BARlines

The Phenomenon of the Festschrift

A festschrift—literally a festival of writing or a writing fest—is a collection of papers presented to a senior scholar by his or her colleagues and students.

Festschrifts in archaeology and Biblical studies are appearing with ever-increasing frequency, and they are having a significant impact on scholarly publishing in the field. In many ways festschrifts—or festschriften, to use the German plural—are replacing the scholarly journals.

Everyone knows that scholarly journals have been having a hard time. They are often hopelessly behind in their production schedules, with some numbers appearing a year or two late. So-called double numbers—two issues bound together—appear in an effort to catch up. Sometimes the double issue is institutionalized, so that the journal appears only twice yearly instead of four times. When this happens, the size of the double issue is often much smaller than two single issues.

One amusing aspect of these developments is that a journal’s name may no longer describe its frequency: The venerable Palestine Exploration Quarterly appears not quarterly but twice yearly.

Paradoxically, while the journals struggle to survive, the festschrifts are thriving. Some have suggested it is simply easier to raise money for a book honoring a great scholar than for a journal.