bob's blog

A hearty welcome to another blogger from Canada, Robert Derrenbacker: Bob's Blog. In his words: "I am an Assistant Professor of New Testament at Regent College (Vancouver, Canada). I am also an ordained Priest in the Anglican Church of Canada. In this blog, I intend to share my thoughts about my profession (biblical studies), politics (particularly American politics), faith and culture (I have particular interests in film and popular music)."

bmcr and scholia reviews

Here are some recent reviews from the Bryn Mawr Classical Review and Scholia Reviews which caught my eye as potentially relevant to biblical studies:

R. Zelnick-Abramovitz, Not Wholly Free: The Concept of Manumission and the Status of Manumitted Slaves in the Ancient Greek World.
Reviewed by Deborah Kamen

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece.
Reviewed by Lydia Matthews

Marc van de Mieroop, King Hammurabi of Babylon: A Biography.
Reviewed by Sakkie Cornelius

Daniel C. Snell (ed.), A Companion to the Ancient Near East.
Reviewed by Sakkie Cornelius

israel excavations accepting volunteers

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a handy list of the 2006 digs which are accepting volunteers, with information on the digs and a contact person for each (via Explorator): Archaeological Excavations in Israel 2006.

latest lark news

This has been out for a while but I haven't mentioned it yet, the latest issue of my favourite Christian satire: Lark News, November 2005. Hebrew Bible types will be interested in the revival of Asherah poles in California, and New Testament types will be intrigued to learn how easy it is to become an apostle...

short bio on c. s. lewis

With the Narnia film coming out soon, everything C. S. Lewis is also coming out. Christian History & Biography has posted this good, short biography of Lewis on their website: C. S. Lewis.

religion and the media

At Books and Culture, Philip Jenkins has a good review essay on the book Quoting God: How Media Shape Ideas about Religion and Culture edited by Claire Badaracco.

Religion and the Media
Do they get it?
by Philip Jenkins

An excerpt:

The largest area of religious life under-represented by the mass media is normality. Given conventional priorities, the customary and unsensational is not news, so that media stories about Islam are likely to expose terrorism and subversion rather than everyday piety, while according to most media accounts, the Roman Catholic church is either engaging in moral crusades or picking up the pieces after the latest sex scandal. If all an observer knew of Roman Catholicism was drawn from mainstream reporting over the past forty years—or indeed, from the Hollywood productions of that period—what would that person know of the central fact in the church's life, the Eucharist, or how radically the lived realities of the Catholic faith have changed following the liturgical reforms of those years? And the same might be asked of any other tradition. How many media professionals have the slightest idea of the distinctive theological beliefs that characterize evangelicals or Pentecostals, as opposed to knowing the political and sexual prejudices such groups are presumed to share?

grey cup 2005

The Edmonton Eskimos have won the Grey Cup in what appears to have been an exciting game. Congratulations to the frozen warriors from the north... Next year, Stampeders!

sbl: final thoughts, by the numbers

10,002: Number of people at the combined AAR/SBL meetings.

10,001: Number of people trying to order a sandwich at Maggiano's on Sunday night.

10,000: Number of books I wish I could have bought.

9: Number of books I bought.

2: Number of books I could afford to buy.

100: Number of hours I was gone from home.

16: Number of hours I slept while I was gone from home (not including the 3-hour sleep the night before I left).

35: Number of hours spent in transit during that time I was gone from home (mostly on shuttle buses crawling around the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris--never, never, never, never, never again will I do a connection there!)

Immeasurable: The value of meeting friends both new and old, fellow travelers in the journey of academic biblical studies.

mini-review of carlson's gospel hoax

On the Saturday evening of the recent SBL conference, I found myself at my hotel room with nothing to do. I had just bought my wagonload of books that afternoon, so I picked up Stephen Carlson's The Gospel Hoax, expecting to read a chapter or so and then drift off into much-needed sleep. But I simply couldn't put the book down. I read the whole thing straight through, riveted by the book to my bed, reveling in the revelations of this real-life detective novel.

