Call for Papers
SBL Annual Meeting in Denver
21-24 November 2026
Don't delay! Submissions deadline extened to March 9!
Use this link to submit your proposals at SBL's Website
The Performance Criticism of the Bible and Other Ancient Texts (PC-BOAT) invites papers for three sessions. Performances in any of these sessions are welcome and encouraged!
- A joint session with the Society for Comparative Research on Iconic and Performative Texts (SCRIPT) and invites papers that engage specifically with Ancient Theater, Material Culture, and Performance. Papers that engage with the intersections of ancient theater and its impact on the development and performance of the biblical texts, the material culture surrounding ancient theatrical performance are warmly welcome.
- Also a joint session with SCRIPT and is an open session on the Iconicity and Performativity of the Bible and Other Ancient Texts. This more broad-reaching session will hope to incorporate considerations of how scriptural texts function as iconic and/or performative texts.
- An open session inviting papers that look backwards and forwards on the 20th anniversary of David Rhoads' 2-part BTB article introducing Biblical Performance Criticism.
Questions? Email
Call for Papers
SBL International Meeting in Adelaide, Australia
5-9 July 2026
Performance Criticism of the Bible and Other Ancient Texts (PC-BOAT) will hold two sessions at the International Meeting in Adelaide, Australia. Please submit your paper proposals as soon as possible to Jeanette Mathews (
- The first session will focus on indigenous communities whose traditions customarily include storytelling and the transmission of myths. The performance-critical discussion is expected to take up insights applicable to interpretation of the biblical texts that observation of indigenous rituals from Australia and the Pacific can evoke, including ritual and identity from the perspective of a minority people; preservation of cosmological perspectives through storytelling; and adaptation of ancient oral traditions to interpret new cultural experiences.
- The second session invites papers that focus on the formative influence of performance on the production of biblical texts, the performance of such texts in ancient contexts, the representation of oral performance in written texts, and performance-related features embedded in biblical and other ancient texts.
Report from SBL 2025 in Boston
November 22-25, 2025
Performance Criticism of the Bible and Other Ancient Texts
Biblical Performance Criticism: What Is It? How to Do It? Where Is It Going?
Sunday Nov 23 1-3:30pm
- Looking at Bible Performance Criticism from a Social-Semiotic Perspective
Marlon Winedt, United Bible Societies
https://vimeo.com/1140804796 - Biblical Performance in a Multi-church, Multi-user, Single Translation Context
Mark Penner, United Bible Societies
https://vimeo.com/1141166579 - Visual Resources and Persuasion: The Performance of a Pauline Letter in Dominican Sign Language
Isela Trujillo, United Bible Societies
https://vimeo.com/1141322597 - Your Great Learning Is Driving You Insane! Between Paralysis and Praxis in BPC
Zach Eberhart, Point University
https://vimeo.com/1141324286
Translation and Linguistic Issues in Apocalyptic Literature in Ancient Hebrew and Aramaic (with Linguistics of Biblical Hebrew)
Sunday Nov 23 4-6:30pm
- Movement, Spirit, and Prophetic Communication
Fausto Liriano, United Bible Societies
https://vimeo.com/1141568710 - The Masoretic Text as Performance
Aaron Douglas Hornkohl, University of Cambridge
https://vimeo.com/1141550657
Embodiment and Cultural Memory: Performance of Rev 13–14 (with John's Apocalypse)
Tuesday Nov 25 9-11:30am
- English Performance of Rev 13-14
U-Wen Low, University of Birmingham
https://vimeo.com/1141572755 - Spanish Performance of Rev 13-14
Isela Trujillo, United Bible Societies
https://vimeo.com/1141574262 - Japanese Sign Language Performance of Rev 13-14
Facilitated by Mark Penner, United Bible Societies
https://vimeo.com/1141575958 - Responses by Megan Wines, Tina Pippin, and Travis West
https://vimeo.com/1141640240
Expanding Approaches to Bible Translation
Multimodal Perspectives
Edited by James A. Maxey
(Cascade, 2025)
The assertion in this book is that translation is as fundamental to biblical material as performance--both in its history as well as in its research approaches. Translation in this sense is more than a transferal of meaning from one linguistic system to another. Bible translation highlights innovative connections and conceptions to biblical texts, in their promulgation, reception, and ever-changing nature. A predominant theory used throughout this book is social semiotic multimodality. This communication theory informs an approach to translation that expands beyond words to other semiotic resources. Sign Language, embodied performance, social media, theater, materiality, and many other types of multimodal communications inform translation. It is important to understand that the Bible is a translated experience. Translation reflects the various ways in which the Bible has been mediated and appropriated throughout history. It follows, therefore, that Bible translation, as a global activity, has been and continues to be influenced by the political and economic flows of history. Race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and other elements of our social locations directly influence the enterprise and results of Bible translation.