Corpus-Paul

["Jim Hester" <hester AT jasper.uor.edu>]

I am a recent subscriber to this list and need to introduce myself to some
of you.  I recently retired after 31 years of teaching at the University of
Redlands.  I was a member of the first SBL Paul Seminar; have been involved
with a group of folks interested in using rhetorical critical methods in the
analysis and interpretation of Paul's letters and have published some stuff
on Galatians and 1 Thessalonians using various rhetorical critical methods
-- the most recent is in last issue  of Neotestamentica; am founding editor
of the on-line journal entitled Journal for the Study of Rhetorical
Criticism of the New Testament (JSRCNT); and am project director of the
Rhetorical Critical Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity.

Before getting into the current discussion on the list, I want to announce a
conference and invite senior scholars on the list to consider proposing
paper for it.

On March 17-18, 2000, the Rhetorical New Testament Project of the Institute
for Antiquity and Christianity in Claremont, CA, will sponsor a two-day
conference honoring Wilhelm Wuellner.  The title of the conference will be
"Rhetorics and Hermeneutics."  Wuellner will give the keynote address and
Vernon Robbins and Steven Mailloux will give major papers.  I have scheduled
time for at least eight other papers, and if I got enough interest, I might
be able to schedule as many as ten or eleven.

The conference papers will be published in the Emory Studies of Early
Christianity series, with David Amador and me acting as co-editors.  We will
also use JSRCNT for pre-print publication of papers to allow authors to get
critical response from readers before final drafts are submitted.

There will be no registration fees.  Conference costs will be picked up by
the Institute.  Your expenses will be transportation, room and board, etc.

After much discussion with a few advisors and some further pondering of
logistics, etc., I have decided to invite members of the list to submit
proposals for papers.  I am looking for papers from scholars who have
completed their graduate program and have some history of public
presentation of their work.

Discussions with others produced the following categories for topics for
papers that might be proposed:

Rhetoric in Judaism
Rhetoric in NT
Rhetoric in early Christian (patristic) literature
Implications of Wuellner's work for contemporary rhetorical analysis.

In fact I would be willing to entertain papers in rhetorical hermeneutics or
other studies that played off of Wullener's interest in hermeneutics.  If
you are not sure a topic might be acceptable, ship it along anyway;  I'll
make a judgement.

I recognize that direct participation in a conference is the basis on which
funds to attend are allocated by institutions, and that budget decisions are
often made several months in advance of the actual expenditure. So, if you
submit a proposal for a paper, I will try to let you know as quickly as
possible if it meets the criteria for the conference, and if not, what you
might do to give me more information about your idea.

Finally, I really am interested in fresh material or work that elaborates on
something that you have been interested in for a time.  No dissertation
chapters, please!

If any of you are interested in presenting a paper at the conference, please
contact me and I will send you a more detailed note on what I am looking for
in a paper proposal.

I look forward to hearing from you and to joining in the discussion (Thanks,
Frank H., for urging members of the Rhetoric-L list to participate in this
one!)
---------------------
Jim Hester
736 Buckingham Drive
Redlands, CA  92374
(909) 792-0533
hester AT uor.edu
"Let the games begin!"