Carlson's book is a thorough, utterly convincing case for the forgery of the Secret Gospel of Mark by its discoverer, Morton Smith. There, I said it. I feel like I should have warned the reader of "plot spoilers" in advance, but of course it says as much in the subtitle and one doesn't warn of "plot spoilers" in reviewing an academic book anyway. But this is no ordinary academic book--it combines the rigour of academic writing with the ethos of a detective novel. It is hard to imagine anything that Carlson has left out in his analysis. He patiently explains how Smith had the means, motive, and opportunity to produce the Secret Gospel and the text in which it is embedded, the letter of Clement of Alexandria to Theodore.

This is an absolute must-read for anyone in the scholarly guild. It is important for clarifying our sources for the study of Christian origins and for exposing potential weaknesses in the system of scholarly research, but it's also just a good, fun read. It's one of those books I wish I had written. Or, at the very least, that Stephen Carlson had written in my name... :-)

sbl: garrow's paper on didache 16 and 1 thessalonians 4

Alan Garrow, "The tradition behind 1 Thess. 4.13-18: a new text identified," paper presented at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, November 21, 2005.

I appreciated Garrow's paper very much. It has helped me to sharpen my own thinking on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and his research will be helpful for me in my own dissertation research. I was somewhat predisposed to a favourable reception of Garrow's paper in that my own research to this point has led me to conclude that there is some sort of genetic link between Didache 16, the eschatological material in the Thessalonian letters (I'd add 2 Thessalonians 2 to the mix), and the Synoptic eschatological discourses, something which Garrow demonstrates quite well. I'm inclined to agree also that the genetic link is centred on a pre-Pauline discourse as part of the Jesus tradition which is then reflected in those various writings. However, I see some problems with the way Garrow arrives at this conclusion, especially some assumptions which form the basis of his thesis.

In my first reading of his paper, a "red flag" went up when I read Garrow's statement that a Thessalonian misunderstanding of founding "tradition" is the only viable alternative to false teaching for an explanation of the Thessalonian problem reflected in 1 Thess 4:13-18. If one can take this to mean founding "preaching and teaching" then I think these alternatives are correct. However, the language of "tradition" connotes a set of fairly well-defined material which is received and transmitted in a rather formal way, and in this context invokes ideas of "Jesus tradition," such traditional material believed to originate in Jesus' life and teaching. Thus, the use of the term "tradition" jumps the gun, assuming ideas which must themselves be proved. It is at least as likely that the founding "preaching and teaching" which the Thessalonians had misunderstood or underappreciated was not some pre-Pauline eschatological tradition but simply Paul's general teaching on the future resurrection of believers, an alternative which Garrow doesn't seem even to recognise.

I agree with Garrow that Paul and the others did teach on the future resurrection in the founding mission to Thessalonica. This for me is primarily based on: 1) the consistent link between Jesus' resurrection and the future resurrection of all believers elsewhere in Paul, a link which I see as a necessary component of his gospel message; 2) the high probability that the matter of the death of believers had come up in the 10-20 years prior to 1 Thessalonians, both due to strong persecution and natural causes. But this itself raises a problem regarding Garrow's thesis. He seems to assume that Paul had only provided the bare tradition in his founding instruction, without any commentary or interpretation, or at the very least that any commentary he initially provided on the tradition had not included the resurrection of all believers in Christ to blessing at the parousia. However, the same reasons above which point to Paul's initial teaching on the resurrection generally also make it unlikely that Paul would have presented this sort of eschatological tradition without already interpreting it at that time along the very lines which he does in 1 Thessalonians 4, that all the dead in Christ will rise to participate in the eschatological blessings.

Another difficulty I had is with the specific Thessalonian mis-reading of the tradition which Garrow proposes. When I initially read Garrow's paper I had the same question as Stephen Carlson, that Garrow's suggested Thessalonian reading of the tradition vis-a-vis the martyrdom of the elect seemed unlikely. But I also had a further question regarding his proposed Thessalonian reading of the tradition reflected in Didache 16:2. I have no doubt that the common Jewish perspective on "perfection" was related to Torah observance, nor do I doubt that striving for perfection as fulfilment of Torah by the parousia of Christ was a common goal among Jewish Christians. However, this reading of a pre-Didache tradition reflected in 16:2 is problematic, it seems to me. First, it requires the Thessalonians to interpret the tradition in a thoroughly Jewish way without any Pauline help, even though the congregation seems to have been predominantly Gentile (cf. 1 Thess 1:9-10). Second, the perfection in that text is not something which believers are to do before the final hour but rather something which is done to them at the final hour--similar to Paul's conception of resurrection/glorification/perfection, which stimulates some intriguing thoughts. I don't see how the idea of perfection as complete Torah observance required before the end would have been read from the tradition in its non-Didache context, but rather at most perfection as the divine reward for a more general faithfulness and perseverance--and this would not produce the extreme crisis of faith which Garrow proposes for the Thessalonians in view of their loved ones' untimely deaths.

