While the reasons are undoubtedly complex, one factor is the rather superficial grasp these authors had on the Bible and religion. Their arguments revealed a rather naive understanding—one unlikely to survive an introductory college course in the very subjects they sought to dismantle. ~New athiests
Carrie Underwood sitting at the judges desk for the show American Idol saying "Just bring it on! I love it! Your boos are feeding me!"
People who attend church or synagogue and confess that God is good might believe they are expressing a biblical idea, but they’re more likely to find support for their faith in the works of Plato than in the Bible.
I've been furiously writing the past month, and I realize I've built up quite a library of sentences I'm proud of. Some are really thoughtful, others just pretty. I may try posting one a day for a bit to preview what I'm working on. I'll begin with the hook from my proposal:
The title reminds me of Nathan MacDonald's CBQ article!
pique curiosity
stimulate imagination
discover new interests
learn how to participate in democracy
build community
I learn so much when I teach a course that I have developed. It's weird to say, but its true! Last semester crystalized so many things for me, and then I realized at the end of class some things weren't coming together as clearly. I learned I wasn't ready to write that part and returned to research.
Fuck ICE!
How's this for a hook?
Before it ever occurred to me as a child to ask the question, “Why does a good God allow bad things to happen to good people?” I learned the answer from a beaver bearing witness to a lion—at least, I learned an answer.
For my birthday yesterday, I gave myself the gift of finishing the chapter summaries for my book proposal. I first shopped the book out in 2020-21, but between COVID and a serious nerve problem, I had to put the project on hold. I've significantly revised the project and am stoaked to start writing!
No worries. It's a really funny skit by the comedian Gianmarco Soresi where he pokes fun at technical distinctions between attractions to different ages of children. It is very much in line with the sentiment of your original post.
Technically speaking . . .
youtu.be/nu6C2KL_S9o?...
If we ever get on the other side of this, the leaders of the mainstream outlets should be ousted and replaced by independent journalists who kept us informed and kept asking the right questions!
I generally have less enthusiasm for the NT and early Christian literature than the HB and Southwest Asian mythology, but nothing dampens my spirit as much as reading the church fathers. That said, I've stumbled into some really fantasic scholarship about the church fathers! Hooray!
Emily Watson's translation is a great choice, AND I would read alongside it Daniel Mendelsohn's An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and Epic. It is a memoir of Mendelsohn teaching the Odyssey while his 81-year-old father audits the course, and later they travel to Greece together.
Some people (e.g. my fam) support Trump but don't like his socially cruel behavior, but in the end they support him because of his policies. Yet his policies are no less cruel than his social behavior, and I'm disgusted they are more offended by his cruel words (like this) than by his cruel actions.
I'm a big fan of Naoko Yamagata's Homeric Morality (Brill, 1994). I don't think people appreciate how radical the views of the Homeric narrator are when it comes to the amorality of the gods!
Whole foods is near the conference center and I personally recommend their blueberry flax granola in the bulk bin. $5.99lb for me in TN.
Technically speaking . . .
The Gnostic Revelation of John too!
It did this for hours! All down by the end of the day.
NYTimes pitch: 2025 Democratic Candidates were Doing Politics the Right Way
Am I doing this right?
And did I mention these were first-year students?!? They've been real champs this semester with such interesting but difficult material beyond just reading the Hebrew Bible--Atrahasis, Ludlul bel Nemeqi, Homer, Hesiod, Plato's Republic, Laws, Timaeus, and, soon, The Secret Book according to John.
Next, we'll be reading @lianemfeldman.bsky.social translation of P's primeval history and exploring its relationship to J and to the Timaeus. I suspect students will see a much stronger relationship with Timaeus, but who knows!
One takeaway in the first of these two days of class on Gen 2-3 is that it sits very neatly in between Atrahasis and Timaeus. The students are seeing the longue durée of divine goodness/morality, which is the focus of our course.
Most think J's primeval history is closer in thought to Atrahasis, as do I, but my students arguing for a closer relationship to Timaeus are making really thoughtful arguments, especially connecting divine boundary crossing and 41c (contra 29e) and moral formation in 42b-d.
For the past 2 classes, I've had students argue whether they think Genesis 2-3 and Genesis 4-11 (J/non-P texts) are closer in thought to Atrahasis or Plato's Timaeus, both texts we've treated previously in class. I can't express how thoughtful and creative these students responses have been.
@maklelan.bsky.social coming in clutch once again with a video for me to add to my slides for the day we review 1 Enoch to explore the evolving attitude of the origins of evil in the biblical and post-biblical tradition.
