It certainly isn’t wise to fill up every waking moment of your SBL experience with presentation sessions. You need to leave room for book perusal and just general random conversations out and about. That said, what I like to do is decide what the most important sessions are for me personally and have those all ready to go. When the time is right, I decide whether I want to stand around and chat, drool over books, or make my way to the best looking session.

What I’m looking for in a session usually depends either on the topics I am currently researching, people presenting on things I’m not necessarily interested in but I want to support them, and sessions that look like they’ll have exciting discussions. I also like to look out for sessions on practical realities of academia, particularly those organized by the SBL Student Advisory Group. Lots of good career advice for young scholars. I went to a session during my first annual meeting on the nuts and bolts of various Ph.D. programs. I was gearing up for doctoral applications at the time and it was tremendously helpful!

My current interests for sessions are apocalyptic thought, mission, sectarianism, Gospel of Matthew, Letter of James, and any social issues that look interesting. I may be taking a seminar on Eusebius later in the year, so a session on that might be good.

That said, if I decide to go to a session during a particular time slot, here are my own personal picks:

Friday Night: This isn’t listed in the program book yet, but Friday night always includes the Mennonite Scholars and Friends Reception. It’s hard to pass up that Menno schmoozing.

Saturday Morning: Again, this isn’t listed, but the Mennonite Scholars and Friends session traditionally happens in the Saturday morning slot and it has consistently been one of my favorite sessions of the entire conference. Last year the topic was “Teaching Bible: Setting, Method, Agenda,” and I had to miss it. You can catch some of what happened last year in the most recent newsletter of the Anabaptist-Mennonite Scholars Network. Runners-up to this would include the discussion on “The Wrath of God in Paul” (21-124), a panel discussion (including Ra’anan Boustan) on “The Inspired Production and Interpretation of Literary Texts in Antiquity” (21-125), and a practical conversation on “Engaging Liberal Arts Students in Biblical Studies” (21-133).

Saturday Early Afternoon: In this slot, I have competition between my UCLA colleague, Sue Russell’s presentation as a part of “A Retrospective on Mary Douglas. Legacy and Impact on Biblical Studies.” (21-233) and the panel discussion of Greg Carey‘s book, Sinners: Jesus and His Earliest Followers (with an outstanding panel!) (21-207). The discussion on “Careers Outside the Classroom” (21-208), which includes my friend Chris Spinks as a panelist, looks quite worthy as well.

Saturday Late Afternoon: To quote the great Balki Bartokomous, “Well, toss my greens and call me Caesar!” This one is a tough choice! I think this slot calls for bullet points:

• We’ve got the Bible software shoot-out (21-313) with demonstrations from Logos, Bible Works, and Accordance.
• Then there’s the mouth-watering topic, “After the First Urban Christians: The Social Scientific Study of Pauline Christianity Twenty Five Years Later” (21-329), including David Horrell, Wayne Meeks, and Stephen Friesen on the panel.
• If I want to go to a session on James, one of the best looking ones is in this slot, on “James and Q” (21-331), which includes John S. Kloppenborg as a respondent.
• And if I want to go to a session on apocalyptic thought, one of the most promising is in this time slot, as the Rhetoric and the New Testament group hosts the theme, “Rhetorical Approaches to Apocalyptic Discourse” (21-333), discussing books by Edith M. Humphrey and David A. deSilva. Greg Carey is presiding over this one and he may just get me to show up at two of his sessions in a row.
• For those interested in theological interpretation, though, you won’t want to miss the (probably standing room only) session with Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Richard B. Hays, and Michael J. Gorman on “Romans as Christian Theology” (21-336).
• Whew!

Saturday Evening: I always want to see the presidential address, but never do. A guy’s gotta eat, you know. So, I’ll probably go to dinner with friends and perhaps show up at one or two receptions after that.

Sunday Morning: This slot includes a Eusebius session with Bart Ehrman (22-117), an interesting looking session on meals and Christian identity (22-130), and a discussion on “Rome and Religion” including Warren Carter (22-141). But I think I might just go to the session on “Publishing in Journals” (22-136) hosted by the Student Advisory Group including Ehud Ben Zvi and James C. VanderKam as panelists, and then head over to a paper (22-129) by Duke student, Tommy Givens, on a topic similar to my own Tuesday presentation.

