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 …
Chris Querry’s Bible Babel Review at MyShelf.com Read More »
It seems that among the least religious are people in European countries that have a religious affiliation. If you’re Swedish, you’re Lutheran… in word, anyway. Last night, I watched the film version of Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. Intense. I’ve heard quite a bit about it, read more, but I don’t remember anyone mentioning that a key clue to unravelling the …
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 …
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) …
And tomorrow, a TV interview for KARE-11… all in Minneapolis. I’m visiting MN during one of the year’s most beautiful times in the “land of 10,000 lakes.” Believe it or not, this place — so far from the desert wilderness of Israel is hosting an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This afternoon, my whole Minnesota family will check it out. My St. …
I attended a funeral recently — “untimely,” one might say, because the man who died did so at his own hand. There was so much about it that defied expectation, defied logic. There’s the suicide itself, of course, an act that makes sense only to the person killed, if at all. But there was …
Enjoyed a fun conversation about Bible Babel with radio host Faith Ranoli yesterday. Listen live in a week or so. We talked for about an hour about all things Bible — where it came from, what’s the best translation, how people use the Bible to argue different sides of the same issue, why the Bible says …
I’m really excited about my new project, which has me thinking about all things paranormal. Turns out, they’re all around us — almost, well, normal. The Bible is one source for images and ideas, but the appeal (some would say awareness) seems basic to our humanity. If we don’t believe, exactly, we are nevertheless captivated and strangely affected by the supernatural. There’s …
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 …
There’s Twilight of course, and True Blood, and going back in time a little, there was Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all those Anne Rice novels. I shouldn’t have been surprised to stumble on two more that feature vampires front and center — Moonlight and The Gates. You’d have to live under a rock in …
