I watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 quite a bit after it came out, but watching movies was one of the things I set aside during my sabbatical. I’m glad I didn’t forget to go back to it and get caught up, because as you’ll know if you’ve seen it, the movie is explicitly theological in its message in very interesting ways. That’s vague enough to not constitute a spoiler, but I’ll say at this point that in what follows... Read more
I will be doing an AMA on Reddit on Friday, October 13th at 1pm EST. This won’t excite you much if you are a regular reader of my blog, I imagine, since you could always ask me anything right here. Still, feel free to join in, and to help spread the word. Here’s the link for your convenience: [AMA Announcement] Dr. James McGrath | October 13 – 1pm EST byu/Mormon-No-Moremon inAcademicBiblical I would also like to implore my regular blog... Read more
In my class on the Bible and Music, one of the topics is bringing texts together from different parts of the Bible into a new work, in which those fragments have a new context and thus take on a new meaning. We look at examples such as Handel’s Messiah, Brahms’ Requiem, Dave Brubeck’s The Gates of Justice, and Herbert Howells’ Hymnus Paradisi. It provides an opportunity to think about what is involved in this process, and how it relates not... Read more
My latest fun interaction with Chat-GPT was prompted by an assignment in my course on the Bible and Music. One of the activities is a scavenger hunt in which students look for allusions to the Bible in popular music. I mentioned Chat-GPT as likely to produce results that could be usefully different from what one finds by asking Google and then following links. I also mentioned that it would likely generate songs that do not exist and/or list songs that... Read more
I am continuing to experiment with, and attend workshops and seminars about, the use of AI in higher education. I don’t think that a tool like ChatGPT can serve as a reliable and effective tutor in the humanities, if by tutor we mean someone who can be a helpful with regard to information and methods, two things that an AI has no capacity to provide. However, in a recent workshop at my university I was led in the direction of some... Read more
I had a delightful conversation with Elliot Saxton on his Brave New History YouTube channel. At the end we emphasized that we were having the conversation on Earth (poking fun at mythicists who insist that Paul in his letters assumed certain things happened in heaven, since he didn’t explicitly say otherwise). That led to the suggestion that we should have the next conversation in space, which in turn led to some geekiness as I pulled a Star Trek model off... Read more
For those who were puzzled by my previous blog post, it is a glimpse at what just appeared in the latest preview catalogue of the publisher Humanitas, one of the biggest publishers in Romania and one that specializes in humanities topics like history, religion, philosophy, and biography. My book What Jesus Learned from Women is being published in Romanian, which is a particular delight. You probably know that I taught in Romania for three years and have visited far more... Read more
Din catalogul editurii Humanitas, toamna 2023: James F. McGrath pune o întrebare care cu siguranță că îi va scandaliza pe unii cititori. Isus, Fiul lui Dumnezeu întrupat, Învățătorul prin excelență, Atotștiutorul, cel care a venit să-i învețe pe oameni calea mântuirii, să aibă ceva de învățat de la oameni? Și, mai ales, de la femei? Autorul pornește de la premisa că Isus a fost om adevărat, personaj istoric real, împărtășind condiția umană, dezvoltându-se și acumulând cunoștințe ca orice alt om.... Read more
If you are connected with me on social media you are probably aware of my book The A to Z of the New Testament which will be in bookshops from October but pre-orders of which will probably ship this month. My advance author copy arrived yesterday (see the photo at the end of this post). The book is designed to be fun, to offer an enjoyable way of learning what scholars know about the New Testament. Remember when learning was... Read more
I’ve been doing my best to explore the possibilities and limits of AI text and image creation technologies, as you know. The release of Donald Trump’s mugshot provided a perfect opportunity to some more experimenting with tools like Dall-E and NightCafe. What, I wondered, would it look like if I asked them to produce a mugshot of Jesus. The main thing that prompted that line of thought (other than just the way my mind jumps from one thing to something... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In