TIME OFF FROM BLOGGING

Starting today I’m taking some time off from blogging and will be back in August.  This will allow me to focus on a few things: including research for a forthcoming conference in Agust in  which I will be presenting a paper on the Haitian Revolution, catching up with three book reviews ( The Diasporan Self: Unbreaking the Circle in Western Black Novels by J. Lee Greene, Artists, Performers, and Black Masculinity in the Haitian Diaspora by Jana Evans Braziel, and Africa Writes Back: The African Writers Series & The launch of African Literaturey by Jame Currey) for three professional journals ( The Journal of Haitian Studies, Callaloo,   The Journal of African American History), and researching for another conference in Ohio. Do say a little prayer for me. See you in the second week of August.

May the great God keep  you and your family safe.

Lou

Phil Interviews Curtis J. Evans

Over at Baldblogger, Phil interviews  Curtis J. Evans of the University of Chicago Divinity School and author of The Burden of Black Religions (This work is extremely important! See below for description).  Evans talks about his life as a scholar and historian and about his recent book. 

Part I: The Burden of Black Religion with Curtis J. Evans, Part 1

Par II: The Burden of Black Religion with Curtis J. Evans, Part 2

Description

Religion has always been a focal element in the long and tortured history of American ideas about race. In The Burden of Black Religion , Curtis Evans traces ideas about African American religion from the antebellum period to the middle of the twentieth century.

Central to the story, he argues, was the deep-rooted notion that blacks were somehow “naturally” religious. At first, this assumed natural impulse toward religion served as a signal trait of black people’s humanity – potentially their unique contribution to American culture. Abolitionists seized on this point, linking black religion to the black capacity for freedom. Soon, however, these first halting steps toward a multiracial democracy were reversed.

As Americans began to value reason, rationality, and science over religious piety, the idea of an innate black religiosity was used to justify preserving the inequalities of the status quo. Later, social scientists – both black and white – sought to reverse the damage caused by these racist ideas and in the process proved that blacks were in fact fully capable of incorporation into white American culture.

This important work reveals how interpretations of black religion played a crucial role in shaping broader views of African Americans and had real consequences in their lives. In the process, Evans offers an intellectual and cultural history of race in a crucial period of American history.

Reviews

“This important book offers a fresh and provocative take on the manner in which religion has been used to frame and shape the place and function of African Americans within the United States in particular as well as the creation of the nation in more general terms. The challenges this book offers are vital. I highly recommend it.” –Anthony B. Pinn, Rice University, author of Terror and Triumph: The Nature of Black Religion

In the past, Phill has also interviewed Edward J. Brum, the author of W.E.B. Du Bois: American Prophet. Click here to follow the dialogue.

A Recent Book by Richard Hays

Reading the Bible Intertextually by Richard hays and Stephan Alkier

 

Review
As recent scholarship has shown, no text is an island. Meaning is dependent on establishing precisely how one text is to be related to others and what text will legitimately count as a basis of intertextual conversation. This volume presents a wide range of options on this important question and will provide important grist for the mill for those interested in biblical hermeneutics. –Gary A. Anderson, Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, University of Notre Dame

As recent scholarship has shown, no text is an island. Meaning is dependent on establishing precisely how one text is to be related to others and what text will legitimately count as a basis of intertextual conversation. This volume presents a wide range of options on this important question and will provide important grist for the mill for those interested in biblical hermeneutics. –Gary A. Anderson, Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, University of Notre Dame<br /><br />The problem of the use of the Old Testament among New Testament writers is as tangled and knotty as it is perennial. Pushing beyond the simple equation “one text, one meaning,” this collection of essays invigorates the discussion with methodological rigor, notable readings of biblical texts, and engaging extensions of these fresh interpretive proposals beyond the biblical canon itself. –Joel B. Green, Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Fuller Theological Seminary<br /><br />This welcome collection of essays marks a noteworthy contribution to the study of intertextual dimensions of biblical interpretation. While conventional criticism focuses on quotations and direct allusion, these essays advance the convincing case that biblical authors can be understood more soundly, more richly, by attending to the elusive intertextual resonances that affect the texts they composed. Readers sensitive to intertextual effects will applaud these essays both for their theoretical exploration and for the interpretations that the essays venture. –A. K. M. Adamb, Professor of New Testament, Bowdoin College

This welcome collection of essays marks a noteworthy contribution to the study of intertextual dimensions of biblical interpretation. While conventional criticism focuses on quotations and direct allusion, these essays advance the convincing case that biblical authors can be understood more soundly, more richly, by attending to the elusive intertextual resonances that affect the texts they composed. Readers sensitive to intertextual effects will applaud these essays both for their theoretical exploration and for the interpretations that the essays venture. –A. K. M. Adamb, Professor of New Testament, Bowdoin College

Product Description
Reading the Bible Intertextually explores the revisionary hermeneutical practices of the writers of the four gospels. Each of the contributors examines the distinctive ways that the canonical evangelists put a particular “spin” on the story of Jesus through rereading the Old Testament in different ways. In addition, the evangelists’ different ways of reading Israel’s Scripture are correlated with different visions for the embodied life of the community of Jesus’ followers. This is an exciting new reading of the gospels, bringing interdisciplinary and intertextual readings to the texts, articulated by some of the most brilliant New Testament scholars of our time.

