The hot topic of this year's joint meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature was the recently discovered ossuary, the small limestone burial box that may be the earliest archeological evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth. Many believe it once held the bones of James, the brother of Jesus. Conference attendees flocked to three separate sessions about the ossuary and its significance—one reportedly drew 800 people and a plethora of media. Moreover, scholars got the chance to view the ossuary behind glass at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Making the rounds of the various panels were biblical scholars Hershel Shanks and Ben Witherington III, who were scurrying to finish their book on the subject to meet a late December deadline. Harper San Francisco wasted no time in signing their project—the contract was inked the same week the discovery was announced. Shanks, editor of the journal Biblical Archaeological Review, and Witherington, a New Testament professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, have both been much in the media in recent weeks, discussing their findings on ABC News, CBS News and in other print and broadcast venues. Their book, The Brother of Jesus: The Dramatic Story & Significance of the First Archaeological Link to Jesus & His Family, will be released in March.

With 8,647 attendees, this year's conference, held November 22—26 in Toronto, was the second largest (after Boston in 1999) and a substantial improvement over last year's 7,800, which reflected the post—September 11 contraction in travel. Exhibitor numbers held steady at 154 (155 last year). In addition to selling books to scholars at deep discount, the book exhibit allows publishers to promote their books for course adoptions, as well as meet with authors and scout for new projects.

Fears that Canada's tax laws would impose an untenable burden on the ability of exhibitors to sell books to the attending scholars turned out to be unfounded. Many publishers avoided some of the problems by having Canadian offices (as with John Wiley or HarperCollins) or by being distributed by a Canadian company (either before the meeting or in anticipation of it, many chose Novalis). AAR also had secured the services of Toronto-based Mendelssohn Customs & Transportation Services. Mendelssohn did all of the paperwork and submitted documents to the Canadian government, charging exhibitors a fee on a sliding scale. Publishers who spoke with PW agreed the system had worked. Said Anita Eerdmans, v-p of publicity at Wm. B. Eerdmans, "Of course we had to pay the taxes, but all of the work was on the front end, and we did at least as well this year as last year in Denver."

In addition to the ossuary sessions, another well-attended panel was PW's annual forum on commercial publishing. A standing-room-only crowd of scholars heard PW religion editors speak on how they might ride the wave of current interest in serious nonfiction and cross over to the general trade. With subsidized academic publishing to narrow audiences largely a thing of the past, this was a message the session attendees received eagerly.

For the fourth consecutive year, Eerdmans Publishing swept the Association of Theological Booksellers Theologos Awards, winning four of the top five awards: Best Publisher; Book of the Year and Best General Interest Book for Writing in the Dust: After September 11 by Rowan Williams; and Best Children's Book for When Daddy Prays by Nikki Grimes, illus. by Tim Ladwig. Oxford won Best Academic Book for The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity by Philip Jenkins.

Next year's AAR/SBL meeting will be held in Atlanta, November 21—25.