August 27, 2025 was my first Convocation as President of Wittenberg University. The tradition is for the new President to give the address and I was happy and honored to do so. Below is the text and you can view the video at YouTube. בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת […]
Academics
319 posts
This year’s Society of Biblical Literature meeting was special for me as I completed my second (and final) three-year term as a member of Council. The last six years have been eventful, to say the least. In that time there have been debates (and complaints) about having to print our […]
I have a deep desire, often uncontrollable, to be understood. More specifically, that my ideas and arguments should be understood. It is a horrible habit and I have been aware of it for decades and I fight against these inclinations, and often lose. It can ruin relationships and it has […]
“Some years ago, during a service at our church, my eyes wandered (I am sorry to say) to a banner that was propped up in the corner. It was to be part of a float that the children were preparing to enter in a local carnival, and on it was […]
In the last two months I have had the joy of being a guest on several podcasts, two scholarly and academic that I will post when they are published, and two about Honors education and our Lewis Honors College at the University of Kentucky. The two podcasts below are from […]
Thirty years ago in August, Elizabeth and I were married. Over our honeymoon, I was encouraged to send in an application to the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew & Jewish Studies for their one-year “Graduate Diploma.” I was admitted and received a full scholarship, so we deferred the offer from […]
I posted this on Facebook earlier in the week. The account will remain open, but moribund. As I conclude, how nice it would be to go back to the days when we had robust discussion through our “Biblioblogs.” I opened my account on Facebook in September of 2004, shortly after […]
It is a pleasure for the executive committee of the International Organization for Targumic Studies (IOTS) to invite you to the IOTS conference on 6-8 July 2020 at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. The conference will know at least three topics, Targums of the Tora Targum and Peshitta Targum and Qumran but papers on other […]
This past week I received word from Paul Flesher that Derek Beattie died on Saturday, 31 August at his home in Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire. He was 73 years old. His son has said that plans for the funeral are still in process, but it is likely to be on 13th […]
I am reading the proofs of my contribution to The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries. The following quotes from Daniel Boyarin are true not only for dealing with what the Talmud has to say about Jesus but for any time we are engaging ancient texts. The effort […]