Sunday, November 15, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Connecting the Dots Around The Blogosphere
There are several posts that I've read recently that seem unrelated. But perhaps some reader can connect the dots.
First, there is a post on the Doc Artz blog about the experience of rewatching episodes from season 1 of LOST. The post admires the ways in which things that were once simply details the significance of which was unclear, were later revisited and connected up with other aspects of the storyline. Any and all LOST fans should read it, and will appreciate it. Some will gain new insight into connections between details from the first season and some of the most recent plot developments to unfold on the show.
Next, Daniel's Think Tank provides the largest number of answers I've ever encountered to the perennial question "Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?" As if the sheer number of answers were not enough, the answers are given from the perspectives of famous philosophers, Biblical authors, and popes. You don't need to be someone who wonders about chickens and their motives on a regular basis to get a kick out of this post. In addition, Daniel's Think Tank is a relatively new blog by a Romanian who is seeking to explore alternatives to fundamentalism. So even if you cry foul at poultry attempts at humor, pay his blog a visit anyway.
Finally, I was made aware that our local Indianapolis Public Schools have banned access to web sites that are connected with atheism, various alternative religions, and LGBT matters. I think Jesse Galef is right that, if the aim is to avoid controversy or to avoid promoting religion in a state-funded classroom, then one has to prevent and/or prohibit access to all religious views and not only some. Otherwise, it gives the impression that the state is doing something contrary to the first amendment: giving free access to some religious views in schools while silencing others. As it stands, the policy seems to be largely sensible, but in a few specific instances to inexplicably single out certain categories of religion or sexuality as prohibited while allowing access to others.
The issue of blogging and freedom of speech keeps coming up in Indiana. After Bert Chapman drew much ire for a blog post about homosexuality, his employer Purdue University rightly stood up for his freedom of speech while also distancing itself from his specific personal views. At Butler University, my own employer, the Jess Zimmerman lawsuit is certainly putting the university's reputation with respect to free speech at risk before a watching global audience. The university maintains that it undertook the lawsuit to discover the identity of the anonymous blogger Soodo Nym and find out whether there was any connection between said blogger and some threatening e-mails sent to university administrators during the same period. And more recently, the lawsuit has been dropped. But more will obviously need to be done if the university is to stop the growing tide of negative responses, which include a petition and a fair amount of poking fun around the internet:
Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that some of the criticism and poking of fun at Butler University has taken place on campus, such as in the student newspaper and even an official student blog on the university web site. As far as I'm aware, none of these critics has been rounded up by thought police. And so I'm not persuaded that free speech is genuinely in jeopardy on campus. What genuinely does concern me is the following. First, it is obviously troubling that students' perception of the situation on campus is such that it leads any of them to feel that they must hide their identity in order to speak openly. Second, there are always tensions at a university, an institution that seeks to combine liberal arts education and professional training, idealism and success as a business. The souring of relationships between students, faculty and administrators that inevitably results from an occurrence such as this recent one is to be regretted. And so I'll watch in coming days to see whether Butler can achieve something that freedom of speech doesn't guarantee: genuine communication. Will the various sides and interested parties talk to one another, or shout at one another, and what sort of atmosphere for learning will be the result?
First, there is a post on the Doc Artz blog about the experience of rewatching episodes from season 1 of LOST. The post admires the ways in which things that were once simply details the significance of which was unclear, were later revisited and connected up with other aspects of the storyline. Any and all LOST fans should read it, and will appreciate it. Some will gain new insight into connections between details from the first season and some of the most recent plot developments to unfold on the show.
Next, Daniel's Think Tank provides the largest number of answers I've ever encountered to the perennial question "Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?" As if the sheer number of answers were not enough, the answers are given from the perspectives of famous philosophers, Biblical authors, and popes. You don't need to be someone who wonders about chickens and their motives on a regular basis to get a kick out of this post. In addition, Daniel's Think Tank is a relatively new blog by a Romanian who is seeking to explore alternatives to fundamentalism. So even if you cry foul at poultry attempts at humor, pay his blog a visit anyway.
