I have been benefiting from audiobooks to no end, and I have been podcasting more than I\u2019ve been listening to podcasts, I say to my shame, since I believe that we should listen unto the podcasts of others as we would have others listen unto ours. (On that topic, I will be taking a break from podcasting, or at least doing so less frequently, during these summer months, but the podcast will return to its usual place and time around the start of the academic year).<\/p>\n
I recently finished listening to Rachel Held Evans\u2019 book Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again<\/a><\/em>. It is truly fantastic, one of the best books I have ever \u201cread.\u201d Is \u201cread\u201d the right word when what one has done is to listen? So much was clearly quotable, memeworthy, as I listened to it. I was delighted to find that my wife had the same impression reading the book rather than listening to it \u2013 even about the very same sections!<\/p>\n Right now I\u2019m in the process of listening to Elaine Pagels\u2019 book Why Religion?<\/a><\/em> It is incredible for so many reasons. She draws on both her own personal experience and her profound expertise to comment on matters of spirituality and theodicy, expressing them with her characteristic eloquence. I particularly value her insightful analysis that guilt is a price that we are willing to pay for the illusion of control, preferring to imagine that we have offended gods and brought suffering upon ourselves and loved ones, than to acknowledge our own powerlessness and accept that there was nothing we could have done to prevent a tragedy. The book reveals how Pagels\u2019 study of texts like the Gospel of Thomas intersected with events in her life and being surprised by profound and unexpected religious experiences. I loved the way she put it when she said, \u201cWhile I work on these sayings, they work on me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Eerdmans announced its audiobook reviewers club<\/a>, which is probably indicative that we are at a watershed moment.<\/p>\n Podcasts and blogs do a lot for, and comment a lot on, language acquisition and linguistics. A case in point is the post marking the 12th anniversary of Mike Aubrey\u2019s blog<\/a>. See also his survey of recent books related to Greek linguistics<\/a>. Eric Sowell\u2019s language-learning update<\/a> will also be of interest (see also his post about working to compose in Greek and not merely read it<\/a>). Another example is this podcast of the Hebrew Bible, read in Hebrew:<\/p>\n