From the Executive Director
Greetings everyone!
I hope and pray things are well with you and your loved ones. Welcome to the Fall of 2025. Those of you at academic institutions are likely now in full teaching or administrative mode of the new term. And those of you who are graduate or doctoral students are busy writing papers or thinking about applying for positions at various institutions. We will be praying for you all. For those of you in parish and mission work, we pray that God will bless the work you are doing for the Kingdom.
For all early career scholars, doctoral, and graduate students, I want to remind you of the upcoming third Innovation: Emerging Scholarship Conference, which will take place virtually on November 5, 2025. Registration is open and free for CBA's annual virtual international event (https://www.catholicbiblical.org/meetings/emc3-2025). There will be a special panel during the Conference on AI in the Academic World with experts in the field of Artificial Intelligence and how it can be properly appropriated in the Academy and its potential abuses.
We are very excited that next year, 2026, the CBA AGM will be held at Loyola University of Maryland in Baltimore, July 18-21. For those who are interested in a hotel stay rather than dormitory, LUM will be providing us with a list of hotels that they have discount codes; we will share those once they have passed them on to us.
We are in the fiscal year 2025-26, which means a fresh round of CBA Grants, Stipends, Professorships, and Fellowships. Please check the newsletter and the CBA website for details concerning applying for this funding (https://www.catholicbiblical.org/grants). I need not remind you of the benefits of being a member of CBA and I encourage you all to speak to your colleagues and graduate students who are not members of CBA to consider joining. We have a brochure available highlighting the benefits of membership in CBA that you can provide the link (https://assets.noviams.com/novi-file-uploads/cba/PDFs/CBA_flyer_2024.pdf) to your colleagues and students.
We are continuing with our Unbound Book Review Series, which has been very successful thus far in promoting our members’ published works. Please see the CBA website for upcoming events (https://www.catholicbiblical.org/meetings/book-review?&Page=) and past UBRs that you will want to hear. If you have a new publication coming out soon, please complete the UBR Submission Form and we will contact you to discuss the possibility of including it on the UBR series. The Planning Committee for the CBA “Women and Gender Conference” has begun work on a second virtual meeting for 2026 (details to follow). This will be a great opportunity to showcase our members work in this very important area of biblical and theological studies.
The 5-year Strategic Planning Committee continues its examination of the work of CBA. You will be receiving the SPC Member Survey email; PLEASE do take the time to complete the survey. This is a very important tool for the Committees work and for the future of CBA. In the end, our hope is to determine how we can improve what we are doing already, while at the same time, look at what new initiatives we can offer to assist our members and grow the footprint of CBA in the academy and the Church on a global scale.
Just as a reminder for those of you who will be attending the SBL/AAR meeting in Boston, we will have the CBA annual Reception on Sunday evening from 8:00-10:00 PM; please see the SBL Program for details and put it on your calendar (https://www.catholicbiblical.org/news/2026-sbl-conference-). We will be cohosting the Reception with the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA). Please invite your colleagues to the reception as we will be talking about membership in CBA and its benefits.
I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless the work you are doing for the Kingdom of God.
May God Grant Us Peace,
Archie
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Membership Dues
Membership dues notices for 2027 will be sent
via email later this month.
Dues are to be paid by January 1, 2027, in order for CBA to ensure continuous service to its members (e.g. delivery of The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, monthly newsletters, invitation to the Annual General Meeting and other events). Your annual subscription to The Catholic Biblical Quarterly (CBQ) is included in your membership dues.
 If you have been paying your dues by check, please note that the mailing address is now the CBA Office on the campus of CUA: CBA, 620 Michigan Ave, NE, 431 Caldwell, Washington, DC 20064
Subscriptions to Old Testament Abstracts and New Testament Abstracts are sent directly from Johns Hopkins University Press (JHUP) via email and USPS.
For more information and for a link to download
detailed payment instructions,
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Automatic Payment of Dues Option
For the past couple of years, CBA members have an autopay option for dues renewals. Autopay is the optional, member-elected process that allows your stored credit card to automatically be charged as a payment toward the dues invoice generated in October for the next year.
To set-up autopay:
- Go to your Member Compass™ and click on "Payment Methods"
- Click on the gold button, "+ Add New Card"
- Complete the form
When the dues invoices are generated each October, your will be notified that your card automatically will be charged for your January dues. You will receive an email notification when the payment is made. If, for some reason, the card transaction fails (usually because the card has expired) you will receive an email notification.
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Meetings, Conferences, and Events
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| Unbound Book Review
CBA's series of virtual events which draw together scholars from diverse fields to discuss a recent publication through reflection on specific questions continues this autumn with titles from four members.
- October 15, 2026 10am-12pm EST
Isaac W. Oliver, Jocelyn McWhirter, and Joshua Scott's Luke and Acts with(in) Second Temple Judaism
- November 11, 2026 10am-12pm EST
Samuel B. Johnson's The Life of Jesus in the Writings of Origen of Alexandria
December 9th, 2026 10:00 AM-12:00 PM EST
Stephen Cook's Daniel (BCOT)
- Upcoming UBRs (dates and times yet to be determined)
- January 2027
- Paba Nidhani de Andrado's A Woman Validates the Word: Re-Thinking Huldah’s Prophetic Legacy and Locus
- February 2027
The Thanksgiving Scroll (OCDSS) by Carol A. Newsom and Eileen M. Schuller
- May 2027
Elizabeth B. Schrader Polczer's An Abundant Bouquet: Narrative Variants in the Gospels
More information on the Unbound Book Reviews
is posted to the CBA website.
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4rd Annual
Innovation: Emerging Scholarship Conference
November 19-20, 2026
Registration (free) is open for CBA's annual virtual international event for postdoctoral scholars and graduate students.
For more information
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2027 CBA Annual General Meeting
The 89th International Meeting of The Catholic Biblical Association is scheduled
July 17-20, 2027 as a hybrid meeting at the Westchester campus of Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles) and via Zoom.
The call for participation will be sent to CBA members in late January 2027.
Be sure to mark your calendar!
More information on the Annual General Meeting
will be posted to the CBA website as it becomes available.
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Grants & Fellowships
  EBAF Visiting ProfessorshipCBA is accepting applications for the Visiting Professorship at École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem academic year 2024-25.
The application deadline is NOVEMBER 15, 2026.
For more information, including the application form
 CBA Emerging Scholars Fellowship
The Catholic Biblical Association of America (CBA) invites applications for the annual Emerging Scholars Fellowship. This 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. To qualify for the award, candidates must:
- be enrolled in a doctoral program in the Biblical field
- not have the doctoral degree in hand as of the application deadline (January 15)
- be able to attend and present at the forthcoming CBA Annual General Meeting (AGM)
- have two recommendations from faculty who are current faculty in the applicant's doctoral program.
Members are encouraged to advertise the program at their institutions and to invite promising students to apply. DOWNLOAD FLYER
The next application deadline is January 15, 2027.
For more information, including the application form
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Voices of CBA
The members of the CBA are the heart of the Association. To celebrate their scholarship, service, and diverse vocations, we are pleased to announce a new media series, “Voices of CBA.” Through written and video interviews, this series will highlight the people who make up our community and the work they do in biblical studies, teaching, ministry, and public life. We hope these features will encourage members to learn from one another, support one another’s work, and deepen the collegial connections that sustain the CBA.
The series of featured voices and featured videos will appear in "Voices of CBA" under "News" on the CBA website navigation bar.
This month's featured voice is Tomasz Koszarek, a biblical scholar affiliated with the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem.
 In this issue...
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