The 2017 Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) International Meeting's call for papers is now open until 22nd February.  Next year's meeting will be held in Berlin from 7th to 11th August 2017. As co-chair of the Paul and Pauline Literature Programme Unit, we welcome papers proposal to be submitted to us. 

There will also be a special session focussing on the city of Philippi with contributions from archaeologists and epigraphers. This session promises to be interesting to those who are keen on the pagan cults of Philippi, Christian inscriptions, and Roman urbanism and architecture.

Scholars and students from the majority world enjoys a special rate to join SBL via the International Cooperation initiative.

​Please visit SBL's website for further information. 

From August to November, over a period of 10 weeks, I taught an evening course on Romans for the Bible College of Malaysia, a pentecostal college established by the Assemblies of God, Malaysia.

We ended our final class last night with a little celebration where everyone brought a dish so we could have some table fellowship. It was fitting to end the class by considering Paul's final exhortation to the Roman Christ-followers in Romans 14-15.

We lived up Romans 14:2-4 literally. We did not fight over food. But we fought for food!

I wish those in the Romans class all the best for their final exams. 

The newly released Accordance 12 has finally been launched. What's new? Check out the video below.

Accordance 12 now comes with a unique way of selecting your collections. They are now classified along English, Greek, and Hebrew based collections, so it would easier for one to choose which collection serves one's interest and needs best. One also has the option to combine all three collections in a combo. The excellent graphic collections are also available. 

​Upgrade? No, not at the moment for me with the unfavourable exchange rate. I will wait for the reviews to decide whether it is worthwhile for me to upgrade to Accordance 12. 

However, for those of you who may be considering an excellent software for your research (and if you are a Mac user), this is for you. ​I recommend Accordance highly.

Theological Research Scheme (TRS) aims to assist Malaysian scholars by providing modest research grants towards their research and publication. In September this year, I signed a publishing contract with Wipf & Stock Publishers where I will be contributing an essay, “The Fellowship of Christ’s Suffering: Suffering and Identity Formation in Philippians,” to be included in a volume titled Suffering in Paul edited by Siu Fung Wu, an Australian New Testament scholar. 

​Our theological institutions have somewhat limited resources where many specialised academic books are not available. These books are expensive (no thanks to the unfavourable exchange rate) and our financial resources are limited. Subscribing to digital access is beyond the means of our institutions. This means that our research may, at times, be frustrated because of limited access to books that are needed, unless we travel overseas to visit some of the better theological libraries.

​This is where TRS comes into the picture by providing the much needed research grants for scholars like us.  The trustees of TRS approved my application for a grant to purchase a total of ten monographs on Philippians as seen in the photo above that are currently not available in our library. Upon the completion of my essay, all these books will be donated to the library of Seminari Theoloji Malaysia where I teach with the hope that these resources will be made available for other students, researchers, and the wider community. This is where TRS not only serves to help local scholars in their research and publication but also contributes to building up the modest resources we currently have.
 
Our long year-end vacation has just started. Until the next academic year begins in January, I will busy working on my essay for the next couple of months, and I hope to have a rough draft ready by the end of the year.

​Many thanks to TRS for their contribution, and to all the donors who have contributed to this scheme that makes my research possible.
 
For more information on TRS, please visit their website by clicking here.