When Shirley Paulson reached out to me about returning for another appearance on her podcast, I was delighted. She interviewed me about What Jesus Learned from Women when I was still working on it and it was a wonderful experience, hopefully one that listeners also enjoyed. You can listen here to the latest podcast, exploring how ancient ideas about the origin of evil may be relevant to our wrestling with the topic in our time: I suggested that we could focus... Read more
On Wednesday 8 December at 18:30, Matt Hills (University of Huddersfield), Lorna Jowett (University of Northampton) and Ross Garner (Cardiff University) will be discussing DOCTOR WHO: NEW DAWN (Manchester University Press, 2021) and DOCTOR WHO: FLUX in a panel discussion dedicated to the Jodie Whitaker era of DOCTOR WHO. Taking place online via Zoom. Free to all! Register via Eventbrite here. Here is more information from the Eventbrite site: This BAFTSS SFF SIG event is partly a book launch for Doctor Who: New... Read more
I thought I would repost something I wrote quite a number of years ago now. It is about thanksgiving rather than Thanksgiving, but the latter gets a mention and so I thought it appropriate for this occasion… Thanksgiving reduces the need for theodicy. I don’t mean the holiday that is celebrated in the United States today – although presumably one could attempt to formulate an argument for the existence of a supremely benevolent deity on the basis of turkey, cranberry... Read more
ICOHTEC 2022 Call for Papers and Sessions Technology-based and Technology-generated decisions The 2022 International Committee for the History of Technology’s 49th Symposium will take place virtually. It will occur in 3 phases, each lasting two days. The 1st meeting will be in June (17, 18), the 2nd in September (24, 25), and the 3rd in October (15, 16). The Kranzberg Lecture will take place in June. The general theme is “Technology-based and Technology-generated decisions”. Whereas technology-based decisions have a long history, technology-generated decisions of so-called artificial intelligence, AI, are on the... Read more
One of the series editors, Alana Vincent, shared the following and I’m happy to pass it along, and honored to a founding member of the editorial board for this new book series! I’m very excited to share the flyer for our new series with Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury Studies in Popular Fiction and Religious Dynamics. We’ve assembled a spectacular editorial board, and are looking forward to bringing out high quality monographs in an important emerging area of religion & literature studies.... Read more
This call for papers grabbed my attention: The Call for Panels has been extended till 21 Nov 2021 (23:59GMT) ! Anthropology, AI and the Future of Human Society Virtual Conference 6-10 June 2022 https://www.therai.org.uk/conferences/anthropology-ai-and-the-future-of-human-society Without in any way wishing to limit the possibilities, we suggest below a few of the potential areas of interest: Visions of the future: scientific and artistic imaginations Ethics, law and governance Biotechnology: DNA and reproduction Consciousness and the machine/biological interface Future conflicts and the military Economics,... Read more
Special Panel: Mysteries of Dune: Esotericism, Occultism, and the Magic of Melange updated: Wednesday, November 10, 2021 – 7:43pm full name / name of organization: Southwest Popular/American Culture Association contact email: Georgejsieg@gmail.com categories (up to 5): fan studies and fandom film and television interdisciplinary popular culture religion deadline for submissions: November 14, 2021 In recognition of the mainstream attention brought to Dune by Villeneuve’s adaptation, the Area for Esotericism, Occultism and Magic at the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association invites the proposal of papers... Read more
Call for Papers: The Matrix Revisited The cultural and social impact of The Matrix franchise is self-evident. Its depiction of full virtualization of human consciousness presented in materialistic dystopian metaphor coincided with the rapid development of the internet as a context for global information exchange, entertainment, commerce, and cultural expression, assuring its continued currency. The red pill/blue pill meme has been deployed across political and ideological boundaries and has already developed multivalent significances in multiple contexts; The Matrix has lent its aesthetics to innumerable derivations... Read more
Recently I have been listening to the audiobook of John Bergsma’s book Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Revealing the Jewish Roots of Christianity. Although there are specific details in Bergsma’s argument that I am not persuaded by, he nicely highlights the many convergences between Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls. At various times similarities between John the Baptist, Jesus, the Gospel of John, and the Pauline churches are noted. Scholars debate whether John the Baptist’s time in the wilderness... Read more
It’s official: I will be presenting at Starbase Indy this year. Here is the brief description of my talk: Do People Google in the 23rd Century? Indianapolis Mariott East, Salon B, November 28th 11:30am – 12:30pm Dr. James McGrath On Star Trek the Enterprise computer is full of answers from Starfleet’s records. Star Wars has its Jedi archives. Babylon 5 had access to records and Doctor Who had the Matrix long before The Matrix. But all of these are more... Read more
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