Oh the Humanities!

Last updated on: June 25, 2019 at 11:12 pm By James F. McGrath

Perhaps the place to begin this post that meanders through the liberal arts, liberal education, humanities, core curriculum, and the relationship of all of the above to higher education in general, is with the news that Oxford University received an incredibly large gift that the donor explicitly earmarked for the humanities. I’ll also mention the news about Carnegie Mellon’s dedication of funds to provide free technological tools to support education – read more about their OpenSimon Toolkit on the Carnegie Mellon website.... Read more

Echo Chambers and Polarization

Last updated on: June 25, 2019 at 11:04 pm By James F. McGrath

Here’s a round-up of some recent pieces addressing political and other forms of ideological polarization. How Does Belief Polarization Work? An article in The Atlantic looked at attacks on liberal democracy by conservative religious voices. Survey: Most white evangelicals blame journalists for fake news Psychologists and anti-science beliefs The Academic Minute recently focused on how to bridge divides so as to make common cause on social issues Facebook created our culture of echo chambers—and it killed the one thing that could... Read more

Update on Paul the Apostle: The Final Verdict

Last updated on: June 27, 2019 at 1:00 pm By James F. McGrath

Robert Orlando made an excellent movie about the apostle Paul 5 years ago, subtitled A Polite Bribe. He has been working on a sequel, which will have the subtitle The Final Verdict. Recently, Rob sent me an update and shared the following with me: When I first started on the Apostle Paul Sequel, The Final Verdict, I met with talk show host Ron Way for an in depth conversation on the story. He is very knowledgable on the subject and... Read more

The Varves Cry Out

Last updated on: June 27, 2019 at 12:57 pm By James F. McGrath

I had the pleasure of meeting Ken Wolgemuth when he visited Indianapolis for the Geological Society of America conference last year. It was a cool experience and I shared photos on social media at that time, noting that NASA doesn’t have a booth at the conferences I attend. His booth at the conference focused on addressing the claims of young-earth creationists about geology. He was particularly excited about work that he had been doing on varves. What are varves, you... Read more

#CFP Theology and the DC Universe

Last updated on: June 25, 2019 at 11:11 pm By James F. McGrath

CFP: Theology and the DC Universe Over the last several years, scholars have demonstrated the saliency of popular culture as a site for the academic study of religion, in areas including video games, science fiction, film, and comics. The study of religion and comics is flourishing with several monographs, edited volumes, and articles having come out in the last several years. As of yet, there has not been any sustained focus and investigation of the religion and theology in the DC... Read more

Batman and Theology #CFP

Last updated on: June 25, 2019 at 11:27 am By James F. McGrath

CFP: Theology and Batman Editors: Matthew William Brake and Rev. C. K. Robertson, Ph.D. In 2019, Batman turned 80 years old. First appearing in Detective Comics #27, that famous title hit #1000 back in March. Since his debut, Batman has been a cultural force across multiple medium, whether in the comics that spawned him, the 1960s campy television series, the animated series in the 1990s, or the movies of Tim Burton, Zack Snyder, and especially Christopher Nolan. With Warner Brothers set to debut a... Read more

Exploring The Orville #CFP #CFA

Last updated on: June 21, 2019 at 3:12 pm By James F. McGrath

Call for Abstracts Exploring The Orville Edited by David Kyle Johnson and Michael Berry McFarland Publishing Please circulate and post widely. Apologies for cross posting. Although it was first expected to just be “Spaceballs for Star Trek,” Seth MacFarlane’s science fiction series The Orville has proved to be much more. In a way, The Orville is a cross between M*A*S*H and Star Trek; it intermixes serious social commentary and philosophical arguments with one liners and comedy bits brought to... Read more

#CFP The Ends of Manuscripts

Last updated on: June 17, 2019 at 4:59 pm By James F. McGrath

This call for papers has a great theme: Marco Manuscript Workshop 2020 “The Ends of Manuscripts” January 31-February 1, 2020 Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies The University of Tennessee, Knoxville The fifteenth annual Marco Manuscript Workshop will take place Friday, January 31, and Saturday, February 1, 2020, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The workshop is organized by Professors Maura K. Lafferty (Classics) and Roy M. Liuzza (English), and is hosted by the Marco Institute for Medieval and... Read more

AI and Other Tech News and #CFP

Last updated on: June 21, 2019 at 9:12 pm By James F. McGrath

Due to my current research interests, I am keeping an even closer eye on news about the intersection of technology and ethics than I normally would. Here is a round up of some things that I thought were interesting. If you’re an academic, don’t miss the calls for papers at the end! Robots arrive on campus Church of England updates prayer book to include prayers about the internet Why a climate activist is concerned about AI and other technology BBC... Read more

Sci-Fi, Superhero, Game, and Cinematic #CFP Round-Up

Last updated on: June 21, 2019 at 3:14 pm By James F. McGrath

So many calls for papers came to my attention, that I thought it better to gather them in a blog post than to circulate them separately on social media. But first, a few links that are also germane to this topic. Let me start with one about Octavia Butler, since today would have been her 72nd birthday: The Grand Cultural Influence of Octavia Butler Now here are some more links to articles related to the topics of the numerous calls... Read more

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