I’m back home safe and sound from the conference in Chicago. I expect that blogging not related to the conference will resume pretty much immediately, and I may try to go back and blog about some of the highlights which I have not managed to yet, if there is interest. John Dominic Crossan’s keynote address was great, on Eastern iconography depicting the resurrection. Simply meeting people for the first time face to face – such as Steve Wiggins, and Christopher... Read more
Yesterday morning was the first bit of genuinely free time I have had at the conference, and so I spent some time in the book exhibit and elsewhere, talking with friends. This rest was helpful in preparing for what lay in store that afternoon… First there was a session on mysticism, esotericism, and Gnosticism, in which April DeConick presented a fascinating argument that the category of “Gnostic” should not be set aside, and genuinely reflects a new current in religiosity/spirituality... Read more
The bibliobloggers' gathering last night at Kitty O'Shea's was great, and it included several bloggers who had never attended before, and the “coming out” of one whose identity had previously been obscure (not in the photos below). There were quite a number of “lapsed bloggers” in attendance – i.e. people who had not been blogging regularly if at all for quite some time. (That led me to discuss the theology of biblioblogging, and whether it is a case of “once... Read more
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! Â Â 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
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