by Jack Llewellyn

In November about half of the full-time faculty in the department traveled to San Francisco to take part in the annual national meeting of the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the American Schools of Oriental Research. Their contributions were too numerous to list all of them, but a few highlights were:

• Leslie Baynes responded to a review of her newly-released book, The Heavenly Book Motif in Judeo-Christian Apocalypses 200 BCE-200 CE.
• Julia Watts Belser presented two papers, on “Brides and Blemishes: Queering Woman’s Disability in the Babylonian Talmud” and “Beyond Religious and Atheistic Fundamentalisms: Working for the Common Good in the Public Square.”
• Martha Finch presented a paper with the title “The Whole Earth is the Lord’s Garden: Mapping Early New England.”
• A paper was presented by Mark Given with the title “Parenesis and Peroration in Galatians: The Rhetorical Function of Gal 4:12–6:18.”
• Martha Finch and Mark Given also participated in a panel organized by the new seminar on Stand-Alone M. A. Programs in Religion, following up on a workshop that was held at Missouri State in 2010, and which was organized by Steve Berkwitz.
• Jack Llewellyn participated in a open forum about services that the American Academy of Religion provides to departments.
• Victor Matthews presented a paper on “Memory Lingers: Definition and Redefinition of Space in Ancient Israel.” And
• A paper on “Did Pride Really Goeth before the Fall?  A Study of Pride and Hubris in the Book of Ezekiel” was presented by John Strong.

These presentations were in addition to responsibilities chairing national committees, and chairing and serving on steering committees of program units. The AAR/SBL meeting each year brings together several thousand religious studies scholars from throughout North America and around the world. And Missouri State University is always well represented at that important event.