Finally, I was made aware that our local Indianapolis Public Schools have banned access to web sites that are connected with atheism, various alternative religions, and LGBT matters. I think Jesse Galef is right that, if the aim is to avoid controversy or to avoid promoting religion in a state-funded classroom, then one has to prevent and/or prohibit access to all religious views and not only some. Otherwise, it gives the impression that the state is doing something contrary to the first amendment: giving free access to some religious views in schools while silencing others. As it stands, the policy seems to be largely sensible, but in a few specific instances to inexplicably single out certain categories of religion or sexuality as prohibited while allowing access to others.
The issue of blogging and freedom of speech keeps coming up in Indiana. After Bert Chapman drew much ire for a blog post about homosexuality, his employer Purdue University rightly stood up for his freedom of speech while also distancing itself from his specific personal views. At Butler University, my own employer, the Jess Zimmerman lawsuit is certainly putting the university's reputation with respect to free speech at risk before a watching global audience. The university maintains that it undertook the lawsuit to discover the identity of the anonymous blogger Soodo Nym and find out whether there was any connection between said blogger and some threatening e-mails sent to university administrators during the same period. And more recently, the lawsuit has been dropped. But more will obviously need to be done if the university is to stop the growing tide of negative responses, which include a petition and a fair amount of poking fun around the internet:
Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that some of the criticism and poking of fun at Butler University has taken place on campus, such as in the student newspaper and even an official student blog on the university web site. As far as I'm aware, none of these critics has been rounded up by thought police. And so I'm not persuaded that free speech is genuinely in jeopardy on campus. What genuinely does concern me is the following. First, it is obviously troubling that students' perception of the situation on campus is such that it leads any of them to feel that they must hide their identity in order to speak openly. Second, there are always tensions at a university, an institution that seeks to combine liberal arts education and professional training, idealism and success as a business. The souring of relationships between students, faculty and administrators that inevitably results from an occurrence such as this recent one is to be regretted. And so I'll watch in coming days to see whether Butler can achieve something that freedom of speech doesn't guarantee: genuine communication. Will the various sides and interested parties talk to one another, or shout at one another, and what sort of atmosphere for learning will be the result?
Friday, November 13, 2009
Christmas Card For Bloggers
This really needs no commentary (HT Wheat Among Tares)...
Another Conservative Christian Repudiation of the Bible
It never fails to amaze me how, time and again, conservative Christians will, in the name of "the Judeo-Christian tradition," "Christianity," "faith," or even the Bible itself, repudiate things that the Bible in fact says, and says in places quite clearly.
The most recent case in point is Steve Kellmeyer who says that Islam is popular because in Islam, God can change his mind, whereas according to Kellmeyer, "With Judeo-Christianity, no such possibility exists. God will never change His mind because God does not change" (HT John Pieret).
This is of course directly at odds with explicit statements in the Bible, such as those found in Exodus 32:14, 2 Samuel 24:16, Amos 7:3-6, 1 Chronicles 21:15, and Jeremiah 26:19. How many times does something have to be stated in the Bible before it is considered part of the "clear teaching of Scripture"?
This would not be particularly disturbing, were it not for the fact that conservative Christians claim to be upholding "what the Bible teaches," and when they make this claim, they themselves believe it and others also believe it. Yet time and again it has been shown that, at least a significant part of the time, the whole system works based on the assumption that contemporary conservative American Christian values are "what the Bible teaches." And at least some of the time, that is simply not the case.
And so I thought I'd share this ironic example of a conservative Christian who rejects Islam because of what he perceives to be a characteristic of God in that tradition. That characteristic, unbeknownst to Kellmeyer, is a prominent feature in the Biblical depiction of God as well.
