I was particularly delighted to have the opportunity to go out to dinner yesterday evening with folks from the conference and sit with Anthony Le Donne, Chris Keith, and Rafael Rodriguez. We talked about all sorts of things, but a particular highlight was the subject of the criteria of authenticity, about which we disagree and nuance our views in different ways. In fact, there will be a conference at Lincoln Christian University next year challenging the traditional criteria, and a... Read more

A couple of posts related to religion and science fiction recently popped up on blogs I read. Nakedpastor reflects on the religious significance of TRON: Legacy, while Rod of Alexandria continues a series on Theology and Firefly. Read more

Because I was away and busy, I didn’t get a chance to mention Jim Linville’s LOLaCreationist Contest. (It is perhaps just as well, since he was busy being Pharyngulated). Since over the course of my recent trip I alas saw signs and advertisements for the Creation “Museum,” I’m all the more eager to highlight Jim’s contest and encourage participation in it. Here are a few of the entries so far, focused around the theme of food: Also related, Panda’s Thumb links to a... Read more

John Byron notes that bibliobloggers have driven the lead codices story into the realm of the most popular stories. Now if only there would be more attention not only to some of the misleading news stories, but to what scholars have been blogging about the subject, we’d be making real progress. Nevertheless, it is fitting that there has been so much blogging about the lead codices: Jazz appreciation month is obviously an appropriate time to be talking about fake books... Read more

Earlier today in a conversation with another New Testament person at the conference, we were talking about dinner plans. He said he’d probably look for a “BW3.” “Ben Witherington III?” I asked. No, he clarified, he meant “Buffalo Wild Wings.” I’m sure this is a useful illustration of the potential for misunderstanding when two contexts overlap or intersect (in this case, an academic conference and discussion of food). But I’m just sharing it because I expect that many readers will... Read more

I’m currently in Cincinnati attending the Stone Campbell Journal Conference at Cincinnati Christian University. This morning the conference opened with a presentation by Loren Stuckenbruck on demons and exorcisms in the Gospels and their possible background in Jewish literature, in particular 1 Enoch and the Book of Giants. A particularly intriguing idea is the suggestion that the notion of demons inhabiting human bodies may reflect the mythology of demonic origins which regards demons as the spirits of the giants who... Read more

Ben Witherington has been blogging about Bart Ehrman’s recent book Forged. While Ehrman’s book is by no means above criticism, Witherington’s suggestion that that Ehrman misrepresents the scholarly consensus about the Pastoral Epistles seems to me to be off target. But this is perhaps an excellent opportunity to ask that perennial question: How does one gauge the scholarly consensus on a particular matter? I found myself pondering this issue as I read Foster’s book on the The Gospel of Peter.... Read more

Ari provides instructions on how to make your own metal plates – and wisely chooses to illustrate with aluminium rather than lead. Jim West shares evidence which may show that the forger of the lead plates used another fake in making them! Jim Davila notes that Art Daily has been taken in by the AP article about the lead plates. So too has the New York Post. And from the first article, it seems that the Jordanian government has been taken... Read more

Via The Stoa Consortium, I learned of this call for papers: Workshop Call for PapersFebruary 13-14, 2012Brown University The Program in Judaic Studies in collaboration with the Brown University Library’s Center for Digital Scholarship is pleased to announce plans for a two-day workshop devoted to investigating the ways in which the digital humanities has or can change the study of religion in antiquity.  The workshop will take place on February 13-14, 2012, at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. We... Read more

Remnant of Giants has a post which points out that the lead codices cannot have been forged. To forge is what one does with steel; lead is more likely to be cast. Jokes aside, there is a serious post about the process of manufacture of the lead codices at the blog Primitive Method (HT Jim Davila). Read more