Today I had my attention drawn to the fact that the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention or Worldcon, known this year as Loncon 3 because it will be in London, will have an academic component, Academic Loncon 3. The theme will be “Diversity in Speculative Fiction.” Visit the Academic Loncon 3 website for more details about the event and submitting proposals. Read more
First, I give thanks to my God, through Jesus the appointed king, for all of you, because your faithfulness to God is being reported all over the world. God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the good news concerning his son, as I constantly make mention of you, always asking in my prayers if now, somehow, perhaps, at long last, by God’s will, I will have a clear passage to come to you. I am longing... Read more
Since David Moloney of Darton, Longman, and Todd tweeted this photo, presumably I can share it here. It is the cover for the book Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith: Religion and Doctor Who, of which I am co-editor along with Andy Crome. It is due out later this year. Of related interest, today's “Academic Minute” from Inside Higher Ed is by Paul Booth of DePaul University, and is about the cultural meaning of Doctor Who. Read more
The Doctor Who episode “The Claws of Axos” from the Jon Pertwee era features aliens who remind me of golden gods, perhaps from Greek mythology. And the story actually echoes, in a sense, a famous mythic story from that tradition, but on this occasion it is godlike beings who bring the treacherous gift. The Axons offer axonite, which allegedly can help solve the world’s food problems, but in fact is part of the same living substance that the Axonites themselves... Read more
I learned today that there is a WordPress site for James D. G. Dunn. Jimmy Dunn supervised my PhD research, and is indisputably one of the top New Testament scholars of recent decades. I have not asked Jimmy whether the site was created by him and is thus official, but even if it isn't, it looks like it could be interesting and useful! Read more
How had I missed these Doctor Who minisodes until now? Read more
Erich Wolfgang Korngold came to Hollywood from Vienna, bringing with him his own unique style born from a context shaped by Richard Strauss in particular. What you know as the typical sound of Hollywood film scores is in fact the style of Korngold. If you don’t know his music, you should! Read more
Tony Rossi has reposted some of his reflections on the show and its religious themes on the blog Christopher Closeup. Of course, there is a lot of blogging at Exploring Our Matrix about LOST, although, since most of it is from before the move to Patheos, it doesn’t have the convenient tags to help you find it. See also the recent post about J. J. Abrams’ “rules” regarding time travel at IO9. Why is it worth thinking about LOST at this... Read more
To all God’s people in Rome, who are loved by God and called and sanctified, Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and Jesus his appointed king. Let me introduce myself. I am Paul – enslaved by Jesus the divinely-appointed king, and called to be an emissary of God’s good news. You’ve heard about that good news, promised beforehand by prophets in sacred writings. It is about God’s son – who (from a human perspective) is of the... Read more
The “Spotlight on Teaching” section of the latest issue of Religious Studies News is focused on online education. It includes interesting articles such as: Sandie Gravett, “Rethinking Online Education” Erica Andrus, “Introducing Religion to Cyberstudents” John Strong, “Hybrid or Blended Teaching Formats” John Baumann, “The Challenge of Online Education” Annie Blazer and Brandi Denison, “The Internet is Not a Classroom” If you teach online or expect that you might, the articles are worth a look. I’m currently in the third day... Read more
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