I am finally following Donna Freitas‘ enthusiastic recommendation to watch old episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Hey, just because it’s research doesn’t mean it has to be dull. As I investigate how the Bible portrays supernatural beings and places and how that portrayal has influenced pop ideas about evil personified, angels, the undead, heaven, …
I had the great good fortune to read a couple of new Bible translations and communicate, albeit briefly, with their creators for an article that will appear in Publishers Weekly Religion BookLine (10/28). In both cases, the translators are poets in their own right. Not only that, but both have worked for decades with these …
Anyone’s who’s read through the book of Genesis, from The Beginning to its portentous end in Egypt, knows that it’s pretty darn graphic — horny gods mate with human women, men try to rape angels, there’s fratricide and the near murder of a boy by his father (commanded by God, no less), a daughter-in-law rights wrongs by seducing her errant …
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 …
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 …
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:
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 …
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 …
“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 …
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 »
