If you are at the conference and are interested in the intersection of religion and science fiction, don't miss the opportunity to purchase Religion and Science Fiction at a 40% discount off the usual price! Just visit the Wipf and Stock display, where it is easily spotted! Read more
The day before yesterday I was involved in a session put together by the SBL student organization, on how to prepare for and effectively deliver a good conference presentation. Since an earlier panelist had rightly pointed out that an abstract is no place for jokes, and given my appreciation for the humorous, I thought that I would comment on appropriate humor for conference papers themselves, including their titles. If a joke naturally flows from the topic, it can be enjoyable.... Read more
I have posted a copy of my conference paper which I will be reading at the Society of Biblical Literature Conference. This version has full quotation of several relevant chapters from the Mandaean Book of John embedded within the text of the paper at relevant points, online. Those same texts and more can be found at the site we created to share drafts of our translation. The title of my paper is “Revisiting the Relationship between the Mandaean Book of John... Read more
I will be involved with a panel in a few minutes with the title “Now Presenting!” with myself and others sharing some advice to grad students and others new to presenting. This is the line up as of 3:42 (it starts at 4pm): To be fair, this place is huge! But we may get booed if the first panelist comes in at the last minute and then emphasizes getting to your session early… Read more
I spent most of the morning talking with a filmmaker working on a documentary on religious minorities in Iraq. Even so, I managed to cross paths with lots of old friends at least briefly. My first actual session I have gotten to is thus the AAR session on Religion and Science Fiction. The first paper looked at a concept from Kurt Vonnegut's novel Sirens of Titan, the Chrono-synclastic Infundibulum, a space-time warp which allows one who enters it to experience... Read more
Another provocative and insightful cartoon by David Hayward. One can substitute Christianity, Jesus, and many other persons and entities into the equation and make the same point – and find oneself recapping historic disagreements that have been around for a very long time! Read more
I drove up to Chicago today for the joint annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature. I have already had a get-together with some other Patheos bloggers attending the conference, bumped into old friends and even one of my collaborators on the Mandaean Book of John project. So far, so good. If you are also in Chicago for the conference, I hope to see you there – I mean, here! Above is the view... Read more
I will post a link from my blog to a full version of my conference paper soon, with primary texts and extra sections included that I do not have time to include in the actual presentation. I will post that on the day I actually read the paper, so that the link will be at the top of the blog, making access easier. But for today, let me move beyond the preliminary methodological background discussions I've shared thus far, and... Read more
This one goes out to everyone traveling to Chicago for the AAR and/or SBL annual meetings. There’s something special about listening to Chicago sing about going to Chicago when you’re going to Chicago… Read more
Yesterday Jim West shared a linkto an article which ties in directly to the question I have been exploring in a couple of recent posts. The article is “THE “SPRING OF THE YEAR” (2 CHRONICLES 36:10) AND THE CHRONICLER’S SOURCES” by Michael Avioz, published in the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures. In this particular instance, Chronicles provides information about the timing of events which is not mentioned in Kings and which is confirmed by a Babylonian source. When a text gets a detail right... Read more
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