2025 Midwest Regional Meeting for Biblical Studies

We are pleased to invite you to the 2025 Midwest Regional Meeting for Biblical Studies. This conference is an exciting cooperative initiative of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research (CSBR), the Catholic Biblical Association (CBA), and the Michigan Center for Early Christian Studies (MCECS). The meeting is scheduled for Friday–Sunday, March 14–16, 2025, at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame (South Bend), Indiana. The Student Religious Studies Conference (SRSC) will occur in conjunction with the Midwest Regional Meeting on Friday, March 14. No society memberships are required to participate in this meeting.

The meeting has arranged for blocks of hotel rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn South Bend and the Inn at Saint Mary’s, both of which are adjacent to the Saint Mary’s College campus. The conference rate is available until February 15, 2025, and reservations must be placed by phone (Hilton Garden Inn: 574-232-7700; Inn at Saint Mary’s: 574-232-4000). Please mention the “Midwest Regional Meeting for Biblical Studies.” There are many additional hotel options available within a fifteen-minute drive of St. Mary’s. For maps and transportation information, click https://www.saintmarys.edu/admission-aid/visit-campus/maps-directions.

We invite you to submit paper proposals for the regional meeting by Tuesday, January 7, 2025. (The SRSC has a different schedule for proposals than the regional meeting; see below.) Program decisions will be communicated on or about February 1, 2025. Please see the section descriptions document at the CSBR website (https://chicagosbr.org) for additional information on proposals and the various program units. Paper proposals should be submitted online at the
proposal submission link. Please do not send paper proposals to section chairs. Usually, papers are scheduled in thirty-minute time slots, ideally with twenty minutes of presentation and ten minutes of discussion.

Registration for the meeting is available online through Zeffy at the registration link. Please note that any donation added during the registration process goes to Zeffy, not to the Midwest Regional Meeting, and is completely optional. Zeffy does not charge the Midwest Regional Meeting any fees of any sort for the registration module, and their own funding comes through donations. Regular registration is available through February 17, 2025, and all presenters
are required to be registered by this date. Regular registration is $60, retiree registration is $30, student registration is $25, and SRSC-only registration is $15. Rates for spouse/partner attendees are also available in the registration process. We strongly encourage everyone to utilize the online registration option; a $25 fee will be added for late/on-site registrations.

Schedule Highlights for the 2025 Meeting

• Friday Evening Midwest Regional Spotlight
  This session, now in its twelfth year, features a presentation and question-and-answer period with a prominent scholar from our region. Our speaker this year is Jennie Grillo, Tisch Family Associate Professor in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
• Saturday Afternoon Plenary Panel on Theological Interpretation of the Bible
  This panel will feature Laurie Brink (Catholic Theological Union), Charles Huff (Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology), and Nathan Mastnjak (Notre Dame Seminary, New Orleans).
• Sunday Morning Plenary Book Panel Session
  The book panel will focus on the new volume, John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptizer, by James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature and Chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Butler University.
• Graduate Student Paper Awards
  Graduate students who submit a paper for presentation at the Midwest Regional Meeting are invited also to submit their paper for consideration for the Graduate Student Paper Award, which is sponsored by the Michigan Center for Early Christian Studies. Two prizes will be awarded—one for Hebrew Bible/Early Judaism and one for New Testament/Early Christianity. Winners will be recognized at the Friday evening regional spotlight session.
  Papers in the form they are to be presented should be submitted by email to Jeffrey Stackert (stackert@uchicago.edu) no later than February 17, 2025.

Other Programs

Student Religious Studies Conference:
The SRSC, now in its fifteenth year, meets during the day on Friday, March 14, 2025, and concludes before the opening session of the regional meeting that evening. The conference provides an excellent opportunity for students to present their work and network with people from other institutions and program levels. Please encourage your students (undergraduate through pre-dissertation doctoral) to present papers at this conference on topics spanning Hebrew
Bible/Old Testament, New Testament, Second Temple and rabbinic Judaism, patristics and early Christianity, theology, historical studies, and comparative religions. Proposals are due by February 5, 2025, and must include the full paper. Proposals may be submitted at the SRSC proposal link. Questions may be directed to the SRSC coordinators, Lauren O’Connell (loconnell1@luc.edu) and Olivia Stewart Lester (ostewartlester@luc.edu).

These meetings offer a wonderful opportunity to meet new colleagues, see old friends, try out research ideas, and enjoy a lively exchange in a friendly environment. All students, professors, and others interested in biblical studies and the study of the ancient world are welcome. Please feel free to contact us at the e-mail address below with any questions.

Sincerely,
Mark Lester & Jeffrey Stackert
Program Co-coordinators, Midwest Regional Meeting for Biblical Studies
mlester2011@gmail.com
stackert@uchicago.edu

MRM Sections Descriptions