TED curator Chris Anderson has an article in Harvard Business Review (2013) that seeks to digest key presentation advice derived from the past several decades of TED’s work. Perhaps not all Anderson’s advice is appropriate to the genre of the academic conference paper, but doubtless a good many would substantially benefit from a healthy dose of some of the advice he offers. ...
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the King James Version in 2011, Crossway released an edition of the English Standard Version’s Gospels illuminated by Makoto Fujimura ( cloth, leather). A short introduction to the project is available below (HT: Bryant Owens): ...
The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include: Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies Christoph Dohmen, Studien zu Bilderverbot und Bildtheologie des Alten Testaments, reviewed by Sven Petry Jan Joosten, The Verbal System of Biblical Hebrew: A New Synthesis Elaborated on the Basis of Classical Prose, reviewed by Jerome Lund Granville J. R. Kent, Say It Again, Sam: A Literary and Filmic Study of Narrative Repetition in 1 Samuel 28, reviewed by Andrew Steinmann Yoo-Ki Kim, The Function of the Tautological Infinitive in Classical Biblical Hebrew, reviewed by Hubert James Keener R. Reed Lessing, Isaiah 40–55, reviewed by Alphonso Groenewald Rüdiger Lux, Hiob: Im Räderwerk des Bösen, reviewed by Urmas Nommik Andrew G. Shead, A Mouth Full of Fire: The Word of God in Jeremiah, reviewed by Hallvard Hagelia New Testament and Cognate Studies ...
According to the New York Times, Random House and Penguin completed their planned merger Monday morning, creating the biggest and most powerful book publisher in the world. The new company, called Penguin Random House, will control more than 25 percent of the trade book market in the United States, giving it unmatched leverage against Amazon.com, a growing force in the industry. ...
After about an 8-year term, Pope Benedict XVI is apparently set to resign on February 28, citing health difficulties. For more information and the NBC report from earlier this morning, see here.
Codex Bezae with text Luke 23:47–24:1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Logos Bible Software is now taking $0.00 pre-orders for their upcoming edition of Codex Bezae. Among the manuscript’s noteworthy characteristics, It is the oldest-known manuscript containing the story of the adulterous woman found in John 7–8, as well as a longer ending of the Gospel of Mark. There are also several apparent additions, including a story found nowhere else of Jesus addressing a man found working on the Sabbath. ...
After several years’ blogging at jdavidstark.com, the site has now moved into its own domain at jdavidstark.com. All of the site’s links and RSS feeds should redirect automatically. But, you may see somewhat faster service by coming directly to jdavidstark.com or subscribing directly to jdavidstark.com/feed/rss/. ...
Jim Davila notes a report of a new German bill that explicitly permits the continued practice of infant male circumcision on religious grounds. The legality of the practice in Germany had been thrown into question by a related decision by the Cologne court earlier this year.
And you haven’t completed your optional profile information, you should. Apparently, doing so makes you eligible for a random monthly selection of two members to receive a year’s free membership dues.
University of Oxford (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The Oxford University Classics Faculty’s PINAX “is a digital library comprised of collections of displayed papyrus images and texts at Oxford.” Texts include papyri from Antinoopolis, Herculaneum, and Oxyrhynchus, as well as magical texts (HT: Charles Jones). ...
ABC News (HT: Michael Bird) and the AFP (HT: Jim Davila) are reporting that the regional court in Cologne, Germany, has rendered a verdict that makes involuntary circumcision on religious grounds illegal, although the practice remains permissible if done for medical reasons. The decision follows on the treatment of a four-year-old Muslim boy for post-operative bleeding and the prosecution of the doctor who had performed the procedure. ...
On the web: Joseph Kelly discusses biblical theology and history of religion research. Cary Nelson considers ownership issues for faculty-developed intellectual property. Rod Decker comments on ζῶ. Allison Friederichs discusses grade inflation.
Via Michael Bird: I’m glad to announce that my Ph.D padwan Adam Copenhaver has passed his doctoral viva. His thesis was: “The Colossian Heresy? An Investigation of the Christological Polemics and Socio-Cultural Background in Colossians.” Adam boldly argued for M.D. Hooker’s position that there was no specific “heresy” or “heretics” in Colossae, and Colossians was written as a general exhortation against a variety of possible religious encroachments against a cluster of house churches in the interior of the Lycus Valley. ...
On the web: The Society of Biblical Literature releases Christo Lombaard, ed., The Old Testament and Christian Spirituality: Theoretical and Practical Essays from a South African Perspective. Brian LePort comments on Craig Evans, Joel Lohr, and David Petersen, eds., The Book of Genesis: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation. Michael Kruger anticipates Carl Trueman, The Creedal Imperative.
On the web: Stephen Carlson’s dissertation on Galatians’ textual history is now available online in PDF format. Joel Willitts ponders “what to do with the story of Israel.” Tony Peterson reviews the recent Tokens show at Lipscomb University that featured Miroslav Volf, Saeed Khan, and Fred Gray, among a number of musicians. Brian LePort considers Everett Ferguson’s discussion of Tertullian. Joseph Kelly reviews some recent discussion of the referent(s) of “Torah” when used in the Hebrew Bible. ...
Image representing New York Times as depicted … Sunday’s New York Times had a disquieting article about a potentially dramatic increase in substance abuse among teens for the sake of improved academic performance: The boy exhaled. Before opening the car door, he recalled recently, he twisted open a capsule of orange powder and arranged it in a neat line on the armrest. He leaned over, closed one nostril and snorted it. ...