J. Kameron Carter’s Lecture on “Language and the Theological Roots of Scientific Classification: Jose de Acosta and the Production of Modernity’s Racial Imagination”

Source: flyingfarther

Crucial Books in Johannine Studies by Gary Burge

 

Over at Koinonia Blog, NT scholar and Johannine specialist, Gary Burge lists some important works on the fourth Gospel. It is worth consulting. Anybody who reads this blog regularly knows John is my favorite Gospel (Resources on the Gospel of John), next is the Gospel of Matthew. I own some  50 scholarly works on John including commentaries and monographs (i.e. about 12 commentaries and 38 books).

Can you Guess It? Question Series (Response)

Can you Guess It?

Last month we started a questions series called “Can you Guess It “? Since we don’t have a winner, below are the questions we asked followed by their answers:

1. Can you guess the world’s first published autobiography? 
2. What is the world’s first published philosophy of history?

The answers are :

1. Confessions (Click here to read the full text in Latin and here  for English) by Augustine of Hippo
2. The City of God   (Click here to read the fulll text in Latin and here for English) byAugustine of Hippo

Excerpt from Confessions

“But I wanted to be equally sure about everything else, both material things for which I could not vouch by my own senses, and spiritual things for which I could form no idea except in bodily form. If I had been able to believe I might have been cured, because in my mind’s eye I should have had clearer vision, which by some means might have been directed towards your enternal unfailing truth. But it is often the case that a man who has had experience of a bad doctor is afraid to trust himself even to a good one, and in the same way my sick soul, which could not be healed except through faith, refused, this cure for fear believing a doctrine tha was false. My soul resisted your healing hand, for it was you who prepared and dispensed the medicine of faith and made it so potent a remedy for the diseases of the world” (Saint Agustine, Confessions, Penguin Classics, Book VI:4, 116).

” By now, O God my Help, you had released me by this means from the bondage of astrology. But I was still trying to discover the origin of evil, and I could find no solution to the problem. My ideas were always changing, like the ebb and flow of the tide, but you never allowed them to swep me away from the faith by which I believe that you were, that your substance was unchangeable, and that it was yours to care for and to judge mankind. I believe too that it was in Christ your Son, our Lord, and in the Holy Scriptures, which affirmed by the authority of your Catholic Church,  that you had laid the path’s of man’s salvation, so that he might come to that  other life which is follow this our life in death. These beliefs remained intact and firmly rooted in my mind, but I was still burning with anxiety to find the source from which evil comes” (Saint Agustine, Confessions, Penguin Classics, Book VII:7, 142-3).

Excerpt from the City of God

 ”The city of God we speak of is the same to which testimony is borne by that Scripture, which excels all the writings of all nations by its divine authority, and has brought under its influence all kinds of minds, and this not by a casual intellectual movement, but obviously by an express providential arrangement.  For there it is written, “Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.”⁴⁴⁶⁴⁴⁶    Ps. lxxxvii. 3.   And in another psalm we read, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness, increasing the joy of the whole earth.”⁴⁴⁷⁴⁴⁷    Ps. xlviii. 1.   And, a little after, in the same psalm, “As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God.  God has established it for ever.”  And in another, “There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of our God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.  God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.”⁴⁴⁸⁴⁴⁸    Ps. xlvi. 4.   From these and similar testimonies, all of which it were tedious to cite, we have learned that there is a city of God, and its Founder has inspired us with a love which makes us covet its citizenship.  To this Founder of the holy city the citizens of the earthly city prefer their own gods, not knowing that He is the God of gods, not of false, i.e., of impious and proud gods, who, being deprived of His unchangeable and freely communicated light, and so reduced to a kind of poverty-stricken power, eagerly grasp at their own private privileges, and seek divine honors from their deluded subjects; but of the pious and holy gods, who are better pleased to submit themselves to one, than to subject many to themselves, and who would rather worship God than be worshipped as God.  But to the enemies of this city we have replied in the ten preceding books, according to our ability and the help afforded by our Lord and King.  Now, recognizing what is expected of me, and not unmindful of my promise, and relying, too, on the same succor, I will endeavor to treat of the origin, and progress, and deserved destinies of the two cities (the earthly and the heavenly, to wit), which, as we said, are in this present world commingled, and as it were entangled together.  And, first, I will explain how the foundations of these two cities were originally laid, in the difference that arose among the angels” (Saint Augustine, The City of God, Book XI chapter 1, )

Tomorrow I will post Can you Guess questions for the month of July. Stay tuned.

Click here for the rules and how to win a free book.

Early Image Of The Apostle Paul Discovered

Significant Findings Uncovered At The Tomb Of St.

