Monday, September 06, 2004

BNTC 2004: others' comments

Jim Davila has comments on Paleojudaica, including a good summary of Jimmy Dunn's fine and funny exposition of how the society developed from its charismatic, free origins without officers or organisation, to its now heavily institutionalised format, with officers and a constitution. I must admit that I've always found the conference / society distinction a bit over done. As a matter of fact, it is a society, registered as such under Scottish charity law.

Jacob Knee has his own interesting and lively reflections on Crosstalk, British New Testament Conference, BNTC Part 2 and BNTC Part 3. Like Jacob, I find it interesting to see how students live. I imagine that the tea and coffee making facilities in the rooms are put there specially for conference delegates, but I may be wrong. I was impressed by the ethernet sockets in each room, and there was even a faint wifi signal, but alas, no way that ordinary conference punters like us could access the net -- or no way that I could find. Like Jacob too, I couldn't help reflecting on the different skills shown by the various speakers in delivering papers. I heard every word of Bart Ehrman's paper, and most of Tom Wright's. I would add that I was delighted this year to see the seminars all trying different formats like panel discussions, short papers with two or more respondents, book review sessions, half-sessions with a different paper in each and so on. I had the feeling that the seminars were coming of age and that their leaders were showing their imagination. This year we did not just get 90 minutes featuring a 50 minute paper plus questions. And the seminars were all the more enjoyable for that.

1 comment:

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