Saturday, January 03, 2004
Codex Bezae Study Week
This just received from Jenny Heimerdinger:
"We are writing to let you know that the study week on Codex Bezae planned for 3rd-8th July 2004 at the University of Wales, Bangor, has been postponed. A good number of people expressed an interest in the meeting but it appears that there is a variety of obstacles standing in the way of this year’s proposal.
We are suggesting, therefore, that the meeting be re-scheduled for the summer of 2005 and to that end, in view of the observations some of you have made, we would like to invite comments from any who may be interested in taking part. In particular, we would welcome your thoughts on:
Format —is an informal meeting, with workshops and discussions on aspects of Codex Bezae, preferable to the more usual structure of a formal conference with scholarly papers? Would a combination of the two be best of all?
Content —it was envisaged that all four Gospels and Acts in Codex Bezae would be potential topics. Would you like to see the scope of the meeting restricted to selected books?
Language —which languages would you wish to have represented at the meeting? and which on a equal footing with English?
Dates —possible alternatives to the first week in July are mid-July or mid-September. The duration could be shortened to 3 or 4 days.
Location —Bangor (Wales), London or Dublin are alternatives. Is any more attractive a proposal than the others?
If you would like to comment on any of these points, we would be grateful to have your response within the next month.
Jenny Read-Heimerdinger (University of Wales, Bangor)
Josep Rius-Camps (Facultat de Teologia, Barcelona)"
"We are writing to let you know that the study week on Codex Bezae planned for 3rd-8th July 2004 at the University of Wales, Bangor, has been postponed. A good number of people expressed an interest in the meeting but it appears that there is a variety of obstacles standing in the way of this year’s proposal.
We are suggesting, therefore, that the meeting be re-scheduled for the summer of 2005 and to that end, in view of the observations some of you have made, we would like to invite comments from any who may be interested in taking part. In particular, we would welcome your thoughts on:
Format —is an informal meeting, with workshops and discussions on aspects of Codex Bezae, preferable to the more usual structure of a formal conference with scholarly papers? Would a combination of the two be best of all?
Content —it was envisaged that all four Gospels and Acts in Codex Bezae would be potential topics. Would you like to see the scope of the meeting restricted to selected books?
Language —which languages would you wish to have represented at the meeting? and which on a equal footing with English?
Dates —possible alternatives to the first week in July are mid-July or mid-September. The duration could be shortened to 3 or 4 days.
Location —Bangor (Wales), London or Dublin are alternatives. Is any more attractive a proposal than the others?
If you would like to comment on any of these points, we would be grateful to have your response within the next month.
Jenny Read-Heimerdinger (University of Wales, Bangor)
Josep Rius-Camps (Facultat de Teologia, Barcelona)"
Currents in Biblical Research
Daniel Gurtner points out to me that what I did have listed (on my Journals page) as Currents in Research: Biblical Studies has been recast for some time as Currents in Biblical Research. I've made the adjustment.
Friday, January 02, 2004
Philo of Alexandria Blog
Torrey Seland has added to his pioneering Resource Pages for Biblical Studies, which have a special focus on Philo of Alexandria, a new Philo of Alexandria blog. This was announced yesterday and I've added a link on the left of this page.
Retrospective 2003
I enjoyed reading Stephen Carlson's Hypotyposeis 2003 Retrospective and there are some connections with my own experience. Stephen mentions the problem of "link rot", a term I had not heard before. The problem of link rot is the something I am very conscious of because of the size of The New Testament Gateway which I've run for a few years now. The need to keep those links regularly serviced has made this NTGateway weblog liberating for me. I no longer need to arrange notices of URL changes in my old clunky Logbook but can simply note the changes I have made here, which is much quicker and less boring. Also the blog enables me to link to materials that are too transient to be added on the NT Gateway proper and especially media and journalistic materials.
In fact the blog began as a means of coping with some problems that the NT Gateway was throwing up. I was struggling to keep it as current as I would have liked and there were no obvious locations for smaller scale, transient features to which I would like to have linked. So the blog combines together my old Logbook, the monthly Featured Links section and the Notices sections but at the same time allows me to do loads more. I'm not quite sure why I find blogging so much easier and more enjoyable than all those things, but the fact is that I do.
It has not even occurred to me that it would be an idea to bolt a weblog onto the NTGateway until I read a comment of Jim Davila's that it would be good to see more weblogs in the general area.
An additional advantage, and one I had not realised at the outset, has been the chance to add some of my own short essays or reflections or thoughts. As Stephen rightly points out, this blog is primarily of the "filter" variety, "one in which the writer presents a daily selection of links and other web material that the writer finds interesting". But occasionally I've enjoyed venturing into the "journal" variety too, either to react to something that had been written about me, or to begin to frame some thoughts on a given topic. I share some of Stephen's reticence about publishing my own research in advance on-line and feel this more in this forum than I used to in, say, the email lists. For example, I worked out a lot of my ideas on the Synoptic Problem by engaging with people on Xtalk and Synoptic-L. I don't feel quite so comfortable working out current research ideas here, but perhaps that will change.
