Here’s an opportunity for you. Many folks already know about the forthcoming Dictionary of the Bible and Western Culture (Sheffield Phoenix Press) edited by Michael Gilmour and Mary Ann Beavis. They are still looking for contributors for an April 2010 deadline. Here is a description of the project:

This student-friendly resource will provide undergraduates with basic background information about biblical characters, terms, symbols, and themes as well as trace ways these subjects reappear in later literature, art, music, and popular culture media. This tool will be non-confessional and cross-disciplinary, and we hope useful in a wide range of classroom contexts (courses in literature, film, religion, etc.). We are looking for short entries (600 words and less) on a wide variety of topics.

Not only is writing dictionary articles a nice way to get published and pad the CV a little bit, but it also demonstrates the ability to synthesize vast amounts of information for a targeted audience. It is pedagogical. This particular dictionary also demonstrates your ability to be a generalist and work across disciplines and history.

I got carried away a little bit when I first took on my topics and I’m currently signed up for seven, most of which I’ve completed: Christ; Last Trumpet; Matthew, Gospel of; New Jerusalem; New Testament; Parousia; Second Coming. I do not recommend taking on this sort of load for a dictionary! But I was a M.Div. student at the time and succumbed to temptation. Other bloggers have gotten in on the fun already. For example, Kevin has done “Tiberius” and “James, the brother of Jesus,” while Brandon has offered “Pharisee” and “To everything there is a season.”

If you’re interested, contact the editors (follow the links above to find their contact info). These are the topics still left as of today:

A day is like a thousand year; Beloved Physician; Bruised Reed; Candle; Cattle; Chariot; Child; Children of God; Children of Light; Deliverance; Dove; Earthen vessels; Evil; Firstborn; Fleece, setting out; Freedom; Generation; Glass, mirror; Gomer; Good Thief; Goodness; Great Commandment; Haggadah; Hand; Haran; Harp; Hewers of wood; Hope; Horeb, Mount; Ishabaal; Israel, Children of; Joanna; Joy; Jude Thaddeus; Judgement; Labor of love; Laborers in the Vineyard; Leaven; Lemuel; Let the Dead Bury Their Dead; Life; Light; Lost Tribes; Manna; Massacre of the Innocents; Mediator; Meek Shall Inherit the Earth, the; Mephibosheth; Mess of pottage; Midian; Midwife; Millstone; Mourning; Neighbour; No respecter of persons; Obedience; Old men shall dream dreams; Patriarchs and Matriarchs; Priest; Profane, profanation; Purification; Ramah; Redeemer; Redemption; Rich Fool, parable of; Right hand of God; Rimmon; Rock; Saints; Scales; Seven years of plenty, famine; Sheep; Shield; Shepherd Psalm; Sign; Signs and wonders; Simeon, prophet; Sin will find you out; Snare; Stoning; Strait and narrow; Stranger; Stranger in a strange land; Sufficient unto the day; Sweat of your brow; Temptation; Tender mercies; Thou art the man; Throne; Throne of grace; Treasure; Trials and tribulations; Troubling the waters; Trumpet; Trumpets, Feast of; Turn the Other Cheek; Unjust Judge, parable; Upright; Vale of Tears; Vanity; Vengeance is mine; Vessel; Voice of the turtle; Washing; Weeping and gnashing of teeth; Where two or three are gathered; Whole duty of man; Widows and Orphans; Widow of Nain; Wind bloweth where it lists; Wise and Foolish Builders; Worm that does not die

A lot of interesting topics left!