Aric Clark has a very useful post about approaching ancient literature – in particular the Bible. Things we read there may tend to startle, surprise, or shock us, or disappoint us, or seem like nothing out of the ordinary. It is important to look into the context, to really grasp it. What seems disappointingly conservative to a modern reader may have been daringly progressive then. What we take for an emphatic statement of principle may have simply been a widely-held... Read more
My article “Revisiting the Mandaeans and the New Testament” has appeared today in The Bible and Interpretation. Read more
I understand the cartoon is mainly about the “coincidence” that it is the two beavers who are pulled out of the security line. But since beavers would be a risk to the ark mainly due to their use of their teeth, I’m not sure how scanning them with metal detectors would help… Read more
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Via StumbleUpon, an old IO9 post came to my attention, highlighting a number of free online courses. One of them is a history class offered by UCLA on “Science, Magic, and Religion,” and the lectures are available on YouTube. Here is the first one: Read more
Doug Chaplin has a post in which he mentions my attempt to engage mythicists. He writes: Of course, in any topic under the sun, but especially those to do with Jesus, even almost indisputable facts get disputed, even down to his actual existence. The latter seems to be giving a few North American writers a little frisson of naughtiness and an illusion of intellectual courage in their frequently fundamentalist culture. Some scholars – such as James McGrath – do their best to... Read more
Brian Mubaraki, whose photos of a Mandi in Australia and of Mandaean handicrafts I shared earlier in the summer, has provided me with a number of Mandaean digital resources, in order that I might provide an online home for them. Mandaean Diwans Diwan Alma Rishaia Zuta Diwan Dmuth Kushta Diwan Haran Gauaitha Diwan Malkutha laitha Diwan Nahrautha Masbuta d Hibil Ziwa Ginza Rba in XPS format Ginza Rba Book 01.xps Ginza Rba Book 02.xps Ginza Rba Book 03.xps Ginza Rba... Read more
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Classes start at Butler University this week. I find it useful to look back over the summer’s activities, not only because blog readers may be interested, but also because I find it encouraging to look back and realize that something was accomplished! I taught my course on the Bible online to two sections of students for the first time. I traveled to Oxford to read a paper on the Mandaeans and their historical connection with Jerusalem. (I also blogged about... Read more
John Morehead posted yesterday on the treatment of religion in Star Trek, in particular a couple of episodes from The Next Generation. He writes at the end of his post: What I find of interest is that one of the most popular and enduring of science fiction franchises interacted with religion, and did so in the way that it did, eschewing religion in one sense, and yet retaining its value in another. It remains to be seen whether Star Trek will engage religion... Read more
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