I\u2019m grateful to the late Clarence Goodwin whose generosity created the chair, to Butler University for deciding to \u201cresurrect\u201d it and for appointing me to it, and\u00a0I am particularly grateful to\u00a0my department chair, Harry van der Linden<\/a>, for having emulated king\u00a0Xerxes<\/a> and read an \u201cannal\u201d\u00a0containing information that not everyone would find interesting (or turn to as a sleep aid for that matter)\u00a0and of course also for nominating me for the position. <\/p>\n There will be an official\u00a0reception in February \u2013 I\u2019ll be sure to announce it with full details provided,\u00a0once it is scheduled. In the mean time, I understand that I\u2019ll give a public\u00a0lecture on that occasion, and so I need to decide whether to talk about monotheism and Christology, or the Mandaeans, or religion and science fiction \u2013 or about what it is like being a New Testament scholar with so many side interests and a short attention span. But seriously, suggestions on\u00a0a topic\u00a0that\u00a0would be\u00a0interesting to a general audience are welcome!<\/p>\n Last semester, my department chair discovered that there is an endowed chair at Butler University which has been unfilled for some 60 years, the Clarence Goodwin Chair of New Testament Language and Literature.\u00a0The chair\u00a0was last held by its first and (to my knowledge) only occupant, Bruce Kershner. Since then, it has been unfilled \u2013 until […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-8967839040609229596?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")