Shai Secunda, one of the scholars behind the Talmud Blog, has a book that is being released, The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Its Sasanian Context (in the series Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion, from University of Pennsylvania Press). As someone interested in Judaism, Eastern Christianity, Jewish-Christian interaction, and the Mandaeans, this is a book in which a lot of my interests can be expected to converge! Read more
These were inspired by some clever puns by Candida Moss, about how the stories about him healing of the lame show that Jesus wanted people to stand on their own two feet, while the story of him healing a man with a withered hand shows that Jesus was in favor of hand-outs. Read more
Yesterday in my Sunday school class, we continued a discussion that started last time, sparked by Hebrews 12, where it depicts God as one who disciplines – or more literally “whips” of “flogs” – his children for their benefit. There was general agreement that, while some ancient people may have viewed misfortunes that came their way as divine punishment, there are good scientific, moral, and even Biblical grounds for challenging that viewpoint. That topic eventually led us to a discussion... Read more
Charles Haberl shared his latest publication on the Mandaeans and their religious history. It looks at how they have used a strategy of emphasizing to those in power their relatedness to and acceptability from the perspective of the dominant religion on the one hand, while also emphasizing within their community their own distinctiveness and superiority on the other. Peoples find different ways to survive. One of my favorite examples is in this clip from Doctor Who: Read more
Lots of outlets are reporting that a treasure trove of 106 Doctor Who episodes, including some of the missing ones, have been found in Ethiopia. We’ve heard such news before, and on rare occasions it turns out to be true, but more often it doesn’t. And so it is best to wait and see – although there is some reason to think that there may be at least some truth behind the sensational rumor. But IO9 passed on the confirmed... Read more
I recently heard this song for the first time when it was performed by the Indianapolis Show Choir at a picnic at my church. The lyrics struck me, and looking into it, I discovered that the song was originally performed by Idina Menzel, and was written to draw awareness to the issue of depression. Read more
I mentioned in a recent post the ongoing multi-blog discussion around Pathos on the theme of whether Mormons are Christians. A recent guest post by Steve Webb offered a different approach by asking whether Mainline Protestants are Christians, thus encouraging a three-way comparison between conservative Christians, liberal Christians, and Mormons who might be either, or both, or a third entity. Certainly on some things, conservative Christians and Mormons might be lined up against the mainline or liberals. I'm not sure... Read more
Ancient Near Eastern mythology, the epic of Gilgamesh, turned into 20th century music by Croatian composer Rudolf Bruči (also sometimes spelled Brucci). Read more
I’ve shared it before, but it is worth sharing again, in case anyone missed it. Read more
I had the chance to finish watching the documentary A Polite Bribe, which I blogged about briefly on a previous occasion, and so now want to say more about it. I honestly cannot think of another single documentary film about the Bible which has such a wide array of the very best and best-known scholars from around the world in it. The movie would be worth watching just to hear those scholars speak, even if they only spoke in the... Read more
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