SBL Papers

For those like myself who won't be going to Philadelphia this week-end, here's a handful of online SBL papers. They're all very good.

Mark Goodacre's "The Rock on Rocky Ground". Springboarding from the infamous passage of Mt 16:18, argues that Matthew was a successful reader of Mark, enhancing the latter's theme of bumbling discipleship rather than correcting it. Matthew essentially makes Peter an archetype of unresponsive Jews to the gospel.

Rick Brannan's "Biblioblog Problems and Solutions". A well-written paper addressing the problem of blogpost accessibility. It identifies potential solutions, such as blogging software which allows different types of posts, distinguishing different types of content, etc.

Jim Davila's "Enter the Bibliobloggers". Presents a state of the biblioblogs: their origins, how they've been evolving, and noteworthy accomplishments to date.

Stephen Carlson's "Didache 16: The Tradition Behind 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18". Criticizes Alan Garrow's reconstruction of the Didache's lost ending, while endorsing his main idea that Didache preserves the tradition behind I Thess 4:13-18, "an exciting discovery" which "opens the way for finding out how much more of the Didache is pre-Pauline".

I'd been hoping to attend this year, but no such luck. Papers like these, needless to say, make me wish I could be there even more.