Philip Davies on the SBL Annual Meeting

Jim West has a fascinating response to the SBL Annual Meeting from Philip Davies. The following quote made me laugh particularly.

"Fashion is the manifestation of neophilia and the SBL is the Milan or Paris of the biblical fashion trade, complete with its catwalks and supermodels."

Followed by

" Yes, the SBL is like a discotheque without the music; a frantic round of networking, updating, image polishing, and even learning. "

More tellingly, Philip concludes: "I get very little scholarly knowledge out of the SBL, and I don’t expect to. But without being there I would never have understood the sociology of knowledge as well as I do (still not all that well). That’s what it is all about, though."

It all sees such a shame that our institutions really want us to do papers (and the SBL obliges with millions and zillions of seminar spaces) when all we really want to do get together and chill.

BTW, Sean, did you actually go? Or is your blogging silence due to shellshock at the experience? :)