Jeremy Thompson Catholic PhD in Biblical Languages, Programmer, Runner

My fourth day at SBL was by the far the best I had all around.  I attended three sessions, one on poetry and pedagogy, another on best practices in teaching Biblical languages (in which my colleague Karyn Traphagen was spot on), and finally one on linguistics and Biblical Hebrew.  There were a number of excellent papers in each of these sections, though there were a number of bombs as well.

Yet the best part of the day was the meals.  I first shared breakfast with Derek Leman, a messianic Jew from Atlanta.  He was interested in the doctoral program that I am in, but his questions were limited to logistics.  This allowed us time to talk theology and give a bit of our life stories.  We had an excellent breakfast of beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde.

After another session, I had lunch with a good friend, Jeff Audirsch.  Jeff is researching Deuteronomistic History for his thesis.  We talked a bit of research, but mostly caught up.  Jeff and I attended New Oreleans Baptist Theological Seminary together.

Finally, the highlight of the entire conference for me was the Biblioblogger charity dinner at the Deutsches Haus.  Thanks to John Hobbins and Brandon Wason for putting the event together.  The whole night was a treat, getting to talk with Tim Bulkeley, Chris Brady, and Daniel and Tonya at dinner.  Yet the highlight of the evening was a presentation Michael Fox who after a considerable number of years exudes an amazing enthusiasm for the subject matter of the Hebrew Bible.  If there are events similar to this one in the future I’ll do everything within my power to clear my schedule and attend.

That sounds fantastic, but things have gotten even better today (Day 5).  Karyn Traphagen is a friend and peer in the doctoral program I am in and Christo van der Merwe is our supervisor.  I went and picked up Christo and Karyn today, and they will be spending Thanksgiving with my family.  We got a few chores out of the way today, all the while enjoying one another’s company.  We tried to stay off the topic of research, but we each have an enthusiasm for our research and it was difficult.  We had dinner with my mother and father as well as my two children and are currently heading off to bed for the night.  I have been looking forward to the next two days for a long time and I’ll keep everyone posted on our time together.

Unfortunately, I was not at the Biblioblogger dinner tonight, though I will attend the one on Monday.  I had another good days at SBL (one and a half days really).  On Saturday, I first attended a session on Cognitive Linguistics and Biblical Interpretation.  It is relatively clear that this type of inquiry is new to a lot of people, but it does seem that the area is gaining interest.  After the morning session, I hit the exhibitions.  I browsed a little and bumped into my friend Jeff with whom I’ll have lunch on Monday.

I then spent a considerable amount of time with the folks from BibleWorks.  Regardless of one’s leanings on Bible software, BibleWorks has a fine group of people working for them.  Jim Barr gave me a run through of the program, which I think will increase exponentially my productivity when using it.  And, I also talked to Glenn Weaver, one of their resource developers, about something I would like to see happen with their collocation module.  I was so engaged with the folks from BibleWorks I figured I’d delay lunch and hit an early dinner.

I attended a session on Biblical Hebrew and Linguistics where my thesis supervisor was presenting.  The papers dealt with Biblical Hebrew poetry.  It was the best session I have been to so far.  I went primarily to hear Christo (my supervisor) and Randall Buth, but the other papers presented in the session were very good as well.  After the session, I finally got to meet Daniel and Tonya.  We spent most of the evening together between an early dinner, the Presidential address, and a couple of drinks afterward.  Daniel and Tonya are a fantastic couple, and I thank them for letting me tag along with them yesterday evening.  I got home from New Orleans around midnight.

I woke up early today to head down for another Biblical Hebrew and linguistics session today.  Some good papers today, but not as good as yesterday’s session.  Then, I had lunch with Joel Watts and Michael Halcomb.  Michael is a fast-rising Biblioblogger, who was recently elected as an SBL student representative (Congrats Michael!), and Joel is the #2 Biblioblogger in the entire world.  We went to the Big Easy Cafe right down from the conference center.  It was a new spot for me, but a decent bowl of Gumbo.  I don’t like my Gumbo too thick, but this one was a pretty good consistency.  We had an enjoyable conversation, though Joel’s son wouldn’t talk to me too much 😉 .

After lunch, I drove home for mass this evening in my parish in order to lead music.  Looking forward to tomorrow.  It seems I have packed as much as possible in one day, but it’s going to be a whole lot of fun.  I have breakfast with Derek Leman, a session, lunch with Jeff (a friend from seminary), a session or two, and Biblioblogger’s charity dinner.  Then, Christo and Karyn are coming to spend Thanksgiving with my family, which I have been thoroughly looking forward to for quite some time.

