When students turn to the internet for information, and end up using material that isn’t scholarly in their essays, who is to blame? If the students have been given guidance about where to look, and in particular using databases and scholarly sources, then they must shoulder some, even much, of the blame. But I wonder whether those who present their claims as facts around the web, without sources or citations, without evidence, without acknowledgment of opposing views except perhaps to dismiss... Read more

Christian Beyer at the blog Sharp Iron shares images depicting a number of different Jesuses popular in our time. Take a look. Here’s a sample, which bears the caption “Jesus is my co-pilot”: Read more

By some good fortune I have ended up with two copies of Dale Allison’s new book, Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History (Baker Academic, 2010). The publisher has said they are happy for me to give the book to another blogger to review, or to have a giveaway. Since many readers of this blog are themselves bloggers, and those who are not could still write a review on Amazon or some other such site, I soon realized that it is possible... Read more

In searching for an image to go with the last post, I found a site called Young Jesus Chronicles (dedicated to a book by the same title) which included the cartoon below (which I may include in powerpoints in the future when talking about the Gospels): “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, see me after class. Your book reports are surprisingly similar.” Read more

Although I have had to decline any significant committment of time to the project, I applaud Tom Verenna’s recent expression of a desire to bring greater clarity to the topic of mythicism. To briefly chime in, I understand “mythicism” to mean the belief that Jesus is best viewed as having been invented from scratch, or from a palette of mythical ideas and figures that themselves seem to not be based in historical events. It also maintains that our earliest sources... Read more

Stephen Garner shared information about The Bible Online, a new real-time strategy game, as well as a variety of teaching and learning links. Matt Page gives tips on incorporating video clips into powerpoint presentations. Also somewhat related, here in Indiana, at Purdue University, there will be a conference about the history of that older technology, the book. Read more

Daniel Kirk points out that the University of Durham in England is looking for a lecturer in New Testament. Durham is a wonderful city and I enjoyed living and studying there, and so I suspect some lucky person will also enjoy teaching there! Read more

It is very scary when someone can get so far as a political candidate and not know the gist of what is in the first amendment, since the heart of the oath one takes when sworn into office is to uphold the Constitution. HT Unreasonable Faith for the video below showing Christine O’Donnell’s reactions when she finds out what is in the Bill of Rights: There is some discussion of this on Christian blogs at Jesus Creed and The Lead.... Read more

I suspect that many universities and many other organizations are discussing or have adopted what are being called “consumer-driven health plans” (CDHPs). They have in common that they have a much higher deductible than traditional insurance, and are linked to a health savings account (HSA). The plans differ in their cost, whether you are covered at 100% once you’ve paid your deductible, whether the employer or employee or both pays into the HSA, and many other specifics. Obviously those specifics will... Read more

Over at the Mandaean Book of John translation project blog, my collaborator Charles Haberl has posted the first in a series of blog posts on what may be the most challenging section of the Book of John: the Soulfisher. The translation difficulties are such that Mark Lidzbarski, who translated the Book of John into German in the early 20th century, almost abandoned the project because of this section. Take a look and find out why – and why the present... Read more