As time has gone on I've become less inclined to repeat any informatiion already noted in one of the other weblogs, particularly Hypotyposeis and Paleojudaica, not least because I know that many of the readers of this weblog also read those two (and of course others). But from time to time I can't resist flagging something up too, or I may have a comment to add; or I may have blogged it and only subsequently notice that others have blogged it too. This is just to say that I don't aim for comprehensiveness -- you have to read the other blogs too!
In the four months that the blog has been running, I've developed a few other rules of thumb. One of the most important is to avoid the temptation to be too self-indulgent. I figure that the reason that people read this blog is that they are interested in the academic study of the New Testament; some, I know, share broader interests in related topics like Jesus in film, which happens to be one of my favourites. But I don't assume that my readers will care about others of my interests so I don't write about them. And while I enjoy the more informal style that is at home in a weblog, I try not to allow it to become too chatty or matey. Just occasionally, I add an inappropriate light-hearted comment, repent of it and edit it out at the next posting. On a related matter, I try as far as possible to make the blog accessible to the newcomer. I don't assume that all my readers have been reading it from the beginning, nor do I assume that they all read it every day. So on the whole you won't find language that will look coded to the newcomer, though of course some familiarity with academic study of the New Testament is assumed.
I suppose this exercise itself runs the risk of getting rather self-indulgent, so I'll cease and return to the normal service. Many thanks again for your encouragement, your very helpful feedback and all your contributions.
In fact the blog began as a means of coping with some problems that the NT Gateway was throwing up. I was struggling to keep it as current as I would have liked and there were no obvious locations for smaller scale, transient features to which I would like to have linked. So the blog combines together my old Logbook, the monthly Featured Links section and the Notices sections but at the same time allows me to do loads more. I'm not quite sure why I find blogging so much easier and more enjoyable than all those things, but the fact is that I do.
It has not even occurred to me that it would be an idea to bolt a weblog onto the NTGateway until I read a comment of Jim Davila's that it would be good to see more weblogs in the general area.
An additional advantage, and one I had not realised at the outset, has been the chance to add some of my own short essays or reflections or thoughts. As Stephen rightly points out, this blog is primarily of the "filter" variety, "one in which the writer presents a daily selection of links and other web material that the writer finds interesting". But occasionally I've enjoyed venturing into the "journal" variety too, either to react to something that had been written about me, or to begin to frame some thoughts on a given topic. I share some of Stephen's reticence about publishing my own research in advance on-line and feel this more in this forum than I used to in, say, the email lists. For example, I worked out a lot of my ideas on the Synoptic Problem by engaging with people on Xtalk and Synoptic-L. I don't feel quite so comfortable working out current research ideas here, but perhaps that will change.
As time has gone on I've become less inclined to repeat any informatiion already noted in one of the other weblogs, particularly Hypotyposeis and Paleojudaica, not least because I know that many of the readers of this weblog also read those two (and of course others). But from time to time I can't resist flagging something up too, or I may have a comment to add; or I may have blogged it and only subsequently notice that others have blogged it too. This is just to say that I don't aim for comprehensiveness -- you have to read the other blogs too!
In the four months that the blog has been running, I've developed a few other rules of thumb. One of the most important is to avoid the temptation to be too self-indulgent. I figure that the reason that people read this blog is that they are interested in the academic study of the New Testament; some, I know, share broader interests in related topics like Jesus in film, which happens to be one of my favourites. But I don't assume that my readers will care about others of my interests so I don't write about them. And while I enjoy the more informal style that is at home in a weblog, I try not to allow it to become too chatty or matey. Just occasionally, I add an inappropriate light-hearted comment, repent of it and edit it out at the next posting. On a related matter, I try as far as possible to make the blog accessible to the newcomer. I don't assume that all my readers have been reading it from the beginning, nor do I assume that they all read it every day. So on the whole you won't find language that will look coded to the newcomer, though of course some familiarity with academic study of the New Testament is assumed.
I suppose this exercise itself runs the risk of getting rather self-indulgent, so I'll cease and return to the normal service. Many thanks again for your encouragement, your very helpful feedback and all your contributions.
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Happy New Year
The NT Gateway blog is now taking a break for a few days until the weekend. I would like to wish you a very happy new year and thanks for reading and sending feedback and contributions. I look forward to seeing you in 2004.
The Good Book: Paul: Web Site
The web pages for the final programme of the BBC Radio series The Good Book have now been added:
The Good Book: Paul
It includes some excerpts from the Accompanying CD Pack to which I contributed. I'm afraid it's been a bit clumsily abridged (e.g. hanging colons where there the booklet contains quotations from the Bible). But let me take this opportunity to do a commercial for the thing that is here excerpted: the Good Book Pack features the entire series on CD and accompanying illustrated materials, the NT parts written by me. I haven't seen the OT materials but I know that at least some has been written by Walter Moberley. It's only £7.95 including p & p and you can order it now -- should be available in January. One of the reasons it is so well-priced is that it is a non-profit making educational resource funded by the BBC and the Jerusalem Trust (And I'm not on commission!).
