George Clooney likes politically themed movies.  And he has done some fine ones in the past  (see Good Night, and Good Luck).  And this particular movie, just released, is set in northern Kentucky and Cinci,  Kentucky being George’s home turf.    The scenario is plausible, the setting is a primary (finally a movie that has good timing), and the cast is absolutely an A list cast.   Furthermore the plot is tight, and it has several twists and turns.   What’s… Read more

http://uk.io9.com/5805358/the-story-behind-the-worlds-oldest-museum-built-by-a-babylonian-princess-2500-years-ago?skyline=true&s=i Read more

“Calling upon the name of the Lord” by larryhurtado In the continuing discussion about earliest Christian devotional practice and beliefs, especially how Jesus figured in them, a work that has not received the attention I think it deserves is this one.  I’ve cited it a number of times, and have had occasion to consult it again in connection with a current essay-project. Carl Judson Davis, The Name and Way of the Lord:  Old Testament Themes and New Testament Christology (Sheffield:  Sheffield Academic Press, 1996). The jump-off… Read more

The house was sold out, and it was the gala opening of the symphony season for the Lexington Philharmonic.  But it was not the opening of just any season, but of the 50th season of this symphony orchestra.  Lexington is very fortunate, as a city of 330,000 to have a full-fledged symphony and to have it supported so well for a half century. Of course part of this is that because of the fine music degrees and programs at U.K…. Read more

What Happens when a Leftist Philosopher Discovers God? Peter Berger Society is the social science journal superbly edited by Jonathan Imber. In its fall issue it carries an article by Philippe Portier (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris), entitled “Religion and Democracy in the Thought of Juergen Habermas”. Coincidentally, in a recent issue of the German news magazine Der Spiegel, Habermas is on a list of German celebrity intellectuals who pop up continuously in the media. (The list includes… Read more

Thanks Elizabeth.  There are no self-made persons in this country. And there would be no social fabric to this country were it not for taxes— no roads, no fire department, no police department, no traffic lights, no garbage collectors,  etc.  And as Elizabeth says, we have an obligation to those who come after us, to pay it forward.  For example, we need enough money in the S.S. system so my children will have it when their day comes to need… Read more

First of all, you need to hurry on down to the Middle of the northern island in New Zealand. It’s only about 25 hours of flying from the eastern part of the U.S.  but well worth it.  Secondly,  you need to find Oamaru, and in particular a little road in hilly country where you will see various sheep farms (yes its true— in New Zealand the sheep out number the people about 10 to 1).   When you get there you… Read more

(the following is a helpful post by Larry Hurtado) Scholarly Amnesia on Paul larryhurtado | September 21, 2011 at 12:02 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pYZXr-cf Unintentionally having created a controversy that (in the words of one blogger) went “viral”, with what I presumed was the modest contention that those seeking a PhD in NT/Christian Origins should be able to read the Greek NT, and should also be able to engage at least scholarship in English, German and French, I will also reiterate… Read more

A Very Jewish Jesus by larryhurtado Further to my previous posting concerning Sean Freyne’s excellent review of scholarship on first-century Galilee, I highlight here another of the valuable articles in the sample issue of the new journal, Early Christianity (vol. 1, 2010, issue 3):  Roland Deines (Professor of NT in Nottingham University), “Jesus and teh Jewish Traditions of His Time” (pp. 344-71). Deines has previous important contributions of his own to the topic of his essay, starting with his doctoral thesis, which focused… Read more

Students of the Greek New Testament are sometimes alarmed to discover that while their Nestle-Aland Greek Text, or their UBS Greek text is quite readable, when one actually looks at photos of ancient manuscripts, even the best student has great trouble reading them!   Why? The reasons are twofold: 1) scriptum continuum is used, a continuous flow of Greek letters without separation of words, and  2) the use of abbreviations for nomina sacra,  abbreviations for sacred names and terms. Here a… Read more