SBL – Day 1

Drove into New Orleans this morning (about an hour from my home).  Arrived about 10 and went to the wrong hotel.  I really should read information more closely.  Finally, got to the Marriot at about 10:2o and met Ken Brown for a bit of sightseeing about the city.  I had a pleasant conversation with my dissertation supervisor while we waited to see if anyone else was coming, and we left about 10:45.

Ken and I walked from the Marriot to Jackson Square where we walked through the park area and went into St. Louis Cathedral.  The Cathedral is a beautiful building and one of the oldest in the city.  After that we went to St. Louis Number One (a cemetery) to check out some of the grave sites.  I showed Ken where my grandmother and grandfather, June and Russell Hall are buried.  There are a lot of famous graves in the cemetery, unfortunately I did not remember where from my grade school field trips.  But, the memorials are nice nonetheless, it’s like a miniature city for the dead.

After the cemetery, we went up for lunch and met Ken’s roommate Jared at Cafe Maspero.  It’s a place that’s pretty big with locals.  It’s not uncommon on a weekend to have a line around the corner.  If you want to go, you may do better to wait until Monday.  I had the Veggie Muffaletta, Ken the Roast Beef, and Jared Corned Beef on Rye (I told Jared that was my Grandfather’s favorite meal at Maspero’s and that my grandfather was the best person I’ve ever met.  So, he was in good company).  After lunch, we were stuffed and needed to walk it off a bit, so we headed down to the French Market, which is one of the better places in town to get souvenirs. Finally, we walked back toward Canal St. along the river.  Ken and Jared took pictures of the steamboat, the streetcar, and the Holocaust Memorial.

It was enjoyable leisurely stroll about the city and enjoyable time with two new friends who I look forward to seeing at the conference.  Now, to the more serious matters of sessions tomorrow…

Not sure why a discussion of coffee ensued from this post, but I’ve made a few coffee remarks in the comments section HERE for those attending SBL.  And, please help James finish his song. 😉

If you’re into ancient texts but also have a penchant for Rock-n-Roll, there’s a pretty cool concert tomorrow night in New Orleans’ City Park.  A local rock band called Cowboy Mouth will be playing (perhaps you know of them, but I’m not sure how big they are nationally).  Unfortunately, I won’t be in attendance, but I’ve heard them live and they put on a great show.  Kind of pricey though because it’s part of a preview party for Celebration in the Oaks, an ongoing Christmas celebration that goes on in City Park in November and December. But, I know for many of you SBL attendees money is no issue, right? 🙂

I’ve been blogging a lot about SBL with it being in my hometown this year.  But, what do my stats say about those attending?  Recently I’ve posted on:

1. Switchfoot
2. Beer
3. Cheap Food
4. Hanging out with me
5. Hurricane Katrina
6. A Disney Exhibit at the Museum of Art

Which posts have drawn the most attention? Here’s the list in order of views:

1. Cheap Food
2. Beer
3. Hanging out with me
4. Disney Exhibit
5. Hurricane Katrina
6. Switchfoot

I wonder … had I told everyone that they could eat cheap food and drink beer with me, would hanging with me would have been number one?  Would I have been a main attraction at SBL?  Well, at least I’m bigger among my blog readers that Switchfoot …

Switchfoot will be at the House of Blues in New Orleans on Saturday night.  Not planning on attending myself, but I thought some of you might be interested.

If you are willing to venture out of the city, South Louisiana has a fantastic brewery that is open for the public to visit.  The Abita Brewery is across lake Ponchatrain in Abita Springs, LA.  This is just a guesstimate, but it would probably take you an hour to get there by car.  If you the have time and inclination to make the trip, it would be worth your while.  Just be sure to check their times.  They are somewhat limited on Weekdays.  However, if not, you can find Abita Beer just about anywhere in New Orleans where beer is served.  Make sure to give their signature Purple Haze a try.

I saw John Hobbins give a restaurant recommendation earlier today.  So, I thought I’d give a few myself.  Here are my three favorite local restaurants on a grad school budget:

1. Mother’s
2. Cafe Maspero (You’ll need cash)
3. Camellia Grill

These places are no frills, but you can get great authentic New Orleans cuisine.

Ken Brown and I are planning to meet at the conference registration desk at 10:30.  I’m a local so I’m going to plot out a little sightseeing.  I’ve got to head back to my home Friday around mid-afternoon to start making arrangements for my family for the weekend since I’ll be gone a lot to the conference (I’ve got two young daughters and my wife doesn’t like to be home alone with them too much after dark – not that we live in a scary neighborhood.  Getting them set to stay at my mother-in-law’s house).  But, we should get to hang out for a couple of hours.  If you want to join us, e-mail me at freeotaudio@me.com.  I’ll give you my cell number just in case you need it.  Not crazy about putting that on my blog.