The most recent case in point is Steve Kellmeyer who says that Islam is popular because in Islam, God can change his mind, whereas according to Kellmeyer, "With Judeo-Christianity, no such possibility exists. God will never change His mind because God does not change" (HT John Pieret).
This is of course directly at odds with explicit statements in the Bible, such as those found in Exodus 32:14, 2 Samuel 24:16, Amos 7:3-6, 1 Chronicles 21:15, and Jeremiah 26:19. How many times does something have to be stated in the Bible before it is considered part of the "clear teaching of Scripture"?
This would not be particularly disturbing, were it not for the fact that conservative Christians claim to be upholding "what the Bible teaches," and when they make this claim, they themselves believe it and others also believe it. Yet time and again it has been shown that, at least a significant part of the time, the whole system works based on the assumption that contemporary conservative American Christian values are "what the Bible teaches." And at least some of the time, that is simply not the case.
And so I thought I'd share this ironic example of a conservative Christian who rejects Islam because of what he perceives to be a characteristic of God in that tradition. That characteristic, unbeknownst to Kellmeyer, is a prominent feature in the Biblical depiction of God as well.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Free Scholarship
I continue to be amazed at how much excellent scholarship is available for free online. There are some I've mentioned in the past, but among those made available (or about which I learned) very recently are the following:
The 2009 SBL papers (thanks to Michael Halcomb)
Tyndale Press Monographs
A lengthy list of open access journals in ancient studies
To those who might be inclined to just trust whichever web page comes up first when you search via Yahoo! or Google, or to just rely on hearsay or Wikipedia or YouTube videos made by people with no relevant expertise and in many cases no knowledge or facts behind their claims, there is clearly an alternative. The Tyndale monographs reflect conservative Evangelical scholarship, a viewpoint one will also find in SBL papers and journal articles, but in the latter one can also find other perspectives and points of view as well, perhaps more strongly represented. This means you don't even have to risk "exposing yourself" to those nasty "others" - whether wishy-washy liberal heretics or closed-minded conservatives or whoever else you might secretly fear you'll turn into if you read the wrong stuff. You can limit yourself to scholarship that reflects your own tradition, and still improve your understanding of a given subject, without scraping the bottom of the barrel and relying on views of charlatans and self-proclaimed experts with delusions of self-importance.
And so let me make this TV-ad style offer. Try genuine scholarship free from the comfort of your own home for 30 days. If you are not completely satisfied, your ignorance will be returned to you at no extra charge.
The 2009 SBL papers (thanks to Michael Halcomb)
Tyndale Press Monographs
A lengthy list of open access journals in ancient studies
To those who might be inclined to just trust whichever web page comes up first when you search via Yahoo! or Google, or to just rely on hearsay or Wikipedia or YouTube videos made by people with no relevant expertise and in many cases no knowledge or facts behind their claims, there is clearly an alternative. The Tyndale monographs reflect conservative Evangelical scholarship, a viewpoint one will also find in SBL papers and journal articles, but in the latter one can also find other perspectives and points of view as well, perhaps more strongly represented. This means you don't even have to risk "exposing yourself" to those nasty "others" - whether wishy-washy liberal heretics or closed-minded conservatives or whoever else you might secretly fear you'll turn into if you read the wrong stuff. You can limit yourself to scholarship that reflects your own tradition, and still improve your understanding of a given subject, without scraping the bottom of the barrel and relying on views of charlatans and self-proclaimed experts with delusions of self-importance.
And so let me make this TV-ad style offer. Try genuine scholarship free from the comfort of your own home for 30 days. If you are not completely satisfied, your ignorance will be returned to you at no extra charge.
Reviews of The Only True God
I just learned that two more reviews of my book The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context
have appeared.
One is more of a summary than anything else, and it is by Patrick Madigan in Heythrop Journal.
