Lots of interesting MLK-day links, several of which connect Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself with Biblical studies and other aspects of the study of antiquity. Pete Bekins links to an essay Martin Luther King wrote for a course on the Old Testament while a student. And Nick Norelli evaluates the author of a book on the theology of King and Tutu to be a modalist. Matthew Malcolm quotes Albert Schweitzer’s evaluation of why mythicism is implausible. Much time... Read more

T. C. Robinson posted a couple of suggestions on his blog of things that wished I had said about Paul in a recent post, but did not. One was the “new perspective” on Paul, and I was rather astonished to discover that I had not really addressed that topic here on the blog for several years! So for now, let me link to the only two posts I found of mine that focus directly on the topic – one about... Read more

Here are some quotes from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in honor of Martin Luther King Day: A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967. The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization,... Read more

Nick Norelli, struck by a blog post asking people if they want to blog more this year, responded by indicating that in fact if anything he desires to blog less. Surely Nick is on the right track, and if not others, at least many of those in the top 10 or so in the biblioblog rankings could benefit from spending at least slightly less time blogging. So who’s with Nick on this, and ready to make a conscious effort to blog less... Read more

As a follow-up to griping about the lack of free wi-fi at SBL conference hotels in 2010, I thought I’d share a link to the edition of ProfHacker that focuses on the MLA conference and how free wi-fi, and the electronic interaction it allowed to occur, transformed the conference. Please note not only the potential positive impact, but also the simple fact that arranging for there to be free wi-fi seems to have proven possible. Read more

Around the blogs, Loren Rosson talks a bit about whether Jesus existed, while Doug Chaplin explains why he doesn’t discuss mythicism as often as creationism (or as often as I do). Joel Watts draws attention to a book illustrating one of the more frustrating aspects of mythicism – its tendency to take modern books (with or without pictures) and assume that any similarities with the Gospels indicate that the latter can be placed in the same genre. If one wants... Read more

My friend Edgars Kariks, a Latvian-Australian composer, has shared a piece that he wrote inspired by the tragic flooding in Brisbane. Here it is: Read more

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin came up in a conversation about mystical Christianity and panentheism, and in searching for selections of his writings online, I found that in fact many of his works are available online in their entirety, as are some collections of selections and excerpts. A list follows below, but you may want to start with a selection of quotes to whet your appetite. Let Me Explain Christianity and Evolution Hymn of the Universe The Phenomenon of Man The... Read more

Dan McClellan has shared a conference paper he wrote, responding to the Peter Hayman’s article “Monotheism – A Misused Word in Jewish Studies?” I’ll be doing some more writing about monotheism between now and the summer, and so I’m grateful to Dan for sharing his paper. Thanks! Read more

Here’s a lengthy quote from a post by Kevin Davis at After Existentialism, Light, responding to Al Mohler’s recent statement rejecting evolution: Dr. Mohler wants to frame the issue as a matter of naturalistic presuppositions in a systematic worldview: “The entire intellectual enterprise of evolution is based on naturalistic assumptions, and I do not share those presuppositions.” This is one of the most careless — and surely one of the most harmful — statements I’ve ever read on this issue.... Read more