Biblical Hebrew Poetry

Sessions

Since its formation in 2004, Biblical Hebrew Poetry has facilitated ten workshop sessions at SBL Annual Conference. This year, in Boston, BHP will put on a record four sessions. Session outlines and scheduling is listed below.

Boston 2008

1. Daughter Zion: Her Portrait, Her Response

11/24/2008 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM - Room TBD - Hotel TBD

Presiding:

Mark Boda - McMaster University

Authors:

Jill Middlemas Dechow - Aarhaus University
Zion and Her Fellow Sufferers after the Fall of Jerusalem

Barbara Green - Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
Cognitive Linguistics and the Idolatry-Is-Adultery Metaphor

Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer - University of Aberdeen
Isaiah 40–55: A Drama of Judahite Voices

Stephen L. Cook - Virginia Theological Seminary
The Fecundity of Zion and Spiritual Fulfillment

Carleen Mandolfo- Colby College
Respondent

Discussion

2. Daughter Zion: Her Ambivalent Nature

11/25/2008 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM - Room TBD - Hotel TBD

Presiding:

John Hobbins - Trinity United Methodist Church, Lomira, WI

Authors:

Hyukki Kim - McMaster Divinity College
The Interpretation of “Daughter Zion” (bat siyôn)

Mary L. Conway - McMaster Divinity College
From Objective Observation to Subjective Participation: Daughter Zion and the Speaker in Lamentations

Kim Lan Nguyen - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Mission Not Impossible: Justifying Zion’s Destruction and Exonerating the Surviving Remnant

Sarah J. Dille - Gustavus Adolphus College
Zion’s Redeemer: Isaiah 54:1–8 in Light of Levirate Custom

Heather Macumber - St. Michael’s College
Punishment of the Harlot: Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Evidence

Business Meeting

3. General Session

11/23/2008 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM - Room TBD - Hotel TBD

Presiding:

LeAnn Snow Flesher - American Baptist Seminary of the West

Authors:

Patricia K. Tull - Louisville Presbyterian Seminary
Persistent Vegetative States: People as Plants in Isaiah

Carol J. Dempsey - University of Portland
What Isaiah Saw; What Isaiah Envisioned: The Dynamism of Prophetic Vision

C. L. Seow - Princeton Theological Seminary
Poetic Endings in Job

Edward Ho - McMaster Divinity College
In the Eyes of the Beholder: Unmarked Attributed Quotations in the Book of Job

Fook-Kong Wong - Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary
Use of Synonymous and Antithetical Metaphors in Psalms

Frederic Clarke Putnam - Philadelphia Biblical University
Patterned Language

4. Joint Session with Book of Psalms - The Poetics of Memory

11/24/2008 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM - Room TBD - Hotel TBD

Presiding:

Carol Dempsey - University of Portland

Authors:

Toni Craven - Brite Divinity School
Remembering the Past in the Psalms

Karl Jacobson - Augsburg College
“Both We and Our Ancestors…”: The Heritage of Memory in the Book of Psalms

Craig Broyles - Trinity Western University
Memories, Myths, and Historical Monuments: Their Diversity and Development in the Psalms

Richard J. Clifford - Weston Jesuit School of Theology
Remembering in Community Psalms of Petition (Lament)

Stephen Breck Reid - George W. Truett Theological Seminary
Remember David: Psalm 132 and the Memory of Political and Religious Institutions

Discussion

San Diego 2007

1. The Poetics of Israel's Cry to the Lord

11/18/2007 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM - Coronado MM

Presiding:

Carol Dempsey - University of Portland

Authors:

Mark J. Boda - McMaster University
"Uttering Precious Rather than Worthless Words:" Divine Patience and Impatience with Lament in the Prophetic Corpus

LeAnn Snow Flesher - American Baptist Seminary of the West
Prayers of Lamentation in the Proto- and Apocalpytic Literature of the Hebrew Bible

