Mark Goodacre just posted his thoughts on this at his ntgateway.com/weblog. He is basically responding to someone who thinks that academic blogging should have little to no affect on tenure decision. Goodacre thinks it can be a useful factor if the blog is a reasonable service to others and a successful way of getting criticism and feedback on one’s work in a webworld kind of way. Goodacre hints that he thinks academic blogging could also give a boost to a... Read more
I just came across a new title on NT theology, Nature of NT Theology: Essays in Honor of Robert Morgan (ed. by C. Tuckett et al.). The contributers make up a list of who’s-who in biblical studies: John Barton, A.Y. Collins, Philip Esler, Morna Hooker, Luke Timothy Johnson, Leander Keck, Ulrich Luz, Margaret MacDonald, John Muddimann, Reikki Raisanen, Christopher Rowland, Gerd Theissen, Christopher Tuckett, Francis Watson, and Frances Young. Amazon.com has this fully-searchable. Click Here. Read more
This is not a normal post here. I wish to pose an open question for others to respond to and I hope that it will benefit my own research and those who engage in the same sorts of issues that this question involves. QUESTION: How do we account for the Jewishness of Paul’s letters given that Paul is apostle to Gentiles? This is a question that pertains not only to Paul’s own influences in Judaism, but how he expected his... Read more
For those interested in SBL in Vienna this summer, the program has just recently been posted on the website: http://www.sbl-site.org/congresses/Congresses_ProgramBook.aspx?MeetingId=11. Our very own Rob Barrett, Loren Stuckenbruck and Elena Narinskaya will be presenting (as well as yours truly). What I am most excited about is a session on Jesus with a panel of expert scholars from around the world (the world meaning Europe and America…) Christopher Tuckett, University of Oxford Jesus and the Sabbath (45 min) Heikki Räisänen, University of... Read more
I received a question about learning German and I thought I could present my thoughts in this post. Question #1: How do Durham students learn German?? Let me say, right away, there is no ‘norm’. It sounds very post-modern, but its all about you, your learning style, and your needs in terms of your thesis. But, that having been said, there are some popular choices. First, this past year a study here (who is excellent at German) was offering some... Read more
I have had a few chats now with folks here as to whether it is wise to send your own books to England for use during your doctoral studies. I offer my own thoughts here. When I was still at Gordon-Conwell, I asked a Gordon College prof who studied at Aberdeen if I should ship my books. He said that he went with only a handful of books (4-5? mostly monographs) and did not feel like he ever regretted that. ... Read more
This past weekend I read a paper at the OT in NT Seminar (conveniently) located in Durham. As it was my first, I was very nervous, but the group is warm and encouraging and the criticisms were irenic and constructive. That having been said, I can share some observations about what I saw regarding other papers and about my own experience. 1. Write a short enough paper that you feel the freedom to talk slowly. Talk so slowly that it... Read more
During a dinner at the OT in NT seminar, I was able to pick the brain of Maurice Casey about his experience supervising students. He himself studied many years ago at Durham under C.K. Barrett and made a name for himself in Gospels studies (and he is now retired). I thought I might share his wisdom with you, for whatever its worth. I asked him, ‘In your opinion, when you reflect on some of your favorite or “best” students, what... Read more
These last three days I have attended the Seminar on the Use of the Old Testament in the New. This year, as in years past, it is a relatively small group of mostly expert scholars and a few students. I was blessed to have interacted with Lionel and Wendy Sproston North, Paul Ellingworth, Maurice Casey, Ruth Edwards and others, as well as the organisers: Maarten Menken and Steve Moyise. The total attendees were certainly less than twenty, but this made... Read more
For those interested in the Old Testament in the New, I was just informed that the papers read at the 2006 annual SBL conference are posted on Bruce Fisk’s website: www.westmont.edu/~fisk/paulandscripture/Papers.html Papers were presented by NT scholars such as Steve Moyise, Stanley Porter and Christopher Stanley. Though I have not read them yet, the titles look very stimulating. Even if you are just learning more about Paul’s letter audience(s) and their background(s), these papers are worth a look. I am... Read more
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