Recent news & updates
2,700-year-old royal loyalty oath discovered in Turkey · 18 October 2010
A tablet from a 7th C. BCE Tayinat (in ancient Syria) temple is a loyalty oath in support of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.
Dura Europos synagogue explained · 2 August 2010
A nice series of articles on the Dura Europos synagogue murals. The murals include a depiction of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37).
Part 1 (Posted June 23, 2010)
Part 2 (Posted July 7, 2010)
Part 3 (Posted July 21, 2010)
Philistine temple at Goliath’s Gath unearthed · 2 August 2010
As reported by the Jerusalem Post, archaeologists have recently discovered the remains of a Philistine temple at Gath from the era of the judges.
Recent Bible world news · 3 January 2010
Most Ancient Hebrew Biblical Inscription Deciphered
Ancient tablet reveals Noah’s ark was circular
A Residential Building from the Time of Jesus was Exposed in the Heart of Nazareth
Shroud of Turin Not Jesus’, Tomb Discovery Suggests – but it did wrap the remains of a leper, making it the earliest known case of leprosy
Book Review: Shop Class as Soulcraft · 9 December 2009
Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work, by Matthew B. Crawford (New York: Penguin, 2009). Contents: A brief case for the useful arts — The separation of thinking from doing — To be master of one’s own stuff — The education of a gearhead — The further education of a gearhead : from amateur to professional — The contradictions of the cubicle — Thinking as doing — Work, leisure, and full engagement.
I’m a sucker for any book that has to do in some way, even tangentially, with motorcycling. This one has the picture of a vintage BMW on the cover, so I fell for it. And I sort of liked the book. It contains the extended reflections of a University of Chicago PhD in political philosophy who went on to set up shop fixing motorcycles in Virginia. So it is no surprise it waxes philosophical, in particular on the satisfactions of manual labor, in contrast to the emptiness of the work he did first as the writer of professional journal article abstracts and then as the director of a Washington, D.C. think tank.
My Kindle experience · 29 October 2009
I’ve had my Kindle DX for a couple months now. Here are some of my thoughts so far.
If is definitely too pricey. But because I’ve been experimenting with an e-text version of Reading the Old Testament for years now, I felt I needed to get some experience with this new delivery technology.
I love it for reading fiction. I’m a fan of procedural thrillers the likes of Michael Connelly (though his most recent work lacks the old punch and compelling character development) and Robert Crais. No need to keep books like these laying around when you are done, and saves a trip to the library. Delivery of these books from Amazon is virtually instantaneous. Those that are not new releases are $6.39.
I’m really surprised at how fast I can read from the Kindle. This is subjective, haven’t made a quantitative study of it, but my impression is that my mind is so attuned to the format and font right now that the medium does not interfere with absorbing the content. Right now I attribute it to that fact that every book, no matter who publishes it, appears in exactly the same font, page size, and page layout. The mind doesn’t need to adjust to every new format.
Keeping my place was never easier. When I stop reading and turn the device off, then next day turn it on, it goes directly to the page I was on. The lack of page numbers took only a little getting used to. Instead there are line numbers, and position is indicated as a percent of the total number of lines. I used to get a sense of reading progress by feeling the bulk of pages between thumb and index fingers. Very tactile. But seeing 90%, then 95%, etc. is becoming just as satisfying.
NY Times “Does the Brain Like E-Books?”
USA Today “School chooses Kindle; are libraries for the history ‘books’?”
EDUCAUSE “E-Books for Academe: A Study from Gettysburg College”
Riding the Great Divide 2009 · 20 August 2009
Barry Bandstra rode the Great Divide on a motorcycle trip that lasted from July 22 to August 9, along with his friend Jaco Hamman from Western Theological Seminary. Read Jaco’s account of the trip. Barry rode his 1999 Kawasaki KLR 650 and Jaco rode his 2005 BMW R1200GS. The Great Divide, also called the Continental Divide, marks the line of highest elevation of the North American continent and runs through the Canadian Rockies, then through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, and continues on into Mexico. The US portion of the Great Divide trail begins in Roosville, MT on the Canadian border and runs 2497 miles to Antelope Wells, NM on the Mexican border.
The last Continental Divide road sign is just outside Antelope Wells, NM
The Great Divide Trail is a mountain biking trail that was developed by the Adventure Cycling Association, and motorcycles are welcome. The official trail is mostly off paved roads and follows some single track trails, forest access roads, logging roads, and back country gravel roads. The total trip was 6,172.4 riding miles according to the GPS. The GDT crosses the continental divide 24 times.
The color-coded map indicates the trip by days.
Great Divide Ride 2009
Tell el-Hammam, perhaps Sodom · 17 May 2009
A team from Trinity Southwest University continues to dig Tall el-Hammam in Jordan. They report their results on their dig website and make a case that their site is the ancient Sodom from the book of Genesis (see Genesis 18-19).
With your typical media hype (and with a bit of perhaps shameless self-promotion thrown in), KOAT in Albuquerque reports “A real-life Indiana Jones tale is unfolding in New Mexico. A group of Albuquerque archaeologists think they’ve solved a biblical mystery. ‘From a biblical point of view, this is arguably the most important archaeological excavation of all time,’ archaeologist Dr. Steven Collins said” … hopefully tongue in cheek. The hype is mitigated somewhat by the archaeologists’ laudable community outreach reported in the article, exposing fifth-graders to the actual work of excavataion. One kiddo reports, “It’s cool, because you get to touch it — more than just read about it.” Amen to that.
Recent survey: Half of U.S. adults have switched religions · 27 April 2009
USA Today reports a just released Pew Faith in Flux survey that attests patterns of church and denominational shifting, as well as people simply opting out of the organized religion scene.
Bono — “It’s 2009. Do You Know Where Your Soul Is?” · 19 April 2009
Bono
Bono’s New York Times post-Easter reflections — “the dying and living that is Easter.” Profit, commerce, what if we are losing our soul?