Biblical Literacy

Flexibility in What Is Fixed — Constitution and the Bible

When Republicans opened the 112th Congress with a reading of the Constitution, they faced a challenge that threatened to undermine the whole purpose of the reading, to demonstrate adherence to the original document. The trouble, you see, is that the times they’ve gone a-changing… For one thing, blacks actually count today not as three-fifths of a person …

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Chris Querry’s Bible Babel Review at MyShelf.com

I don’t know Chris Querry, but I’d sure like to meet him. I’m delighted to read that (despite his academic training?), he appreciated Bible Babel as a book appropriate for lay and religious audiences, teachers and students, alike. Anyway, Chris, wherever and whoever you are, thanks for the great review! For the rest of you, do …

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Matters of Size

I didn’t know that the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Minneapolis Science Museum would include examples from and description of the gorgeous new illuminated St. John’s Bible, about which I blogged some months ago. Surprise: the script on samples of real Dead Sea Scrolls is teeny-tiny; and the St. John’s Bible is great big. Nothing like …

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Philistine Temple + Earthquake = Samson?

Archaeologists recently discovered a temple, with two great pillars, in what was once the Philistine city of Gath. And they discovered evidence of a huge earthquake. One of the Bible’s most dramatic stories tells about the not always admirable but surely impressive Samson who, duped by his lover Delilah, loses the secret to his power (his hair) …

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Biblical Imagination and the Creative Process

If most people don’t get the biblical references, why do the creators of popular tv, movies, music and lit still use them so much? Pondering this question over iced tea with a novelist, Ph.D.-candidate friend, we decided: it’s tough to say. Here are a couple of ideas that we bounced around: 1) Audiences do recognize the biblical …

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Seinfeld’s Solomon

Watching “Seinfeld” reruns recently, I saw the one in which Elaine and Kramer argue about rightful ownership of (originally Elaine’s) high-handled girly bicycle. To settle the matter, Newman channels the biblical Solomon. According to the biblical book of Kings, Solomon, son of David, inherited the throne in ancient Israel and promptly demonstrated one of the qualities for which he …

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