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February 2014 Biblical Studies Carnival
I’m back from my church’s family retreat just in time to alert readers to the most recent Biblical Studies Carnival, hosted this month at Mosissimus Mose.
You might also want to check out the seventh installment of Abram K-J’s Septuagint Studies Soirée.
And finally, Brian Small has once again provided a rundown of interesting recent posts on the most fascinating book in the New Testament.
On the Trail of King Arthur in South Wales
A recent post at the Celtic Myth Podshow highlights stories of King Arthur from Blaenau Gwent in South Wales.
The Arthur of medieval Welsh literature – be it in Welsh or in Latin – is the archetypal Celtic hero – a rough, vigorous, splendidly barbarian figure fighting boars and serpents, witches, dog-headed warriors and other dreaded enemies. He is often seen in conflict with the Church, and echoes the values and life-style of the Heroic society of the “Dark Ages”. We can forget the Round Table, damsels in distress, tournaments and the glittering Christian emperor until much later… The Latin Historia Brittionum (“History of the Britons”) – conventionally attributed to Nennius (1)– was originally composed c. 829/30 A.D. (2) and attached to it are a series of Mirabilia or “Wonders”: There is another wonder in the country called Ergyng. There is a tomb there by a spring, called Llygad Amr; the name of the man who is buried in the tomb is Amr. He was a son of the warrior Arthur, and he killed him there and buried him. Men come to measure the tomb, and it is sometimes six feet long, sometimes nine, sometimes twelve, sometimes fifteen. At whatever measure you measure it on one occasion, you never find it again of the same measure, and I have tried it myself. (3)
Several legends are then summarized. Very interesting!
Sunday Inspiration: Dreams
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
—C. S. Lewis
A Sign of the Times?
I wonder if they went around posting notices like this in the days of Noah…
The Birds are Tweeting
And so, it seems, am I.
What Do You Know about Global Christianity?
Take the Pew Research Center’s ten-question quiz on the word’s Christian population.
Amen and Amen
Larry Hurtado offers “A Plea for Affordable Book-pricing.”
This Ended Up about the Way I Thought It Would
Images of Dyer’s kill began circling the internet this week, and it wasn’t long before mainstream outlets like TIME magazine were giving valuable press to the “man who shot Sasquatch”, running stories about how Dyer baited the beast with Wal-Mart ribs nailed to a tree outside San Antonio. He claims that after the big guy was studied (we’re never told by whom), his body was stuffed and preserved. Now Dyer is touring the country with the dead body in the back of his trailer, charging curious onlookers a few bucks a pop for a peek behind the curtain.
If this all sounds a little, well, fake.. that’s because it is. What the media isn’t mentioning is that this isn’t the first time that Rick Dyer has “killed Bigfoot”.
Read Big. Read Real. Read Together
Wisdom from Pete Enns about how to address the decline of Bible-reading in churches. He doesn’t go into specifics, but he does set out the three main reasons behind this decline (as described by the folks at Biblica) and condenses these into a broad trajectory of action.
Bible reading is down because people read it
- in fragments,
- a-historically,
- in isolation.
In fragments, meaning in the verse level rather than in large sections. A focus on verses not only encourages prooftexting but prevents readers from seeing the larger points of biblical works–whether we are talking about a letter like Romans, or large narratives such as we find in the Old Testament…
A-historically, meaning without a feel for the historical context of the texts being read…
In isolation, meaning individual “devotions” rather than in groups. The idea here–completely correct, if you ask me–is that reading Scripture is mean to be a community task for mutual enlightenment and encouragement.
Sound advice.
Tolkien’s Birthday
J. R. R. Tolkien was born on this date in 1892. Happy birthday, Tollers!
Darrell J. Pursiful 