Merry Christmas! A lot of people have pointed out the mansplaining of the songwriter in the song “Mary Did You Know?” Perhaps one of the funniest reworkings was this short one in a tweet: Joseph: “Mary, did you -“ Gabriel: “No.” (Matthew 1:19-21) — Church Curmudgeon (@ChrchCurmudgeon) December 21, 2019 That seemed better (or at least shorter and more poignant and funny) than this attempt to “fix” the song, which didn’t seem to have made it better: That was shared... Read more
I am sure that many people, seeing the title of this post, will think immediately of the Monty Python moment in which a prayer is offered that expounds on how very big God is. For those who don’t know it, here it is: For someone in my field, that comes to mind as well. But I am also led to think about the very useful points that one can make on this subject, perhaps using Monty Python as a starting point –... Read more
A round-up of posts related to early Christology, some with particular focus on their expression in hymns, seems an appropriate thing for me to offer you as Christmas draws near. Hope you find these interesting. Although I continue to explore a variety of subjects in my academic work, I regularly come back to my “first love,” the place where I began with my doctoral research, namely Christology. And so, for your interest, from around the blogosphere: Early Christian Hymns Early... Read more
How does a professor blow off steam and relax just a bit before getting to work when everyone assumes we are “off work,” “on vacation,” and other things that don’t correspond to the reality? By making a parody video. The lyrics are included below. Now to get back to writing books that I am working on… The Most Wonderful Time of the Academic Year It’s the most wonderful time of the year When the grading is done No... Read more
Dan McClellan drew my attention to this fascinating short Christmas movie, The Christ Child, with dialogue entirely in Aramaic. The film’s website answers a number of questions, such as this one: Why was the stable set inside of a home? In first-century Jerusalem, animals were usually kept inside the house. The stable where Jesus was born may actually have been an interior courtyard or even a cave adjacent to the living quarters. It’s likely that Jesus was born in the... Read more
I went with my son to see the latest Star Wars film and the last in this trilogy of trilogies, The Rise of Skywalker, as soon as it was in theaters. I will offer a spoiler-free assessment in this first paragraph and so anyone who wishes to know what I think can read it safely and without hesitation. Once the paragraph ends, only those who don’t care about spoilers or who’ve already seen it should continue reading. But I want... Read more
A while back Cracked offered 25 memes challenging popular misconceptions and misinformation held by people about history. Memes about memes, I suppose. A couple of them relate to early Christianity or church history. I’ve circulated memes about mythicism, fundamentalism, and a range of other topics. But there’s a question that doesn’t get explicitly asked often enough. How effective are memes at combatting memes? On the other hand, can anything other than a meme combat a meme? These aren’t easy questions to... Read more
I’m excited that there’s a project related to theology and Black Mirror in the works. I probably should have turned down the invitation, as I have enough other things in the works. But that show is just so fantastic, I genuinely want to do this. I regularly cry or laugh with joy at episodes. While it is too late for you to join in with that project, here is another that you can still contribute to: Reading Black Mirror –... Read more
International Research Conference Robophilosophy Conference: Culturally Sustainable Social Robotics August 18-21, 2020 Aarhus University, Denmark www.robophilosophy-conference.org Focus Once we place so-called ‘social robots’ into the social practices of our everyday lives and lifeworlds, we create complex, and possibly irreversible, interventions in the physical and semantic spaces of human culture and sociality. The long-term socio-cultural consequences of these interventions is currently impossible to gauge. While the use of ‘social’ robots in service functions, i.e. within the care-, education-, and entertainment sector,... Read more
2020 Call for Papers / Proposals The Comics and Popular Arts Conference (CPAC) invites submissions for our 13th Annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, September 4-7, 2020. CPAC is an annual academic conference for the studies of comics and the popular arts, including science/speculative fiction and fantasy literature, film, and other media, comic books, manga, graphic novels, anime, gaming, etc., presented to a mixed audience of scholars and fans. The mission of CPAC is to promote scholarship on popular culture and to encourage the... Read more
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