The Bible is full of monsters, some of which you’ll recognize, and some of which you didn’t realize were monsters before reading Esther Hamori’s book God’s Monsters: Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible (Broadleaf, 2023). I am a biblical scholar and read or listen to a lot of books related to biblical studies, both those aimed at scholars and those aimed at a general audience. As someone whose main field is New Testament but... Read more
I’m very hard to impress when it comes to generative AI…and this new music-generating tool has me seriously impressed! As you know, I have spent a lot of time experimenting with ChatGPT as well as other generative AI chatbots, and AI art generators such as NightCafe and Dall-E (the former is really great and I recommend trying it out if you haven’t already). I have also been trying to keep an eye on developments in music-generating AI, but there... Read more
I listened to Cixin Liu’s famous novel The Three-Body Problem some time ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, but it didn’t inspire me to write a blog post the way the sequel, The Dark Forest did. I began writing this post when I had just finished the second novel and had quickly begun listening to the third and final novel in the trilogy. If you’ve read the series you’ll know why the second book especially grabbed my interest, and the series as... Read more
I had the opportunity to preview a new three-part miniseries that is coming soon to Netflix. It is called Testament: The Story of Moses, and as a fan of the Expanse I will share that Dominique Tipper plays Zipporah. She shared a couple of photos on Instagram as well as this comment: “Even if you’re not religious, I think you’ll like it. And if you are, there are different people from different faiths and backgrounds talking about the significance of... Read more
The official hashtag for the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting is something lots of people get wrong because they switch it every year in the interest of not giving one organization or the other permanent priority. This year it is #SBLAAR24. Before I write anything else, let me mention that the call for papers for SBL closes in a couple of days on March 20th so there’s still a bit of time to get... Read more
One possible avenue I’ve been thinking of exploring as a next book project is the question of whether Jesus’ parables were intended to be funny. If and when I get around to pursuing that, I will obviously share more here. In the meantime, I will have some related links to share below, and would love to hear what you think about whether Jesus was funny and if so when and how. As I’ve been leading a study of the Gospel... Read more
You probably know Eric Reitan for his excellent and insightful nonfiction books. In addition to a number of theological and philosophical interests that he and I share in common, we also both enjoy reading and writing science fiction. Eric has a new novel out, So Eden Sank to Grief, and I’m delighted that he’s agreed to do an interview for my blog. My questions are in italics and Eric’s answers follow indented below. What is your novel, So Eden Sank... Read more
I saw an ad on Facebook for You.com which from its URL sounds like it could be any number of things other than what it is, an adaptation of ChatGPT that supposedly can be better at providing sources so that you can have AI write an actual research paper. Of course I had to try it out. The verdict? It is terrible, but not in the ways that I feared it would be. How is it terrible? Read my brief... Read more
I am humbled and honored by the endorsements of Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist. “Essential reading for all interested in Jesus’s spiritual formation as well as the later ‘parting of the ways’ between John’s teachings and Jesus’s, this highly accessible work walks us through a little-known story of a relationship that no one previously has brought to light with such clarity and insight.” —Nicola Denzey Lewis, Claremont Graduate University “Thanks to a fresh approach and many hypotheses for ancient... Read more
I am delighted to have the opportunity to offer a brief review of Mireille Hadas-Lebel’s book Les Pharisiens: Dans les Evangiles et dans l’Histoire. It accomplishes a great many important things in a manner that will be of interest to scholars and yet is presented in a way that should reach a much wider audience. Having a scholar who has previously published on other aspects of Jewish history in the same period tackle this topic is a definite gain. In... Read more
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