For the last number of days I have been in New Orleans for the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). I have literally been surrounded by the top biblical scholars in the world. The people attending have been quite diverse. There are many professors, authors, students, Catholic priests, Orthodox priests, Jewish scholars, Christians, atheists and agnostics. I had a chance to meet some authors that I have respected and appreciated for some time, including Darrell Bock and Ben Witherington III. I also had a chance to meet Elaine Pagels, who participated in the Unmasking the Pagan Christ documentary. Although I would disagree about many things with Elaine, I did appreciate her knowledge of Gnostic texts and enjoyed the workshops that she participated in. Other scholars I had a chance to hear included James Crossley, Adela Yarbro Collins, Joel Marcus, James Dunn, Karen King, Marvin Meyer and Birger Pearson. It was quite interesting even when I did not always agree with the presenter. It was a helpful experience in helping to boil down the topic of my doctoral dissertation. Speaking of which, I was able to meet my doctoral supervisor, Gerhard van den Heever, for the first time. I am looking forward to getting on with my research and getting my topic nailed down. The highlight of the time was the opportunity to hear N.T. Wright speak on justification. I was already excited to come to SBL without knowing that Wright would be here. When I discovered that Wright would indeed be speaking, I was very happy. Wright spoked to a full house on his book Justification. He was a pleasure to hear and he could have spoke for another hour without ever causing me to lose attention. Wright is an amazing speaker, scholar and Christian leader. I love the way he combines academics and relevance for the church and I want to build my own scholarship on that same model. I appreciated his honesty in sharing his own journey of wrestling with issues of justification and Paul’s attitude toward the Law. Wright was also clear about his own commitment and appreciation of reformed theology, even though some of his harshest critics, such as John Piper, come from a strong Calvinist position. Overall, it has been a great time at SBL. I picked up lots of good books, heard many great lectures and have learned a lot. Having said that, I am also looking forward to seeing my family tonight.
