Yesterday Brooke Lester asked his Facebook friends, “I know the answer before I ask, but: Do we have no good, critical, open-access Intro to Old Testament textbooks?” At the risk of re-repeating myself, This is something that a granting agency (especially one such as FTE or Wabash, for instance), ought to be all over…
All posts in July 2010
Mind Flowers
The great Amy Morrison (that link isn’t working right now, but it might start again so I’m including it anyway), two decades ago, in the context of an Honours Seminar at Eckerd College, reminded me of the classic Schoolhouse Rock quatrain, As your body grows bigger Your mind grows flowered It’s great to learn Cause…
Incubation
I went to see Inception Monday, and I thought it was pretty good. More to the point, watching it Monday made we want to watch it again (and not just because I would be hoping that the theatre didn’t heat up to “stifling” and “airless” by the end of the film). That would not be…
Great Moments in Popular Music 2
I have some of the ambivalence about Graceland that many politically-concerned listeners have expressed. I admire Paul Simon’s New York craftsmanship in composing infectious, compelling pop melodies, arrangements, and lyrics; his work isn’t always to my taste, but it’s always well done. And I don’t begrudge him the brilliant contribution that his African colleagues made…
Sermon Past
The St Mary’s sermons site now has the sermon I preached there Sunday before last, with Kelvin having edited out the pantomime section at the beginning when my microphone wasn’t working (some people thought that was their favourite part). You can watch it in situ, making it more convenient to look back at the past…
Holiday Of A Sort
When I got to the end of my first work-through of the Epistle of James on Wednesday, I determined to give myself a break for the weekend and not expect myself to achieve anything particularly productive. That meant reading the The Girl Who trilogy by Stieg Larsson (I know it’s supposed to be called “The…
*Sigh*
If I’d known about this, I’d have been supporting Spain regardless of the Holland side’s underdog status, over-aggressive play, or indefatigable play from Arjen Robben. Friends, one of the reasons the church has set traditions about liturgical and ceremonial practice, and about preaching actually from Scripture, involves protecting the church and its faithful…
Where Did My Covers Go?
I upgraded to the latest version of iTunes recently, and have been flummoxed by the “Now Playing” cover display function. Formerly, one could choose to display either the album cover of the track now playing, or the cover of a selected item. Now, it seems as though the cover display reverts to “Now Playing” after…
Winchester Cathedral Let Him Down
Today is St Swithin’s Day, commemorating the English saint-bishop, quite obscure in life but after his death famed as patron of Winchester cathedral and as a miracle-worker (and reference figure for a terrific song by Billy Bragg). Most of all, he became one of the best-known weather forecasters (along with hairy caterpillars and Punxsatawney Phil).…
Ah!
I finished the first pass through the Epistle of James this afternoon — so if my editor demanded a draft on short notice, I could send in something that was uneven but not incomplete. This feels very good. I came home from work early and opened a novel, made a double portion of red curry…
Thanks For All The Goats
I finished my article on biblical interpretation in the songbook of The Mountain Goats a couple of weeks ago, and since a couple of people from the tMG web forums had been very helpful and interested, I contacted one of them — Nigel — and asked if he’d like a squint at the final product.…
¡Viva España!
I watched last night’s World Cup final with my colleague Rich King on an HDTV screen so big that it showed not only the complete pitch, but the stadium and parking lots on the sides. Closeups of the presenters’ faces were like watching dermatological microsurgery. About the game itself: I was inclined to support…