Sabbatical Fellowship

  Application Form

The CBA Sabbatical Fellowship is available for individual scholars pursuing projects relevant to the purposes of the Catholic Biblical Association (https://www.catholicbiblical.org/about-us).
One award of $40,000 will be granted annually. This sabbatical fellowship is designed for individual researchers. Awards may not be divided, and group projects are not eligible for funding.

Application Requirements

Applicants must be Full Members of the CBA.

Eligible projects may include, but are not limited to, books, monographs, peer-reviewed articles, digital collections, and translations with annotations or a critical apparatus. Funding for revising a dissertation for publication requires that the project move substantially beyond the original dissertation. Applicants must state that they intend to revise their dissertation and explain how the proposed project is expanded.

Applicants may be employed full time at a post-secondary academic institution, teaching on the secondary level, working in a parish / congregational context, or independent scholars.

Recipients of the CBA Sabbatical Fellowship are ineligible for other CBA grants for three years following the award.

Applicants must provide:

  • Completed application form.
  • Project Title (no more than 125 characters, including spaces).
  • A 1000 character (including spaces) abstract of the project.
  • Two letters from academic references providing detailed support of the sabbatical proposal sent to cba-office@cua.edu with the subject "[YOUR last name] Sabbatical Fellowship Reference".
  • A Curriculum Vitae (no more than two pages single-spaced) including current and past positions, education (list degrees, dates awarded, and titles of theses or dissertations) and post-secondary school awards and honors (including dates).
  • The project proposal (no more than two single-spaced pages), including
    • The thesis and approach (ideas developed, problems addressed, questions examined).
    • The value of the project for biblical studies, and the specific contribution to the CBA.
    • Competencies and skills required to complete the project (e.g., languages, digital competence).
    • The place of the project within broader academic discussions (e.g., what views it advances or challenges).
    • If relevant, arrangements for access to archives or collections.
    • Goals for outcomes and dissemination, including publication.
    • A one-page bibliography of works pertinent to the project (primary and secondary sources).

Applications will be evaluated on the basis of merit. Preference is normally given to applicants who have not received a grant from the CBA in the recent past. Recipients of research grants from the CBA, such as sabbatical grants or dissertation fellowships, are expected to present their supported research in a Research Report or panel at the Annual General Meeting within two years of receiving the grant.

  • Completed applications must be submitted on or before October 1
    to cba-office@cua.edu with the subject "CBA Sabbatical Fellowship Application" in order to be considered.
  • All pages of the application must be standard letter size (8.5x11 inches or A4), 12-pt. standard Roman font (e.g., New Times Roman).
  • Citations (social science or humanities style) are included in page and word counts. 
  • The committee will not consider incomplete or incorrectly formatted applications.


Sabbatical Fellowship recipients are required to submit a report to the CBA Office at the conclusion of the award period.