Paul

Posted on: Monday, 29 June 2009, 06:05 CDT

Tiny bone fragments dated from the first or second century have been identified in a tomb in the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome. Pope Benedict made the announcement on Sunday, and also claimed the findings confirmed suspicions that it held the apostle’s remains, Reuters accounted. 

“This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition that these are the mortal remains on the Apostle Paul,” the pontiff said at St Paul’s Outside the Walls, on the eve of the Feasts of St Peter and St Paul celebrated on Monday.

About AD 65, Paul met his martyrdom in Rome after widely sharing the Gospel to pagan Greeks and Romans.  Along with Peter, Paul is one of the most revered among Christians as one of the greatest early missionaries and founders of the Christian church. 

According to Christian tradition, St. Paul was laid to rest with St. Peter in a catacomb on the Via Appia, before being transferred to the basilica built in his honor.  It has been commonly believed for centuries that his remains were buried under the altar.

In 2006, Vatican archaeologists were finally able to apply scientific research to the religious tradition when a stone sarcophagus was discovered at the location.

During the “Pauline Year,” a year when the Roman Catholic church celebrated the second millennium of the birth of the “Apostle of the Gentiles,” the first findings were discovered. 

Pope Benedict recounted the specifics of the discovery, saying a small hole had been drilled in the sarcophagus to allow for examination of the inside, exposing “traces of a precious linen cloth, purple in color, laminated with pure gold, and a blue colored textile with filaments of linen.”

“It also revealed the presence of grains of red incense and traces of protein and limestone. There were also tiny fragments of bone, which, when subjected to Carbon 14 tests by experts, turned out to belong to someone who lived in the first or second century,” said the Pope.

News of the bone fragments were accompanied by news that Vatican archaeologists had also found what they suppose is the oldest existing image of St. Paul on the walls of the catacomb beneath Rome, dating from the late 4th century.

The finding was published in the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano on Sunday, a red background picture of a frescoed image of the face of a man with a high furrowed forehead and sharp black beard, consumed in a bright yellow halo.

The discovery was made on June 19 by experts of the Ponitifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology inside the Catacomb of Santa Tecla in Rome. The Vatican newspaper described it as “the oldest icon in history dedicated to the cult of the Apostle.”

It was customary practice of the time for early Christians to bury their dead under the city in catacombs dug into the rock, and then decorate the underground walls with devotional images, similar to Pompeian fashion.

—

La Pensée du Jour

“Some seek knowledge for

The sake of knowledge:

That is curiosity;

Others seek knowledge so that

They themselves may be known:

That is vanity;

But there are still others

Who seek knowledge in

Order to serve and edify others:

And that is charity.” — Bernard of Clairvaux

Top Ten Blogs You Read Regularly

Yesterday I was thinking about which blog I read most and my top ten blogs. At any rate, I came up with my own list after thinking through the assignment. So I ask you too: What are the Top Ten blogs  you read regularly? Here’s my list below:

1. Rightly Dividing the Word (Nick Norelli). Nick always has something new, fresh, interesting to say. He’s perhaps the most prolific blogger.
2. The Art of Imagination (Bryan). Bryan is a real guy. He tells you exactly the ways things are, and the way he feels about them. What I admire about Bryan is his critical mind. All I am saying is that Bryan is a critical thinker.
3.  Dave Black Online (Dave Black). It’s always refreshing to read him. He’s passionate about God, missions, the people of God, teaching Greek,  the gospel,  and the lost. However, what I like the most about Prof. Black is his  humility and love for people.
4. Euangellion (Michael Bird and Joel Willitts). An informative, scholarly blog. Bird is a cool guy. It was nice to meet him twice at the SBL and ETS meetings last November.
5. The Gospel in 3-D (Lionel Woods). I just like almost anything Lionel writes.
6.  Hope Theologian(Rod) . No offense folks! Rod has an amazing mind. I could only wish he would blog more often. Just check out his blog to see how this fellow brings theology and culture together. It is amazing.
7. Jim West , more recently A Striving After Wind…(Jim West). This blog tells you everything you need to know about the biblical word and in the world of the USA. (This is an exaggeration).  Dr. West is not afraid to speak his mind on controversial issues.
8. Revelation Is Real (Tony Siew). The best phrase that describes Tony is “pastor-scholar” or “theologian-pastor.” Tony has a way to combine scholarship and spirituality. This is the blog in which I take refuge for my weary soul. It is spirituallly refreshing and encouraging.
9. Jesus Creed(Scot Mcknight). Scot is a New Testament scholar but he’s one with a cultural eye.  Scot’s blog is interesting, witty, and informative. By the way, he’s a good writer.  It’s always fun to read his Saturday’s Weekly Meanderings
10. Nijay K. Gupta  (Nijay K. Gupta). I predict Nijay will be one of the most prolific writers in Pauline studies. He’s following Michael Bird. Nijay just like Chris Tilling are brilliant. It’s always fun to read their blog.

*  I will not tag anyone but anybody is welcome to post his  own list.

Visual Pleasure, Photos Highlight