I saw the movie, “The Invention of Lying” last night, not expecting to find any biblical or religious associations or messages in it. Hah. I should know better! They’re everywhere. It’s really quite a sweet story in which the main character becomes a kind of Moses, even standing before an expectant crowd with two tablets […]
Invention of Lying, or the Invention of Faith? Read More »
Over the past couple of days, my editor, agent, and I have been scrambling to deal with an ironic case of mistaken identity in Bible Babel. In short: the main character’s name isn’t correct in the version poised to go out to reviewers and potential endorsers. Yikes! One of the reasons that I wrote Bible
LORDy, Lordy! typos and misunderstandings Read More »
The James River Writers conference was a smashing success! Many thanks to Jason Tesauro, Ginny Pye, the Library of Virginia, volunteers, organizers, soiree hosts, agents, editors, panelists, moderators, and all who helped make it great! Although finally only writing is writing, talking about the craft, hearing the stories of how stories came to be, and
Work is underway on a new translation of the King James Version designed to correct what its authors call a “liberal bias” in modern translations. Conservapedia, which claims to be “the trustworthy encyclopedia,” has determined to correct what it sees as “three sources of errors in conveying biblical meaning are, in increasing amount: lack of precision in the original
Conservative Bible Read More »
It’s in! Check out the cover for Bible Babel: Making Sense of the Most Talked About Book of All Time through the “Books” link on the home page. Because the book is for all kinds of readers, includes lots of popular culture references, and doesn’t present a particular religious perspective, we wanted it to look hip and
Bible Babel cover art’s in! Read More »
In preparation for this weekend’s James River Writers Conference, I’ve needed to revisit my first book project on pain and the Psalms. (I have a terrible memory — what did I write, again?! sheesh.) Among the most memorable discoveries in doing that project was the mystical paradox of darkness. Here’s the first paragraph of a little essay on the topic:
Out-takes, the Paradox of Darkness Read More »
They call her “Ardi” and judge her, at 4.4 million years old, to be the oldest intact skeleton of an ancestor to humans discovered yet. Discovered in Ethiopia, she’s all the news, not least because she’s different from the chimps that many scientists had thought we humans evolved from, so many millions of years ago. Ardi wasn’t a knuckle-dragger, but
Ardipithecus and Eve Read More »
The Coen brothers are out with a new one. Among my favorite film-makers today, the Coen brothers just released “A Serious Man,” based in part on the biblical Job. I’m eager to see how they handle the story. Do they present their Job as a saint, of storied patience, like the popular characterization of this biblical
A Serious Man, That Job Read More »
“The Saint John’s Bible” is a remarkable, gorgeous representation of an ancient technique of rendering sacred text — written by hand and “illuminated” with fine art. Here’s a partial description: “The Saint John’s Bible is the first handwritten, hand illuminated Bible in more than 500 years. Under the artistic direction of Donald Jackson, M.V.O., one
Hand-written Bible with Illustration Read More »
Translating the book of Numbers, I came across a curious story that I’ve never paid much attention to before (Num 25:1-18). The setting is the infamous sin at Peor — of Israelites hooking up with Midianite women and taking part in their religious practices. One gets the impression that the Israelites were bored out of their
Cozbi, the murdered Midianite… and a woman, at that Read More »