The Good Book: Paul
It includes some excerpts from the Accompanying CD Pack to which I contributed. I'm afraid it's been a bit clumsily abridged (e.g. hanging colons where there the booklet contains quotations from the Bible). But let me take this opportunity to do a commercial for the thing that is here excerpted: the Good Book Pack features the entire series on CD and accompanying illustrated materials, the NT parts written by me. I haven't seen the OT materials but I know that at least some has been written by Walter Moberley. It's only £7.95 including p & p and you can order it now -- should be available in January. One of the reasons it is so well-priced is that it is a non-profit making educational resource funded by the BBC and the Jerusalem Trust (And I'm not on commission!).
The Independent on Tom Wright
It's all Tom Wright these days and according to yesterday's Independent, "The new Bishop of Durham has arrived with a bit of a bang" and "Yes, you can expect to be hearing a lot more of Dr Tom Wright":
Tom Wright: It's not a question of left and right, says the combative priest who opposes the war in Iraq and gay bishops
The Monday Interview: The bishop of Durham
By Paul Vallely
Tom Wright: It's not a question of left and right, says the combative priest who opposes the war in Iraq and gay bishops
The Monday Interview: The bishop of Durham
By Paul Vallely
Monday, December 29, 2003
BBC Religion News Review 2003
It's the time of year for news reviews; one that may be of interest to readers of this blog is the BBC Religion and Ethics News Review for the year. It includes topics that have been discussed here (e.g. Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ) and hyperlinks to BBC on-line articles and audio clips from the Sunday programme:
BBC Religion and Ethics News Review 2003
BBC Religion and Ethics News Review 2003
Ancient Biography
Over on N. S. Gill's Ancient / Classical History blog is a link to a useful essay on Ancient Biography:
Ancient Biography: Cornelius Nepos - Plutarch - Tacitus - Suetonius
It looks like it's been adapted from a piece by Robert W. M. Greaves on Suite 101. Both sites are so cluttered with advertisements and pop-ups that it becomes tough to read or concentrate on reading, but the essay is of interest.
Ancient Biography: Cornelius Nepos - Plutarch - Tacitus - Suetonius
It looks like it's been adapted from a piece by Robert W. M. Greaves on Suite 101. Both sites are so cluttered with advertisements and pop-ups that it becomes tough to read or concentrate on reading, but the essay is of interest.
Another Vermes Review
I've been noting reviews of Geza Vermes's new book, The Authentic Gospel of Jesus Christ as they appear (e.g. here). The latest is in last week's Daily Telegraph and is by Damian Thompson:
Jesus Christ, in his own words
Jesus Christ, in his own words
Crossan on Matthew's Birth Narrative
Bible and Interpretation today flags up this article from Beliefnet by John Dominic Crossan:
A Christmas Message From Matthew
What was the gospel writer trying to tell us about Jesus in his opening chapters?
A Christmas Message From Matthew
What was the gospel writer trying to tell us about Jesus in his opening chapters?
Radio Programme on The Passion of the Christ
On Point radio, which is based in Boston, MA, USA, broadcast an interesting discussion of The Passion of the Christ on Friday. It features several of those who have been at the centre of the controversy over the film , Peter Boyer, Michael Medved and Paula Fredriksen. It is an interesting listen of about 35 minutes or so:
The Gospel According to Mel
The Gospel According to Mel
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Tom Wright on the Origins of Christmas
Tom Wright had an article in the Christmas Eve edition of The Times reflecting his irritation with people cleverly telling him that Christmas is really an ancient pagan festival:
The origins of Christmas Day are no mere pagan festival
The origins of Christmas Day are no mere pagan festival
The Good Book, Programme 6
It's the sixth and final part of The Good Book on BBC Radio 2 tonight. It's entitled Paul - The Founder of Christianity. You can listen live at 8 p.m. on the radio or via the web; or subsequently you can listen on the web site. There will be some clips of me tonight, and also of Paula Gooder, Jimmy Dunn, John Barclay, Helen Bond, Kenneth Newport and Ian Boxall. The web site will also be updated with fresh information after the broadcast:
The Good Book
The Good Book
100 Greatest Musicals
Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar both featured in the 100 Greatest Musicals on Channel 4 this Christmas, Godspell at 72 and Jesus Christ Superstar at 28. The Godspell section included some footage of David Essex and Jeremy Irons in the stage version of the show from 1971 and a clip from a 1972 programme called Box Office Christ -- an interview with David Essex. Matt Lucas was one of those commenting on Godspell and said that the best way to punish your children is to sit them down in front of it. I know whenever I show clips to students, they usually roar with laughter.
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