Society of Biblical Literature

Calvin Stowe, husband of novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe, served as Professor of Biblical Literature at the innovative Lane Seminary—at the time one of the nation's leading seminaries—in the 1830s. The eight founders of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis first met to discuss their new society in Philip Schaff's study in New York City in January of 1880. In June of that year, the group had its first annual meeting with eighteen people in attendance. The new society drew up a constitution and by-laws and discussed several papers. Membership dues were set at three dollars. By the end of the year, membership had grown to forty-five and publication of the meeting proceedings was in the planning stages. The Journal of Biblical Literature (JBL) was launched the following year. The SBL was not the first association dedicated to biblical studies in North America, but it was the first that was interdenominational. The thirty-two founding members of SBL in 1880 even included a Unitarian, Ezra Abbott. The society's development was contemporary with increasing interest in Ancient Near East studies. The society shortened its name to Society of Biblical Literature in 1962.

One of the most important functions of the Society of Biblical Literature is hosting its annual meeting. The annual meeting is hosted in the United States and attended by a majority of SBL members. The meeting includes presentations of research; voting on business matters of the society; workshops and seminars; a vendor floor; and more. The meeting consists of "more than 1,200 academic sessions, and workshops, along with one of the world's largest exhibits of books and digital resources for biblical studies, the Annual Meetings is one of the largest events of the year in the fields of biblical scholarship, religious studies and theology."

Formerly, the Society hosted multiple regional meetings per year. Regional meetings consisted of scholars in a geographic area within North America who promoted biblical scholarship on a local level. Each region was coordinated by a scholar within the region, and regions promoted "Regional Scholars" to recognize outstanding scholars in the area. Society of Biblical Literature regions included the Central States, Eastern Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New England & Eastern Canada, Pacific Coast, Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains & Great Plains, Southeastern, Southwestern, and Upper Midwest. The Society ended the regional meetings in 2023 and replaced them with annual Global Virtual Meetings, which began in 2023.

Secretary 1880–1883 Frederic Gardiner 1883–1889 Hinckley G. Mitchell Recording Secretary 1889–1890 Charles Rufus Brown 1890–1915 William H. Cobb 1916–1933 Henry J. Cadbury 1934–1946 John W. Flight 1947–1950 Kenneth W. Clark 1951–1952 Louise Pettibone Smith 1953–1961 Charles F. Kraft 1961 Albert C. Sundberg Jr. (pro tempore) 1962–1963 Kendrick Grobel Executive Secretary 1964–1965 Kendrick Grobel 1965 Richard T. Mead (pro tempore) 1966 Lawrence E. Toombs 1967 Walter J. Harrelson 1968–1974 Robert W. Funk 1975–1976 George W. MacRae 1977–1980 Paul J. Achtemeier 1981–1987 Kent Harold Richards Executive Director 1987–1995 David Lull 1995–2010 Kent Harold Richards 2010–2022 John F. Kutsko 2022–2023 Tat-siong Benny Liew 2023-Present Steed Davidson