#CFP Special Issue of Interdisciplinary Literary Studies on Hybridity and Star Trek

Last updated on: January 6, 2020 at 12:13 pm By James F. McGrath

A call for papers about Star Trek: Special Issue of Interdisciplinary Literary Studies: A Journal of Criticism and Theory (www.psupress.org/Journals/jnls_ILS.html). We invite essays that investigate the concept of hybridity within the Star Trek universe. Accepted essays will be published in a Special Issue of the peer-reviewed journal Interdisciplinary Literary Studies (Penn State University Press). Please submit essays of no longer than 7,500 words to http://www.editorialmanager.com/interlitstudies/. Select “Special Issue Article” before uploading your manuscript. Deadline for receipt of essays is May 18, 2020 Possible topics include hybridity and:... Read more

Paul APB 7

Last updated on: January 7, 2020 at 9:48 pm By James F. McGrath

https://vimeo.com/234933162 In this Apostle Paul APB, Rob Orlando asks what Paul was on trial for, and how the message of Paul differed from that of James and Peter, who were tellingly not hauled before the same Jewish authorities for comparable accusations to Paul. This connects in interesting ways with another topic that has been in the news lately, namely the use of Romans 13, in particular by conservative Evangelicals, to insist that one should not criticize the government. It is... Read more

#CFP On the Shoulders of Giants, TitanCon 2020, Belfast, Ireland

Last updated on: December 31, 2019 at 2:01 pm By James F. McGrath

On the Shoulders of Giants TitanCon 2020 Belfast, Ireland August 28-30, 2020 Call for Papers In the spirit of deepening and broadening its roots, Titancon 2020 is adding a formal academic track to its programming. The convention began as a collaboration between the Brotherhood Without Banners, who wanted to put on a fan convention for Game of Thrones, the Belfast SF/F society The Other Ones, who wanted to put on an SF/F convention, and Arkham Gaming Centre, who wanted to... Read more

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Last updated on: January 2, 2020 at 9:00 am By James F. McGrath

I recently rewatched Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. There is a running joke throughout the movie that actually is fundamental to its point. Spock quotes ‘an old Vulcan proverb,’ “Only Nixon could go to China.” There is discussion of Shakespeare in the original Klingon. And Chekov makes reference to the Russian epic of Cinderella. But in fact, what initially struck me as mere attempts at humor are in fact central to its message (and woven into the soundtrack in ways I hadn’t perceived... Read more

Peer Reviews, Pseudoscience, and Denialism

Last updated on: January 9, 2020 at 10:13 pm By James F. McGrath

My Facebook connections are diverse enough that I see a range of viewpoints, which is a good thing that I am determined to maintain. It also means that I see a lot that disturbs and disheartens me. One recent example involved a denialist piece misrepresenting peer review and defending anti-vaccination, anti-GMO, and other such stances. Among the things I wrote in comments there: The entire academic endeavor involves some minimal peer review of the sort the web page you shared... Read more

Jesus CYOA

Last updated on: January 7, 2020 at 9:28 pm By James F. McGrath

I’ve explored the possibility of making a historical Jesus role playing game before. But what about a Jesus “Choose Your Own Adventure” novel? This came up in a conversation about what might have happened if Jesus had not died by crucifixion – whether because he lived to old age in his own time, or was “disappeared” in the U.S.S.R. during the Communist era, or was assassinated in the U.S. today. That led to a raising of the possibility of a... Read more

10th Congress of the Société d’Etudes Samaritaines #CFP

Last updated on: December 29, 2019 at 10:11 pm By James F. McGrath

10th Congress of the Société d’Etudes Samaritaines Call for Papers Dear colleagues, This is to announce the 10th Congress of the Société d’EtudesSamaritaines, which will take place at the Károli Gáspár University in Budapest (Hungary), 19th-24th July 2020. The congress will be jointly organized by the SÉS and the Faculty of Theology of the Károli Gáspár University of the Hungarian Reformed Church. The Congress of the SÉS meets every four years and is the mostimportant meeting of experts working in the... Read more

2020 Dirk Smilde Scholarships

Last updated on: December 29, 2019 at 10:50 pm By James F. McGrath

2020 Dirk Smilde Scholarships The Qumran Institute of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Groningen is happy to announce the call for 2020 Dirk Smilde Scholarships for excellent PhD students/candidates and postdocs in Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, Dead Sea Scrolls, and related fields. 2 scholarships will be offered for a duration of 3 months each, to be in residence October through December, 2020. The scholarship amounts to €1,000 per month. The scholarships will coincide... Read more

Preview the Mandaean Book of John

Last updated on: January 8, 2020 at 9:44 pm By James F. McGrath

Today I will be leaving to make a fairly brief visit to Australia. It will be my first time there. The main purpose of the trip is to accompany a group of students on the first leg of a semester-long study abroad program that Butler University runs called GALA, short for Global Adventures in the Liberal Arts. While I was willing to help the university and take the place of a professor who had previously been slated to fill this... Read more

Trump as Antichrist

Last updated on: January 9, 2020 at 9:26 am By James F. McGrath

There have been a lot of discussion on blogs and elsewhere online about the possibility that U. S. president Donald Trump might be the antichrist. Ironically, and at the same time both disappointingly and rather refreshingly, this discussion hasn’t been among those who’ve been predicting the imminent arrival of the antichrist ever since Darby came up with and successfully promote his Rapture theology in the 19th century. Those very people are the ones who are following a world leader uncritically... Read more

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