Who do I want to win the election? Anyone who has read my blog or known me for any amount of time will not be expecting me to say “Jesus” or something else of that sort. Some might treat that sort of non-partisan affirmation of Jesus as Lord as deeply spiritual. Yet on even superficial inspection it is clear that Jesus is not on the ballot. Let me say that again, to those who support any of the candidates who... Read more
I am delighted I got the chance to take a look at Garrick Allen‘s important new book, Words Are Not Enough: Paratexts, Manuscripts, and the Real New Testament (Eerdmans 2024) and to get him to provide an interview about it. We tend to think about paratexts differently depending on whether they are ancient or modern. Yet there is so much that connects ancient commentaries and modern ones, for instance, and yet we rarely think of them as similar, much less compare... Read more
Happy Halloween! This article offers an explanation for why modern conservative Christians oppose the celebration of Halloween, a historic Christian holiday, and why Christians should celebrate Halloween, as we have historically. It is for much the same reason that the Puritans opposed the celebration of Christmas. Both are relatively recent phenomena, historically speaking. The short answer is this: opposing societal celebrations and people having fun is a way to make oneself feel righteous, as though one is taking a stand... Read more
There is a lot of misinformation circulating, as usual, after something that happened at a Kamala Harris rally in which she was talking about the fact that you do not need to abandon your deeply held religious beliefs to accept that it should not be the government that decides matters that should be decided by women in consultation with their doctors. Some are claiming that someone shouted “Jesus is Lord” and that Harris responded by saying that they were at... Read more
ChatGPT has educators panicked. They need not be. This article provides the definitive solution to how to teach in the era of AI. If you are like me, you have had a variety of reactions to the appearance of ChatGPT, and have been dismayed and bewildered by at least some of the reactions to it and claims about it. If you are involved in a very advanced level of education, supervising students who are doing research that is at or... Read more
Both of my recent books about John the Baptist are part of the sale that Eerdmans currently has going on, and can be purchased for only $9.99 from the Eerdmans website or Amazon. The A to Z of the New Testament is also part of the sale and only $6.99! If you subscribe to Eerdmans’ email newsletter, John of History, Baptist of Faith is featured as their book of the month. There will be a review panel about that book at the... Read more
I finally got to see Dune Part 2 in IMAX a while back and I thoroughly enjoyed it, although it may have helped that it has been a number of years since I read the novel. Having read all of Frank Herbert’s Dune novels, and also having seen both the first incomprehensible Dune movie as well as the compelling miniseries, I found this to be more impressive and powerful than both. This movie (according to interviews with the director) seeks... Read more
Teaching my course on the Bible and Music again, I have been thinking a lot about the technology that can generate song lyrics and whole songs in an instant. The heart of the matter is whether I need to rethink the final project which involves adapting biblical text to fit the lyrics of an existing song. To test its current capabilities, I asked ChatGPT to turn Psalm 119 into song lyrics in common meter. Here is what it gave me... Read more
I was already thinking about writing a post on this topic of information bubbles long before the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Seeing the commentary of a few connections on social media as well as reports of what pundits and pastors have said convinced me that I need to write about this. Watching Different Debates (or rather, watching the same debate differently) Those who saw the debate between Donald Trump who were not already connected with American... Read more
Here are details about some of the upcoming speaking engagements I have lined up. The first is Mt. Washington Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Here is the information: The A to Z of Biblical Studies with Prof. James F. McGrath Join us for two Wednesday evening meetings (September 11th and 18th at 7 pm) for two sessions in which our guest, Prof. James McGrath from Butler University in Indianapolis, provides as much of an introduction to biblical scholarship as it is possible... Read more
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