My Report from SBL 2024 San Diego

Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting

Every year, the weekend before Thanksgiving, thousands of Bible, history, and religion scholars gather to geek out on the latest scholarship, catch up with friends, and go crazy on buying books. This year we were in sunny San Diego, a favorite location of many of us, including myself. For those of you who are interested, here are some of my highlights.

Northern Seminary: New President (Dr. Joy J. Moore)

Probably the most important highlight of the conference for me was congratulating Dr. Joy Moore in person on her appointment as Northern Seminary’s president. I was on the search committee, it was a unanimous vote, and we had a big and diverse committee! Dr. Moore is wise, experienced, passionate, well-loved, but most of all, her love for Jesus drives everything she does. Great to be in the flesh with my colleagues, what a treat!

Transformation Breakfast

This is my favorite yearly meal at SBL. It started with Ben Blackwell and I (as PhD students) reaching out to Mike Gorman as we both admired his work. That must have been 2007 or 2008? We three are wesleyan, and we added Andy Johnson and Dean Flemming (and Jim Miller, who couldn’t make it this year). From there it expanded to other like-minded NT scholars we love and admire like David Capes, Dennis Edwards, and Athanasios Despotis. This year Bob Anderson also joined us. We catch up on new aches and pains, hair loss (for me), family and children/grandchildren news, new scholarship, and great memories.

New Word Biblical Themes

I have the privilege of being the editor for a series called New Word Biblical Themes, and the inaugural volume on Galatians (which I wrote) came out earlier this year. To help celebrate and spread the word, Zondervan gave away themed socks—talk about nerd heaven! Be on the lookout: 4 new volumes will be appearing in 2025!

Holy Post Live (San Diego)

Major highlight: I participated in a Holy Post Live event in San Diego, alongside great scholars and friends Kaitlyn Schiess, Amy Peeler, and Esau McCaulley. (Esau and I went to seminary together; Amy and I are co-editing the new Hard Sayings of the New Testament). It was a great event. It would be fun to do this again when SBL is in Boston next year. (Weird thing: the band Sublime was playing a concern next door, and they were LOUD, so random)

Institute for Biblical Research: Ethnic Minority Breakfast

An expected highlight of the conference was a private breakfast for ethnic minority biblical scholars, where Esau and I were invited to speak. I talked about my journey in the academy (over the last 20 years), the ups and downs, and the challenges of being not white in majority white spaces. I wish a community of support like this existed when I was a student, but I am so glad it is in place now! Pictured L-R: event chair Chloe Sun, me, Esau, and future event chair Bo Lim.

The Bible in God’s World

Some of the Bible in God’s World editorial team met to discuss the progress of the series. Due mostly to the pandemic, we have only had one volume come out (John Goldingay on Ecclesiastes). But many authors are working steadily and we hope to see some new releases soon. I love working with Danny Carroll and Lissa Wray Beal, and the crew at Wipf & Stock! (We will have some updates coming soon, so stay tuned.)

The “Balanced Canon Club”

My time at SBL ended in a coffee shop with this amazing crew: L-R: Carmen Imes (Biola), Richard Middleton (Northeastern Seminary), and JM Smith (Disciple Dojo). That’s 3 OT scholars and me, so that’s why I call it the “balanced canon club!” JM and I were in seminary together, I was on faculty with Richard at NES for a short time, and Carmen and I are old friends and we are co-writing a youth version of Tell Her Story.

As long as there are great people like this in the world, everything is going to be alright! I flew home feeling blessed by my time in San Diego.