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
I thought I should turn the paraphrase, or rather reworking, or 1 Corinthians 13 that I shared in my previous post into an image. Feel free to share it with students and educators you may know! Read more
Let me begin with a paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13, reworked for students: If I learn to speak in Latin and/or in Chinese, but do not have love, I am only a fire alarm going off in the middle of the night in a student dorm. If I am able to ace organic chemistry exams and can fathom the mysteries of classic literature, and have a GPA of 4.0, and but do not have love, I am nothing. If I... Read more
This cartoon came my way on Facebook today: While it is just a bit of silly humor, it can be the jumping off point for a reflection on something more serious and timely. A lot of religious believers make it a point of dogma to affirm that miracles happened as described in the Bible. But miracles, as depicted in the Bible, were never a dogma to be affirmed. They were experiences treated as God demonstrating power. No faith was required... Read more
Ken Olson recently had a guest post on the Jesus Blog, about the Testimonium Flavianum. Olson’s chapter on this subject, “A Eusebian Reading of the Testimonium Flavianum,” is online on Academia.edu. Jim Davila and Richard Carrier also discuss this topic. Olson’s argument is summed up as follows: “The most likely hypothesis is that Eusebius either composed the entire text or rewrote it so thoroughly that it is now impossible to recover a Josephan original” (p.100). As Olson points out (promising that he will... Read more
I came across this on Pinterest: This obviously reflects, for the most part, the literalistic and contextless approach of fundamentalism. But now that religious viewpoint is treated with hostility – yet without in fact questioning its underlying assumptions. Those who are willing to read into the text ideas that were not formulated until much later, such as the Trinity, will probably not find there to be any problem. They will envisage one person of the Godhead speaking when the others... Read more
Would it be inappropriate for me to add to my syllabi that, if a student informs me of the death of a relative, hoping that this excuse will justify an absence to attend the funeral, I will excuse them, but will also send a card to their family offering my condolences? If you are an educator, have you found better ways of walking the fine line between being compassionate without being gullible, when it comes to students excuses? Read more
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