Predicting some AAR/SBL highlights

Later this week, I’ll be attending the AAR/SBL annual meeting in San Diego. Choosing the sessions to attend has been an agonising task – but here are some of the sessions that I’m especially looking forward to:

• “The Faith of Jesus Christ: Exegetical, Biblical and Theological Studies” (S16-55). My own paper will be in this session – and there’ll be papers by NT scholars like Francis Watson, Douglas Campbell and Stanley Porter. I reckon it will be a very lively session.
  


• “Romans through History and Cultures: Schleiermacher, Schweitzer, Barth” (S17-73). Looks like this will be a great session – it includes Kurt Anders Richardson on Schleiermacher, and Ekkehard Stegemann on Barth’s exegesis of Romans 9-11.


• “Karl Barth Society of North America: Discusson of Alyssa Lyra Pitstick, Light in Darkness: Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Catholic Doctrine of Christ's Descent into Hell” (A17-141). George Hunsinger is presiding, with papers by Paul Griffiths, David Lauber, John Webster and Alyssa Pitstick.


• “Theology and Continental Philosophy Group: Agamben, Decreation, and Witnessing” (A17-322). I’ll be attending a few sessions on Agamben – so far I’ve only read his commentary on Romans, but I’ll be doing some extra preparation by reading Homo Sacer and State of Exception on the flight to San Diego.


• A discussion and partial screening of Magnolia (A17-406) – this is one of my favourite films.


• Plenary address by Charles Taylor on “Religious Mobilizations” (A18-403).


• “Pauline Soteriology: Divine and Human Agency in Pauline Theology” (S19-119). For me, this session will probably be one of the biggest highlights. Douglas Campbell is presiding, and the speakers are J. Louis Martyn, Susan Eastman, Alan Torrance and Telford Work.


• “Romans through History and Cultures: Focal Points in Readings of Romans – Eschatology, Apocalyptic, Messianism” (S20-16). This looks like a fantastic session – especially William Campbell on Käsemann’s eschatology, and Douglas Harink on Barth and Agamben.