly offer a space to examine the complexities and current status of forgeries in religious studies, identifying ways scholars can navigate the field without perpetuating erroneous materials in their scholarship.

Joshua Matson, Florida State University
Adrianne Spunaugle, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Roberta Mazza, University of Manchester
Arstein Justnes, Universitetet i Agder
Kipp Davis, Trinity Western University
Jennifer Knust, Boston University
Christian Askeland, Museum of the Bible

 

S20-322 Hebrew Bible, History, and Archaeology
11/20/2017
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
105 (Plaza Level) – Hynes Convention Center (HCC)

Theme: Forgery and Writing Provenance in Writing Histories of Ancient Israel and Judah

Laura Wright, Luther College, Presiding

Christopher Rollston, George Washington University
Washington’s Museum of the Bible, ASOR and SBL’s Policies on Pillaged Antiquities, and Modern Forged Inscriptions

Michael Johnson, McMaster University
A Case Study in Professional Ethics concerning Secondary Publications of Unprovenanced Artefacts: The New Edition DSS F.Instruction1

Roberta Mazza, University of Manchester
Market of cultural heritage mass destruction? A survey of the contemporary trade in ancient manuscripts from Egypt

Kathleen Nicoll, University of Utah and Matthew Suriano, University of Maryland – College Park
Cross-disciplinary perspectives on unprovenanced artifacts: Reexamining the authenticity of the so-called Jehoash Inscription as a case study

Robert Duke, Azusa Pacific University
New data for scholarship: Why unprovenanced items should not be dismissed

 

S21-116 – Digital Humanities in Biblical, Early Jewish, and Christian Studies
11/21/2017
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Dalton (Third Level) – Sheraton Boston Hotel (SB)

Theme: Reading, Publishing, Gaming: academic digital challenges

Paul Dilley, University of Iowa, Presiding

Richard Bautch, St. Edward’s University
Gameplay, Biblical Text, and What Drives the Prophet: How Students Turned Call Narratives into a Video Game

James F. McGrath, Butler University
Can the Dynamics of Canon Formation be Replicated through Game Mechanics? An Experiment in Gamified Pedagogy

Katherine Jones, George Washington University
Likely Lies: A Statistical Analysis of the Prevalence of Modern Forgeries

Claire Clivaz, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
Academic publishing in an Open Access world : a partnership approach

John Dyer, Durham University
The Habits and Hermeneutics of Digital Bible Readers: Comparing Print and Screen Engagement, Comprehension, and Behavior

*Edited on 15/6/2017 to add the full participant list for ‘Avoiding Deception’ panel, and on 16/6/2017 to add the session on ‘Public Scholarship in the New Media’ (now called ‘Scholarship, Archaeology, and New Media’). Edited on 6/11/2017 to update all details, rearrange sessions in date order, and adjust opening paragraph slightly.