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

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.

2017 HBU Theology Conference

This year’s Houston Baptist University Theology Conference is March 2–4 on the topic “How the Bible Came into Being.”

From the website:

The Department of Theology at HBU, in conjunction with Lanier Theological Library, is please to host the conference How the Bible Came into Being. The conference will consider the formation of the biblical canon, the literature included and excluded, and its theological significance. Our keynote speakers are James Charlesworth (Princeton Theological Seminary) and Lee McDonald (formerly of Acadia Divinity College). The plenary talks are free and open to the public.

The plenaries are:

James Charlesworth
“New Ways of Looking at Sacred Texts Regarded as ‘Apocryphal’ or ‘Pseudepigraphical’”
“The Theological Value of the ‘Rejected Texts’ and Dead Sea Scrolls for Understanding Jesus”

Lee M. McDonald 
“Why and When Was Scripture Written? Looking at the Old Testament Writings”
“Why and When Was Scripture Written? Looking at the New Testament Writings”

The ETC blog’s own John Meade will be presenting on “‘Canon’ Terminology of Epiphanius of Salamis” on Mar 3.

Text Critical Papers at HBU’s 2016 Theology Conference

Mentioned earlier on the blog, HBU’s annual theology conference is happening next weekend. There are lots of text critical papers given this year’s theme of “Erasmus’ Bible and the Impact of Scripture.” If you’re in the area, don’t miss it. What could be better than textual criticism and Texas BBQ?

Here are some of the papers on offer:

• Timothy George “Erasmus and the Search for the Christian Life”
• Craig A. Evans “Erasmus and the Beginnings of Textual Fundamentalism”
• Gregory Barnhill and Natalie Webb – “Tolle Lege: Reader’s Aids and Nomina Sacra in Early Christian Manuscripts”
• Stanley Helton – “Origen and the Endings of Mark’s Gospel”
• Jeff Cate – “Martin Luther and the Reliability of the NT Manuscript Tradition”
• Jeffrey T. Riddle – “John Calvin and Text Criticism”
• Michael Whiting – “‘A Boy that Driveth the plough Shall Know More of the Scriptures than Thou’: The Perspicuity of Scripture and the Role of Prologues and Marginal Glosses in the Translations of Martin Luther and William Tyndale”
• Laura Manzo – “The Septuagint’s Function in the Formation of Biblical Canons”
• John O. Soden – “In Defense of Biblical Humanism for Bible Translation: Erasmus and the Greek”
• Daniel J. Pfeiffer – “Narrative in the Textual Tradition: An Assessment of Scribal Changes”
• Stratton L. Ladewig – “New Images Bring Greater Clarity: Examples of Improved Textual Identity CSNTM’s P45 images”
• Daniel B. Wallace “Erasmus and the Publication of the First Greek New Testament”
• Herman Selderhuis “The Impact of Erasmus’ Biblical Work on the Reformation”
• David S. Ritsema – “The Purpose of the Fourth Gospel (John 20:30-31): A Fresh Look at the Implications for Grammatical, Syntactical, and Textual Critical Problems”
• Robert D. Marcello – “Significant Contributions to the Text of the New Testament and Early Church from the National Library of Greece”

Full schedule here. (HT: DBW)

Ad Fontes, Ad Futura: Erasmus’ Bible and the Impact of Scripture

The weather probably isn’t too bad in February.

Another conference ETC readers might be interested in.

February 25-27, 2016
Houston Baptist University

In celebration of upcoming 500th anniversary of Erasmus’ Greek text and the Reformation, the Department of Theology at HBU, in conjunction with the Dunham Bible Museum, is pleased to host the conference Ad Fontes, Ad Futura: Erasmus’ Bible and the Impact of Scripture. The conference will consider the textual and historical issues surrounding the development of the Bible, the Bible’s impact on human society across the centuries, and the future of Biblical translation and interpretation in the future. Our keynote speakers include Craig Evans (Houston Baptist University), Timothy George (Beeson Divinity School, Samford University), Herman Selderhuis (Theological University Apeldoorn) and Daniel Wallace (Dallas Theological Seminary). The plenary talks are free and open to the public.

We also invite proposals for short papers from scholars and graduate students from a wide array of disciplines and topics, including:

• The historical context, and textual tradition, of the Biblical canon;
• The history of the Greek text of the Bible;
• The social and/or cultural impact of the Bible in any historical period or location;
• The Bible and the history of the book;
• Modern Bible translations and translation practice;
• Textual and cultural issues concerning the Bible in the Digital Age.

Anyone who is interested should submit a 300 word abstract on any relevant topic. Papers should be 20 minutes long, and decisions will be announced before January 8, 2016. Send proposals to Jason Maston at jmaston@hbu.edu. [I can’t find a submission deadline. Submissions are due by Dec. 9.]

HT: Jason Maston