Monday, December 20, 2021

Call for Papers: The Pastoral Implications for Pseudepigraphy and Anonymity in the New Testament

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At SBL this year, Randy Richards let me know about an upcoming conference from the The Ellis Foundation for Biblical Research and they have now given a call for papers. Note that their are awards, travel stipends, and graduate student scholarships. Here is the info from their website.

Does It Matter Who Wrote the Bible? The Pastoral Implications for Pseudepigraphy and Anonymity in the New Testament

May 19–21, 2022

Lanier Library chapel
It is a pleasure to invite you to the conference and to invite your participation in presenting a paper focused on our very specific conference topic: “Does It Matter Who Wrote the Bible? The Pastoral Implications for Pseudepigraphy and Anonymity in the New Testament.” The conference is sponsored by the Ellis Foundation for Biblical Research (EFBR). The Ellis Foundation for Biblical Research was established in 2005 to promote biblical scholarship and has hosted several conferences focused on the relevance of biblical scholarship to the laity. The conference will take place at the Lanier Theological Library in Houston, TX, from May 19-21, 2022. We begin at 4:00 pm on May 19 and conclude at 11.30 am on May 21, 2022.

This conference will consider the implications for practical ministry if certain New Testament books are considered pseudonymous. Over the past two centuries various scholars have questioned whether the named writers of some New Testament letters were in fact responsible for their content and composition, offering various theories of pseudepigraphical authorship. Often these discussions never leave the halls of the academy to consider how such views might impact parish or congregational life.

This conference will explore the pastoral and ecclesial implications of claims of pseudepigraphy and anonymity related to the New Testament.

When submitting your paper proposal, be sure you are addressing one of the subjects below. Papers that address merely an argument or the evidence for or against pseudepigraphy in the New Testament will not be considered. Again, the focus is on the effect on local church ministry if a particular New Testament book or letter is consider pseudonymous.

Topics
  • Pseudepigraphy, anonymity, and the authority of Scripture
  • Ethical considerations of pseudepigrapha
  • The impact of pseudepigraphy and anonymity on pulpit preaching and local church teaching
  • The relevance of pseudepigraphy and anonymity to church governance, beliefs and practices
  • The implications for training seminary students and university religion faculty
Unfortunately, this is the same weekend as CSNTM’s conference so I won’t be able to attend. But would if I could.

2 comments

  1. I have struggled to figure out this conference. Of course there are significant implications for actually adopting a view of misleading pseudepigraphy in the NT. But you can't propose a paper that directly addresses the subject whether this occurs or not ("Papers that address merely an argument or the evidence for or against pseudepigraphy in the New Testament will not be considered.").

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  2. It is so unfortunate that this conference occurs exactly at the same time as the CSNTM Conference

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