The Bible and Interpretation has published a response I wrote to Raphael Lataster’s article that recently appeared there. His article is called “Questioning Jesus’ Historicity” and my response is called “Exorcising Mythicism’s Sky Demons.” Here is an excerpt from towards the end of the article: In case it may not be as clear to members of the general public as it is to academics, the mere publication of a book that makes the case for a particular viewpoint in no... Read more
When new technology makes a skill more essential than ever, I don’t think we can blame the technology for widespread laziness. True, it is easier than ever to ask a question and get an instant answer. But when, whether, and why one should or should not trust the answer one receives from Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, crowdsourcing, phoning a friend, or any other source is an important and obvious question that everyone ought to have been asking already, and merely continued... Read more
From the article in Salon about Dick’s turn to Christianity (famously of not just a vague Gnostic sort, but quite specifically Valentinianism): These science-fiction devotees had more influence on the cultural explosion of the sixties than is usually acknowledged. Indeed, one of the secret histories of the era is the migration of some very idiosyncratic bohemian writers from the tiny world of science-fiction fanzines into the emerging rock press, where they exerted an outsize influence on the vibrant spunk of the... Read more
In this video, Rob Orlando (maker of the documentary Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe and author of the book by the same name) suggests that Paul was inclined towards fanaticism – and like many who switch their allegiance from one group to another, even (or perhaps especially) a diametrically opposed one, he remained as fanatical as a Christian as he had been as a non-Christian Pharisee. He was just fanatical about something different. What do you think? I think this... Read more
Another call for papers about Good Omens came to my attention: Editors: Erin M. Giannini and Amanda Taylor Written as a collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens(1990) had an active and long-term fanbase before the debut of the Amazon Prime miniseries. Its adaptation, brought to fruition by Gaiman as a promise to Pratchett before Pratchett’s 2015 death, however, has not only brought new fans into the fold, but increased the visibility of the original text. This collection seeks... Read more
From the Popular Culture and Philosophy blog: Call for Abstracts: Neon Genesis Evangelion and Philosophy Edited by Christian Cotton and Andrew M. Winters When most people think of anime, they think of large eyed adolescents fighting fearsome monsters. While this is partly the case for Neon Genesis Evangelion, this is only a surface understanding of the show. Beyond the fearsome monsters and bio-machine Evangelions, the show explores the depths of the psyches of the adolescents when they become the very... Read more
Another topic that I cover in my class on the Bible and Music is the use of the Bible in children’s songs. I also had a student make excellent use of a children’s retelling of the biblical account of David and Goliath in crafting a song on the subject. It hadn’t struck me until they did so that this could be a useful technique in the process of trying to create a song about a biblical text. If one isn’t... Read more
Popular Cultural Association: Education, Teaching, History & Popular Culture Call for Papers The Area of Education, Teaching, History and Popular Culture is now accepting submissions for the 2020 Popular Culture Association National Conference to be held April 15 – 18 at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown (https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/phldt-philadelphia-marriott-downtown/). For detailed information please see https://pcaaca.org/conference. Educators, librarians, archivists, scholars, independent researchers and graduate students are encouraged to apply. Undergraduates are reminded that there is an entire area devoted to undergraduate presentations in which they... Read more
When it comes to the subject of Jesus learning from women, the Syro-Phoenician or Canaanite woman who appears in the Gospels is the one example that most people (although by no means all) would point to as an example. The story certainly seems to many readers to involve Jesus having an encounter with a woman in which he learns something from her that changes his perspective. Many are uncomfortable with this notion, to be sure, whether because they don’t think... Read more
Mary Harrsch has programmed Alexa to be able to speak to students as though they are talking to Caesar: I received word from Amazon that the newest version of my FREE educational Alexa skill, “Caesar’s Ancient World” has been certified. This latest version of the skill includes 280 images of ancient art from almost 100 institutions worldwide for those of you with Alexa-enabled devices with displays like the Echo Show, Echo Spot and FireTV. Of course the voice-only version remains available... Read more
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