AAR to meet apart from SBL in 2008

Christian Century, May 17, 2003 by John Dart

The pre-Thanksgiving intellectual feasts held jointly by the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature--concurrent annual meetings drawing upwards of 8,000 registrants in recent years--will be served at separate tables after 2007. The board of directors of the AAR decided that the longtime arrangement had grown "unwieldy" and that it will hold stand-alone meetings starting in 2008.

The American Academy of Religion, whose members teach a wide range of religion subjects at universities, colleges and seminaries, formed a separate body from their biblical studies colleagues about 40 years ago. Though saying it "enjoyed a long and beneficial relationship with the SBL," the AAR directors announced in April that "the identities and missions of the two associations are distinct and different, and that the current structure of the annual meetings has become too unwieldy."

Leaders of the biblical scholars' society termed the move a "dramatic change of circumstances." In a letter April 28 to AAR President Robert A. Orsi of Harvard Divinity School, SBL President Eldon Jay Epp, a retired biblical scholar, expressed the hope that numerous scholarly links already established will enrich "our overlapping disciplines" in years to come.

This year's conclave in Atlanta, and joint gatherings in succeeding years in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and San Diego, were not affected by the decision. In recent years AAR registrants have outnumbered SBL participants by a 60-40 ratio, a spokesman said.

One major feature of the four-day meetings is a large book exhibit. "This decision will have significant implications for publishers who have used the joint annual meetings to promote their titles," said Lynn Garrett, editor of Publishers Weekly's "ReligionBookline." That monthly online newsletter promised a full analysis for its May 6 issue. But one religion publisher's publicity director said the change may force smaller publishers to choose between the two meetings in the future.

Though AAR and SBL headquarters share the same Luce Building on the Emory University campus in Atlanta, Kent Harold Richards, SBL executive director, said the AAR action was taken without consulting with his organization. But Richards also noted that the AAR was not legally or informally required to do so.

At its spring meeting April 25-27, SBL officials promised to work with publishers, independent scholars and job-seeking academicians to make biblical research meetings after 2007 useful and affordable.