Joshua Berman - Bar Ilan University
Lamentations 1 as the Drama of Spiritual Rehabilitation

Andrew Davies - Mattersey Hall
My God … Why? Criticising the Actions and Inaction of God in the Psalms

Hee Suk Kim - Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
A Critique against the Lord? Reading Psalm 80 in the Context of Vindication

Jason Radine - University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Hear this Word that I Take up over You in Lamentation (Amos 5:1): Lamentation Themes in the Book of Amos

2. General Session

11/19/2007 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM - Santa Rosa MM

Presiding:

LeAnn Snow Flesher - American Baptist Seminary of the West

Authors:

Naama Zahavi-Ely - College of William and Mary
The Poetics of Vocabulary and Morphology in Biblical Hebrew Poetry

John J. Schmitt - Marquette University
What if Israel never Became a Woman?

Paul R. Raabe - Concordia Seminary
Puzzling Over Prophetic Poetry: Isaiah 18

David T. Tsumura - Japan Bible Seminary
Vertical Grammar of Parallelism in Hebrew and Ugaritic Poetry

Kevin Chau - University of Wisconsin-Madison
Untangling Metaphors and Text-critical Problems in Jeremiah 6:27-30

Jennifer Pfenniger - University of Toronto
The Art of Beholding: Song of Songs According to Lexical Recurrences within the Hebrew Text

3. General Session

11/19/2007 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM - 30 C - CC

Presiding:

Kevin Chau - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Authors:

Charles L. Echols - Clare Hall, Cambridge
The Contribution of Heroic Poetry to the Identification of a New Genre in the Hebrew Bible

Lisa M. Wolfe - Oklahoma City University
"Your Neck is Like the Tower of David": Biblical and Contemporary Flattery

Paul Niskanen - University of Saint Thomas
The Poetics of Adam: The Creation of Adam in the Image of Elohim

Guadalupe Seijas - Universidad de Madrid and Francisco J. del Barco
Series of Woes in Preexilic Prophecy: A Study on Syntax and Semantics

John F. Hobbins - Trinity United Methodist Church
The Phenomenon of Parallelism in Ancient Hebrew Verse: A Review of Recent and Ongoing Research

Business Meeting

Washington 2006

1. Poetics of Persona

11/20/2006 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM - 204C - CC

Presiding:

LeAnn Snow Flesher - American Baptist Seminary of the West

Authors:

David J.A. Clines - University of Sheffield
How Many Voices Does It Take to Perform Isaiah 40?

Naama Zahavi-Ely - College of William and Mary
The Poetics of Ambiguous Personae in Biblical Hebrew Poetry

Rolf Jacobson - Luther Seminary
"I Hear A Voice I Had Not Known": Multiple Speaking Voices in the Psalms

Donald R Vance - Oral Roberts University
Psalm 137 Reexamined with a View to Voice

Kenneth W. Shoemaker - Canadian Theological Seminary
Tandem Speech in the Poetry of Prophetic Discourse

Business Meeting

2. Joint Session with Lament in Sacred Texts and Cultures

11/18/2006 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM - 147B - CC

Presiding:

Carleen Mandolfo - Colby College

Authors:

Victoria Hoffer - Yale University
How She Sits Alone: The Poetic Beauty of Grief in Lamentations

Erhard S. Gerstenberger - Philipps Universität, Marburg
Praise in the Ralm of Death

Kathleen M. O'Connor - Columbia Theological Seminary
If Only Tears Were Possible (Jeremiah 8:23-9:6 and 9:17-22)

LeAnn Snow Flesher - American Baptist Seminary of the West
Isaiah 63:7-64:12: A Psalm of Intercession

Discussion

Nancy Lee - Elmhurst College
Respondent

3. General Session

11/20/2006 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM - 30 C - CC

Presiding:

Joseph Henderson - Biola University

Authors:

Tod Linafelt - Georgetown University
Overhearing David's Lament for Jonathan and Saul

