TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH, sort of: There's a new SBL group being formed which focuses on the study of the Jerusalem Temple. From William J. Hamblin (via David Seeley via the Agade list):

A few years ago we noted that there was no SBL group dedicated to the study of the temple in biblical and related traditions. So we plunged in where angels fear to tread and have set about trying to organize a new consultation we are calling, prosaically enough, "Temple Studies."

We've initiated the authorization process, but have not yet been given final approval to form an official consultation. The SBL organizers want us to have an initial "business" meeting to gauge interest and get feedback before we receive final approval for the consultation.

A Temple Studies "new program unit formation meeting" has therefore been scheduled on Monday afternoon from 1:00-3:30 pm in the Jefferson Room in the Sheraton Hotel (we anticipate that the meeting will last roughly an hour). In this meeting we will discuss the details of how to go about organizing our consultation, form a steering committee, and discuss what we hope to accomplish with our group. Our plan is to get final SBL approval in the next few months, and have a formal Temple Studies sponsored session at SBL in 2009. We invite all who are interested in seeing a Temple Studies consultation established at SBL to attend.

We've also created a Google Group for SBL Temple Studies:
http://groups.google.com/group/sbl-temple-studies

We can have a "list-serv" style email exchanges on this group, and use it as a place to archive bibliographies, reviews, images, papers, etc.

If you'd like to join this email group, go to the above link, then click on "join this group" on the right side of the page. If you have trouble joining, send an email to hamblinwj@me.com, and I'll try to add you.

If you are interested in participating, but are unable to attend this meeting, please join the "SBL Temple Studies" Google group, where we will be posting the minutes of our business meeting, regular announcements, etc.

Please forward this message to any colleagues you know who might be interested in attending. We look forward to seeing you next Monday.

I've joined the Google group. It's high time for such an SBL group to be formed.