Theory

One of my classes is a history class that is heavy on theory. I would really like to know more about theory, but I have a difficult time finding the spare time to read theory when there is so much I haven't read in biblical studies. Below I have listed some books that I would really like to read when I have time, but who knows when that will be? (The books below are, in some cases, outdated and/or defunct, but they are all classics that I would like to read, despite whether or not they continue to be useful.)

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Michel Foucault, The Order of Things (I’ve read half.)
Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy
Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity
Karl Marx, Marx on Religion
Claude Levi-Strauss, The Savage Mind
Edward Said, Orientalism
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (I’ve read bits and pieces.)
Carl Jung, Four Archetypes
Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo (I’ve read bits and pieces)

Life Away from the Computer

As of late, I've only been checking my email once or twice a day (later in the evening or early in the morning). People like to communicate with me by email, but I tend to not get this communication until after the day has gone by. My commute to Denver (using public transportation) and the time I spend there engulfs my Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, in addition to occasional Mondays or Wednesdays. So my life has changed, and it's nice in some ways to not to have to 4respond promptly to email.

My first week of school is done, and I'm enjoying it. Although I am enjoying it, I am ready to be done with course work. For the meantime, though, I'll focus on enjoying it. Next week I will teach one day for a little more than five hours (a freshman seminar, a graduate/undergraduate Dead Sea Scrolls class [I am more of a facilitator to my fellow graduate students in this class], and my regular Greek class). It sounds like an exhausting day!

Erin and Jacoby are doing well. Erin goes to Las Vegas this week for a quick trip, and Jacoby continues to increase his vocabulary on a daily basis. Erin seems to be feeling better these days, which is a good thing. This is feeling more like an email, so I'll stop now and attempt to send an email update sometime soon (unless my wife beats me to it!).

Seventh Anniversary

Seven years ago to the day Erin and I got married. How time flies! We enjoyed a weekend in the mountains with Jacoby to celebrate the event. We had a good time. We enjoyed a hike, some time by a lake, and a cabin that lacked every means of electronic communication (except for a local phone).

(PS I fear my rate of blogging has dropped to once every week or two due to my schedule getting busier again, but I still plan to keep up with it!)

Incommunicado No Longer

I've been incommunicado for the last week or two. I've been busily preparing for my teaching, which began last night. I'm looking forward to my class. I have about 18 students as of right now, and they seem like they will be an entertaining group.

Jacoby has been as lively as ever. He found a plastic bottle of teriyaki sauce that looks like a coke bottle. He tips it back as if it were a bottle of coke expecting to get a drink out of it (it still has its safety seal). He is also putting together two-word sentences now, like "tractor dirty."

I plan on reading some Greek and Hebrew tomorrow with my classmates, in addition to my tutoring Greek in the morning and teaching Greek in the evening. I enjoy the languages very much, but it is almost time to get back to more "substantial" (secondary) reading. That's all for now!

Jacoby's Transition Update

Jacoby has completed one week at his new school. He is actually home today with what appears to be a small cold.

His transition has gone fairly well. The first three days were difficult, one of them more difficult than the others. On Thursday he was back to normal. He came home that day with his first painting from this school.

The transition has been a little rough on the parents, but we are happy with his school and believe he will do well there. As I researched the difference between putting him in childcare and caring for him at home, I discovered that both scenarios have distinct advantages. Neither scenario appears to be superior to the other. In Jacoby's case, I hope the childcare setting develops his social skills.

Another interesting thing I found was that whether a child is in childcare or not, the child's family plays the greatest role in determining how well the child develops over time. See this website for more details on the research I have been reading.

Jacoby's Childcare Transition

Erin, Jacoby, and I visited the new childcare facility yesterday. It's a busy place! I was impressed by it, and we hope Jacoby is able to make the transition without too much trouble. We expect the typical first-week difficulties, but we think he might really enjoy this school. They give him numerous interests to choose from for his daily activities. (I'm guessing reading will come in first or second, but I could be wrong.) In addition, he will have other bambinos around to socialize with, especially as he gets a little older. (At his age, the kids tend to play beside each other not together.)

It's a difficult transition for his parents, but we expect it will work out well. I'll post more of our experience as he begins!