Alastair G. Hunter - University of Glasgow
‘The Righteous Generation’: The Use of dor in Psalms 14 and 24

Carol J. Dempsey - University of Portland
Isaiah 28: The Poetics of Prophetic Judgment

Alice L. Laffey - College of the Holy Cross
Hosea 1-3 and Jeremiah 31: "Men Becoming Women and Women Becoming Men: Poetic Imagery and Patriarchal Critique"

John F. Hobbins - Trinity United Methodist Church
“Some Principles of Biblical Rhythm in Poetry and Other Genres” by Benjamin Harshav (Hrushovski) and “How Ancient Hebrew Poetry Works: A New Proposal” by John Hobbins

None

Philadelphia 2005

1. The Poetics of Lament

11/19/2005 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM - Congress C - Loews Hotel

Presiding:

LeAnn Snow Flesher - American Baptist Seminary of the West

Authors:

Elna K. Solvang - Concordia College, Moorhead MN
Can the Unrighteous Lament? – Lament Speech and the Process of Reconciliation

David A. Bernat - Wellesley College
Sacral Imagery in David’s Lament over Saul and Jonathan

Naama Zahavi-Ely - College of William and Mary
Multiple Speaking Voices in the Book of Jeremiah: a Survey of a Poetic Convention and its Effects

Barbara Bozak - Windsor, CT
Respondent

James Wilce- Northern Arizona University
Respondent

Business Meeting

2. Daughter Zion: Her Ambivalent Nature

11/20/2005 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM - Washington C - Loews Hotel

Presiding:

Carol J. Dempsey - University of Portland

Authors:

Gerald H. Wilson - Azusa Pacific University
Formulas of Response and the Unification of the Book of Job

J. Blake Couey - Princeton Theological Seminary
Labor Metaphors for God in First Isaiah

Martin Pröbstle - Seminar Schloss Bogenhofen
The Poetic Climax of the Vision in Daniel 8

Guadalupe Seijas - Universidad de Madrid and Francisco J. del BarcoParallelism and Grammar as a Strategy in Building Biblical Poetry

Ahuva Ho - Independent Scholar
Zephaniah and Deuteronomy 32

David Miano - University of California, San Diego
Unlocking the Secret of Meter in Hebrew Poetry

San Antonio 2004

1. General Session

11/21/2004 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM - Room #214B - San Antonio Convention Center

Presiding:

David M. Howard Jr. - Bethel Theological Seminary

Authors:

Chris Franke - College of St. Catherine
Poetics of Second Isaiah’s Idol Polemic (Isaiah 44:9–20)

Richard S. Hess - Denver Seminary
The Female's Second Search and a Poetic Form of Focus at the Turning Point (Song 5:2–8)

Steven Horine - Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary
Identification and Role of Wedding Imagery in the Song of Songs

Tod Linafelt - Georgetown University
Lyric Poetry and Pseudo-narrative in the Song of Songs

Knut M. Heim - Queen's Foundation, Birmingham, Great Britain
“Hearing” with a Difference: Some New Insights into the Nature of Biblical Parallelism

Business Meeting

2. General Session

11/22/2004 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM - Room #218 - San Antonio Convention Center

Presiding:

Carol J. Dempsey - University of Portland

Authors:

Rebecca Raphael - Texas State University-san Marcos
Evoked Potential: Representations of the Body in the Psalms

Naama Zahavi-Ely - College Of William And Mary
The Convention of Multiple Speaking Voices in Biblical Hebrew Poetry

Carolyn J. Sharp - Yale Divinity School
Rhetorical Smoke and Mirrors: Archaizing Tradition and Structural Poetics in Psalm 68

Esther Marie Menn - Lutheran School Of Theology At Chicago
Whose Anguished Heart? Empathy for the Land through the Poetics of Unassigned Speech in Jeremiah 4:19-22

Gregory L. Cuéllar - Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University
Psalm 122:3b: A Feminine Image For The City Jerusalem