On the Web: Paul Barrett is now blogging (HT: Michael Bird). The Israel Antiquities Authority issues a press release with further information about the recently discovered Bar Kokhba-era coin and jewelry cache (HT: Jim Davila). Ray Bradbury has passed away. Robert Woods posts a brief tribute and considers how Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes sits within Mortimer Adler’s framework for identifying “Great Books.” Richard Keeling and Richard Hersh argue for the importance of culture change in higher education.
On the web: The new Journal for the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament is openly accessible online (HT: Charles Jones). Keith Williams reflects on the “cloud ed” use of technology in the classroom. Ancient World Online has a new plugin for WordPress.org users. Stephen Carlson reflects on the placement of the “burden of proof.” Mark Goodacre discusses Steve Walton and David Wenham’s treatment of the synoptic problem in their Exploring the New Testament. Colin Kruse’s replacement for Leon Morris’s commentary on Romans in the Pillar New Testament Commentary is soon to be available (HT: Logos Bible Software). Charles Jones notes the availability of a Christian Art index. A Bar Kokhba-era cache of coins and jewelry has been discovered (HT: Jim Davila).
Amid a program with a number of other engaging-looking sessions, Miroslav Volf, founder and director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture will be lecturing next week at Lipscomb University’s Christian Scholars Conference. Further details about the lecture are as follows: ...
On the web: Mark Goodacre responds to Micheal Bird’s recent post on the synoptic problem. Brian Tucker reviews Trevor Burke and Brian Rosner, eds., Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology, and Practice. Michael Kruger comments on obedience and hopefulness.
English: logo(type) of LibreOffice Deutsch: Lo… From the Document Foundation Blog: The Document Foundation announces LibreOffice 3.5.4, the fifth version of the free office suite’s 3.5 family. LibreOffice 3.5.4 offers significant performance improvements over the previous versions of the product, which are the combined result of the many code optimizations executed during the last months and the bug and regression chasing activity performed regularly by volunteers and developers. As a result, LibreOffice 3.5.4 is the fastest version of the best free office suite ever, with up to 100% performance gains when opening large files (depending on operating system, hardware configuration and file contents). ...
On the web: Michael Bird interacts with James Crossley’s response to his Evangelical Quarterly article on “Modernizing Jesus” and discusses the Holtzmann-Gundry (three-source) hypothesis. Todd Bolen notes the discovery of a new boundary inscription at Gezer (HT: Jim Davila).
On the web: Matthew Montonini and Chris Tilling highlight the availability of recordings from the recent King’s College conference devoted to Doug Campbell’s Deliverance of God. Brian Tucker favorably reviews BibleWorks 9, especially commenting on the value of the: BibleWorks Manuscript Project [that] allows the user to compare original manuscripts, with high quality digital images of the texts that are fully searchable. . . . BibleWorks 9 includes, among others, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, and Bezae. These have full transcriptions (and notes), digital images, verse tags, comparison tools, and, though incomplete, some morphological tags (with more to come). Furthermore, the New Testament Critical Apparatus from the Center for New Testament Textual Studies is also included, securing for BibleWorks a place as the preeminent electronic resource for detailed manuscript analysis and textual criticism. ...
On the web: Mark Goodacre starts reviewing Brice Jones’s Matthean and Lukan Special Material. Matthew Montonini comments on Frank Matera’s God’s Saving Grace, Murray Harris’s Prepositions and Theology, and the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary. Brian LePort reviews Craig Evans’ volume on Matthew in the New Cambridge Bible Commentary.
On the web: Michael Bird excerpts Oscar Cullmann on poor biblical interpretation. Joel Willitts notes the discovery of a seal bearing the name “Bethlehem.” Chris Brady continues discussing character and motivation in Ruth. Rod Decker comments on a few Greek palindromes.
Socrates in the City has made available Eric Metaxas’s April 9, 2010 lecture that digests his then newly released Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Thomas Nelson, 2010). After the introductory farce, the lecture proper commences at about 12:45. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/11208555 w=400&h=300] ...
On the web: Matthew Montonini notes the updated location for this fall’s Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity Conference. Mike Aubrey considers some contemporary difficulties in receiving Stoic testimony about the Greek verbal system. Rafael Rodrodríguez discusses referential consistency in uses of the phrase “the historical Jesus.” Peter Williams and Simon Gathercole discuss faith and scholarship (HT: Michael Bird).
Image representing rollApp as depicted in Crun… For iOS users, rollApp has now graduated into public Beta and is offering iOS-compatible versions of OpenOffice.org (now Apache OpenOffice) and LibreOffice. The LibreOffice app seems to have a bit of difficulty opening files stored on Dropbox, but my own tests thus far with the OpenOffice.org app seem to have worked quite well. Although these apps run entirely on rollApp’s servers, and so require a fairly decent Internet connection to function, they do offer extended support for additional file formats (like ODT) not natively readable in iOS. ...
Via Michael Bird:
From Larry Hurtado: [A]nother dreadful “thought for today” on Radio 4 this a.m., this one ostensibly taking as its pre-text (and I use the word advisedly) that today is Ascension Day, and opining that Jesus’ Ascension (portrayed solely in Luke-Acts in the NT) means that Jesus has deaked out and we’re on our own! So, children, the moral lesson is that we should just face up to it and learn to cope. Hmm. Well, just goes to show you what the exegetical equivalent of a drive-by-shooting can produce! ...