One classic of progressive rock is Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s Karn Evil 9 First Impression Part Two. Progressive rock is known for its long songs, and this one is no exception – and it has a long, multi-part title as well. But I doubt there’s anyone who has never heard this part of it: Other parts are more impressive and more difficult works for keyboard (and there is a great resource called The Piano Bench with transcriptions of the music... Read more

Jeremy at Free Old Testament Audio Blog shared this video of Regina Spektor singing her song “Laughing With”: I had never heard the song before, but agree with Jeremy, who wrote that “This is probably one of the best, most thought provoking songs I’ve heard in a very long time. It reflects the human heart’s need and longing for God, but also the perversions that make God a joke to many people.” It seems to hit the balance just about... Read more

Many of you know that probably the all-time most visited page on my blog is a solution to a problem with Windows Vista, namely getting a black screen after you log in. Having suffered with Vista, I have been eager to try Windows 7, which so far is getting good reviews as, if nothing else, a vast improvement on Vista. Today, however, someone found their way to my blog having searched for keywords related to Windows 7, black screen and... Read more

Having read Mark Goodacre’s The Case Against Q, I followed up by reading the volume he co-edited with Nicholas Perrin, Questioning Q. It contains a lot of interesting and intriguing studies, but part of the problem with the study of the Synoptic Gospels and their interrelationship is that, as with the historical Jesus, it is hard to make a convincing case about the whole picture by studying individual pieces of the puzzle. And so a book like this, however useful,... Read more

I received an e-mail today from the Society of Biblical Literature about a new volume that I think is really interesting – and not just because I’m one of the contributors! The question of what if anything historians can do with the Fourth Gospel has received a lot of attention, but developments in Johannine studies, historical study of Jesus, and other related areas of investigation have certainly led to some interesting fresh insights, many of which are represented in this... Read more

They’ve successfully rebooted Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. They made a stab at Bionic Woman and Knight Rider. V is soon to appear on ABC. And so it was only a matter of time until biblioblogs.com got rebooted as well. John Hobbins has the latest on this, including a draft of criteria for inclusion. Those posts can also be found on biblioblogs.com itself, which is intended as an aggregate for feeds from blogs related to academic Biblical studies. I’ve agreed... Read more

Butler University is currently searching for a new Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The advertisement has now appeared on both the university and the college web sites, and I thought I’d mention it here, since you or someone you know might be interested in the position! Read more

For those who don’t get the pun, BAR – that is, Biblical Archaeology Review – has an article in their latest issue which can also be read online, about the Secret Gospel of Mark. It is by Charles W. Hedrick and the title is “‘Secret Mark’: An Amazing Discovery” BAR 35:06, Nov/Dec 2009. Read more

Given that my sense of humor is extremely “Onionesque”, I don’t know why I continued for so long to rely on others to fill me in on the latest “news” from that wonderful satirical source. I’ve now subscribed, but I am grateful to John Wilkins for drawing to my attention the recent piece about how Scientology is losing ground to a new competitor, Fictionology. The article is satire, but I think it can provide a starting point for some interesting... Read more

I just received this notification and thought I’d share it: The School of Divinity at St Mary’s College, St Andrews, Scotland is offering six PhD scholarships to be taken up in the Autumn of 2010-or as soon as possible thereafter-to work in the following fields: 1. The Matthew Black Scholarship: for a student interested in Old Testament / Hebrew Bible2. The Donald M. Baillie Scholarship: for a student interested in Theology;3. The Richard Bauckham Scholarship: for a student interested in... Read more