Biblical Studies Retrospectives

Starting next month, and every two months, I'll be doing a series of retrospectives on work done in biblical studies. These will be reflections more than reviews, assessments of enduring value, but also a personal odyssey, I hope, showing how I've changed as much as the field has -- or perhaps needs to.

To qualify for a retrospective, the book or article must be at least 10 years old, and have made a serious impact on me personally, however positive or negative. Sometimes I'll serve up the retrospective by mixing in a review of new material by the same scholar, when they're thematically similar. Here's what I have planned.

October -- Retrospective/Review: "Q, Thomas, and Killjoy Scholarship" (10th Anniversary of Goodacre's Case Against Q & his new Thomas and the Gospels)

December -- Retrospective: "Legitimate Concerns" (25th Anniversary of Schaberg's Illegitimacy of Jesus)

February -- Retrospective: "The Hidden Talent of Richard Rorhbaugh" (20th Anniversary of Rorhbaugh's Article on The Talents)

April (?) -- Retrospective/Review: "Christian Origins and the Question of Wright" (Wright's new 4th volume in light of the entire series)

June -- Retrospective: "Paul's Tumultuous Theology" (30th Anniversary of Sanders' Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People)

August -- Retrospective: "Jesus' Magic" (35th Anniversary of Smith's Jesus the Magician)

I'm looking forward to this exercise, and I encourage other bibliobloggers to treat this as a meme. Stay tuned for Mark Goodacre's killjoy scholarship, which will get us off the ground next month.