2026 Proposed Amendments to the CBA Constitution and By-Laws

Rationale

The Executive Board (EB) benefits from a plurality of voices/perspectives. When members of

the Executive Board hold multiple roles on the Board, the diversity of viewpoints is diminished.

Motion

That the following be added to the By-Laws pertaining to the Executive Board

4.26. Going forward, no one person shall ordinarily hold more than one seat on the Executive Board at a given time. In no case may a single individual have more than one vote.

Rationale

In the past two years, the CBA has been able to offer its membership the opportunity to apply for a number of new grants, including the Sabbatical Fellowship, the Dissertation Stipends, the Archaeology Fellowships, and an expanded number of Travel Grants. The responsibility for reviewing the applications for these grants has fallen to the Research Support Committee, which already had the responsibility to review applications for the PBI and Ecole Biblique Visiting Professorships, the Travel Grants, and the Grants for the Promotion of Biblical Scholarship. As might be imagined, the Committee has found itself straining under the weight of reviewing all these applications (and meetings).

To provide some sense of the time commitment of the committee, the seven grants assessed in 2024-2025 had the following number of applications: the PBI Visiting Professorship, 6 applications; the Ecole Biblique Visiting Professorship, 3 applications; Sabbatical Fellowship, 13 applications; the Dissertation Stipends, 13 applications; the Archaeology Fellowships, 3 applications; expanded Travel Grants, 10 applications; the Grants for the Promotion of Biblical Scholarship, 19 applications (for a total of 67 applications assessed in 2024-2025). Each application takes on average a half hour to read and thereafter/in addition to the individual assessment of applications, are the committee deliberations; the most time consuming reviews are for the Sabbatical Grant (as there is only one recipient for this highly competitive award) and the Grants for the Promotion of Biblical Scholarship (which takes the committee two separate meetings typically to discuss).

The Ad hoc Committee for the Emerging Scholars Fellowship (ESFC) with ten members

was first established in 2016. The Committee, at present, is not governed under the CBA Constitution or By-Laws. This award is a graduate student award given to emerging scholars who show promise and appear likely to make significant contributions to the field of Biblical Studies. The award enables Fellows to attend the CBA Annual General Meeting (AGM), to present their scholarship, and enjoy the company and conversation of scholars in the field. In 2023 CBA began a collaboration with Logos’ Verbum Academic which allowed us to award four fellowships to graduate students. The ESFC has been in existence now for 9 years and should now be established as a Standing Committee, governed by the CBA Constitution and By-Laws, as it is CBA’s intention to continue this program in the future with hopes of increasing the number of fellows.

The following three motions propose dividing the oversight of CBA Grants, Fellowships, Visiting Professorships, and Stipends among three Committees:

• Committee on Research Support – responsible for recommending the grants for Research Grants for the Promotion of Biblical Scholarship and Archaeological Fellowships.
• Committee on Professional Development Support – responsible for recommending the grants for PBI and Ecole Biblique Visiting Professorships, the Sabbatical Fellowship, and the Travel Grants.
• Committee on Emerging Scholars Support – responsible for recommending the grants for Emerging Scholars Fellowships and Doctoral Dissertation Stipends.

The reason for our proposed grouping is sheerly pragmatic. The “Research Grants for the Promotion of Biblical Scholarship” receives by far the most applications that are very complex to both assess and then discuss (this is so because the projects and justifications are all unique; because partial funding is an option; and because there is a limited amount of funding which the requests will typically outpace). In 2025, the Committee received 19 applications and in 2024 18 applications for the Research Grants for the Promotion of Biblical Scholarship. As noted above, in addition to the assessment of the applications, in the last two years, there have been two committee meetings (each of 3-4 hours) to discuss these. In order to disperse the workload in a reasonable manner, adding the assessment of only one more award with fewer applications and a lighter assessment load to the assessment the “Research Grants for the Promotion of Biblical Scholarship” seemed feasible for the committee.

Grouping together the Sabbatical Fellowship, the Travel Grants, the PBI and Ecole Biblique Visiting Professorships seemed also like a reasonable workload: the Sabbatical Fellowship and Travel Grants will be time-consuming, but not as much as “Grants for the Promotion of Biblical Scholarship.”

The Executive Board voted unanimously that the number of members of the committees should be five (5) for Committee on Emerging Scholarship and be seven (7) each for the Committees on Research Support and Professional Development Support.

Motion

That the current Article VII, Section 5 of the Constitution

There shall be a Committee on Research Support consisting of eight members duly selected as determined by the By-laws. This committee shall be responsible for recommending such grants as the Association may make in the support of biblical scholarship and for overseeing the award of any and all grants.

be changed to the following:

Section 5: There shall be a Committee on Research Support consisting of seven members duly selected as determined by the By-laws. Every year, two-three members are rotated off and two-three new members elected, so that the committee continues to have seven members. This committee shall be responsible for recommending the Research Grants for the Promotion of Biblical Scholarship and the Archaeology Fellowships.

