I’ve been unable to blog much while I was away at the Society of Biblical Literature conference in Boston. Now that I’m back, there’s a lot to catch up on… First, some did manage to blog from (and about) SBL. Chris Heard provides a day by day account of his experiences on Saturday, Sunday and Monday (For this, Jim West thanks heaven). Jim Getz also provides a day by day (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4). Eric Sowell has a... Read more

I have managed to get internet access here in Boston at the Society of Biblical Literature conference. I read my first paper yesterday, on Mark’s missing ending, and tomorrow I’ll read the second one on the Mandaeans. Tonight is the dinner for bibliobloggers, which Michael Holcomb has organized and which John Hobbins posted a reminder about. If you are a biblioblogger in Boston, I hope you can join us for dinner at Dillons! We’ll be meeting first at the convention... Read more

Tonight’s Live From Lincoln Center featured violinist Gil Shaham offering a wonderful performance of some of the better and less well known works by Pablo de Sarasate. Among them my favorite was his arrangement of music from Ambroise Thomas’ opera Mignon, known to all Suzuki violinists for the Gavotte, which is featured (in a much fancier and more impressive form) in Sarasate’s arrangement. At the end of the program, Shaham was surprised with the 2008 Avery Fisher Award, which I... Read more

I will be attending the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting in Boston, beginning tomorrow, and whether I blog while there will depend on a number of technical issues beyond my control. Be that as it may, I look forward to interacting with a number of bloggers I “know” face to face for the first time. Read more

“In the Pauline letters much effort is taken to introduce Paul’s co-workers. The reason for this may be found in the fact that some of these were the messengers who not only had to deliver the letters but had to perform them, i.e. read them aloud, expanding on them where necessary. The performer had to embody the voice of the sender(s). If, therefore, “Paul” introduces a fellow-worker without stating the reason, we may assume that it has to do with... Read more

Ken Schenck tagged me with a meme that I’d been tagged with before, but I’ve decided to play along. I have to find p.123 in the nearest book, locate the 5th sentence, and then post the next 3 sentences after that. The nearest book is Bridget Gilfillan Upton, Hearing Mark’s Endings: Listening To Ancient Popular Texts Through Speech Act Theory (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2006). Here are the relevant sentences: “With a flash of irony, Xenophon allows this prophecy to... Read more

Gorgias Press has as its primary focus Syriac, and certainly there is a need for more scholarly attention to be focused there. Nevertheless, given my current interest in the Mandaeans, I thought I’d mention in particular that this too is a subject area covered by Gorgias Press. And here’s the good news Gorgias Press has for graduate students in both these areas (among others): Book Grant applications for 2009 In its efforts to promote education, Gorgias Press offers annually the... Read more

Chris Brady liked my suggestion that we put up a sign-up sheet for bibliobloggers on the message board at SBL, where each of us can provide our name and cell phone number, and that way we can all make contact easily. If you get there first, pin up a blank sheet in the “B” section with Bibliobloggers at the top and your contact info, to get the process started! If you’re going to SBL, spread the word! Read more

I’ve just learned that you can now watch the whole documentary on the PBS web site (HT Rev’s Rumbles). There are more reviews by Kenneth Atkinson, Hector Avalos, Heather Wax, Josh Kimball, and Matt Page. Read more

“If we turn from the New Testament to the later pages of church history, …. we have to ask whether the church is most faithful in its witness to the crucified and risen Jesus and most recognizable as the community which ‘bears about in the body the dying of Jesus’ when it is chiefly concerned with its own self-aggrandizement. When numerical growth is taken as the criterion of judgment on the church, we are transported with alarming ease into the... Read more