In addition to the aforementioned paper, I have one more presentation opportunity at the 2006 national meeting of the SBL I'd like to make y'all aware of.

Logos Bible Software (my employer) is hosting two additional sessions. The first covers Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Hebrew Bible, the second (in which I'll have a presentation) is on Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Greek New Testament.

Session: 18-107 — Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Hebrew Bible: Overview & Training Seminar
Date: Saturday — November 18
Time: 4:00 - 6:30 PM
Room: Bulfinch - GH
Description: Research in the Hebrew Bible is about more than word level information. See firsthand how heretofore impossible grammatical/syntactical searches in the Hebrew text just a few clicks away.

Session: 20-101 — Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Greek NT: Overview & Training Seminar
Date: Monday — November 20
Time: 4:00 - 6:30 PM
Room: Bulfinch - GH
Description: Exegesis in the Greek New Testament concerns far more than semantics and parsing. Take the quantum leap with software that allows you to search for grammatical/syntactical structures and usage in the Greek New Testament.

It is in this second session where I'll have a presentation. In addition to a quick overview and introduction to the OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament, I'll present (approx 30 minutes?) on the following:

• Paper: Syntax Searching and Epistolary Form Criticism
• Program Unit: Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Greek NT: Overview & Training Seminar
• Abstract: This paper works through examples of proposed epistolary forms, searching for suggested form structure using the OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament as primary corpus. The following forms will be examined:
  • Disclosure Form
  • Greeting Form
  • Request/Petition Form
  • Joy Expression
  • Charge Form
  Will a syntactically analyzed Greek New Testament such as the OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament provide assistance in defining and isolating potential instances of forms in the New Testament?

We'd love to see you at either (or both!) of these sessions. For more information, check out http://www.logos.com/sbl.

Of course, more info (and downloads!) of all papers I plan to present is available on my personal web site. Please note that some papers will be posted after the conferences.

Update (2006-11-13): Note that I've started a series based on this paper at the Logos Bible Software blog.

If you're going to be at the AAR/SBL annual meeting in Washington DC, perhaps you'd like to come hear my paper. I have to warn you, though, I've only got 10 minutes and the paper doesn't lend itself to a 10 minute presentation. I've had the song "The Entertainer" by Billy Joel running through my mind all day as I've considered this:

I am the entertainer
    I come to do my show
You heard my latest record
    It's been on the radio
It took me years to write it
    They were the best years of my life
There was a beautiful song
    But it ran too long
If you're gonna have a hit
    You've gotta make it fit
So they cut it down to 3:05

Anyway, I figured I'd post the paper today. I'll post the handout after the conference. Here are the details:

Section: S19-105: Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics
Date: Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006
Time: 4:00-6:30. I'm #2 on the list, so that means I'd start around 4:10-4:15.
Location: 204C-CC

Paper Title: Modifiers in the Pastoral Epistles: Insight for Questions of Style? (PDF)

Abstract:

The OpenText.org group have completed a preliminary syntactic analysis of the Greek New Testament. One level of their analysis is the Word Group level. A word group is a group of words that consists of, at minimum, a head term. It also contains any terms that modify the head term and additionally specifies the type of modification as that of definer, qualifier, relator or specifier.

Stylistic analysis has been largely bound to examining criteria such as word usage and morphology along with perhaps sentence length or co-occurring words. The OpenText.org Word Group Analysis allows for stylistic analysis of the corpus at a different level. Does modifier usage offer any insight for comparative studies of the Pastoral Epistles and the generally accepted Paulines?

This paper briefly examines modifier usage inside of epistolary prescripts in epistles traditionally attributed to Paul. The goal is to show that components of epistolary prescripts use modification for different purposes. This conclusion is well known, but by reaching the conclusion using only the OpenText.org Word Group Analysis, the subsequent value of the OpenText.org annotation for the analysis of style becomes evident.

I should also take a moment and say that initially I'd planned on doing something much more in the realms of statistics and stylometry. I have all sorts of data, but further number crunching and helpful insight from others (you know who you are, thanks for your comments again) forced me to conclude I didn't have enough data to do the sorts of things that I'd wanted to. So this paper is actually scaled back a bit, and takes a different track than I'd originally planned. C'est la vie.

Here's a thought on this somewhat persistent meme —

If you're presenting a paper at a conference, why not make that paper available on your web site after the conference? Or have a general policy of supplying the paper (with whatever caveats you want to state) to those who request it?

There were several papers I didn't get to last year. "No big deal", thought I. "I'll just email 'em and ask for a copy."

Well ... email I did. And I was surprised at the amount of times I was told (however nicely) to simply "stick it". I was only able to get one paper forwarded to me post-conference. I requested, as I recall, at least six. Not a good success rate.

(FWIW, my papers from 2005 ETS and SBL are available. The 2006 papers will be available too.)

Update (2006-11-08): Jim West (Dr. Jim West) writes:

On the other hand, I can't recall having requested a paper and it being denied. True, I've only asked for a handfull. A paper really has to be quite striking for me to want to read it again after hearing it. But my experience of requesting papers has been quite positive.

