Dear IBR Colleagues,
I trust that your year is going well; that you are finding opportunities for stimulating research, writing, and teaching. As I visit churches, whether to preach, teach, or simply to experience the joy of Christian worship, I am regularly reminded of the importance of what we do. For years now we have all been made aware of the increasing biblical illiteracy in our evangelical churches. Because of this I am always impressed with the scholarly contributions of our members that have a direct impact on our churches. I am especially delighted when our members continue to make significant contributions to biblical scholarship that will be introduced to our churches through our students and readers and that will impact the church’s mission and identity for years to come. Good for you and good for the churches!
Our program for this year in New Orleans includes an exciting new direction. The final Saturday session will provide two tracks: one will continue to explore the conference topic of Biblical Commentary and Theological Interpretation; the other on Creation Care will explore further a topic engaged in some of last year’s sessions. The two tracks will provide not only more options for our members, but better opportunities for IBR members to present their research and interact around it with colleagues. We hope you like the new format, and welcome your feedback on it. Special thanks to Dan Hawk, Ross Wagner, and their Program Committee who put together an exciting programme this year. Thanks as well to Zondervan for hosting the reception on Friday evening.
Blessings, and I look forward to speaking with you this weekend.
Dr. Lee McDonald, President
The IBR: Fostering Evangelical Scholarship
IBR has, for over thirty years, offered to evangelical biblical scholars and Ph.D. students a venue for creative, reflective, and serious biblical scholarship. Its members are specialists in Old and New Testament and ancillary disciplines who seek to foster excellence in the pursuit of Biblical Studies in a faith environment.
The achievement of this goal is sought primarily by organizing annual conferences, conducting seminars and workshops, and by sponsoring academic publications in the various fields of biblical research. The Bulletin of Biblical Research was first published in 1991, and the BBR Supplement Series began in 2007.
Welcome to the annual conference; check out our web site for further information and history, and consider becoming a member with us!
BBR/BBR Sup Update by Rick Hess,
Denver Seminary, BBR/BBR Sup Editor
The Bulletin for Biblical Research has gone to publishing four issues per year with this, the 19th volume. This will allow for prompt publication of the many fine articles and book reviews that are written for the Bulletin and also enhance the profile of the Bulletin and of IBR in the scholarly world. Eckhard Schnabel continues to do his excellent work of editing the book reviews, and would be delighted to hear from members interested in writing reviews.
The third volume of the BBR Supplement Series, Critical Issues in Early Israelite Historiography, appeared at the end of 2008. Edited by Richard S. Hess, Gerald Klingbeil, and Paul J. Ray, this volume explores the biblical and extrabiblical texts (K. L. Younger, Hess, M. G. Hasel, E. Velázquez) and the archaeology (Ray, P. Mazani, Klingbeil, M. W. Chavalas, R. K. Hawkins, D. M. Master, S. M. Ortiz, B. G. Wood) surrounding early Israel and its appearance in Canaan. New monographs in biblical studies are presently being considered for future publication in the BBR Supplement Series, including our first New Testament monograph.
Submissions of articles and monographs are welcome. See the Bulletin inside front and back covers for submission information. For the Supplement Series, monograph titles and abstracts may be sent to the editor at [email protected].
Web News by Ted Hildebrandt,
Gordon College, IBR Website Consultant
The IBR website continues to offer access to new resources. Here is an update on some of the many projects Ted Hildebrandt has worked on in this past year:
- www.ibr-bbr.org web site now has a semantic search engine that allows for biblical reference and topical searches of the BBR.
- BBR volumes 1–15.2 are now available in full text; abstracts for 2008 are also now available.
- Brent Sandy’s extensive supplement to his bibliography on Prophecy and Apocalyptic is now included on the IBR Studies page.
- The full text of the Tyndale Bulletin is now on the IBR website. Thanks to Tyndale House for their assistance to prepare the online resource.
- The new BBR Supplement series is also listed on our site and cross-referenced with Eisenbraun’s announcement of the publication of the volume.
Your input is valued and if you have any ideas for our web site please feel free to submit them to me at [email protected].