Many bloggers have already noted the discovery of a fragment of an inscribed vessel which originated in the Jerusalem area in the 10th or 11th century. Here is a photo: Christopher Rollston has proposed that what remains of the inscription may mean “pot” followed by the first letter either of someone’s name or an indication of contents. Gershon Galil has proposed reading it as “give them their share.” Click through to read about the proposals and understand why they are... Read more
At the recent ARAM conference on the Mandaeans, a topic which some of us had discussed previously was brought up, namely the creation of a Society for Mandaean Studies. Matthew Morgenstern has responded by setting up a Facebook page to get the process underway to formally bring such an organization into existence. If you are a Facebook user, and are interested in this topic, please do “like” the page. And if you are a scholar who is interested in the... Read more
I mentioned when I shared a cartoon by David Hayward in a blog post I titled “House of Cards” that I might write a song. Well, I did, and here’s a demo version of it I just recorded! Read more
I’ve been reading Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy, and will be reviewing it in the near future. But I wanted to highlight one component of the second book in the trilogy, The Year of the Flood. The novel includes snippets of sermons as well as a whole set of complete songs reflecting the theology of this fictional religious group, God’s Gardeners. They are concerned with the environment and humanity’s mistreatment of it, and are expecting a “waterless flood” that will come... Read more
Young-earth creationist Bibles do not begin with Genesis. At least, that is the impression they give. It is as though there is an invisible preface which they alone can see, which they read first, and which provides the lens through which they view the creation material in Genesis. From the way they interpret Genesis, the invisible preface must read something like the following: What follows is divinely revealed truth not merely about theology but about science and history. It contains... Read more
I encountered some delays on the last leg of my trip here in the United States, due to weather. But otherwise everything went smoothly, and I am now back home in Indianapolis! Read more
This probably would be a good name for a band. But having just heard a sermon about the Sabbath last weekend, and reflecting on the fact that the length of the Sabbath differs with the seasons, it struck me that in the arctic and in Antarctica, the Sabbath, and any Jewish or other observance that depends on sunset, could face serious issues. I discovered that I was not the only person to have thought about this. There is a Wikipedia... Read more
The last time my Sunday school class met, we discussed whether the language of “sacrifice” is essential to Christian thinking about the death of Jesus, or is a metaphor or illustration used in New Testament texts precisely because it related the death of Jesus to something familiar, helping people to make sense of it. In Leviticus, it is not as though sacrifice is introduced as something which God demands. It is assumed that readers of the text (1) know what... Read more
If you read my blog regularly, and don’t get my Doctor Who references, I just want to say, “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Read more
I am writing this on a bus with free wi-fi that will (unless something unexpected happens) take me to Heathrow Airport. That I could pop across the Atlantic for a conference in Oxford for a few days is itself a marvel of technology, but one that has been around for a while now (and was more affordable in recent memory). But other technological developments have changed what the experience of being at a conference here was like, just compared to... Read more
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