This is my first report from SBL 2010 in Atlanta. I’ve had limited internet access, so its not much, but I will be posting what notes I’ve taken upon my return. This SBL annual meeting has been great — I’ve met and visited with many great people and learned a lot from the sessions I’ve attended. Some of the best sessions I’ve been to are those of the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism group.  My PhD supervisor, Jim Davila, gave a very impressive review of Peter Schafer’s new book, The Origins of Jewish Mysticism (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2009). He did a great job at pointing out the lack of references to religious experience/praxis in Schafer’s work. Davila pointed out that there is clear reference in many of these mystical texts to ritual.

If you want to check out his review, he’s posted it on his blog, www.paleojudaica.blogspot.com. You can see the .pdf here: http://paleojudaica.bravehost.com/Review%20of%20Schäfer,%20Origins.pdf

For other work that Davila has done on related topics, see the following links.

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/rt/otp/dmf/hekhalot/

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/rt/otp/abstracts/ritualpseud/

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/media/THE%20HEKHALOT%20LITERATURE.pdf