#CFP TexMoot 2020–Apocalypse: Unveiling the Future

Last updated on: November 28, 2019 at 3:33 pm By James F. McGrath

TexMoot 2020–Apocalypse: Unveiling the Future Signum University’s Third Annual Texas Literature & Language Symposium From Ragnarok to Revelation, from the utopian proposals of Plato’s Republic to the dystopian vision of Huxley’s Brave New World, a prominent concern of human language and literature has always been to describe possible futures. Some of these visions of the future are cataclysmic, looking forward to a time when Heaven—or Mother Earth—will wipe the slate clean; others propose a more optimistic vision of progress. Recent films such as Interstellar or Tomorrowland have taken... Read more

Biblical Music in the Milken Archive

Last updated on: November 27, 2019 at 7:01 pm By James F. McGrath

I love the Milken Archive. So much Jewish music has been made available, promoted, highlighted, more widely distributed, studied, and otherwise enhanced as far as connection with audiences of listeners is concerned. It was music by Lucas Foss that led me to draft this post. But other things worth mentioning from that site and their email newsletter kept coming my way, and so I’ll share some of those as well below. But first, a brief snippet from the post about... Read more

Religion and Life on Mars (Again)

Last updated on: November 20, 2019 at 9:34 pm By James F. McGrath

First, the news that an entomologist claims to have spotted insects on Mars. Take a look at the images and judge for yourselves. Now, for a recent IO9 article: What about implications for religions? Would finding alien life cause a mass crisis of faith? “Unfortunately, I’ve spent years working through these questions,” said Weintraub. “My 2014 book, Religions and Extraterrestrial Life, is devoted entirely to how religions of the world would react. The short answer is that some already believe in... Read more

LDS Rockers

Last updated on: November 27, 2019 at 10:18 am By James F. McGrath

Rock music has been associated in the minds of most people more with LSD than LDS. (Sorry, but this seemed like it might be the one appropriate opportunity to make that acronymic joke). While reading and thinking about theology and progressive rock, I keep finding things that are outside of that genre but nonetheless very interesting. One is that Jonathan Cain of Journey fame is married to Paula White, the Pentecostal televangelist who has made news lately for her connection with... Read more

The Symbolism and Meaning of John’s Baptism

Last updated on: November 17, 2019 at 5:26 pm By James F. McGrath

Today I will be appearing on a conference panel about the book I helped produce, The Mandaean Book of John: Critical Edition, Translation, and Commentary. I have several projects that I am juggling at the moment, but one that I am in the extremely early phases of is also one that I am incredibly excited about. Only time will tell whether its significance for a number of areas of religious studies will be as significant as I have begun to... Read more

Doctor Who: Nightmare of Eden

Last updated on: November 17, 2019 at 3:16 pm By James F. McGrath

Time to get back into blogging through classic Doctor Who episodes. Apologies for the long delay! In this episode, two ships collide, one being partially dematerialized at the time. This isn’t an uncommon scenario on Doctor Who – but in this case, it isn’t the TARDIS that is the partially-dematerialized ship in question! Early in the episode we get this exchange between Romana and the Doctor which in many ways sums up the entirety of Doctor Who: ROMANA: I don’t think we... Read more

Call for Papers: The Theological World of Harry Potter – edited volume #CFP

Last updated on: November 15, 2019 at 1:17 pm By James F. McGrath

Editors: Taylor J. Ott (Fordham University) and Shaun Brown (Villa Maria College) Theology and Pop Culture is currently seeking contributions for an edited volume from Rowman and Littlefield on the intersection of theology and Harry Potter. Essays should prioritize the books but may include or concentrate on the films, Fantastic Beasts, or The Cursed Child if appropriate. Essays should be written for academics, but avoid “jargon” to be accessible for the layperson. Contributions may be written from the perspective of any religious tradition. With... Read more

Database of Religious History at #AARSBL19

Last updated on: November 19, 2019 at 7:37 pm By James F. McGrath

I have not only been meaning to blog about the Database of Religious History project for some time, but I have long been meaning to contribute to it. The Mandaeans ought to feature in this effort to show the connection between religion and place, between a tradition’s trajectory through time and its spread through geographic space. It is partly because there are such significant disputes and uncertainties about the Mandaeans’ movements in history, and partly because of not finding the... Read more

What Jesus Learned from Junia

Last updated on: November 19, 2019 at 7:37 pm By James F. McGrath

I confess that my initial reaction was to dismiss the idea that Joanna and Junia might be references to the same person. But as I resisted the temptation to merely dismiss, and pulled on the thread, I found it led me to discover a number of intriguing intertwined threads that are woven together so tightly that it seems unlikely to be a coincidence. For instance, the tribe of Benjamin (to which Paul belonged) was historically located in and around Jericho,... Read more

ReligionProf Podcast with Ruth Hayhoe

Last updated on: November 20, 2019 at 6:41 am By James F. McGrath

In the ReligionProf Podcast episode embedded above, I talk to Prof. Ruth Hayhoe, a specialist in comparative education who was recently involved in the production of a book in the field of biblical studies. The backstory is that Ruth is the sister of Suzanne McCarthy, whose writings on her blog I mentioned and linked to on my own blog often. Suzanne sadly died from cancer while working on a book about gender bias in Bible translation, and her sister Ruth,... Read more

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