BOOK PLUG: I've mentioned this before, but I received my contributor's copy yesterday at the EJCM panel session, so I'll note it again:

Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism

/April D. DeConick, editor/

A substantial introduction to the study of early Jewish and Christian mysticism, this volume examines major aspects of the mystical tradition within early Judaism and Christianity. This tradition was centered on the belief that a person directly, immediately, and before death can experience the divine, either as a rapture experience or one solicited by a particular praxis. The essays define and analyze the nature and practices of mysticism as it emerges within early Judaism and Christianity, recognizing this emergence within a variety of communal environments. Larger questions about the relationship between hermeneutics and experience, as well as the relationship between mysticism and apocalypticism are also discussed, and a substantial bibliography of the field is provided. The book is the result of ten years of work of the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism unit of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Paper, $49.95 - ISBN: 1-58983-257-4 - 480 pages - Hardback edition available from Brill

Symposium Series 11

Highly recommended.

I checked out the conference book display area on Saturday and didn't find anything I needed urgently, so this may be the only professional book I bring home this time. Perhaps just as well, since I've already filled much of my spare luggage space with science fiction paperbacks and the 2007 Dilbert calendar.