Last week for the third time I attended the Bible Faculty Summit. For the third time I delivered a paper. For the third time I was encouraged, edified, and fattened.
This year we all went to Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, Wisconsin. (I managed to enjoy a little pick-up ultimate in Milwaukee the night I arrived—it was awesome!) Larry Oats and the folks at MBU were very welcoming and generous. I got in a bit early and spent all day Tuesday in their beautiful library finishing up my paper.
Some time ago I thought it might be interesting to dig into the BDAG entry for ἀρσενοκοίτης, look up every single reference it makes, and discover the argument underneath it all. Hidden in all the tiny print, abbreviations, and obscure citations is a “story” that Danker is telling, and I wanted to bring it to light. The BFS gave me the opportunity and impetus to pursue this interesting project.
It’s incredible how much information is packed into that one little paragraph, and unbelievable how much work went in to this one entry, let alone into the thousands of entries in BDAG. I came away with a deep appreciation for Danker—and probably just one disagreement (though a fairly significant one).
I’m not yet releasing the paper, because it needs some revision and I hope to publish it, but you can listen to the audio here.
The other papers were quite good. No duds, even if I didn’t alway agree with every point! We had good discussions, and I was once again impressed with both my alma mater (represented in 9 of the 12 papers) and the other schools in our orbit. It really was great to hear from people like Ryan Martin, who never went to BJU at all but still somehow managed to get a really great education in self-described “fundamentalist” schools. =)
Next year the BFS will be held at Detroit, and I’m pushing for a debate that may attract some of you readers. The BFS is not for everyone; it’s for PhDs, PhD students, and full-time religion faculty at schools in the orbit I just mentioned. But there are more people in that group, some of whom read my blog, who should be there. Join us!
(More pictures of the Summit here.)
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