I became aware not long ago of a very cool call for papers for an edited volume, Being A Girl: Representations of Female and Feminism in Doctor Who: The casting of Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor in 2017 caused a great uproar among Whovians. The casting of a woman in a traditionally male role brought forth supporters and critics. Questions fans asked included: Was the Doctor male? Would a woman change the series? With Whittaker now entering her second season as... Read more
The Doctor Who episode “Fugitive of the Judoon” starts off with a fairly straightforward premise by series standards—“a platoon of Judoon near the moon“—but gets wibbly wobbly timey wimey by the end. And since my own life got timey wimey as I traveled to Australia, and given the big reveal in this episode, I thought I’d blog about this one right away, and come back to the one before it, which I’ve still yet to blog about, “Nicola Tesla’s Night of... Read more
I recently found myself wondering how one might attempt to explain Star Trek V: The Final Frontier within the framework of the narrative. According to the movie, in the center of our galaxy, in a place where paradise was believed to be located, a being dwells that knows about all living things’ mythologies and God-images, and yet cannot escape that world without being taken on a starship. Does this not seem to cry out for an explanation? It can certainly... Read more
I’m sharing this poster for an upcoming presentation at Butler University, related to a book project that Frank Felice and I are working on. Do have a listen as well to this performance of one of Frank’s song cycles: Tangentially related is this podcast on the patron saint of musicians: https://www.episcopalcafe.com/2fab-st-cecilia/ On a related note (pun intended) Steve Wiggins wrote: Listening to someone else’s music is taking a stroll through her or his head. Someone once gave me a disc... Read more
It is perhaps just as well that travels prevented me from blogging about this episode of Doctor Who right away after it aired. There is a big reveal that reframes the narrative and mentioning it when some might not have yet had the chance to see it would be cruelly spoilerific. As it happened, I was en route to Australia, a country experiencing out of control bush fires and intense smoke, when I watched it, and that made the episode’s... Read more
A revised and extended call for papers from the Journal of Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies appears below. Please consider submitting something, but please also help spread the word by circulating this announcement! The call for papers on the Bible and Science Fiction is re-opened with a broader call, now the Bible and Speculative Fiction. We are looking for articles dealing with the interactions of biblical and related non-biblical texts with literary, television, film and other cultural artefacts (video games; cartoons; graphic... Read more
On the episode of the ReligionProf Podcast that was released today, I talk with Roger Sneed about his current project literally digging into archives of notes, clippings, drafts, and other materials belonging to Octavia Butler. From there we explore comparisons between Butler’s vision and that of Star Trek, sci-fi as prophecy, and much else. Since it is so directly related, I want to share here this call for papers from the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts: We... Read more
I don’t know how I missed coming across this term until now, but I’m so incredibly happy to have added it to my vocabulary. Sarahbeth Caplin referred to “narcegesis” in the context of her comments on Anne Graham Lotz’s remarks about Donald Trump’s removal of troops from Syria perhaps being connected to the “End Times.” She wrote: Nothing in the Bible was written with 21st century America in mind. It was written for a specific set of people in very... Read more
OK, let me begin by confessing that the pun that I originally had in mind to make in the title of this post was terrible. I toyed with the idea of calling it “Mythisnadicism.” There are probably only a very small number of people who would have guessed that I was planning to bring together the subject of mythicism, and the way mythicists contrast the Gospels to other Greco-Roman historical texts, and the isnads of the Islamic hadith tradition. Now... Read more
Butler University invites undergraduate scholars to share innovative research, scholarship, and creative endeavor with hundreds of their peers at the 32nd Annual Undergraduate Research Conference April 17, 2020 at Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana Our submission and registration systems are now open— We are now accepting submissions through February 14, 5:00 PM (EST). All guests planning to attend the URC should register no later than March 27. Visit www.butler.edu/urc for more information Conference Director: Dr. Dacia Charlesworth Conference Coordinator: Melissa Friedman... Read more
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