an american bible

And for readers to the south of my home and native land, Mark Noll has this interesting article in Books & Culture:

The Bible in American Public Life, 1860-2005
Dilemmas at the center, insights from the margins.
by Mark Noll

a canadian prophet

I came across an interesting little piece on Marshall McLuhan, Canadian icon and media sage, that internet readers might find interesting related to his prophetic aphorisms regarding the internet and a "global village." (Intelligent Design gets in there prominently as well, and you'll have to read the piece to see how the author connects McLuhan and ID, but even if you're not into the raging evolution-ID debate you may want to check this out just for its iconic memory of McLuhan.)

Marshall McLuhan (1919-1980): Prophet of the Internet
Blogs have taken their place in the electronic nervous system (the media) that has integrated the planet. They have helped ID advocates circumvent a formidable intellectual orthodoxy.
Compiled by Denyse O'Leary

battle lines drawn

It looks like the Battle of Alberta is already heating up, and it's only the preseason: a home-and-home pair of shutouts with a 4-0 Oilers win in Edmonton followed up by a 5-0 Flames win in Calgary last night. Can't wait for the real games to start!

We now return to your regularly scheduled programming: the Coventry Blaze against Theo and the Giants... Sigh...

bmcr reviews

A couple of recent Bryn Mawr book reviews have caught my eye as relevant for New Testament studies (HT: RC):

Jason P. Davies, Rome's Religious History. Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods.
Reviewed by Jan den Boeft

R. Seager, Tiberius. Second edition.
Reviewed by Michael B. Charles

sbl here we come!

The plane tickets are now purchased and the registration is completed: I will be attending the SBL meetings in Philadelphia after all, albeit on a student budget this year. This limited expense account means I'm only coming to SBL and not ETS (sorry to miss Mike Bird's paper there and perhaps to miss seeing other people), and it means I'm leaving a day early on the evening of November 21 since I got a flight for about half the cost by returning then. But I can now look forward to meeting any bloggers or readers who will be at SBL!

new blog: verily verily

As noted by others already, there's a new biblioblog in the blogosphere, focused on 'social memory theory, healings/exorcisms traditions in the synoptics, and historical Jesus research', among other musings: Verily Verily by Rafael Rodriguez at the University of Sheffield. Looks to be a good one. Welcome, Rafael!

conference presentations

With the new NHL in pre-season mode -- and me catching scores the day after :-( -- comes the beginning of another important season: the new season of academic conferences, seminars, and classes. Stephen Carlson and Mark Goodacre have combined to produce a helpful commentary on an already helpful article by Danuta Shanzer on tips for conference presenters. As Mark notes, 'there's definitely something for everyone' in the article plus the commentary, and it's highly recommended for scholars and students alike.

latest rbl book reviews

Mark Goodacre has posted the latest New Testament-related reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature: Review of Biblical Literature latest.

those crazy bloggers

In lieu of my own creativity and insight (which is submerged in a sea of research and exploration), I offer some recent thoughts and posts of fellow bloggers which I've enjoyed reading:

- Mark Goodacre's account of his ongoing conquest of America: Travel Diary 1 - Travel Diary 2 - Travel Diary 3 - Travel Diary 4 - Travel Diary 5 - Travel Diary 6 - First Class.

- Michael Bird's discussions on history, the historical Jesus, and John's Gospel: The Gospel of John and the Historical Jesus - What is 'historical' about the 'historical Jesus'? - Jim West and Interest in the Historical Jesus - Klausner and the Historical Jesus.

- Benjamin Myers' musings on the nature of Scripture: The core of the Bible - The inspiration of Scripture - Is the doctrine of Scripture 'foundational'? - The trustworthy witness of Scripture - Does Scripture derive its authority from the church? - The Bible and the Word of God - The Bible and the gospel.

- Tyler Williams' posts on histor(iograph)y and the Hebrew Bible - hey, it's not the New Testament, but don't let that dissuade you! ;-) : 'History,' 'Historiography,' and 'Historical' - Histor(iograph)y and the Hebrew Bible.

