GRR Call for Papers at SBL 2024 (San Diego)

Below is a summary of our call for papers at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature on Nov. 23-26 2024 in San Diego, California. Links are provided in the titles of each of the sessions to a fuller description of each session.

If you would like to submit an abstract for one of these sessions, please go to the SBL meeting website (https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/), select the link for the Annual Meeting, then the Call for Papers and finally the Greco-Roman Religions Section. Please make sure that you indicate in your abstract the number of the session for which you are applying (Session 1, 2, 3, or 4).

If you are not currently a member of the SBL, but you wish to submit an abstract for consideration, please contact one of the co-chairs of the Greco-Roman Religions Section, Barbette Spaeth (bsspae@wm.edu) or Maria Doerfler (maria.doerfler@yale.edu).

Abstracts are due by March 20, 2024. 

SUMMARY

Session 1:  “Movement in and beyond the Ancient Mediterranean: Migrants, Tourists, Pilgrims, Travelers.”

Recently, scholarly attention has increasingly turned to different modes of movement in premodernity and the effects that movement had on the social, cultural, and religious life of persons and peoples. This session explores how the movement of individuals and people groups, whether forced (e.g., through exile, displacement, or natural disaster) or voluntary (e.g., in pilgrimage, travel, or through imperial expansion), transformed religion within and beyond the ancient Mediterranean.

Session 2: “Goddess Worship in Greco-Roman Antiquity”

Ancient Greek and Roman worship of goddesses was commonplace and highly variegated. This panel explores three themes related to this phenomenon: the viability of “Goddess worship” as a scholarly category, regional and chronological variations in these cults, and Greco-Roman goddess worship in relationship with other religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and neopaganism.

Session 3: “New Work in Greco-Roman Religions”

This session is completely open: we invite papers dealing with any aspect of Greek or Roman religion, including their interactions with Judaism, Christianity, and modern paganism.

Session 4: “Reaching Far and Wide: Elite Values and Wider Social Interactions in Religious Settings across the Ancient Mediterranean” (with the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions)

While elite influences have shaped both ancient religions and the surviving evidence for them, religious events were also often opportunities during which individuals could encounter others beyond their familiar contexts. This panel invites papers discussing such interactions, including those concerning less mainstream religious ideas and actions.