Staying Current

One of the more challenging thing for teaching professors to do is stay current in the discipline. The tyranny of the urgent tends to crowd out this feature of academic life. The goal of this page is to identify some of the resources that will help keep someone current in the field of Biblical & Theological studies.

Conferences

  1. Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting (AAR/SBL)
  2. Evangelical Theological Society annual meeting (ETS)
  3. SBL, ETS, and other societies that have annual, national meetings will often collaborate on annual, regional meetings as well. In the American South, for example, the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies (SWCRS) holds a Spring conference that combines the regional resources of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), Association for the Scientific Study of Religion (ASSR), and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). Find the regional SBL meeting for your area of the country and make it a habit to attend the conference.
  4. There are various other, smaller societies that also hold annual conferences. In my faith tradition, for example, it is important to be aware of the annual meeting of the Society of Pentecostal Studies (SPS). Find conferences that are relevant to your faith community and make sure to be part of their gatherings.

Journals

A more comprehensive list of over 50 journals that are essential to the discipline is maintained at BibTheo.com/Journals. The journals here are a small sampling of the most essential publications in which to stay current. The links will take you to the journal homepage. The homepages will keep their articles behind a paywall, but should allow you to browse titles and abstracts. Even if you do not read all the articles, there is value in keeping informed of the authors and topics that are trending.

  1. Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses “Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses– (ETL)
  2. Éstudios Bíblicos
  3. Catholic Biblical Quarterly (CBQ)
  4. Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology
  5. Journal for the Study of the New Testament (JSNT)
  6. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (JSOT)
  7. Journal of Biblical Literature (JBL)
  8. New Testament Studies (NTS)
  9. Zeitschrift für Die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (ZAtW)
  10. Zeitschruft für Die Neuentestamentliche Wissenschaft (ZNtW)

Publishing House Catalogs

This is not a complete list of publishers in the areas of Biblical & Theological Studies, but represents most of the major English-language contributors to the discipline. Leave your suggestions for additional publishers, especially in languages other than English, in the comments below.

  1. Abingdon
  2. B&H
  3. Baker
  4. Baylor
  5. Brill
  6. Cambridge University Press
  7. Cerf
  8. Editorial Clie
  9. Editorial Mundo Hispano
  10. Eerdmans
  11. Eisenbrauns
  12. Fortress (Augsburg Fortress)
  13. HarperCollins
  14. Harvard University Press
  15. Hendrickson
  16. InterVarsity
  17. Kregel
  18. Lexham (Lexham Press only publishes digital resources for Logos bible software. It does not have the standing of the other publishing houses because it is digitally native and distributed only via Logos, but if you use Logos, you should know about Lexham Press.)
  19. Mohr Siebeck
  20. Orbis
  21. Oxford University Press
  22. Paternoster
  23. Peeters
  24. SBL Press
  25. Sheffield Phoenix Press (Sheffield Academic)
  26. T&T Clark
  27. Westminster John Knox
  28. Yale University Press
  29. Wipf & Stock (Cascade, Pickwick)
  30. Zondervan

Blogs & Social Media

Scholars can be streaky in their blogs and social media presence because some parts of the academic year are busier than others, and some scholars withdraw while working on special projects. Since this body of literature is not peer-reviewed, consider it more conversational than instructive. But this kind of low-stakes conversation can help broaden your awareness of what is going on among the people you follow.