I have a document that is now 34 pages long in Word that is a place for making note of compositions I come across that set or otherwise intersect directly with a biblical text. I have been trying to decide what to do with it. Clearly if I had foreseen how it would grow I would have made an Excel or Google spreadsheet. I may still do that, but what is really needed is a database of music related to... Read more
I did in fact end up thinking about how much the view of creation that we get early in Ovid’s Metamorphoses parallels what we expect that ancient Israelites thought before and perhaps while shifting in the direction of what eventually becomes monotheism. The initial chaos. The bringing of order. The creation of human beings with some likeness to the divine. The eventual breakdown of things as humans move from dwelling in caves and living as hunter-gatherers to farming, as war and... Read more
I watched the latest documentary from Journey Films about the life of Abraham J. Heschel last night, and realizing that today is Holocaust remembrance day and that Heschel was inspired by, among other things, losing so much of his family in the Holocaust, I thought I would write a blog post and share my enthusiastic recommendation today when it seems particularly appropriate to do so. The film covers so many aspects of his life and work. As a biblical scholar I... Read more
The one issue that has become the make-or-break issue for not only Catholics but also Evangelicals in recent years, turning them into single-issue voters prone to manipulation by the Republican party, is of course abortion. It continues to come up in connection with Joe Biden and I will return to that topic below. But first I want to address the more basic issue of whether the opposition is based in convictions that make logical (to say nothing of scientific) sense.... Read more
So what has been happening lately in the study of Paul? Biblical studies blogs, as usual, are a good place to get a sense of things, and that is an important service both to scholars and to the general public. The latter should be asking primarily about the consensus when there is one. The former will know when there is a consensus and if so what it is, and will want to see what is new, not with a view... Read more
While some political commentators and journalists are wondering what will happen as a result of the failure of the climactic prediction of the anonymous source Q that has driven the widespread QAnon conspiracy theory, religion scholars have a lot of resources and insights to offer and a long history of studying similar phenomena. My choice of title for this post is intended to draw attention to this. There is a book by the same title, When Prophecy Fails, that is... Read more
The call for papers for the Society of Biblical Literature 2021 annual meeting is now live on the SBL website. The conference will be held in San Antonio if meeting face to face is possible by November of this year. I want to highlight the call for papers from the program unit with the shortest name: Q. Here it is: Call For Papers: The Q Section is pleased to offer three sessions for the 2021 meeting: 1. Q and the Historical Jesus/John:... Read more
A Facebook friend shared a song idea on Facebook, I expressed appreciation and shared something of my own from a while back, and before I knew it an idea that I floated a decade ago was now a topic of serious discussion again all of a sudden. I’m talking about a Panentheist and Progressive Praise Project, an effort to create songs for a worship setting that are theologically and socially progressive. In many churches, due to the relative dearth of... Read more
So you’ve acquired a scholar in your household. Perhaps you’ve been wanting one for a while and came across one at a local charity store (likely among the second-hand books). Perhaps you married or gave birth to someone not really knowing their characteristics. Either way, I hope that these suggestions for maintaining the emotional, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing of this individual with whom you share some sort of space will be useful. I never really managed to articulate my own... Read more
I and others have been talking a lot about how conservative Evangelicalism has been training congregants to embrace conspiracy theories. Do you know what the #1 predictor is of someone’s likelihood to embrace a conspiracy theory? Whether they’ve previously embraced a conspiracy theory. I’ve talked about this before as I’ve tried to do what little I could to argue against internet misinformation promoting things like young-earth creationism and Jesus-mythicism. Holding completely implausible views about the past can seem like something... Read more
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