Religion, Medicine, Disability, and Health in Late Antiquity First Book Workshop

Last updated on: August 8, 2019 at 6:41 pm By James F. McGrath

ReMeDHe First Book Workshop May 2020, Chicago, IL (directly prior to the North American Patristics Society annual meeting) DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: September 6, 2019 The international working-group ReMeDHe (Religion, Medicine, Disability, and Health in late antiquity) invites applications for its 2020 First Book Workshop. The workshop gives two early- career scholars the opportunity to receive feedback on their dissertation (or draft of their first book), as well as tips on publication, from senior and junior colleagues who work on similar... Read more

Underrepresented Perspectives on Forgiveness #CFP

Last updated on: August 8, 2019 at 6:34 pm By James F. McGrath

Vernon Press: The Philosophy of Forgiveness Series Underrepresented Perspectives on Forgiveness Edited by: Court D. Lewis Call for Book Chapter Proposals Vernon Press invites book chapter proposals to be included in a forthcoming scholarly volume on underrepresented perspectives on forgiveness, including those that appear in books, art, and other forms of visual (and/or popular) media. All philosophically-based schools of thought are encouraged to submit. Other disciplines are encouraged to submit, as long as the chapter contains a clear philosophical... Read more

Call for Abstracts: His Dark Materials and Philosophy #CFP

Last updated on: July 16, 2019 at 4:09 pm By James F. McGrath

On the Popular Culture and Philosophy blog: Call for Abstracts: His Dark Materials and Philosophy Richard Greene & Rachel Robison-Greene, Editors Abstracts are sought for a collection of philosophical essays related to the Philip Pullman trilogy and soon-to-be HBO series His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass/Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass). This volume will be published by Open Court Publishing (the publisher of The Simpsons and Philosophy, The Matrix and Philosophy, Dexter and Philosophy, The Walking Dead and Philosophy, The Handmaid’s Tale... Read more

Doctor Who: The Creature from the Pit

Last updated on: July 17, 2019 at 8:47 am By James F. McGrath

Time to get back to (and hopefully wrap up) blogging through the classic series of Doctor Who. For those who’ve been following along, I still have a few Tom Baker episodes left to cover. And so let’s resume with “The Creature from the Pit.” This episode can be challenging to watch simply because of the fact that the voice actor who provides the voice of K-9 is different than in previous episodes, and it takes some serious getting used to.... Read more

What Jesus Learned from a Woman Accused of Committing Adultery Alone

Last updated on: July 16, 2019 at 9:34 am By James F. McGrath

I have consistently been one of those who said that all questions are worth asking, and should be welcomed, when others have tried to ignore questions that were felt to be too awkward, and silence those who dared to ask them. But I didn’t feel that was actually true in all instances. I thought some questions were simply unanswerable and that that meant that we weren’t meant to ask them. One such question was the classic one about John 8:... Read more

Rethinking Core and Liberal Education

Last updated on: July 19, 2019 at 8:05 pm By James F. McGrath

Debates about the liberal arts and American higher education continue. Here are some recent significant articles and other online commentary about the topic. Ramon Torecilha wrote: The classic liberal arts education is as relevant as ever. To make the successful transition from student to professional, women and men need to think critically, problem-solve, persuade others, and “read the room.” These “universal skills” are imperative. Resistance cannot be tweeted Tulsa’s liberal arts cuts. Disadvantages and dangers of making cuts to the... Read more

Evidence, Authorship, and Humor

Last updated on: July 15, 2019 at 9:50 am By James F. McGrath

Sometimes the Babylon Bee’s satire has me laughing hysterically, as a former conservative Evangelical (and/or as a sci-fi fan). And sometimes it has me shaking my head in dismay at how dismally unfunny and off-target its attempts at humor can be. In one recent example in the latter category, they decided to cast aspersions on historical critical scholarship, without apparently understanding those methods or those who use them, never mind their usefulness and value. The piece envisages an academic author... Read more

#CFP : Essays on SyFy Channel Original Films

Last updated on: July 15, 2019 at 8:59 am By James F. McGrath

Prehistoric Monsters, Environmental Disasters, and Shark Weather: Interdisciplinary Interrogations of the SyFy Original Films Edited by Mitch Ploskonka and Justin Wigard (MSU) This collection’s goal is to devote critical attention to an understudied avenue of popular culture: Sci-Fi/SyFy Channel’s original films. Since 2002, Sci-Fi/SyFy Channel’s production company, Sci-Fi Pictures, has created over 200 original films, spawning such franchises as the Sharknado andLavalantua series alongside cult/fan favorites like Ghost Shark, Ice Spiders, and Mongolian Death Worm. Sharknado’s release in 2013 saw unprecedented popularity for one of SyFy’s creature... Read more

Announcing the Theology, Religion and Popular Culture Review #CFP

Last updated on: August 1, 2019 at 7:29 am By James F. McGrath

The Theology, Religion and Popular Culture Network will be starting the TRPC Review, a short online publication which will feature useful information to members, including book reviews, conference reports, research notes, and upcoming call for papers. We are currently requesting submissions of the following: •Book reviews – 750-1000 words •Conference reports – 500-750 •Research notes – a short overview of research or collective literature reviews on a subject; keep to 1000-1500 •Any upcoming call for papers Please send all submissions to... Read more

PhD position in Syriac Studies

Last updated on: July 20, 2019 at 11:13 pm By James F. McGrath

Via the Hugoye list: A four-year PhD position in Syriac Studies, funded by Ghent University’s Special Research Fund (BOF), is available within Ghent University’s Department of History (Belgium), with an application deadline of 10 September 2019. Further details below. The position is funded by the research project ‘History and authority in Syriac excerpt collections and beyond’ (Prof. P. Van Nuffelen, Dr. M. Mazzola, Dr. A. Hilkens). Combining intellectual history with material philology, this project studies the authority attributed to histories... Read more

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