Cataclysmic Biblical Studies Carnival and a Unilateral Award

Last updated on: January 1, 2014 at 5:15 pm By James F. McGrath

The carnival rounding up the past month’s Biblical studies blogging, with a nicely poetic initial dose of holiday cheer that is itself worth reading, is hosted by Jessica Parks at Cataclysmic. Peter Kirby is keeping the Biblioblog Top 50 alive and running. See also the 5th Septuagint Studies Soiree, and yet another list of the top 100 Christian blogs. Finally, that award mentioned in the title, offered unilaterally by another blogger and greatfully received by this one. I won’t spoil... Read more

Christianity or Young-Earth Creationism? Time to Choose

Last updated on: January 1, 2014 at 8:12 am By James F. McGrath

It is time for conservative Christians to say goodbye to young-earth creationism once and for all, just as they did with slavery. It is hard to take a dramatic step, but a moment arrives when you simply cannot persist in doing evil any longer and retain even the pretense of being a Christian. That moment has arrived. Not because it is the start of 2014. The moment arrived in 2009, as it happens, but most of us blinked and missed it.... Read more

Happy New Year!

Last updated on: January 1, 2014 at 12:00 am By James F. McGrath

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2014! For those who don’t follow the Gregorian Calendar, I wish you a happy day, and a happy new year whenever yours begins… Read more

Overtime

Last updated on: December 31, 2013 at 12:29 pm By James F. McGrath

A friend shared this impressive bit of guitar playing by Trace Bundy. Read more

Remembering Without Recording

Last updated on: December 31, 2013 at 11:01 am By James F. McGrath

Judy Redman has posted a reply to my own post about memory and orality yesterday. Judy writes: I agree that having composed something doesn’t mean that you will remember it word for word. I do think, however, that when a person has composed a story to illustrate a particular point, s/he is much more likely to reproduce the significant points accurately than is someone who has just heard it. I also think that when you are retelling your own story,... Read more

The Musical Gospel of Mary Magdalene

Last updated on: December 31, 2013 at 9:02 am By James F. McGrath

I came across this video of composer Mark Adorno talking about his opera, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, at UC Davis. I would love to see and hear the opera in its entirety – I love contemporary music, and Gnostic texts, and having heard Sasha Cooke sing here in Indianapolis a few months ago, that makes me even more eager to hear how she performs the role of Mary Magdalene. Read more

Were the Gospels Originally Anonymous?

Last updated on: December 31, 2013 at 8:07 am By James F. McGrath

Like many New Testament scholars, the work that I do builds on the work of those specifically engaged in the field of New Testament textual criticism. An article by Simon Gathercole in ZNW, “The Titles of the Gospels in the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts,” makes me wonder about the impression that I and most others have gotten from the critical editions of the New Testament. Gathercole points out that the critical apparatus deals with titles appearing at the start of... Read more

It Gets Better (from Butler University)

Last updated on: December 31, 2013 at 6:44 am By James F. McGrath

Somehow I missed this video when it first appeared, even though it includes more than one student I know, and one who is a religion major. It always makes me proud to see students I have taught showing the strength of character to be leaders and stand for what is right! Read more

Crappy Song Reprise

Last updated on: December 30, 2013 at 11:17 pm By James F. McGrath

The song that my colleague Chad Bauman made in response to my own song Viva la Library had its number of views reset due to some sort of glitch. Friendly competition aside, I feel back that his once astounding number of views has vanished into the ether. And so I thought I would share it again. Below is Viva La Library again – not that it is likely that any blog readers missed it when I shared it previously. What... Read more

God is Agape

Last updated on: December 30, 2013 at 1:25 pm By James F. McGrath

I recently had someone say something about “leaving students agape” on Twitter. It is perhaps a professional hazard that I initially thought that “agape” was a transliterated Greek word (meaning love) rather than the English word meaning with one’s mouth hanging open wide. The resulting meanings are quite different! I am now noticing just how often there are instances of the one word being intended where the other could be understood, changing the meaning quite dramatically. Here is one example... Read more