Sunday Early Afternoon: There are two people in this slot that demand my attention more than any of the various topics: Tom Yoder Neufeld’s presentation on John Howard Yoder (his father-in-law) (22-240) and Ra’anan Boustan’s presentation on the Maccabean Martyrs in rabbinic narrative (22-245). While I wish I could stay for the whole session on John Howard Yoder, I would probably see Tom’s presentation and then head over to Ra’anan’s because the timing works out.

Sunday Late Afternoon: For me, this slot is a competition between another one of those intriguing sessions on meals, with Phil Harland presiding and one of my favorite scholars–David Balch–presenting (22-333), and one of those bound-to-be-star-studded, wall-to-wall-standing highlights: the book review of John Meier’s fourth book in the A Marginal Jew series (22-324). The session on Meier’s book probably wins, but I may sit this slot out. Wherever I am, the biblioblogger dinner starts at 6pm, so I’ll have to miss the end of any session.

Sunday Evening: I’ll probably be pooped at this point, but I don’t know. This slot includes a session that people will probably be talking about for a long time: “New Testament Theology: Status and Prospects” (22-403). Panelists include Jimmy Dunn, Udo Schnelle, Frank Matera, and Don Carson. Pheme Perkins is presiding. I’m sure bloggers will be abuzz. Maybe we’ll walk over together from our dinner. Too bad Dunn goes on first, because 7pm might be cutting it too close to finish eating with 49 other bloggers and head over. After that, though, there will surely be plenty of receptions to crash

Monday Morning: Potential highlights for me in this slot include a session (23-108) focused on economy and culture in Galilee, including presentations from Douglas E. Oakman and Sean Freyne. Elsewhere (23-109), David Balch is presenting on Revelation 12. The program group for which I am presenting on Tuesday, Construction of Christian Identities, has a session (23-116) in this slot, including a paper by new blogger J. Brian Tucker and another from Nicholas Perrin. Kevin Scull is a panelist for “Things I Wish I Knew about Doing a Ph.D.” I’d like to support him, but getting to know other folks in my program group may take priority.

Monday Early Afternoon: The marquee session in this slot is with the Cross, Resurrection, and Diversity in Earliest Christianity group (23-214), including Adela Yarbro Collins, Joel Marcus, James D. G. Dunn, and Karen L. King. A few of my favorite scholars right there. That has to be good. Though, it would be tough to pass up the session (23-238) of the  Social Scientific Criticism of the New Testament group over which my advisor, Scott Bartchy, is presiding. Also, Douglas Campbell’s book, The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul, is being reviewed by a panel (23-233). Tough choices!

Monday Late Afternoon: Bob Cargill is giving his big presentation on Golb (23-308). There are also sessions for Construction of Christian Identities (23-309) and Social Scientific Criticism of the New Testament (23-337) that would be worth a visit. And a session on “Student Learning Outcomes in the Liberal Arts” (23-339) put on by the Wabash Center if I’m feeling pedagogical.

Tuesday Morning: Well, I have no choice here! I will be presenting my own paper with the Construction of Christian Identities group (24-109). See my previous post about the folks I’m presenting with. But who am I competing with for attention? I am going first at 9am, as is John Anderson, Kenneth Schenck, and Nijay Gupta. Other bibliobloggers in this general slot include Stephen Carlson and James Crossley, who is presenting on “NT Wrong and the Bibliobloggers“. Joel Willits is presiding over a session including Craig Keener and Ben Witherington. There is also a panel session reviewing Hans Dieter Betz’s Galatians commentary 30 years later, including Udo Schnelle, Helmut Koester, Richard N. Longenecker, Margaret M. Mitchell, and Hans Dieter Betz himself. Ouch. Not only is it Tuesday morning, but I also have some steep competition for attention grabbing.

So, it looks like those will be my top choices for each slot thus far, though that may change by November I suppose. Now, I just have to budget some time for sleep and fun with friends