Several months ago, Dr. Bill Baker, President of the Stone-Campbell Journal Conference (and Journal) asked me to create & chair a new Focus / Study Group for the annual meeting. At his bequest, I happily obliged. The name of the new study group is: "Mark's Gospel in Mediterranean Context". For the first meeting, I believe we will leave open areas of exploration so that a variety of topics / interests may be covered & pursued. Following this, we will begin zeroing in on specific subjects. So, this year, persons could examine aspects of the Mediterranean context of Mark's story such as: Kinship, Purity, Patronage, Honor/Shame, Healing, Gender Roles, etc., etc. (Some details subject to change; papers offered this year which deal with "kinship" or "purity" will most likely have greater chance for being accepted). Laypersons, Undergrad, Grad, Post-Grad & Professors alike, may apply.This year's annual conference will take place April 9-10 (2010) at Cincinnati Christian University and will feature Dr. Scot McKnight as the lead plenary speaker. For the Mark Focus Group, up to 5 papers ranging from 15-20 minutes in length will be accepted. The call for papers is open now until the beginning of January. All you need to do at this point is to send in an abstract and the committee will review it. The committee is made up of and structured as: (Chair) Michael Halcomb - BS, MDIV, MABS, PhD candidate, (Co-Chair) Dr. Barry Blackburn - BA, ThM, MA, PhD, (Steering Committee) Drew Strait - BA, MDiv and (Steering Committee) Tim McNinch - BS.
To submit a title and abstract, email me at: michael (dot) halcomb (at) asburyseminary (dot) edu. To attain very specific details about this focus / study group, contact me at the above email address with the subject line: SCJC Mark Focus Group. To view more about this year's conference and past conferences, visit the following link: SCJC Annaul Gathering .