All of this is to say that I'm not convinced that the problem in Thessalonica was one of a Thessalonian mis-reading of this particular eschatological tradition. Of course, a careful reader of Garrow's paper will recognise that, if I am right in all this, then some basic premises of Garrow's thesis are faulty, and therefore his conclusions cannot stand as argued. If the Thessalonians could not have mis-read the tradition along the lines Garrow has suggested, then either the problem is not such a mis-reading of tradition or Garrow's proposed tradition is not the tradition which was mis-read. Even more foundationally, if there's an option for understanding the Thessalonian problem which does not require a pre-Pauline tradition at the root, then there may be no need to look for such a tradition here at all. However, as I noted above, I do agree that a pre-Pauline tradition along the lines of Garrow's reconstruction is likely, but I get at that another way--a messier way which does not yield the kind of certainty that Garrow's thesis appears to provide. But that's a whole post in itself. A careful reader of Garrow's paper and this response will also recognise that, if I am right, then "the word of the Lord" is not required to be a reference to the traditional material which follows. But that's a whole dissertation...

sbl: bloggers, books, and brotherly love

Although there were many other things going on at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting, that title pretty much sums up the conference for me: meeting other bloggers and discussing biblioblogging, perusing and purchasing books, and touring through the City of Brotherly Love.

The bloggers: It was terrific to meet other bloggers. A strange experience, really, feeling like I didn't need to go through the formalities of introduction yet knowing that social courtesy demanded it. The biblioblogging session on Sunday went well, a very good first step in introducing biblioblogging to the wider community of biblical scholarship. It was flattering to be mentioned in Jim Davila's paper and a delight to meet this scholar-blogger whom I admire. Paul Nikkel and I had a good chat afterwards about Canada, our home and native land. Jim West and I happened upon each other after the session and had an enjoyable conversation over beans and rice (and my greasy chicken which I couldn't even finish). On the day before, I had met Mark Goodacre for breakfast and ended up having Stephen Carlson and Jeffrey Gibson join us, which was a real treat. Michael Bird provided bright red Australian sunshine everywhere he appeared, and it was fun to chat with him when I could. I also had enjoyable brief meetings and longer interactions with others at the conference such as Joe Cathey, Brandon Wason, Rick Brannan, Ed Cook, Chris Heard, AKM Adam, Tim Bulkeley (I'm sure I've forgotten someone).

The books: As usual, the book exhibits were terrific and tempting. Too tempting--I think I blew next year's budget too. But I got some good and necessary items for my research and library, including some Wipf and Stock specials such as David Aune's Prophecy in Early Christianity (finally, my own copy!) and Ben Meyer's The Aims of Jesus, along with newer items like Bruce Longenecker's Narrative Dynamics in Paul and Dale Allison's Resurrecting Jesus. And a few more... :-)

The City of Brotherly Love: The backdrop for all this was the vibrant city of Philadelphia. On the Saturday after buying my books I took a stroll down to the old city toward the river, and snapped some pics of places such as City Hall, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross' house, and Ben Franklin's grave. I guess I wasn't TBTSPTWILT after all...

I've got some more specific thoughts on various things related to the conference milling around in my head, and hopefully I'll get a chance to note some of those over the next couple of days.

sbl, here i come!

