Blogger and Online Publications SBL CFP

Last updated on: December 21, 2013 at 10:33 am By James F. McGrath

The SBL call for papers for the 2014 annual meeting is now live on the website. Here is the one for the program unit I chair: BLOGGER AND ONLINE PUBLICATION Program Unit Type: Section Accepting Papers? Yes Call For Papers: The 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature will be held November 22-25 in San Diego, CA. Members wishing to present papers should submit proposals on the SBL website at http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/AnnualMeeting.aspx by March 5th, 2014. The SBL Blogger and Online Publication... Read more

Christmas on the Enterprise

Last updated on: December 21, 2013 at 9:43 am By James F. McGrath

Happy Solstice!

Last updated on: December 21, 2013 at 8:29 am By James F. McGrath

Fear of Judgment

Last updated on: December 21, 2013 at 8:20 am By James F. McGrath

I’ve talked in the past about how science fiction about parallel universes (which may or may not turn out to be science fact) turns out to offer a similar comfort to Abrahamic religious beliefs about an afterlife. The cartoon above from “People in White Coats” suggests that science fiction can offer an alternative to the traditional fear of judgment as motivation to moral behavior. What if we lived and spoke as though anything we say and do might one day... Read more

Yoda Claus

Last updated on: December 20, 2013 at 5:14 pm By James F. McGrath

These are just two commonly-themed Star Wars Christmas cards out of a collection of 23 shared on Buzzfeed recently. HT Lynne Kvapil on Facebook. Read more

Costumes for Christmas

Last updated on: December 20, 2013 at 11:53 am By James F. McGrath

Last Christmas I received a Star Trek shirt as a gift. Since I am not exclusively a Trekkie, presumably I should hope for or buy other outfits from other franchises in future years, to build up a collection? If so, which would you choose? I’d love to have a Doctor Who outfit – whether Tom Baker’s scarf, Peter Davison’s cricket uniform, or Sylvester McCoy’s costume. And I’ve always thought that the viper pilot uniforms from the classic Battlestar Galactica series... Read more

Doctor Who Religious Spoilers

Last updated on: December 20, 2013 at 10:36 am By James F. McGrath

Orla Brady has been talking about her character Tasha Lem who will appear in the Doctor Who Christmas episode, “The Time of the Doctor.” Among the things that she says is that she plays a “galactic nun.” She’s “the Mother Superious of the Papal Mainframe.” Here’s the whole interview from Flicks and the City – Doctor Who TV has a partial transcript. Read more

Have a Logical Holiday Season

Last updated on: December 20, 2013 at 9:29 am By James F. McGrath

I was surprised that, having come across this image recently (I added the words), it isn't the only image focused on Spock in a Christmas sweater. Here's one from Anubis-Admirer: Read more

Googleful vs. Google-free Digital Bible Literacy

Last updated on: December 20, 2013 at 8:11 am By James F. McGrath

Brian Bibb recently shared the final exam from a course he teaches called “The Digital Bible,” as well as providing more information about the course on his blog. Daniel McClellan also mentioned it. My own course on the Bible focuses on information literacy, and yet there are some significant differences between Brian’s course’s final and mine. In his, students are told not to use Google. In mine, they are encouraged to do so, in a way that retrieves reliable scholarly... Read more

Tis The Season To Be Grading

Last updated on: December 19, 2013 at 11:09 pm By James F. McGrath

Although the card below is from a law office, its heavily-annotated version of “Twas the night before Christmas” seems particularly appropriate for this grading-intensive time of the year. Via Facebook Read more