I smiled when I saw the above XKCD cartoon on Facebook. But from a more serious side, despite the saying that “the best defense is a good offense,” that isn’t true in the world of arguments and reasoning, whatever its validity may or may not be in the realm of sports. No matter how much you attack, attempt to poke holes in, or argue against a viewpoint different than your own, it does not make your viewpoint correct. If you... Read more
Someone shared the following image, allegedly quoting science fiction author Robert Heinlein. I have found the words in two books, but neither book is by Heinlein, and neither book attributes the words to Heinlein. Read more
My latest parody song, this time on one of the potential pitfalls of online learning. Read more
Jason BeDuhn’s book, The First New Testament: Marcion’s Scriptural Canon, offers both a reconstruction of the text of Marcion’s Gospel and Apostolikon (a collection of letters of Paul which corresponds to those judged authentic by modern scholars), and a discussion of the relevant scholarly matters and their implications. Scholars of the New Testament should not miss the discussion of the relevance of Marcion’s version of Luke to the Synoptic problem. Marcion’s version, BeDuhn argues, was not truncated by Marcion for... Read more
Here’s a letter to the editor written to The Guardian by James D. G. Dunn, New Testament scholar and my doctoral supervisor, about the situation in Israel and Gaza: Dear Sir, I count myself as a supporter of the state of Israel, of its resettlement in its historic setting. But I have been distressed not only at the news of what is currently happening in Gaza, but also at the unwillingness of reporters and commentators to bring into the discussion the... Read more
Robert Myles responded to recent blogging about the next big thing in Biblical studies, by asking about the current big things, and big names, in Biblical studies. This N-Gram is a result of his inquiry: Try typing in some other names that come to mind. Are you surprised by which scholars are mentioned more/less frequently? Read more
The receipt above has been circulating via social media. Mrs. Betty Bowers shared these appropriate thoughts on the subject on Facebook: A restaurant in North Carolina is now offering discounts to diners flamboyant enough about praying that their waiters notice. In other words, they are being encouraged to tell Jesus to stick a sock in it to save a few. Because He was pretty clear: If you want to pray, do it in private, otherwise you’re just an annoying... Read more
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A Facebook friend shared a post of mine on his wall, and it led to interesting discussion. I wrote the following in a comment: Why not pay attention to the clues to the genres of the texts that we find within them, correlating them with other literature? When we encounter a text with a talking animal in it we know what kind of literature it is – only if we have been taught to ignore such information about genre when... Read more
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