True. I'm actually talking about papers I wasn't able to attend, so I have no idea if they were worth requesting or not. Perhaps they weren't, and I should just filter them as such.

If you're going to be at the 58th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) in Washington DC from Nov. 15-17, 2006, please do consider coming to the session in which I'll be presenting. The paper is largely "in the can", I've got my presentation together, and even have the handout ready.

Date: Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006
Time: 11:00-11:40 AM
Location: State (wherever that is ... )

Paper Title: Subjects and Predicates and Complements, Oh My! Searching the New Testament with Sensitivity to Syntax

Abstract:

Logos Bible Software have implemented an edition of the OpenText.org Syntactically Annotated Greek New Testament. One facet of OpenText.org's work isolates clause boundaries. Within each clause, subjects, predicators, complements and adjuncts are identified. This enables searching of the Greek New Testament with sensitivity to clause-level criteria. This advance raises certain questions: How should syntactic annotation be used? What sorts of things can be searched for?

This paper examines different sorts of searches that can be pursued from the starting point of a word. Questions like "When is [word] used as a subject?" or "What verbs are used when [word] is a subject?" will be examined and discussed.

Update (2006-11-08): Cliff asks if I'll make the paper available. Yes, the paper will be available, either here or on the Logos Bible Software Blog.

If there has been note of some sort of biblioblogger get-together at either ETS or SBL, I've missed it. Has there been?

If not, is there any desire among y'all for an informal "hey, y'all!" get-together at either (or both) conferences to put faces with names?

If we need a place to meet, we can meet at the Logos booth, I'm sure.

If you're interested, add a comment to this post along with some suggestions and we'll see what happens.

If you're disturbed I began four (whoops, make that five!) paragraphs with "if" ... well, you need spend less time editing your (monograph|doctoral thesis|MA thesis|journal article|dictionary entry|etc.) and more time getting out.

Update (2006-11-07): Tim Bulkeley (Sansblogue) suggests perhaps meeting after a CARG session. Sure, why not? How about the CARG session on Sunday, Nov. 19? It ends at 3:00, and the next sessions begin at 4:00. I have a paper that day in the 4:00 session, so I'll only be around for a little bit. But it should give folks time to meet and perhaps make further arrangements with whomever they'd like. The CARG session meets until 3:00 in room 103A-CC. Spread the word — See you there?

I'm in need of an article and don't have time in the near-term future to make it to a library (in either Seattle or the Vancouver area). If you have access to the following article and can provide a copy, please let me know. My email address is on the sidebar.

Terence Y. Mullins, “Petition as a Literary Form”, Novum Testamentum 5 (1962), pp. 46-52.

While you're at it, if you have access to Mullins' article on the disclosure formula, it would be cool to look at. This isn't nearly as much of a need, though.

Terence Y. Mullins, “Disclosure, a Literary Form in the New Testament”, Novum Testamentum 7 (1964), pp. 44-50.

Thanks in advance if you're able to lend a hand.

Update (2006-11-03): Much thanks to ricoblog reader Jan Krans (The Amsterdam NT Blog) for supplying both articles.

Update II (2006-11-03): If anyone else does retrieve and read those articles, please note that there are two typos in Bible reference citations on the last page of the article on petitions (p. 54). “2 Corinthians xx 2” should be “2 Corinthians x 2” and “2 Corinthians v 20; v 1” should be “2 Corinthians v 20; vi 1”.

<soapbox>Speaking as someone who has worked with actually looking up each and every citation in books programatically for the past 10 years ... well, you'd be amazed at how many times invalid references occur in print. If you're using lists of references from articles/books/dictionaries to make a point ... well, you should at least look up those references to ensure they really do make your point.</soapbox>

Below are the lyrics to a song called My Savior, My God by Aaron Shust that have been running through my head with some frequency over the past month. The below are the verses, they are taken from an older hymn. Shust's chorus (which I've not reproduced here) is his own. Me? I like the verses, so that's what I reproduce. Read, think and meditate on them.

I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at his right hand
Stands one who is my savior

I take him at his word and deed
Christ died to save me, this I read
And in my heart I find a need
For him to be my savior

That he would leave his place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I
Before I knew my savior

Yes, living, dying; let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring
That he who lives to be my king
Once died to be my savior

That he would leave his place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I
Before I knew my savior

I believe you can listen to the song on Rhapsody, whether you're a subscriber or not Rhapsody provides 25 free plays per month per IP, I think.

(Thanks, Bob, for mentioning the song a few months ago)

Michael Pahl of the stuff of earth blog has posted BSC:XI. Do check it out, he's done a stellar job of rounding up and aggregating the month's biblioblog discussion topics. There were even a few ricoblog posts represented. Thanks, Michael!

BSC:XII (for November, 2006) will be hosted by Jim West of the eponymous Dr. Jim West blog.