Motion

That the numbering of current Article VII, Sections 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the Constitution be changed to accommodate the new Committee, the Committee on Professional Development Support:

Section 6: There shall be a Committee on Professional Development Support consisting of seven members duly selected as determined by the By-laws. Every year, two-three members are rotated off and two-three new members elected, so that the committee continues to have seven members. This committee shall be responsible for recommending the grants for the PBI and Ecole Biblique Visiting Professorships, the Sabbatical Fellowship, and the Travel Grants.

Motion
That the numbering of current Art. VII, Sections 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the Constitution be changed to accommodate the new Committee, the Committee on Emerging Scholars Support:

* Section 7: There shall be a Committee on Emerging Scholars Support consisting of five members duly selected as determined by the By-laws. Every year, two members are rotated off and two new members elected. This committee shall be responsible for recommending the grants for Emerging Scholars Fellowships and Doctoral Dissertation Stipends.

* Should Proposed Motion 2 b not pass, Proposed Motion 2 c would be Section 6. 

FOR REFERENCE
Current Article VII, Sections 6 - 9
Section 6: There shall be a Committee on Resolutions consisting of three members appointed by the President. This committee shall be empowered to formulate and to present at the annual general meeting resolutions requested by the Executive Board. Individual members or groups wishing to present resolutions shall be required to confer with the Committee on Resolutions concerning the formulation of their resolutions. The text of the resolutions shall be distributed to the Full Members at least twenty-four hours before the business session if the committee deems it advisable.

Section 7: There shall be a Committee on Technology and Outreach consisting of six members duly selected as determined by the By-Laws. This committee shall be responsible for maintaining and developing the technological capabilities of the Association.

Section 8: There shall be a Committee on Liaison with the USCCB consisting of three members duly selected as determined by the By-laws. This committee shall be responsible for maintaining and developing a positive relationship with the USCCB.

Motion

That the current By-Law 4.4.5. Research Support

The Committee on Research Support, including the member proposed as Chair, shall consist of eight members who are elected by majority vote of the Full Members present and voting at the Business Session of the annual general meeting. Every year, two members are rotated off and two new members elected. Members are ineligible for re-election for five years after last serving.

be changed to the following

4.4.5 Research Support Committees

The Committee on Research Support, including the member(s) proposed as Chair(s), shall consist of seven members for a term of three years who are elected by majority vote of the Full Members present and voting at the Business Session of the annual general meeting. Every year, two-three members are rotated off and two-three new members elected, so that the committee continues to have seven members. Members are ineligible for re-election for five years after last serving.

The Committee on Professional Development Support, including the member(s) proposed as Chair(s), shall consist of seven members for a term of three years who are elected by majority vote of the Full Members present and voting at the Business Session of the annual general meeting. Every year, two-three members are rotated off and two-three new members elected, so that the committee continues to have seven members. Members are ineligible for re-election for five years after last serving.

The Committee on Emerging Scholars Support, including the member proposed as Chair, shall consist of five members for a term of three years who are elected by majority vote of the Full Members present and voting at the Business Session of the annual general meeting. Every year, two members are rotated off and two new members elected, so that the committee continues to have five members. Members are ineligible for re-election for five years after last serving.

Rationale

When conceived, the Committee on Technology and Outreach served to fill a gap of technical expertise not present in the CBA staff at the time. The CBA staff have been managing the technical needs of the Association for a number of years, particularly since the new membership database and website was launched in 2018.

Motion

That Article VII, Section 7** of the Constitution be rewritten as follows:

Section 7: There shall be a Committee Outreach and Communications consisting of six members duly selected as determined by the By-Laws. The mission of this Committee shall be to assist the CBA in researching various components of new CBA initiatives of outreach into areas identified in the initiative. The goal of the Committee will be to help build local, national, international networks for our members and the organization of the CBA as a whole.

and that in By-Law 4.4.7. “Technology and Outreach” be replaced with “Outreach and Communications, to read:

4.4.7. Outreach and Communications
The Committee on Outreach and Communications, including the member proposed as Chair, shall consist of six members who are elected by majority vote of the Full Members present and voting at the Business Session of the annual general meeting. The term is for two years and members may normally be re-elected for three extra terms.

** Should either or both Proposed Motions 2 b and c pass, Proposed Motion 3 would be renumbered accordingly.

FOR REFERENCE

Current Article VII, Section 7
Section 7: There shall be a Committee on Technology and Outreach consisting of six members duly selected as determined by the By-Laws. This committee shall be responsible for maintaining and developing the technological capabilities of the Association.

Current By-Law 4.4.7
Technology and Outreach
The Committee on Technology and Outreach, including the member proposed as Chair, shall consist of six members who are elected by majority vote of the Full Members present and voting at the Business Session of the annual general meeting. The term is for two years and members may normally be re-elected for three extra terms.