Dr. Mark Freeland delivering the AAR Plenary Lecture on Friday, April 1, 2022.
The Department of Religion played host this past weekend (April 1-2) to the annual joint conferences of the Upper Midwest Region’s Society for Biblical Literature (SBL) and American Academy of Religion (AAR).
Hosted for the first time in the region’s history at Gustavus Adolphus College, the joint meeting was attended in-person and online by over 80 scholars and students of religion from across the Upper Midwest. Representatives of the Dakotas, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were all present, participating in over a dozen individual and join sessions on topics ranging from the Hebrew Bible to missionary linguists in 19th century China.
The joint conference likewise hosted three keynote plenary speakers:
Dr. Mark Freeland, Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies and American Indian Studies Program Coordinator at South Dakota State University, who spoke on “Ghosts of Nebrija: On the Linguistic Reproduction of a Colonial Mentality.”
The Revd. Dr. Euan Cameron, Henry Luce III Professor of Reformation Church History at Union Theological Seminary, who spoke on “ What Made Luther’s September Testament Such a Unique Translation?”
Dr. Bernard M. Levenson, Professor & Berman Family Chair of Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible at the University of Minnesota, who spoke on “Transforming Law into Gospel: Gerhard von Rad’s Response to the ‘De-Jewing’ of the Old Testament in Nazi Germany (A Case Study in the Social Location of Biblical Scholarship).”
Those interested in learning more about the Upper Midwest Regional AAR & SBL can find that information here.