I leave first thing tomorrow morning for Philadelphia, landing mid-afternoon local time. I have made my Rubicon decision to leave my laptop at home here for my family to use (it's the only internet-accessible home computer we have here in England), so I'm not sure what my internet access will be like while I'm away. Things could be pretty quiet at this address for a few days, while I salivate over biblical studies books, ruminate on biblical studies ideas, and gravitate to meetings both personal and professional. Undoubtedly the biblioblogs will be buzzing with reports on the conference for days to come, and undoubtedly I will make my own quiet buzz when I return.

marshall, beyond the bible

David Neff has a review article at Christianity Today on I. Howard Marshall's recent book, Beyond the Bible: Moving from Scripture to Theology. The book includes a response by Kevin Vanhoozer, which makes me think it stems from an Institute for Biblical Research session I attended a couple years ago...

Hermeneutics, Anyone?
Rules can only take us so far in the game of biblical interpretation.
by David Neff

not quite five things

I've been hit with the "five things" tag. I should say off the start that I do this under (mild and somewhat tongue-in-cheek) protest. When I receive an email like this I usually delete it before I get to the second sentence. But how can I ignore being publicly tagged by such an esteemed friend and blogging colleague? (Actually, I think Tyler tagged me out of spite, to get back at me because my Flames are the hottest team in the league, ahead of his Oilers in the standings right now...)

So, to maintain the spirit of the meme in an ethos of goodwill, yet to retain my spirit of (mild and somewhat tongue-in-cheek) protest over the whole thing, I offer a reduced version of the "five things":

Ten Years Ago: Ten years ago my wife and I were living in Calgary, and I was starting my MDiv concentrating on New Testament studies. Life was both hard and good, eking out a meagre living with my wife working and me a student. Vivid memories include constant car breakdowns, great new friends and loyal family, scraping up loose change at the end of the month, the lady at Tim Hortons giving us free Timbits out of pity, long drives and walks just me and my wife...

Since Seven Years Ago: Teaching at Prairie Bible College in New Testament studies. By the way, Tyler's note about where he was five years ago sounds eerily like our circumstances of about three years ago...

Five Songs I Know by Heart:

1. Jesus Loves Me
2. If I Had $1,000,000
3. Great Is Thy Faithfulness
4. O Canada
5. "Hockey Night in Canada" Theme Song (our other national anthem)

Five Things I Would Do with A Lot of Money/Five Places I Would Escape To/Five Favourite Toys: These all overlap, and involve the typical things like books and computers, exotic locations and biblical sites. To name some: a Mac Mini (revealing the secret fantasy of a long-time Windows user); the best editions of all the most relevant primary sources for New Testament studies and early Christianity in their original languages; an annual pilgrimage to a New Testament-related archaeological site, along with a side trip back to England to spend a week in the Bodleian and concluding with a week in a tropical paradise with my wife. In a more philanthropic vein, I would start a foundation which would provide funds for those in Christian church and parachurch ministries to be able to pursue higher education. This is desperately needed, at least in Canada.

Five People Who Are Now Tagged with This Meme: No, I can't bring myself to do it... Tyler, I'm afraid it stops here! :-)

exciting new information technology!

With Bookbuying Days (a.k.a. the SBL Annual Meeting) fast approaching, this is an appropriate time to post this (from FirstThings.com via Douglas Lewis):

B.O.O.K.

Introducing the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device—trade-named: BOOK.

BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It’s so easy to use, even a child can operate it.

Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere—even sitting in an armchair by the fire—yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM.

Here’s how it works: BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of recyclable paper, each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence.

Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now, BOOKS with more information simply use more pages. Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet.

BOOK may be taken up at any time and used merely by opening it.

BOOK never crashes or requires rebooting, though, like other devices, it can become damaged if coffee is spilled on it and it becomes unusable if dropped too many times on a hard surface. The “browse” feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an “index” feature, which pin-points the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval.

An optional “BOOKmark” accessory allows you to open BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session—even if the BOOK has been closed. BOOKmarks fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous BOOK markers can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited only by the number of pages in the BOOK. You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with optional programming tools, Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Styli (PENCILS).

Portable, durable, and affordable, BOOK is being hailed as a precursor of a new entertainment wave. BOOK’s appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking to invest. Look for a flood of new titles soon.

bloggers for hire redux

A few months ago I noted "Ivan Tribble's" article in the Chronicle of Higher Education warning academic job-seekers to stay away from the too-revealing world of blogging. I also noted Rebecca Goetz's response on her blog. Since then, the Blog Wars have heated up: "Tribble" has written a follow-up article in CHE, and Goetz has gotten her turn as well. Goetz's article is well worth reading, undoubtedly reflecting the experiences and thoughts of many an academic blogger: Do Not Fear the Blog. (HT: CA)

missing morality

Christianity Today has a thought-provoking article by David Gushee, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University.

