For some reason that is beyond me, the good people at SBL have taken a dislike to me, putting me down for four performances in the fading empire called the USA:

S19-141

Use, Influence, and Impact of the Bible
11/19/2011
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Laurel Hill – Intercontinental

Theme: Book Review: Antonio Negri, The Labor of Job: The Biblical Text as a Parable of Human Labor (Duke UP, 2009)
Joint session with: Bible, Theology, and Postmodernity Group (AAR)

Roland Boer, University of Newcastle, Australia, Presiding
James Harding, University of Otago, Panelist (15 min)
Erin Runions, Pomona College, Panelist (15 min)
Adam Kotsko, Chicago Theological Seminary, Panelist (15 min)
Mayra Rivera, Harvard University, Panelist (15 min)
Hugh Pyper, University of Sheffield, Panelist (15 min)
Discussion (45 min)

During which I will try to look wise, serious and pro-Negri …

 

S19-212a

Economics in the Biblical World
11/19/2011
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 2022 – Convention Center

Theme: Economic Theory and Biblical Studies

Richard Horsley, University of Massachusetts Boston, Presiding
Roland Boer, University of Newcastle, Australia, Panelist (30 min)
Richard Saller, Stanford University, Panelist (30 min)
Walter Scheidel, Stanford University, Panelist (30 min)
Norman Gottwald, Pacific School of Religion, Panelist (30 min)
Discussion (30 min)

In which I argue that, since all interpretation is inescapably anachronistic, we need approaches that structurally build in anachronism into their workings, for which Marxism offers some of the best options. Hence Regulation theory and its regimes and modes of regulation.

 

S20-227

Ideological Criticism
11/20/2011
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Powell I & II – Renaissance Parc 55

Theme: Book Review – Secularism and Biblical Studies (2010, Equinox Press)

Roland Boer, University of Newcastle, Australia, Presiding
Ward Blanton, University of Glasgow, Panelist
Hector Avalos, Iowa State University, Panelist
Philip Davies, University of Sheffield, Panelist
Hanna Stenström, Uppsala University, Panelist
James Linville, University of Lethbridge, Respondent (20 min)
Russell McCutcheon, University of Alabama, Respondent (20 min)

Where I ponder how to repudiate most of my theses in the manifesto contained in that volume, but then I may just keep my mouth shut.

 

S21-248

Use, Influence, and Impact of the Bible
11/21/2011
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Sierra K – Marriott Marquis

Theme: The Revolutionary Bible

Andrew Mein, Westcott House, Presiding
Jorunn Økland, University of Oslo
“Duodez-Ausgabe des Neuen Jerusalems”: The Function of the Apocalypse in the Rhetoric of Karl Marx (25 min)
Roland Boer, University of Newcastle, Australia
Lenin, the Gospels, and What is to Be Done? (25 min)
Gerald West, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Appropriations of Jephthah’s Daughter (Judges 11) among the amaNazaretha: From the Early 1900′s to Today (25 min)
Break (5 min)
Jay Twomey, University of Cincinnati
Paul and the Civil Rights Movement: Martin Luther King’s “Paul’s Letter to American Christians” (25 min)
Wayne Coppins, University of Georgia
Revolution and Violence in Ernst Käsemann’s Radically Lutheran Theology of Liberation (25 min)
Discussion (20 min)

Where I probably won’t talk about Lenin, but tackle that position assumed true through a thousand repetitions: that Marxism offers in some way a secularised version of Jewish and/or Christian salvation history. I’ve forgotten how many times I have fielded questions on that position, in China, Eastern Europe and other less interesting parts of the world. So I will take the opportunity to outline why that silly position doesn’t hold up, and why it is ultimately a theological position that inadvertently absolutises theology.
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