The recording of my talk about Google searches, Chat-GPT, and the computers on Star Trek is now available. I will share it at the end of this post. Let me here illustrate the key point. OpenAI has emphasized from the outset what Chat-GPT is. It emulates human speech patterns. It does this remarkably well. They have been very clear what it is not. It is not a search engine. It is not designed, as it shuffles language into new patterns,... Read more
I wanted to check whether there was any record I might have missed of Herod Antipas beheading someone else, and so I decided to use it as a test of one of the things I suspected ChatGPT might be useful for. Here is how it went. It will be the contrast with Google search results that makes the point, so read on… Me: Did Herod Antipas behead anyone else besides John the Baptist? ChatGPT: It is possible that Herod Antipas... Read more
The early Jewish Christian Gospel of the Ebionites said that John ate ἐγκρίς rather than ἀκρίς. The latter means “locust” and that’s what we have in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew (Luke omits this detail). The former? You’ll often hear it rendered into English as a “pancake” made with oil and honey. That definition seems to be heavily influenced by the fact that the word occurs in the LXX (Greek translation) of Exodus 16:31. The term actually appears to... Read more
Having tried out ChatGPT I could hardly refuse an invitation to give Bard a whirl. It is much the same sort of thing as ChatGPT, and behaves in similar ways. I have a better sense now of what to ask it to explore its capacities and shortcomings, and so I asked it: What is an idea for a science fiction story that no one has ever used before? Here is how Bard responded: It is difficult to come up with... Read more
I apologize for an unusually long break in blogging, but I did some traveling and took some time off during spring break, and then since then have been busy with matters related to the publishing of the books I have been writing during my sabbatical. As a result, I now have a double dose of good news to share about my John the Baptist writing project. Soon after I sent Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company a proposal for one of the... Read more
Sometimes moments in the church year or the liturgy spark insights in scholars in attendance. Last year during Holy Week something clicked and I realized there is a major discrepancy between something in the Gospels on the one hand, and widely held views of the significance of Jesus’ death on the other. It seems appropriate to share it now as Holy Week 2023 draws near. At this time in the church’s calendar, many of us turn our thoughts to the... Read more
There is some poignant humor in a bit of satire from McSweeney’s depicting the prayer of an assistant professor to the “tenure gods” when going up for tenure. But I also feel the need to comment that I am part of a department that has very clear tenure and promotion guidelines, something that I only fully appreciated when I did a Wabash Center workshop for early career scholars many years ago and discovered that this was anything but commonplace. I... Read more
I almost ended up doing a blog interview with the filmmaker behind Once The Ice Melts but with the sabbatical I wasn’t able to dedicate the time to it that would have been necessary. For anyone who is interested in culture, climate change, ethnography, and/or seeing part of the planet that you never have before, the movie is worth watching. The ice melting in Greenland made the news not that long ago. Also relevant: On other topics I’ve blogged about recently... Read more
This opportunity came to my attention and it seemed appropriate to spread the word: Nova Forum Postdoctoral Fellowship in Science and Religion, 2023-2024 The Nova Forum for Catholic Thought is an initiative of the Roman Catholic community at the University of Southern California in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Our mission is to introduce students to the Catholic intellectual tradition and to share that tradition’s resources with secular universities. Nova Forum is currently a project sponsored by the USC Caruso... Read more
As I listened to Brian McLaren’s wonderful book Do I Stay Christian? a while back I had lots of thoughts. The book has prompted me to think and reflect not only about the book’s content itself but also related (and at times tangential) matters. One major theme in the book, even if not flagged as such, is shifting from being part of a conservative Christian minority in the context of a liberal secular society, to being a liberal inclusive minority in... Read more
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