Well, I didn’t find any good bbq in downtown Atlanta (though I can’t say that I tried very hard). I ran into a lot of old friends, though, which was nice. The only program unit sessions that I went to were the three sessions of the Disability Studies and Healthcare in the Bible and Near…

I’m off to the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Atlanta today. This is always a really beneficial conference. For me personally, the sections on the Bible and disability and social-scientific criticism of the NT are very important. Add in the lecture by N. T. Wright tonight, numerous receptions, and a chance…

Last week I was reading through the proofs of an article that I’ve written and will come out later this year. The article compares the ancient novel The Life of Aesop and the Gospel of Mark. Coming back to this text, it struck me again just how deeply countercultural Mark is. Read through this text…

The Son of a Dead Sea Scrolls expert was convicted of fraud related to the supposed plagiarism of his father’s work. Check out the New York Times article on the conviction.

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield is one of the more interesting figures in public religious discourse today. He’ll be a Stillwater UMC near Dayton, Ohio, on December 1 at 7:00 p.m. to speak on the topic “Finding Faith Without Fanaticism.” If you can make it, I’d love to see you there.

My family and I participated in the Dayton area 2010 Buddy Walk yesterday. The Buddy Walk is an event that occurs all over the country to raise awareness and promote inclusion of people with Down Syndrome. There were several folks from the UTS community there who are not directly affected by DS but who came…

This is a helpful video that might be of use in Christian education settings: http://oga.pcusa.org/ga219/home/offering-our-gifts/player.html

After reading James Sanders’ Torah and Canon, I made my way through its brief companion and sequel, Canon and Community. Sanders holds that historical critics, whether they meant to or not, have effectively “de-canonized” parts of the Bible. If some part of the Bible is deemed to be an interpolation, spurious, or somehow later than…

We have some very nice lectures coming up at United in spring 2011. On March 27-28 we will have the first of what is planned to be an ongoing church renewal conference called “Light the Fire!” and the keynote speaker will be Leonard Sweet. We’ll also have Walter Brueggemann later that spring–May 11, to be…

In 1901, William Wrede publish a book that we call in English The Messianic Secret. He called attention to passages, particularly in Mark, in which Jesus tried to conceal his deeds and identity, or in other ways tried to escape the public eye. Wrede’s book was very controversial in its own time, and the passages…