SBL stands for the Society of Biblical Literature, which is the scholarly guild for scholars in the field of Biblical studies. Each year, the society holds its annual meeting the weekend before Thanksgiving. This year, the meeting was in San Francisco. It’s a beautiful city! Unfortunately, I was sick with laryngitis and a head cold the entire time I was there, so I didn’t feel much like sight-seeing. Someday, hopefully, I’ll make it back when I’m feeling better and there’s warmer weather.

What happens at an SBL meeting? Mostly, people spend their time meeting with fellow scholars, networking, pitching ideas to publishers, attending and presenting papers, catching up with friends they haven’t seen for a year, and buying books at a substantial discount in the massive publisher’s exhibition. I don’t usually buy many books there because it’s a pain to lug them home from the meeting, and often Amazon’s discount beats the one offered by the publisher! It’s a great chance to see what new publications are available, though.

In any case, now that I’m back from SBL and the Thanksgiving holiday has passed, I plan to post (over the next couple days) some summaries of sessions I presented in and attended. These include sessions on Greek pronunciation, how to conduct an immersion class in Biblical languages, and a presentation by James Asher, the man who “discovered” TPR (Total Physical Response). Stay tuned!