I must say at the outset that I am very very picky when it comes to Sherlock Holmes stories by someone other than the originator, Conan Doyle. I mean I have the fully annotated Baring-Gould edition of all the original stories as they appeared in the Strand with the original pictures. There have been some good further adventure stories, including the recent film Mr. Holmes starring Ian McKellen as the old Holmes in retirement trying to solve one unresolved case… Read more

So whilst here in Waco for six weeks, one has time to sample the local ‘culture’, I use the term loosely. There is indeed culture here at Baylor, but so far as the town goes…. well, there is the food culture. Look closely at the picture above. Yep, the name of that restaurant is Health Camp, proudly serving greasy burgers and onion rings since 1949. On the plus side…. they have about 50 different choices of excellent milk shakes and… Read more

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It was Einstein, no less, who said, ‘either everything is a miracle, or nothing is a miracle’. I understand this sentiment, but of course to most people, if you use the word ‘miracle’ you’re talking about something that is not by any means an everyday occurrence. The dictionary has defined the term variously (e.g. ‘an event which violates the laws of nature’, ‘an event that is inexplicable in scientific terms’ and so on). The word miracle is for the most… Read more

Q6a.BEN: One factor that I would say your analysis overlooks in dealing with 1 Tim. 2.8-15 is that Paul is correcting existing problems— the men are grumbling, the women are over-dressing and interfering with whoever is (presumably Timothy) the person Paul left behind as leader and teacher of these new converts. The problem is an abuse of the privilege of teaching, when in fact the women in question first need to be quiet and listen and learn, and be in… Read more

The Top 10 Help people hate each other: Divorce Lawyer (Scott Adams’ favorite) Stand on a field and get yelled at for hours: Baseball Umpire Talk in other people’s sleep: College Professor Call people who know what they’re doing and ask them what they’re doing: Incident Manager Show people how beautiful the Earth would be without them: Mountain Landscape Photographer/Climber Make people feel bad about their work: Quality Assurance Tester Repeatedly fix what you repeatedly break: IT Director Clean up… Read more

Scott Adams is a very talented cartoonist who gives us Dilbert day after day. He has a pleasant wacky and wry sense of humor. And now he has offered us— Name that Job Performer! This email will give you the long list, and we’ll save the top ten for tomorrow. Read things that don’t matter, then write papers saying they do matter, for points that don’t matter, in order to get a job doing something totally unrelated: Student Take numbers… Read more

My Baylor friend Prof. Philip Jenkins has some good thoughts about the OT….. and I reprint his post here….. Numbering the Old Testament: 22, 24 , 39, or more? March 21, 2016 by Philip Jenkins 0 Comments Over the past couple of years my work has often brought me back to the writings of Josephus, and I just wanted to describe one Biblical-related problem that arises there. I claim little originality in what I am writing here, but am rather… Read more

Q5.BEN: I found your analysis of 1 Tim. 2.8-15 fascinating, and you may well be right that some high status Gentile women in the church were expecting, right off the bat, to be able to play the same roles in the church they had played, or knew were played by women, in the cult of Artemis. The critique of their apparel may well suggest that they were imitating the clothing protocols of women in the cult of Artemis, right down… Read more