SBL might be a place to make a brief connection with a potential advisor, but that connection should probably be fostered in other ways. Brief meetups at SBL can’t compete with the value of stopping by the actual school campus and sitting in the professor’s office.

That’s a terrible story too, John!

I can only hope that I “clean up” as well as Julia Roberts. So, wait, does that make my Fuller Seminary years the time of my prostitution?

You should have named the publisher. People’s discriminatory practices should be highlighted, don’t you think.

Incidentally, one of my first experiences as a student visitor to a conference was writing my name in a book early on (to reserve the copy), only to find at the end of the conference that a distinguished Theology professor had written his name on the next page. This was interesting because his junior colleague had *seen* me put my name in there and tried to remonstrate with him about it. But he wouldn’t budge; the book was his. The publisher, God bless him, leaned over to me and said quietly, “Don’t worry. He does that a lot. We’ll post you a copy at the same price.” I was, as we might say over here, gob-smacked. What a tight-fisted git!

I’d like to say I’ve bad-mouthed him ever since, but I haven’t really thought about it much, except to marvel occasionally at some people’s willingness to throw their credibility away so cheaply. It remains my dominant image of the guy, right or wrong. And when I heard him give a paper on ethics a few years later, I couldn’t help but think he was just a cheap hypocritical tosser. Perhaps you should look forward to the day when this publishing house wants your manuscipt, and you can tell them to…forget it.

Damn, why has an image of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman just popped into my head.