And, if you'd like to see the exploration side of my submerged creativity and insight, you can check out my family's England adventure blog. For the research side of my submersion, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until I find something profound to say... :-)

(UPDATED 09/29)

new scholia review

And in Scholia, this recent review looks interesting related to New Testament studies:

Richard Hingley, Globalizing Roman Culture: Unity, Diversity, and Empire.
Reviewed by D. B. Saddington

recent bmcr reviews

Here are some recent reviews from Bryn Mawr Classical Review which look promising related to New Testament studies:

Christopher A. Frilingos, Spectacles of Empire: Monsters, Martyrs, and the Book of Revelation.
Reviewed by Rubén Dupertuis

Richard Talbert, Kai Brodersen, Space in the Roman World. Its Perception and Presentation.
Reviewed by Peter Fibiger Bang

Christopher S. Mackay, Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History.
Reviewed by Darryl A. Phillips

fun with intertexture

I've just had an interesting experience. I've mentioned before my purchase of A. E. Harvey's Jesus and the Constraints of History from E. P. Sanders' library. I've now read Harvey's book (having only read snatches of it before) along with Sanders' pencil markings in the margins, and just now I've gone back to Sanders' Jesus and Judaism to see if his pencil markings made their way into his book. And indeed they have!

Sanders' comment that Harvey's work at points is 'aprioristic' (p. 9) is scrawled in the margin of Harvey's book at one of these points (underscored and with exclamation mark). There are plenty of 'NB's (for nota bene) in the margins around the point where Harvey discusses the authenticity and significance of the Temple 'cleansing' (of course the key starting point for Sanders' work). And--this sent chills down my spine--Sanders says of Harvey's work that 'I shall confess to the reader that, when I read those words [on the notion of historical constraints], I thought that Harvey had succeeded in publishing first a book on which I had been engaged, off and on, for almost ten years' (p. 9). It was a strange feeling to realize that I was reading from the very same book that he was reading when he thought this!

I've also solved the mystery of the 'Cambridge 1982' notation under Sanders' signature. In the preface of Jesus and Judaism Sanders mentions that he was Visiting Fellow Commoner at Trinity College, Cambridge, during the year 1982.

What fun!

on googling and biblioblogs

Mark Goodacre has some good recent posts worth checking out. First, he notes some new Google features which will be very helpful for blog searching and biblical studies searching:

• Google Blog Search
• Google Scholar Advanced Search

Mark also has an excellent summary post on the origins and meaning of the term 'biblioblog': What is a biblioblog?

(HT to those who tipped off Mark!)

australian biblical review book reviews

Mark Goodacre has just noted the latest issue of the Australian Biblical Review, and in particular the book reviews which are available online. These reviews go back to 2002, and are all collected together with the most recent ones at the bottom: Index of Book Reviews 2002-2005. Another source for great reviews!

bible centre

I've just come across a website which provides free online access to various biblical studies books: Bible Centre. Like all these free e-books sorts of collections, many of the works are older ones past copyright, but some are still-current standards such as Kittel's TDNT, Colin Brown's NIDNTT, or Carson, Moo, and Morris' Introduction to the New Testament (first edition). As the last example shows, the collection certainly has an evangelical slant, and that is even more evident when one peruses the entire database. I'm not sure how they've managed to get around copyright issues (there is a copyright acknowledgment page), but if it's all above board there are some good online resources in the mix.

UPDATE (09/15): It looks like I've missed the discussion at Jim West's blog, but it appears that these works are indeed still under copyright and that the online posting of these works is an infringement of copyright. Nevertheless, there are still several good works there which are not under copyright protection. So, I advise all users to use discernment in their use of this material, and my linking to this site does not in any way represent an endorsement of its practices.

FURTHER UPDATE (09/21): Jim West posts an important email response to this copyright infringement from a representative of Baker Publishing here.

top ten reasons to read christian history

Some good ones provided at Christian History & Biography: Top Ten Reasons to Read Christian History. (HT: B&I)

latest sbl forum

This has probably been noted by others, but the September issue of the SBL Forum is out, including these items of interest to me:

"What is 'Historical' about the 'Historical Jesus'?"
by Rafael Rodriguez

Digital Biblical Scholarship: Dust to Dust?
by Patrick Durusau

tyndale house library catalogue

I'm not sure if this has been noted by others already or not (my internet reach is not quite back to normal), but Tyndale House at Cambridge has a nifty online biblical studies library catalogue worth checking out: Tyndale House Library Catalogue. Once you get your search results, you can click on an entry to get a handy list of various types of bibliographic formats for the book, or you can click on the link to the left to view the book online through Amazon's and/or Google's services (subject to their limitations, of course), or you can click on the link to the right for some price comparisons for the book. Thanks to David Instone-Brewer for noting this in his recent Tyndale Tech email.

latest rbl nt reviews

Mark Goodacre has posted the latest New Testament-related reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature: Review of Biblical Literature latest. He also has a note on why he posts these reviews here. I agree with Mark completely--although he doesn't put it in quite these words, it is important for the premier New Testament website on the planet to have these listed. For myself, I point to Mark's lists because I've had many readers who do not subscribe to the RBL email update but who may still be interested in perusing the latest reviews.

signing on again

We've made it to Birmingham! Many thanks to all who commented or emailed best wishes to us on our journey, and many apologies for the delay in updating. Internet access is not as handy as I'd like yet, with home access not likely until the end of September or early October. However, I do have excellent access through the computers at the University library and this is where I'll probably spend a good bit of my time, so I hope to get back to blogging again even if in a scaled-back form.

