Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered. He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. Many have wondered what to do with the above statement found in Luke 22, or have been happy either to ignore it or to cite it simplistically in favor of the... Read more
International Women’s Day seems like a good day to return to blogging about the book I am working on, What Jesus Learned From Women. I started this series with Jesus’ mother Mary, since unless one denies that Jesus was a human being, we can safely say that he learned from her. By the same token, we can say uncontroversially that Jesus learned from his grandmother and other female ancestors at least indirectly via the influence they had on Jesus’ parents. But I... Read more
My visit to McCormick Theological Seminary was so engaging that even now I’m not done with blogging about interesting points that came up when I was there, and which I thought deserve further mention. In conjunction with the discussion of canon there, the question was raised as to whether “retconning” is a helpful category for what we see Paul and other early Christians doing. For those who may not be familiar with it, “retcon” is a verb created by contracting... Read more
Derek Penwell’s new book is called Outlandish, and it is published by Chalice Press. It makes the case that Jesus was “a lousy Messiah” – and for that reason precisely the Messiah we need. Here’s the blurb I wrote for the book: In Outlandish, Derek Penwell shows what it can look like when a model of Christian activism is built upon the foundation of the latest biblical scholarship. Unconventional questions are explored in a thoroughly engaging way. Penwell doesn’t merely ask... Read more
After I posted a call for papers for a conference about the moon, John MacDonald left a comment drawing attention to a lunar connection with the New Testament: the Greek word used in Matthew 17:15: “σεληνιάζεται: epileptic/luna-tic; or, moonstruck.” John further wrote: I did a little checking, and Dr. Larry Perkins cites J.M.Ross, “Epileptic or Moonstruck?” The Bible Translator 29 (1978), 126-128, saying Matthew’s use of the word seems to be the first literary occurrence in antiquity, and that it occurs only later... Read more
This episode is an important precursor to the modern era, as well as a successor to the episode The War Games. In the latter, the time lords impose regeneration on the Doctor, but allow him to choose his appearance – although as he rejects every proposal, with the result that they eventually decide for him, which results in the change of appearance from Patrick Troughton to Jon Pertwee. In this episode, Romana decides to regenerate, adopting Princess Astra’s form from... Read more
Sonora Review has a call for submissions that might be of interest to some authors of fiction that I know, given its theme, which is doubt. Visit their webpage for more details. I have been writing more fiction recently, and I’ve found it a great experience. But the path to publication is very different than when it comes to the writing of things like academic articles or books. There are things I’m still trying to figure out. For instance,... Read more
I think you’ll agree that this call for papers is…”out of this world!” Call for papers “Fly me to the moon”. The moon in human imagination University of Genova (Italy) December 12th-13th 2019 Co-directors: Lara Nicolini, Luca Beltrami, Lara Pagani From October 2018 through December 2022, NASA will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program that landed a dozen Americans on the moon between July 1969 and December 1972. All kind of events, activities, exhibits, seminars dedicated to celebrating the... Read more
POPULAR CULTURE SUMMER RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY June 23-June 28, 2019 “Topics in Popular Culture: Researching, Writing, and Workshopping Your Ideas” ABOUT For the fourth year, the PCA/ACA, the BGSU Department of Popular Culture, the Ray and Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies and the Music Library and Bill Schurk Sound Archives are jointly sponsoring a summer research institute at Bowling Green State University from Sunday, June 23, 2019 through Friday morning, June 28, 2019. This institute is generously supported by the School of Cultural and Critical Studies, the Dean of University Libraries, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Provost at... Read more
Today, as the #BUDayofGiving (actually 1855 minutes of giving) for 2019 draws to a close, I’ll emphasize another possible reason for giving to support Butler University. Its founder, Ovid Butler, believed that he was serving God in founding the school so as to enroll students equally regardless of race and gender. You can give to support the NetVUE Social Justice and Diversity Vocation Fellowship initiative which will help get a new core curriculum requirement focused on Ovid Butler’s values off... Read more
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