The second is by Vlad Todor at Concrete Academic, and offers a thoughtful evaluation not only of the book's argument, but also of how well I did (or didn't) write in a way that makes the book both accessible to a general readership and interesting for scholars.
I notice that so far there is only one customer review on Amazon.com, so if you've written a review of the book on your blog, please do consider posting it on Amazon as well. Thanks!
have appeared.One is more of a summary than anything else, and it is by Patrick Madigan in Heythrop Journal.
The second is by Vlad Todor at Concrete Academic, and offers a thoughtful evaluation not only of the book's argument, but also of how well I did (or didn't) write in a way that makes the book both accessible to a general readership and interesting for scholars.
I notice that so far there is only one customer review on Amazon.com, so if you've written a review of the book on your blog, please do consider posting it on Amazon as well. Thanks!
Igudesman and Joo
The combination of musical ability and humor can be wonderful. I thus thought I'd share a video that I had seen before (and in fact shared on this blog more than a year ago) but which a commenter reminded me of today and which I think is worth sharing again:
There are other videos by this entertaining duo on YouTube, which are also on their home page.
There are other videos by this entertaining duo on YouTube, which are also on their home page.
Missing Pages From The Self-Consciousness Of Jesus
It seems to me that there is something appropriately symbolic about the state of affairs I'm going to describe. There is an important article by John A. T. Robinson, "The Last Tabu? The Self-Consciousness of Jesus" which I was trying to locate a copy of. It is available in the Google Books preview of a volume on the historical Jesus in which it was reprinted. But there is a page that is not there.
Isn't that just like our attempt to investigate the historical figure of Jesus, including his self-consciousness? As Mark Goodacre in particular has pointed out, we don't know (unlike in a Google Books preview) how many "pages" we are missing, and (like in a Google Books preview) neither do we know what was written on them. The one difference is that in the case of a book, we can turn to interlibrary loan. But, to state the obvious, we cannot interlibrary loan the thoughts of Jesus.
Isn't that just like our attempt to investigate the historical figure of Jesus, including his self-consciousness? As Mark Goodacre in particular has pointed out, we don't know (unlike in a Google Books preview) how many "pages" we are missing, and (like in a Google Books preview) neither do we know what was written on them. The one difference is that in the case of a book, we can turn to interlibrary loan. But, to state the obvious, we cannot interlibrary loan the thoughts of Jesus.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
More Online Lectures
Having decided to see where some of the videos of lectures that other bloggers shared were coming from, I found the University of California YouTube channel, which includes such lectures as the following:
Fr. George Coyne, "Evolution of Life in the Universe"
Ronald Cole-Turner, "The Genetic Revolution and Designer Babies: Moral and Religious Implications"
Bart D. Ehrman, "Biblical Insights Into The Problem of Suffering"
Elaine Pagels, "The Book of Revelation"
Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, "The Power Of The Word: Scripture and the Rhetoric of Empire"
John Shelby Spong, "The Terrible Texts of the Bible"
Marcus Borg, "Religious Pluralism: Seeing Religions Again"
Now all I need is hours and hours of free time to watch them all!
Fr. George Coyne, "Evolution of Life in the Universe"
Ronald Cole-Turner, "The Genetic Revolution and Designer Babies: Moral and Religious Implications"
Bart D. Ehrman, "Biblical Insights Into The Problem of Suffering"
Elaine Pagels, "The Book of Revelation"
Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, "The Power Of The Word: Scripture and the Rhetoric of Empire"
John Shelby Spong, "The Terrible Texts of the Bible"
Marcus Borg, "Religious Pluralism: Seeing Religions Again"
Now all I need is hours and hours of free time to watch them all!
Missing Books, Missing Pages
Rather frustratingly, I noticed today that a copy of John A. T. Robinson's The Priority of John
which I bought years ago in the UK has some printing errors and as a result is incomplete. I also seem to be unable to find my copy of James Dunn's The Evidence for Jesus
(which can be previewed on Google Books) and I have the sinking feeling that I may have lent it to someone who failed to return it. I also could have sworn that I had a copy of Robinson's article "The Last Taboo: The Self-Consciousness of Jesus" but cannot seem to find it anywhere.