At this point, I think I will focus this blog on academic/faith-related matters. For those who may be interested, more personalised family updates are available on our England adventure blog, The Anglo-file, too. The most recent entry is the story of our journey from Canada to Brum: Our Trip to England (or, 'a regular Swiss family Robinson').

my blog: prospect and retrospect

The time for our departure to England is now here, and this move which affects so many things for us may also affect this blog. Certainly for the next few days blogging will be light, quite possibly with nothing at all posted for the next week or more, as we travel to Birmingham and get ourselves established there. There is the promise of solid internet access down the road, but not likely through this transition time. And even after we are settled and I have established internet access via school and/or home, my life will be different than it is now, and it remains to be seen how blogging-friendly this new life will be. Reading, writing, more reading, more writing, sharing family meals, sometimes with newfound friends, and making family excursions into the surrounding area will be my top priorities in this new life, and we'll see where my blogging habit fits into that mix.

But this transition gives me an opportunity to reflect on my blogging experience thus far. I set out in this blog to cover a a range of my interests and experiences without getting too self-absorbed, providing some reflections on family life as well as some thoughts on my faith, perhaps verging into full biblioblogging territory at times. In general terms this is what has happened, although I've done more pure biblioblogging than I had anticipated, at least in providing links to various New Testament-related articles and websites. This is partly because when I sit in front of my computer that is the sort of thing I'm thinking about. But, on a more conscious level, this is because my audience has developed in ways I had not intended, with my colleagues and students at the College here becoming my primary audience during the early months of the blog, and in these later months, a growing global readership focused more on the academic/faith-oriented posts. While my extended family reads my blog (mostly when I send out an email notice), they are the vast minority (you know what I mean).

There have been several unforeseen benefits I've discovered in blogging, foremost of which is the many new connections I've made with like-minded people around the world. Shared blogging has led to mutual commenting, which has led to some email exchanges, discussing ideas and offering encouragement in ways which have often moved beyond the initial blog post. I will confess that I have been tempted to quit blogging occasionally over the past few months, but this factor--making acquaintances, even beginning friendships--has kept me at it more than any other reason. At this point I am planning to make it to the SBL meetings in Philadelphia, and if I do I will look forward to meeting many of these new acquaintances there.

So, to all my readers, I wish you many blessings, and I hope to see you again on the other side of the Atlantic.

divided vision

Even as I look to the east my thoughts and prayers are often to the south. The apocalyptic scenes from the U.S. gulf coast bring back too many difficult memories, now closer to home...

sanders' signature

Yes, he does sign his books! That was my question when I first heard that an E. P. Sanders collection was being sold by Dove Booksellers. I've just received the books I ordered, and both have his signature at the front and his pencil markings throughout. I'm thinking these new friends might make the trip to England with me, which would be a bit of a homecoming for them--the A. E. Harvey book has the notation "Cambridge, 1982" below the "E. P. Sanders"...

bntc reports

The bloggers are back and have begun reporting on the British New Testament Society Conference. So far:

• Mark Goodacre: BNTC: Day 1 - BNTC: Day 2, morning - BNTC: Day 2, afternoon - BNTC: Day 2, evening - BNTC: Day 3
• Sean Winter: BNTC Day 1 - BNTC Day 2
• James Crossley: BNTC Liverpool 2005
• Pete Phillips: BNTC 1 - BNTC 2
• Jim Davila: British New Testament Conference

(UPDATED 10/20)

wishing i were there

The 2005 British New Testament Conference begins today and goes through Saturday. When I was initially planning our move to Birmingham, I had hoped to be there for this, but alas, it was not to be. Looking forward to updates and pics from blogging participants such as Mark Goodacre, Jim Davila, James Crossley, Sean Winter, and perhaps others.

happy birthday, alberta!

My home province of Alberta celebrates its 100th birthday today. Happy Birthday, Alberta!