On the one hand, as I have said before, there is no slippery slope as traditionally conceived of by conservatives who warn of any departure from whatever they consider traditional and true. One of the most common arguments used by “fundamentalists” (or whatever one may wish to call those who claim to accept the Bible as inerrant and that it is all to be accepted and believed) is that rejecting their view of the Bible puts one on a “slippery slope” down... Read more
It is the tenth Open Access Week and I didn’t want to let the occasion pass by without a mention. Open Access is a term that covers a wide array of models whereby the products of scholarly research are made available to the general public. If the term is new to you, here’s a very brief introduction to Open Access. I have been working to make sure that as much of what I write is freely available to the extent... Read more
There are things I’ve said in the past about this topic that are worth sharing again, I believe. Here I compile some things from a number of posts. First: Fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible should never be referred to as “Biblical literalism” since it only insists on the Bible being literally true when it is desirable to do so, and not where it is “obviously” a metaphor, such as the dome over the Earth, or in its teaching about gluttony or giving... Read more
Theology & Religious Studies at the University of Glasgow is delighted to be hosting an online, one-day interdisciplinary conference on the broad theme of Divine Bodies in relation to the Bible and the biblical world. This conference seeks to bring together a range of perspectives on topics including ethnicity, disability, class, gender, sex and other identity markers in relation to the body, the Bible, and the divine. In a world that is increasingly politically polarised and that endangers the lives and... Read more
I get unsolicited phone calls and emails all the time, but yesterday’s was a first. While I was out of the office, someone I don’t know called my work number and left a voicemail saying that she urgently wants to talk with me about…the whore of Babylon. Part of me feels that perhaps this is a Republican voter who just noticed for the first time that there is a striking resemblance between this depiction of the Roman Empire found in... Read more
Hebrew Studies announces a call for papers on the encounter between Saul and the medium of Endor for our 2021 issue The description of the events leading up to and the exchange between Saul and the medium of Endor in 1 Sam 28:4-24 raises several questions. What are ovot and yid’onim, and why did Saul expel them (or those who consult them) from the land in 1 Sam 28:3? How common was it for people to resort to these sorts... Read more
A Facebook friend asked why Luke-Acts is dated so late by some scholars, and why even on the traditional consensus dating (sometime towards the tail end of the first century) it would omit the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple as well as the deaths of Paul, Peter, and James. Here is how I replied: Omitting the Jewish war against Rome doesn’t surprise me, as I cannot imagine why he would do so within his current aims in Luke-Acts. Since... Read more
This evening I’ll be presenting to the New Testament Seminar at Columbia University. Here’s the title and abstract of my talk: “The Influence of John the Baptist on Jesus’ Teaching” Disciples and students inevitably reflect the impact and influence of their teachers, even when they resist or reject that influence. Whatever Jesus’ precise stance towards his mentor over the course of his public activity, it is reasonable to expect to find evidence that can aid us in reconstructing the teaching and... Read more
I feel it necessary to point out how downright blasphemous—not merely offensive to human beings in general but an affront to God—Donald Trump’s statements and attitudes about his bout with Covid-19 are. First, he has said that his getting the virus, allowing him to show the world that it can be beaten, is a blessing from God in disguise. I have always considered it a problem theologically to attribute one’s recovery from illness or other good fortune directly to God generally,... Read more
I was asked if I would share some highlights from my talk via Zoom in a first year seminar on Religion and Science Fiction at Yale. That week’s classes were focused mostly on what we might call “Jesus stories.” The professor, Maria Doerfler, had the brilliant idea of having students read an array of canonical and extracanonical texts from the biblical tradition, and then follow with science and speculative fiction stories exploring the same or related themes or characters. Since... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In