Our Missing Moral Compass
Christianity is more than an event, an experience, or a set of beliefs.
by David P. Gushee

It reminds me of a statement by Kevin Vanhoozer that has stuck with me from his brilliant ETS plenary paper last year, "Lost in Interpretation: Scripture, Truth, and Hermeneutics" (now available in a book edited by Andreas Köstenberger): "The Christian life is a way where head and heart come together to get the feet moving."

like father, like son?

Our five-year old son has always said he wants to be a bus driver when he grows up. That all changed about a month ago when, without any warning, he informed us that bus driving is no longer his life's ambition. Riding buses in Birmingham will do that, I suppose, lurching and jolting the innocence of youthful dreams until they suddenly shatter.

No successor to this dream has been forthcoming, and we've been in suspense for weeks--until today. Just as suddenly as the previous dream vanished, the new one was announced: he wants to do what Daddy does.

Of course, that's the moment when any father bursts with pride. But I wanted to see just what he thinks I do. Hey, I'd like to know myself.

"Work," he said matter-of-factly.

"But what do I do for work?" I probed.

"You know, reading and studying and working on the computer."

That sounds like fun, I thought. "And teaching," I added.

"I'm not sure about the teaching," he said after a moment's reflection. Sometimes I'm not either, I thought, but I didn't say that out loud.

So now I know what it is that I do, and I'm officially my son's hero. Until he figures out that what Jarome Iginla does is a lot of fun too and pays a lot more money...

sbl, carg, and tbtsptwilt

That stands for "Society of Biblical Literature" (referring to the upcoming annual meeting in Philadelphia), "Computer Assisted Research Group" (referring to the upcoming session on biblioblogging), and "Too Busy To See Philadelphia The Way I'd Like To" (referring to the upcoming busyness of the upcoming weekend).

Mark Goodacre has several good posts with lots of good links related to the first two: Pre SBL Buzz - SBL CARG Biblioblog Session - Resources for SBL CARG Biblioblog Session - SBL CARG Biblioblog Session: Relevant Posts. This provides essential reading for anyone attending the CARG session and wanting to get up to speed on the issues and questions. I particularly like Mark's list of questions on what to discuss with the panel at the session, especially the last few:

How many more biblioblogs? I think there's always room for more blogs, and there are always more readers entering the world of the internet and the blogosphere. I do think, however, that an increase in blogging among academics, especially well-established scholars, would inevitably result in increased specialization and a blogging hierarchy, which would then result in a more well-defined readership among the various blogs. Even now, when I want to access the latest high-quality info and opinion on biblical studies matters, there are only a few blogs I'll go to. I read other blogs because they provide stimulating ideas, or clever commentary, or interesting "personality," or whatever. For my own blogging, all this means I can envision a time when this blog remains as it is, a sort of "Christian academic lite" blog with lots of links to academic- and faith-oriented material, but then I also start or collaborate on a more rigorously academic blog, presenting more in-depth reviews and commentary and research ideas. The former would likely continue to be read by persons with more of a "personal connection" to me, while the latter would be a more substantive contribution to the academic community.

What about team blogging? Following on the previous point, as the inevitable specialization occurs and academic blogging becomes "more academic," this sort of collaboration could increase substantially. The possibilities for this are tremendous, collaborating on a particular aspect of historical Jesus research, for example.

Can, and should, blogging become a teaching tool alongside classwork, coursework, and supplemental website work? Yes, it certainly can, as Jim Davila's Qumranica.com or Michael Homan's blogging has demonstrated. Whether it should or not depends on a host of factors, including available technology, particular course content and objectives, teacher and student interest and ability, and more. Intermural course blogging is one intriguing possibility worth exploring. For example, I can envision teaching my undergraduate course on Jesus and the Gospels in the same term as another blogging academic teaching a similar course, so we set up a blog which allows our students to interact with course ideas alongside students and faculty from both schools.

