SBL New Orleans 2009 ETC Blog Dinner

My batteries are reloaded :-). I have just been to the annual ETC blog dinner, and we apparently broke a new record with some 35 participants, the large majority of which are currently involved in TC, including friends from Birmingham and Münster and others that joined in. Unfortunately, we couldn't all sit at the same table, and Peter Head cancelled the speech he had prepared on the napkin in the last minute (with all the annual awards and everything...).

In any case, this dinner was just after the TC section, in which six of us had presented papers, so at least I had that nice feeling of relief - my paper on "Text-types and Criteria for Evaluating Readings in New Testament Textual Criticism" went very well – and enjoyed myself very much for the whole evening.

From the menu I had a Chicken Gumbo, actually I don't remember the full name of it, but it was delicious, and for desert some vanilla ice cream. New Orleans is known for its spicy seafood, and I have had the chance to taste that too. I am very content with the food, except the breakfasts which have not been exactly what I am used to.


When I sum up, this meeting has been terrific, not least for getting the opportunity to meet all friends (and particularly the manuscript geeks out there). Bill Warren and Steven Whately here from New Orleans have been particularly gracious to me in all kinds of ways. In fact, Steven picked me up at the airport way past midnight when I arrived, and will bring me there again tomorrow early in the morning. So the ETC blog award 2009 for brotherly service at least goes to Bill and Steven.

There is so much to blog about from this meeting. As usual I have been crazy enough to take extensive notes of many papers (some I just couldn't keep up with), and this will probably make for another SBL marathon series that will last for a long time (perhaps until the next meeting). I hope my co-bloggers are not turning lazy when they see me at the computer – I hope some of them will contribute on the topic SBL New Orleans 2009 so that we can share with all our readers our experiences during these days.

That's all for now, more to come.