When I made my syllabus for my course on Religion and Science Fiction, I did not intentionally schedule the discussion of post-apocalyptic and dystopian stories for the class meeting immediately prior to election day 2020. But it worked out perfectly. We spent the class making lists of ways that the world could end. It was a very helpful exercise. When we list and categorize things it usually makes things clearer, even if what needs to become clear is that things... Read more
I am long overdue to blog about the return of Star Trek: Discovery. I would have done so sooner if it had been clear that the first episode, called “That Hope Is You, Part 1,” was not really the first episode of a two-parter in the traditional sense. The second episode of the season, “Far From Home,” is simply the introduction to the season from a different perspective, with both in essence picking up where the previous season ended. I... Read more
A great many of my blog posts are born from the unexpected intersections and connections between things that I research, teach, hear, and read. This one is sparked by beginning to watch the TV series The Good Lord Bird. The title does not immediately make its reference clear, much less what the focus of the story will be. The series about the abolitionist John Brown. The first episode is prefaced by the disclaimer that “All of this is true. Most... Read more
A Facebook friend shared this bit of news–and not because they thought this was a good idea, I might add. Patrick Stewart Wants To See A Star Trek/Star Wars Crossover Movie I wrote in a comment that I do not think a crossover sounds like a good idea, but it wasn’t for the reason that the sharer suggested, claiming that Star Wars is more fantasy while Star Trek is more science fiction. I hear that a lot, and I want... Read more
CALL FOR PAPERS Modalities of Fantasy: Reconfiguring Time and Space Domain of the Fantastic is the ground for physical, biological, and metaphysical riddles about the architecture of perceived natural order of ‘life’ which re-organizes readers’ world to forge novel experiences of reality. Immediacy of the domain of Fantasy becomes relevant as a radical Other of our pandemic-hit reality—which is forcing us to make sense of the present world and devise new meanings—by introducing alternate perspectives on human condition that edge... Read more
Valerie Estelle Frankel shared this via RelCFP: Hello, everyone. I’m editing a series with Rowman & Littlefield/Lexington on a line of academic books critically analyzing elements of Jewish science fiction and fantasy (that’s the series title). As such, I’d love some authors with concepts to write about. At this stage, a paragraph-long proposal emailed to [email protected] with a subject of JEWISH SPEC-FIC would be great. Here are some examples: The Secret Jewish Roots of Star Wars (or some other top franchise) Batwoman to Felicity: Jewish... Read more
Statement of Faith for Biblical Literalists ARTICLE I: One day = six days Genesis 1:1-2:3 says God completed the creation of the heavens and earth in six days. Genesis 2:4 speaks of the (single) day in which God made the earth and the heavens. ARTICLE II: A circle has four corners In Isaiah 40:22 the earth is said to be a circle. Elsewhere (e.g. Isaiah 11:12; Job 37:3; Revelation 7:1; 20:8), the Bible speaks of the ‘four corners of the... Read more
Let me begin with two items of news from around blogs. One is the discovery of what might perhaps be an underground music room on the Temple Mount! Another is a piece by Malcolm Lipkin inspired by the story of Naboth’s Vineyard in the Bible. Now, getting to the actual music I want to share in this post, some things that are either new to me or which I have enjoyed previously but not shared on my blog before. Let... Read more
It never fails. Anyone can find a way to identify any candidate or political leader as the antichrist. The worrying thing is when it is done during an election season and done in a partisan way, as though only one candidate can be subjected to that treatment but the other not. I have blogged about Trump as antichrist before, but then I focused on the problems with envisaging a single antichrist, and the irony that those with oversensitive antichrist-detection antennas... Read more
Revealing Ancient Knowledge An initiative of Bible and Religions of the Ancient Near East Collective (BRANE), hosted by Renewed Philology at Yale. Metatron is a journal of modern philology and the ancient imagination offering new vistas on the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. Named after the mediating angel of Jewish mysticism, it is designed to open cutting-edge research to a broad intellectual community. As an open-access journal, Metatron is designed to be: Conversational but Focused: each volume presents a dialogue between... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In