I noticed that Mark kindly mentioned my post on jesus and biblioblogging, history and theology in his reading list for the biblioblogging discussion in Philadelphia. I'm not sure if that post is worthy of such a recommendation, but I do still like my suggestion there for what we can do in the CARG at SBL while TBTSPTWILT: "Perhaps a good question to discuss at the Biblioblogging session at SBL is exactly the question of Mark's title: 'What would Jesus blog?' We could sift through the evidence from all extant sources looking for any oblique blogophile references in the Jesus tradition, vote on their authenticity, produce a reconstruction of 'Jesus the (Cynic?) Blogger,' and publish our findings for the public." :-)

Bibliobloggers of the world, unite! And see a little of Philadelphia if you can...

the latest expository times

The latest issue of The Expository Times is out and online: 1 December 2005; Vol. 117, No. 3.

the church mosaic dedication

While Goliath makes the news in the Hebrew Bible department, students of early Christianity continue to discuss the recently uncovered mosaic in the oldest church one of the oldest churches yet discovered. Brandon Wason offers a very helpful transcription and initial discussion of the dedication, Akeptus, the devout, dedicated the table to God, Jesus Christ, as a memorial: The Mosaic Inscription (Updated).

lest we forget

Today is November 11, Remembrance Day, and what better way to remember as a Canadian than by quoting the well-known poem by Canadian John McCrae, In Flanders Fields:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

conversion of a lost tribe

This is interesting for a host of reasons. For me in my New Testament-fixated brain it brings to mind questions of proselytizing in early Judaism, the history, nature, and extent of the diaspora, early Christian mission to India, and more:

Israel agrees not to convert 'lost tribe' in India
By Jonathan Saul
Reuters

university of lethbridge student conference

The following call for papers came across my inbox from Jim Linville at the University of Lethbridge. Western Canadian students in religious studies, take note!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
4th Annual
RESEARCH IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES CONFERENCE
HIGHLIGHTING THE FINEST STUDENT RESEARCH

Saturday, April 29 – Sunday, April 30, 2006
University of Lethbridge
Lethbridge, Alberta

The conference is an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate level students to present papers on the history, belief, practices, cultural contexts, and artistic or literary expressions of any religious tradition. Papers from every discipline within the academic fields of the humanities and social sciences are welcome.

It is open to students from any educational institute at any point in their educational career. Although we encourage PhD students to attend, we are particularly seeking papers by undergraduate and masters level students.

The conference will follow the format of professional meetings, and interested parties may make a proposal for a paper, special panel, or poster session.

Paper Sessions: Papers will typically be given a maximum of 30 mins (20 mins for the presentation and 10 mins for questions). Papers will be organized according to basic topic areas (e.g. Hinduism, Biblical Studies, Mythology, etc.). Diverse topic areas will be scheduled into an open paper session.

Panels may include a series of related papers and a single question period at the end, or responses by other contributors. You may propose a panel discussion, especially if you know other interested folk with a paper on a relevant topic (great for final year seminar courses). The earlier you make your proposal the better!

Poster Session: Whether you are presenting a paper or not, bring a poster highlighting your BA Honors paper, MA research (completed or planned), or other research project, and see if you can get some feedback. They will be prominently displayed and time will be scheduled to discuss the advertised projects with the folks who are willing to share ideas with those who are interested, curious, or just plain mystified.

You may propose a paper, special panel or poster online at our Dept. Website. Look for the link to the Call for Papers. http://www.uleth.ca/fas/relg/ (Deadline: March 24, 2006)

We will do our best to accept all deserving papers, and some may be accepted as they are received. All proposals will be adjudicated by March 31, 2006. Late submissions may be considered if schedule allows.

This year we will be charging a $5 registration fee to assist with expenses. On-line registration will be available January, 2006.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO DISCUSS PAPERS, SPECIAL SESSIONS, AND WHAT NOT, CONTACT:
Dr. James R. Linville
403-329-2537
james.linville@uleth.ca

witherington on evangelical theologies

Christianity Today has an interview with Ben Witherington on the problem with evangelical theologies, essentially a problem of exegetical weaknesses. It's a publicity piece for his new book, The Problem with Evangelical Theology: Testing the Exegetical Foundations of Calvinism, Dispensationalism, and Wesleyanism.

