From SourceFlix. Since the area is a no-fly zone even when there isn’t war going on, this is a rather rare perspective. Sharing this video also gives me the chance to see whether issues I’ve had in the past have been resolved, now that the Patheos upgrade has finished. And so let me try embedding a YouTube video as well – here’s one I’ve shared before, the trailer from the IMAX movie Jerusalem: Read more
The Patheos website will be undergoing an upgrade, a process which will last until sometime tomorrow if all goes smoothly. You should be able to continue commenting and discussing, but I will not be able to post until the upgrade is done. When it is, I'll let you know! Â Â Read more
A friend shared the images below from the book Get to Know Jesus by Nancy I. Sanders on Facebook. The characterization of what Bible scholars have to say in the second image is appallingly dishonest. I am not clear why Sanders thinks it is appropriate to lie to children about what scholars say, but I would encourage her to cease doing so. It does nothing but make those children likely to lose their faith altogether when they discover that they... Read more
I recently spotted that Kenneth Leighton set Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s “Hymn to Matter” to music, in a composition for baritone, chorus, and orchestra or piano. I’ve been looking to see if there is a recording of the piece, but have yet to find one. I’m surprised that there aren’t more settings of Teilhard de Chardin’s texts to music, and that those which exist are not more popular in our time. Also of interest to those seeking modern composers’ settings... Read more
The concept of “soul freedom” (sometimes referred to by other terms, such as “soul competency” and “freedom of conscience”) is an important one in the Baptist tradition (although we see it neglected or even rejected at times in the Southern Baptist Convention and independent fundamentalist Baptist churches). It is the idea that the individual has the ability and the responsibility to decide before God what they should believe and do, and that ultimately they must follow their own conscience rather than... Read more
The quote from Chris Keith is taken from his contribution to Pete Enns’ series about Biblical scholars’ “aha” moments. In almost but not entirely unrelated news, see Hemant Mehta’s post about a Kickstarter project to make a literally indestructible Bible. Read more
One of the features of the new Bible Odyssey website is that it lets you ask a scholar your questions. Someone submitted the question through the site, “Is the Gospel of John a Jewish mystic work?” I was invited to provide the answer, and here is what I wrote: It is appropriate to note that there are scholars who would deny that the Gospel of John is Jewish and/or that it is mystical. My own view, however, is that there... Read more
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Rachel Portnoy Bradley shared the following in a comment on Facebook, in response to my post about JEPD as four-part harmony: In my intro to OT class, we were required to do an “art project” — something creative about what we’d learned that quarter. A group of us got together and sang, “Who wrote the Pentateuch” to the tune of “Who wrote the book of love,” talking about the various sources. I only remember for sure the refrain, “Tell me,... Read more
American composer John Adams’ opera, The Gospel According to the Other Mary, has been released on CD by Deutsche Grammophone. It can be purchased through Amazon.com, which also has some videos of the composer talking about Peter Sellars’ minimalist realization of the piece. The English National Opera will be performing its stage debut later this year. NPR recently featured a discussion of the piece. I definitely need to get myself a copy. It seems like exactly the sort of thing... Read more
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