Yesterday was the last day of AAR/SBL for me. I read a paper on Philippians 2:6-11, considering the relevance of intertextuality, orality, and persuasive rhetoric for how we understand the text, including its Christology and the relation thereof to monotheism.
I also had a chance to get to the one paper on the program about Doctor Who, focused on the Mara episode sequence (“Kinda” and “Snakedance”) and its use of Western stereotypes of Buddhism and of ideas and imagery from more than one tradition blended together.
In the evening I went to the Wipf and Stock reception, which, like the rest of the conference, afforded wonderful opportunities to catch up with old friends and meet other people for the first time, including Jack Levison, who recently started blogging at Patheos. Wipf and Stock is the American distributor of the book I co-edited on religion and Doctor Who, as well as my earlier edited volume on religion and science fiction.
After that I went with friends to see “The Day of the Doctor” in a movie theater. It wasn't sold out for the 10pm showing but it was impressively full for that time on a Monday night. There was at least one person wearing a fez and at least one more with a sonic screwdriver.
To all those traveling back from the conference today, and indeed to all those traveling anywhere today, I wish you safe travels!
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