The Problem with Evangelical Theologies
Ben Witherington III thinks there is something fundamentally weak about each branch of the movement.
Interview by Mark Galli

latest review of biblical literature

Mark Goodacre has now posted the most recent batch of New Testament-related reviews from RBL: Review of Biblical Literature latest. Amazingly, he has performed this feat while treading water... :-)

ancient a b c's

Not in the immediate vicinity of New Testament studies, but still in the "pretty cool" department so worth a note here: a 10th century BCE carving of what appears to be an early version of the Hebrew alphabet: A is for Ancient. Other reports here and here. (HT: JD and JW)

rosson on mcknight's jesus and his death

Loren Rosson has provided a helpful post summarizing and reviewing Scot McKnight's recent book, Jesus and His Death: The Historical Lamb. Makes me want to move the book higher up my purchase priority list...

more on manuscript-specific commentary

Following up on the excellent suggestion by Michael Bird regarding commentaries focused on specific manuscripts rather than on a critically reconstructed text, Rick Brannan offers some helpful thoughts on what this might look like. I like the focus on the manuscript's place within broader text critical concerns, but I'd like to see more along the lines of the manuscript's place within its specific historical-geographical context, how its distinctives help us understand how the biblical documents within it were being read at that time and location. In other words, as I've noted before, I'd like to see such a commentary move into reception historical concerns, something which Rick's last bullet point only begins to address.

But I think I'm beating a dead horse with no one else around to hear... Uggh! That's quite a horrible image, really. And it leads to the standard philosophical question, "If someone beats a dead horse and no one is around to hear..." ;-)

spirituality in higher education

Inside Higher Ed has a story on the most recent National Survey on Student Engagement, commenting on the connection in the survey between students' "religious and spiritual behavior" and their positive progress and perspective in their overall educational experience: Praying for College Success. Make of it what you will... (HT: CH)

the oldest church?

In the "pretty cool" department, excavations in Israel's Megido area have uncovered the remains of what appears to be a church from the 3d or 4th century. Here's the article at Ynetnews: Ruins of ‘oldest church’ uncovered. And at Haaretz: Prison dig reveals church that may be the oldest in the world. (HT: Jim West)

more on narnia

With the Narnia film just around the corner, reviews and commentaries abound. A recent one in Newsweek (via CH) has this terrific characterization of the book on which the film is based: "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a slim, evocative book that always seems smaller than you remember, like a house you lived in as a kid." Isn't that the truth--there seems to be a whole Tolkien world in there, packed into a handful of short chapters...

haggard and the nae

There is an interesting article on Christianity Today's website on Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals and an "optimistic champion of ecumenical evangelism and free-market faith": Good Morning, Evangelicals! Much of interest there, both the head-nodding and eyebrow-raising kinds. And Haggard's exegesis and application of Galatians provides more of the latter...

baylor's new president

Baylor University has graced the pages of this blog before, in discussions on faith and learning in higher education. For those who are following the Battle for Baylor from a distance, as I am, you will be interested to know that Baylor has a new president, John M. Lilley, formerly president of the University of Nevada in Reno. For more commentary, see CT's weblog.

bloggers new and old

Some noteworthy happenings in biblioblogdom:

• Ben Myers' dissertation is to be published, entitled Milton's Theology of Freedom. Congratulations, Ben!
• There are a couple of new blogs of note: New Testament Roundtable by Mark Owen, and Evangelical Textual Criticism by Peter Head, Peter Williams, and others. Welcome!

the vatican on science and religion

A Vatican cardinal offers his perspective on appropriate dialogue between science and religion (AP via Beliefnet):

Vatican: Faithful Should Listen to Science
Associated Press

Vatican City, Nov. 3 - A Vatican cardinal said Thursday the faithful should listen to what secular modern science has to offer, warning that religion risks turning into "fundamentalism" if it ignores scientific reason. . . .

bird's text critical insanity

Michael Bird offers some musings on writing commentaries based on a single extant manuscript witness to a New Testament document rather than the normal approach of focusing on a critically reconstructed text of the document such as UBS4 or NA27:

I have this insane idea for biblical studies. Why is it when scholars write a commentary on a NT book that they inevitably use either UBS4 or NA27? The fact is that no extant manuscript conforms to the text of UBS4 or NA27 so they are writing a commentary on a manuscript that does not physically exist.

