I'M OFF TO WASHINGTON D.C. for the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. I leave first thing tomorrow morning. I am presenting two papers, which I have now posted online. You can read them by clicking on the links below.

'Scripture' as Prophetically Revealed Writings
S18-71
Rethinking the Concept and Categories of 'Bible' in Antiquity
11/18/2006
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 203B - CC

The Hekhalot Literature and the Ancient Jewish Apocalypses
S18-112
Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism
11/18/2006
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 142 - CC

The second is a summary of an article that has just been published in full here. This is a volume that represents many years' work of the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism SBL Group and it is highly recommended.

In addition, there is a session on my book:

S19-28
Pseudepigrapha
11/19/2006
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 150A - CC

Theme: The Pitfalls of Categorization: A Panel Discussion of James R. Davila, The Provenance of the Pseudepigrapha: Jewish, Christian, or Other? (Brill, 2005)

Andrei Orlov, Marquette University, Presiding

Pierluigi Piovanelli, University of Ottawa
In Praise of 'The Default Position,' or Reassessing the Christian Reception of the Jewish Pseudepigraphic Heritage (25 min)

Chad Day, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
"The Way Forward" or Two Steps Back? Assessing Davila's "The Provenance of the Pseudepigrapha" (25 min)

Magnar Kartveit, School of Mission & Theology, Misjonshogskolen i Stavanger, Norway
The Jewish source in the Ascension of Isaiah (25 min)

John C. Reeves, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
‘A Demonstrably Jewish Text’? Reconsidering the Similitudes of Enoch (25 min)

Panelist responses
Discussion (20 min)
Audience responses
Discussion (30 min)

I don't have a formal slot in this one, but I will be there, I've seen at least early drafts of most of the papers, and I will have some comments. These will be fairly extemporaneous, so I'm not posting anything here.

I'm also listed as a panelist in the following, although given my level of involvement elsewhere, I'll try to keep pretty quiet in this one:

S19-111
Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism
11/19/2006
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 149A - CC

Theme: Tenth Anniversary Celebration & Panel Discussion
In this session, we will celebrate the tenth anniversary of our group as well as the release of a volume of collected papers entitled Paradise Now. The panel will consider the questions: what contributions have we made over the past decade and where do we go from here? The panelists have been invited, but all are welcome to join us and contribute.

April Deconick, Illinois Wesleyan University, Presiding
Rebecca Lesses, Ithaca College, Panelist
Kevin Sullivan, Marquette University, Panelist
Charles Gieschen, Concordia Theological Seminary, Panelist
Ra'anan Boustan, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Panelist
Celia Deutsch, Barnard College, Panelist
Kelley Coblentz Bautch, St. Edward's University, Panelist
Seth Sanders, Cornell University, Panelist
Frances Flannery-Dailey, Hendrix College, Panelist
Andrei Orlov, Marquette University, Panelist
James Davila, University of St. Andrews-Scotland, Panelist
Andrea Lieber Merwin, Dickinson College, Panelist

I'll be taking my laptop and I expect to continue blogging through the conference -- as usual, as time permits. As I said, I leave early tomorrow morning. It may be two or three days before I'm back in touch.

UPDATE (22 November): My other SBL posts for this year are here, here, here, here, and here.

UPDATE (17 November 2010): Dead links now fixed!