YouTube introduced me to Philip Moody’s “Laguna Concerto,” and as with all music I enjoy, I looked to see what else was on YouTube. It offered me (among other things) this setting of the Lord’s Prayer: It also shared “Prayer” which is a title that always leads me to have a listen/take a look, since the text sometimes is biblical and sometimes is not. In this case it is Kyrie Eleison together with Psalm 23 in a beautiful work: Of... Read more
Okay, I am really excited about this call for chapter proposals, even though I really shouldn’t take anything else on. Those who have read my blog for a long time will know that I avidly blogged about the show when it was on, and then again rewatching it from start to finish with my son. The show has so much depth to it, that I’d be delighted to return to it. If you never watched or rewatched it, I highly recommend... Read more
Was Paul interested in the historical Jesus? One can answer “no” quite easily. The “historical Jesus” Was Paul interested in the life and teaching of Jesus? When framed in those terms the answer needs to be different. The complaint of mythicists (those who deny that there was a historical Jesus) seems to be that Paul wrote letters and not a Gospel, which is clearly not a valid complaint and has no bearing whatsoever on the historicity of Jesus. Yet what Paul... Read more
Some updates related to What Jesus Learned from Women as well as some other related links. First, a reminder that the paperback edition is 40% off for a limited time from the publisher with the coupon code JUNE21 when purchased through the Wipf & Stock website. Bible History Daily highlighted and summarized my Biblical Archaeology Review article on the story in John 8, which I explore in even more detail in my book. Jim Davila shared some thoughts about it. I really... Read more
With my interest in John the Baptist, I can’t believe that once again I had a clever money-making book idea too late to really seize the opportunity. Presumably everyone in North America is aware that cicadas will be emerging again after having lain dormant for 17 years. Readers of the Bible know that John the Baptist’s diet is supposed to have consisted of locusts and wild honey. Booksellers know that a biblical diet book, and/or a book on how to... Read more
This series of seminars is worth sharing: Forgotten Christianities – An Early Career Research Seminar Forgotten Christianities is a new initiative sponsored by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) through the ‘Critical Thinking Communities’ initiative and the Ancient World Research Cluster (Wolfson College, Oxford). For the purposes of this project, ‘Forgotten Christianities’ are defined as those Christian linguistic and ethnic self-defined groups which traditionally have been overlooked by mainstream academia including, Georgian, Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopic, Coptic, and Arabic... Read more
This call for papers came to my attention: The workshop will take place on 21 and 22 July 2022 at the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne and will be organized by the Gerda Henkel research group “Religion und Moderne in den USA: Psychologie und Lebenswissenschaften an evangelikalen Colleges seit der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts” (Stefanie Coché, JLU Gießen, Stephan Monissen, JLU Gießen and Sophia Egbert, a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne). While most experts agree that „there... Read more
Let me first say that I thought today I might be letting readers know that my blogging over the summer might be more sporadic than usual. I haven’t always managed to blog once a day every day lately, but the interludes in that pattern have been rare and brief. But something came to my attention that led to me deciding that today I must say something, that I cannot be silent. I might be from tomorrow, not for the whole summer,... Read more
If anyone is counting, this is apparently post #12,700 on my blog. Just thought I would mention that! Now on with today’s blog post… The wonderful Indianapolis Symphonic Choir will be streaming a series of sacred choral works. Here’s the announcement: Virtual Sacred Masterworks is a brand new digital concert release featuring 11 pre-recorded songs from members of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir! This intimate digital concert experience presents 10 performances by small ensembles of singers and culminates with the debut of our... Read more
Here is the recording of the event: Some of the questions included: 1. In the introduction, you address the concerns that many probably have regarding whether Jesus needed to learn anything, especially from women. How might you encourage those folks (who would likely dismiss your book altogether, based either on the title or the premise) to even consider learning about the historical and cultural setting for Jesus? How might this understanding further inform their understanding of his divine nature? 2.... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In