It's an excellent question. I put the following comment on his blog, and I thought I'd reproduce it here, my own rambling thoughts on the matter:

The goal of most modern exegetical commentaries is to offer a historical/theological reconstruction of the world behind the original text in order to illuminate the meaning of the original text itself, thus it needs a parallel text critical reconstruction of the original text to do so. Of course, as you point out correctly, this is only a reconstructed text, not any actual extant manuscript. But that doesn't invalidate that textual reconstruction any more than the historical/theological reconstruction is invalid. It just means we always must remember that, as Crossan said, everything is reconstruction.

If you focus on one extant manuscript, you are inevitably focusing on one precise historical situation beyond the time of the original text, because that version of the document reflects the way in which the document was read at that later time and situation. Again, this is not an illegitimate undertaking, but it should not be confused with offering an exegesis of a reconstructed original text in view of a historically/theologically reconstructed world behind that text. In this approach you are moving into Wirkungsgeschichte.

This distinction is, I think, especially true with the Gospels, which underwent some significant changes as they were transmitted in the first couple centuries (see D. Parker, The Living Text of the Gospels). This distinction may not be as helpful with the Pauline epistles.

My two pence, for what it's worth!

Update: Just to clarify, particularly in light of a comment by Michael Bird on the ETC blog and loosely quoting my own reply to Michael's comment there, any given extant manuscript is not necessarily closer to the original autograph than a critical textual reconstruction. In fact, if the canons of traditional textual criticism are at all correct, it is likely further from the original autograph than a critical textual reconstruction. Thus, if you want to do traditional exegesis of a Pauline document (based on reconstruction of the original historical/theological situation), then it seems to me you should use a critically reconstructed text as this has a stronger claim to representing the original document. (This, by the way, is profoundly different from source criticism where hypothetical source reconstructions should always be only supplementary to extant documents--but that's another post...) And, if you focus on a particular later manuscript, you should keep the orientation of the exegesis to matters of Wirkungsgeschichte, or reception history.

latest jshj and jsnt online

The latest issue of the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus is now online: 1 June 2005; Vol. 3, No. 2.

Also, the latest issue of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament is online: 1 December 2005; Vol. 28, No. 2.

Lots of stuff of interest in both: the JSHJ issue focuses on the resurrection; the JSNT issue has a focus on Luke-Acts, although Galatians and Pauline theology get in there as well.

anne rice's jesus book

Jim Davila has been following the news surrounding the new Anne Rice novel, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. He points to a recent interview with Rice on Beliefnet: Anne Rice: 'Stations on a Journey'. It sounds like the book could be an interesting read (I wonder if the apocryphal reconstruction of 'Jesus the spiteful child' appears in her book?), even if I'm unlikely to assign it on my Jesus and the Gospels course reading list... :-)

back on track?

Ahhh, that's much better! After 9 out of 13 games on the road in October (and a slow start to show for it), the Flames have 10 out of 13 games at home in November. Now maybe they can get back on track...

latest rbl reviews

After being "off the air" for a while, Mark Goodacre is back with a vengeance, and he provides his usual service of listing the New Testament-related Review of Biblical Literature book reviews: Review of Biblical Literature latest.

the world of narnia

Narnia is on my mind again. After reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a family a few months ago, we're now reading the whole Chronicles of Narnia. These are great worldview-shaping myths, where good is good and evil is evil, where heroes and heroines struggle through moral dilemmas and against immoral forces, where life is good and life is hard, where virtues are honoured and vices are shamed. Indeed, the magical stuff of Narnia feels very much like the ordinary stuff of earth, or at least the way it should be--just with a few more fauns and centaurs and talking hedgehogs...

Of course, the whole of this world knows that Narnia is coming to a theatre near you in December, and so Narnialia is everywhere. Here are some of the interesting sites and items I've come across lately:

• The official Disney movie website
• NarniaWeb
• Trailers and featurettes
• Christianity Today interviews with Douglas Gresham, stepson of C. S. Lewis and co-producer of the film: The Man Behind the Wardrobe and Narnia Comes to Life