At least his Twelve New Testament Studies can be read online via Questia. But I had intended to provide one of the pieces I mentioned earlier (or an excerpt in the case of the books) for reading to my class on the historical Jesus, to jump-start the discussion of whether Jesus claimed to be God. Any thoughts on finding good scholarly last-minute alternatives on the same subject?
which I bought years ago in the UK has some printing errors and as a result is incomplete. I also seem to be unable to find my copy of James Dunn's The Evidence for Jesus (which can be previewed on Google Books) and I have the sinking feeling that I may have lent it to someone who failed to return it. I also could have sworn that I had a copy of Robinson's article "The Last Taboo: The Self-Consciousness of Jesus" but cannot seem to find it anywhere.At least his Twelve New Testament Studies can be read online via Questia. But I had intended to provide one of the pieces I mentioned earlier (or an excerpt in the case of the books) for reading to my class on the historical Jesus, to jump-start the discussion of whether Jesus claimed to be God. Any thoughts on finding good scholarly last-minute alternatives on the same subject?
Emerson, Lake and Palmer Online
On Wolfgang's Vault, there are also concerts by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Here's one clip:
Next on my list of solos to work on is the ragtime-style piano solo from "Benny the Bouncer" by ELP. You can listen to the whole song on Last.fm, or hear most of the piano solo in this short clip. And as usual there are videos of people playing it, and variations on it, on YouTube:
For those who might be dismayed by posts about progressive rock with no connection to the main theme of this blog, I should point out that the song does have a mention of religion of sorts at the end, if you listen to the lyrics carefully. :)
I mentioned previously that Emerson, Lake and Palmer is perhaps better than any other group for helping people "crossover" between rock and classical music - in either direction. But I also think ELP may be unique in incorporating not simply classical elements, but elements of modern music, including atonal music. Just have a listen to Keith Emerson's piano concerto (below), or "The Endless Enigma", the first part of which would not sound out of place alongside works by 20th century avant-guard composers.
Next on my list of solos to work on is the ragtime-style piano solo from "Benny the Bouncer" by ELP. You can listen to the whole song on Last.fm, or hear most of the piano solo in this short clip. And as usual there are videos of people playing it, and variations on it, on YouTube:
For those who might be dismayed by posts about progressive rock with no connection to the main theme of this blog, I should point out that the song does have a mention of religion of sorts at the end, if you listen to the lyrics carefully. :)
I mentioned previously that Emerson, Lake and Palmer is perhaps better than any other group for helping people "crossover" between rock and classical music - in either direction. But I also think ELP may be unique in incorporating not simply classical elements, but elements of modern music, including atonal music. Just have a listen to Keith Emerson's piano concerto (below), or "The Endless Enigma", the first part of which would not sound out of place alongside works by 20th century avant-guard composers.
Romanian Baptists and the Legacy of the Communist Era
Here's an item which has been making the newspapers in Sibiu, Romania, as well as various Romanian blogs. The CNSAS (the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives) has revealed that Baptist pastor Beniamin Poplăcean collaborated with the secret police during the decade prior to the fall of Communism in that country. For Baptists in Sibiu this has long been a subject for suspicion and speculation.This December it will be twenty years since the revolution that ended the Communist era in that country. And yet there are still many issues and challenges that are the legacy of that era which have yet to be fully addressed, in particular when it comes to the various Christian denominations that were the focus of particular efforts by the Communists to both persecute and infiltrate.
It was only in the period after the revolution of 1989 that I visited, and later lived for some years, in Romania. And I have students in my classes who were not even born yet when those events unfolded.
I don't really have any commentary to offer. Just links to the news and snippets of press releases, as I look on from afar at what's transpiring.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
