When is a March 1st deadline really a February 29th deadline?

The answer...

When it is the closing date for submission of paper abstracts to the SBL Annual Meeting!

I noted the strangeness of this last year and sure enough Chris Brady has received an SBL e-mail containing the following (I didn't get one so I am not sure what that says about the difference between me and Chris):

"Don’t forget, the Call for Papers
http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_
CallForPapers.aspx?MeetingId=12 closes at midnight, Eastern US time, on Friday, February 29."

I guess this has been happening for so long that no-one submits their paper on the 1st March. But I'd love to know what happens to anyone who does. Do they ever argue about this ridiculous practice?

For the record, there seems to be new sessions that were not in the original call for papers, so you might want to take a look.

http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_
CallForPapers.aspx?MeetingId=12

A visit to Oslo

A very cold foggy day in Oslo!

Disappearing blog posts

Interestingly my last post referred to two pages on Jim West's blog, and these have now mysteriously disappeared. Does this mean Chris Heard is now alive again for Jim West?

A very different world to me!!

In one of his periodic 'boardings' Jim West has deemed Chris Heard dead to him. In response to a question in the comments, will you read Chris' Genesis commentary when it comes out, he writes: "I won’t bother with it because there’s no point. I only read people I like. As you get old, you see you value your time too much to bother with dreck."

At this point, I began to laugh. Not only do I find myself having to spend most of my time reading people I disagree with - after all, what else is an academic supposed to do? - I usually have to buy their books full price! I am still naffed off that, just as I was finishing my thesis, James Barr's The Concept of Biblical Theology: An Old Testament Perspective was published and I had to buy it at only a 20% discount!! Still hurts after all these years!!!

So, while I would never pronounce Jim dead to me (he's far too entertaining for that) I would definitely say he lives in a very different world to me. Perhaps to stress just how different and also just to annoy him a little bit, I might ask what form his daemon takes? :) (Suggestions on a postcard...)

What a crazy idea!

Jim West mentions an Independent article on Theology in the UK. Mark Goodacre is far too nice in criticising the piece by Tim Walker. Just to take one example.

"Who are the stars? Paul Heelas and Robert Segal at Lancaster, for their research into alternative spiritualities and myth & ritual respectively; Hugh McLeod at Birmingham, for his work on the social history of religion in the West; Stewart Brown at Edinburgh, an ecclesiastical historian; David Clines at Sheffield, a biblical studies expert; and John Milbank at Nottingham, who teaches political theology."

Does anyone who writes a blog agree that precisely these six are the premier THRS academics in the UK (and I don't mean to offer disrespect to any of the folk listed, all of whom are doubtless worthy individuals)? Listing six people like this is just crazy.

I'd offer this up as a meme but I am not sure I can take it seriously enough to offer a list of my own. Still someone else might be brave enough to have a go. Sean?