TRS at AAR 2014

The Biblical Area was well-represented as the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting in San Diego. Prof. David Bosworth presented "Weeping in Hebrew and Akkadian Prayers," comparing the use of tears in the Psalms and ancient Akkadian prayers ( http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/abstract.aspx?id=33086 ). Prof. Bradley Gregory presented Isaiah 14 (LXX) as Narrative Template for Antiochus IV in 2 Maccabees ( http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/abstract.aspx?id=30920 ).

• Dr. Charles B. Jones presented the paper "The Jesuit-Confucian Encounter in Late Ming China and the Formation of the Secular" at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 24, 2014 in San Diego.
• Several graduate students in the biblical program also presented papers. Antony Das Prakasam presented "The Pride of Babylon in Isaiah 47 in Light of the Theory of Self-Conscious Emotions," which correlates psychological research on pride with the depiction of Babylon's pride in Isaiah 47 ( http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/abstract.aspx?id=31829 ). Maria Rodriguez presented "Mary, Model of Obedience: Exegetical Comparison of Lk 1:26-38 and Q. 19:16-22" comparing the annunciation in Luke and the Qur'an and their respective impacts on Catholic and Muslim beliefs about Jesus ( http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/abstract.aspx?id=31174 ). Adam Tune presented "The Burnt Child Loves the Fire: A Psychological Interpretation of Divine Deception," employing psychological research on deception to understand God's actions in Isaiah 6:10-12 and 1 Kings 22:19-23 ( http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/abstract.aspx?id=32570 ).
• Lesley DiFransico , a recent graduate of the biblical program, presented "Washing Away Sin: Metaphor and Inner-Biblical Allusion in Psalm 51," explores the connections among several texts that present the metaphor of sin as a stain to be washed away ( http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/abstract.aspx?id=31771 ).
• Prof. Ian Boxall was also in attendance, and Profs. Bosworth , Boxall , and Gregory all met with prospective graduate students at the conference in addition to maintaing existing relationships and forming new friendships with fellow scholars.
• Dr. Robin Young convened a pre-AAR/SBL meeting of the Evagrius of Pontus -- The Gnostic Trilogy project, a major translation effort from the surviving Greek text, and the Syriac and Armenian versions, of the main work of this fourth-century monastic thinker and architect of the late ancient and Byzantine spiritual life. A team of six scholars assembled. They met at St. Andrew's (Benedictine) Abbey, Valyermo, California, for four days of intense translation work. The completed volume will be published by Oxford University Press, and will be the first English translation of the entire work.
• At the 2014 annual meeting of the AAR, Dr. Paul Scherz presented a paper entitled "Stem Cells, the Body, and Theological Anthropology" in a session sponsored by both the Christian Systematic Theology Section and the Transhumanism and Religion Group. The paper examined the understandings of the relationship between the body and the person implicit in technologies encouraged by transhumanists such as the cell and tissue culture technologies of regenerative medicine. It discusses how the transhumanist theorization of the relation of the body and the self are congruent neither with popular responses to these technologies nor with Christian theological understandings of embodiment, and proposes ways to better engage these technologies.

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