I stopped by on Wednesday, before the official start of GenCon, to pick up badges and event tickets from will call at the Indianapolis Convention Center, thinking that it would be less busy then than on the day I'm attending. That is presumably true, but it was incredibly busy even so, with impressive lines, but also impressive organization as volunteers and employees kept things moving. I managed to get hold of a program book (they were in short supply), and... Read more
Princeton Theological Seminary has made a large number of digitized volumes available online, in its Theological Commons. If you have never explored its holdings, I'd encourage you to click through and do so. While it obviously consists primarily of older materials, they are particularly useful ones for academics studying ancient religion or history, Biblical studies, theology, hymnology, and a number of other related topics. Several people on Facebook and blogs mentioned this today, including Larry Hurtado. Read more
I returned to the public piano in front of Indianapolis’ Central Library today, this time with my son, who plays the violin. We played “Berceuse” by Ottorino Respighi, one of our favorite pieces for violin and piano, and also did some improvisation together. I also played and sang “You Raise Me Up” and my son played the violin solo. I only put the two pieces of sheet music with his solo part up on the piano, but keeping even those... Read more
This was spotted somewhere in my neighborhood. I have a funny feeling that the CIA would be the least likely to name their network “CIA Surveillance.” But as a way of freaking out neighbors, and hopefully getting them not to try to use your wi-fi, it is a great idea. In fact, the full name probably says “CIA Surveillance Van” since I have actually seen a meme on the internet suggesting renaming your wi-fi network to that, in order to... Read more
David Hayward posted this cartoon, depicting the sea change in the direction of so many being “spiritual yet not religious”: Some will find the shift from the church at the center to the individual at the center offensive and problematic. But it isn't that different from what Jesus talked about when he said “the Sabbath was made for human beings, not human beings for the Sabbath.” When people place an institution – whether a sacred text, a law, or an... Read more
Brian LePort, in preparation for an SBL paper on the subject, is looking to talk to people who have found their blogging to be an issue when seeking employment. Click through to read his post, and please forward it to anyone that you think might be able to speak to him about their experience, or let him know of cases that can be read about publicly somewhere (most likely on the blogs that got their authors into trouble with potential... Read more
A friend mentioned on Facebook that, when the song “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis came on the radio recently, someone quipped “Admiral Ackbar would like this song.” So she Googled “Admiral Ackbar Suspicious Minds” on a whim and found this video. Hope you enjoy Jedi Elvis! Read more
Brian LePort has mentioned on his blog that he has accepted the sacred duty of carrying the Biblical Studies Carnival flame for this month. Please submit posts to him by clicking through and following the instructions. Read more
I learned today via IO9 that Google has made it as official as Google can make things: “Literally” now means “literally” but also the opposite. Actually, perhaps I should ask whether literally now literally means “not literally,” or whether literally now still means “literally,” but means it figuratively as well as literally. When people misuse literally in this way, it figuratively drives me round the bend… Read more
The Doctor Who episode “Silence in the Library” is particularly popular with Doctor Who fans who are librarians, since the episode is set in a planet-sized library. Butler University recently hired a new librarian, Franny Gaede, who is a Whovian. And so soon after getting to campus, this appeared on her door: I love that, since she is a librarian, Franny used a font that is in the public domain, and an image from a coloring book which permits reproduction... Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In