Call for Papers: The Place of Religion in Film

Last updated on: October 22, 2016 at 10:21 pm By James F. McGrath

March 30th-April 1st, the University of Syracuse will host a conference on “The Place of Religion in Film,” as part of the Ray Smith Symposium Series. Here’s the full call for papers: The Place of Religion in Film March 30 – April 1, 2017 with plenaries featuring Joaquim Pinto, director, and Nuno Leonel, cinematographer, of What Now? Remind Me (2013) & Sara Horowitz (Professor, York University) and June Hwang (Associate Professor, University of Rochester) in conversation about Son of Saul... Read more

The New Way to Review Manuscripts

Last updated on: October 24, 2016 at 10:57 am By James F. McGrath

This PHDComic is funny, but there is a sense in which it is not as far fetched as it might first seem. In platforms like TurnItIn, there are drag-and-drop comments to address common issues in student work. An online platform for reviewers to evaluate manuscript submissions could have something similar – with or without emoticons. Read more

JRPC Star Wars Special Issue #CFP

Last updated on: October 22, 2016 at 4:55 pm By James F. McGrath

The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture issued this call for papers: Star Wars With an extensive and still growing body of work, including two cinematographic trilogies, a third trilogy in process, several animated television series, and numerous books and novels, Star Wars is probably one of the richest universes in science fiction, and generates a strong and constant interest from a vivid fan community. Religions play a major role in this setting, particularly with the preponderant importance of the... Read more

#CFP Fantastic Arts, Fantastic Epics

Last updated on: October 24, 2016 at 9:29 am By James F. McGrath

Only a few days left, if you’re interested in submitting a proposal for this… CfP: International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts 38, “Fantastic Epics” Please join us for ICFA 38, March 22-26, 2017, when our theme will be “Fantastic Epics.” We welcome papers on the work of: Guest of Honor Steven Erikson (World Fantasy and Locus Award nominee), Guest of Honor N.K. Jemisin (Nebula and World Fantasy Award nominee, Hugo and Locus Award winner), and Guest Scholar Edward... Read more

The #AARSBL16 app is here!

Last updated on: October 24, 2016 at 10:08 am By James F. McGrath

For those of you who had been waiting for this moment, the app for your phone, tablet, or other mobile device is finally here. It includes details such as the time and location of the Durham University reception (which is at the same time as the Blogger Dinner, but runs long enough that it shouldn’t be too hard to get to both). Read more

Timeless

Last updated on: October 23, 2016 at 4:34 pm By James F. McGrath

I still need to finish blogging about the last few episodes of classic Doctor Who. And then I’m on to Star Trek: The Original Series. But I want to at least mention (even though I don’t plan to blog about every episode) the current series Timeless. A colleague of mine clued me in that the show is borrowed (or ripped off, if you prefer) from the Spanish TV series El Ministerio del Tiempo. I haven’t watched the latter and so... Read more

Setting Amos’ Hymn Fragments to Music

Last updated on: October 23, 2016 at 2:34 pm By James F. McGrath

As I’m gearing up to teach a course about the Bible and music for the first time next semester, one thing that I’ve been giving much thought to is the fact that students are expected to participate in the creation of a creative work in these core curriculum courses. I don’t like to ask students to do things that I have not done. And so as I’ve been thinking about my assignment for this course, which will be either to... Read more

Written Thoughts on the Ehrman-Price Debate

Last updated on: October 22, 2016 at 6:04 pm By James F. McGrath

I shared many of my thoughts about the Ehrman-Price debate verbally in the conversation afterwards. But there are more points that I jotted down during the debate and/or thought of afterwards, and so I’ll share them here. Hopefully a video of the debate will eventually become publicly available online at some point. First, I really do think that Ehrman made some of the key points with particularly impressive precision and succinctness. The point about it not being plausible that “brother” means... Read more

Discussing the Ehrman-Price Debate

Last updated on: October 21, 2016 at 11:46 pm By James F. McGrath

Here’s the recording of the conversation that James Crossley, Daniel Gullotta, David Fitzgerald and myself had with Arick Mittler and Matt Kovacs about the debate between Bart Ehrman and Robert Price over the historicity of Jesus, in case you missed it: Listen to “Panel Discussion” on Spreaker. Listen to “Panel Discussion Part 2” on Spreaker. Read more

Listen to the Big Debate Tonight!

Last updated on: October 21, 2016 at 2:45 pm By James F. McGrath

Some of us watching the debate last night knew that the real big debate is taking place on the evening of October 21st – today! I’m happy that, despite not having been able to drive today to where it is occurring, I will nevertheless be able to watch the debate this evening between Bart D. Ehrman and Robert M. Price on whether Jesus existed as a historical figure. If you want to watch, Matt Dillahunty will be moderating it, and I... Read more