American Economy in Perspective

Here is a perspective-bringing, somewhat-scathing review of Christians' treatment of the American gas situation in view of the rest of the world's economy. I am often amazed at how America-centric American Christians are (I admit that I can be America-centric, too). Americans are often kind people, but they have little awareness of the outside world and the way they contribute to its problems and could positively influence it. I need to post more on economics and the Christian scriptures. I fear most American Christians see capitalism as a "Christian thing," but capitalism and the Christian thing, as it is expressed in the New Testament and early Christianity, are often (if not almost always) antithetical. Eventually, though, the economic system became very powerful, so Christianity gave in and blessed it and attempted to make it a Christian thing. This didn't happen until relatively recently.

Play

Play, play, play!

Applying Mark 14:52: Run Naked!

Here is a somewhat humorous anecdote concerning this verse and a priest running naked. (Note: Technically the young man "fled" naked, but I still found this blog entry humorous.)

Decision Making and Science

Apparently, there is a difference in mental processes between those who can make decisions quickly and those who don't. Scientific American has a couple articles of interest on the topic. One article suggests that quick decision makers rely on mental shortcuts more readily than slow decision makers. Slow decision makers have to test the validity of those mental shortcuts before deciding. The other article suggests that the brain's ability to decide worsens if the brain has already had to make numerous decisions, which is to say that the decision-making part of the brain tires.

I am, without a doubt, a slow decision maker! If the first article is correct, my slowness may stem from my distrust of my own intuition. Not only do I distrust my own intuition, but I also distrust others' intuition. I think the human being is amazingly adept at deceiving itself. But perhaps this merely demonstrates the nature of my personality.

Quotation of the Day

"Whatever a man's position may be, he is bound to take that view of human life in general that will make his own activity seem important and good. . . . Men who have been placed by fate and their own sins or mistakes in a certain position, however irregular that position may be, adopt a view of life as a whole which makes their position appear to them good and respectable."

-Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection (tr. Rosemary Evans; Penguin Books, 1966), 201.

I can think of a good many positions that might profit from being considered in light of this statement. (In fact, I do well to examine my own position in light of this statement.) For Tolstoy, there are socially acceptable forms and unacceptable forms of such positions. For example, Tolstoy likens the self-aggrandizing rich person to the robber, the commander of an army to the murderer, and the person wielding immense social power to the marauder (201).

I'm enjoying the book very much. (It was recommended to me by my wife and given to me by our good German friends.)

Justin

The Matthew 25 Network's Support of Obama

Not surprisingly, the Matthew 25 Network has chosen to endorse Barack Obama for president. Brian McLaren explains, "Based on these values [that is, the values delineated in Matthew 25:31-46], the Matthew 25 Network has chosen to support Barack Obama. Does that mean that every one of us is in full agreement with every detail of Senator Obama’s campaign? Of course not: we’re electing a president, not a Messiah!" You can read McLaren's entire letter here.

Justin

The Quest for Fame

Jake Halpern has a new book out that addresses America's obsession with fame. It looks interesting. Most people, it appears, would prefer being famous to being smart, strong, or anything else. Perhaps it still seems like fame will bring immortality, or maybe fame just provides a specious way to become important. Read the review of Halpern's book here.

Justin

Where We Hope to Settle

With approximately two years of the coursework phase of my program left, I've been talking to Erin about the next step. Below I have posted a tentative map with our first and second choices of places to settle. These are the places we think we would most enjoy living, although the location of family has also influenced our choices. (Although we enjoyed growing up in Montana, I'm not sure Montana would be on the map if we left family out of the picture. But family is very important to us both.)

Of course, we know that our predilections can change and that unforeseen circumstances can alter plans. Still, this map gives us some hope. (Does this mean I am still young? See my previous post.)

Here is the rough map (click on it to enlarge):


Justin

Quotation of the Day

"For the most part [the young] live in hope, for hope is concerned with the future as memory is with the past. For the young the future is long, the past short; for in the morning of life it is not possible for them to remember anything, but they have everything to hope; which makes them easy to deceive, for they readily hope."

"[The old] are little given to hope owing to their experience, for things that happen are mostly bad and at all events generally turn out for the worse, and also owing to their cowardice. They live in memory rather than in hope; for the life that remains to them is short, but that which is past is long, and hope belongs to the future, memory to the past. This is the reason of their loquacity; for they are incessantly talking of the past, because they take pleasure in recollection."

-Aristotle, Rhetoric 2.12-13 (transl. J. H. Freese)

Justin

Technology and Theology

Here is a wonderful little article on technology and theology (from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago). I enjoyed it.

Justin

Jacoby Knows How to Lock the Door

I ran out our patio door yesterday to put away the hose. As I walked back up the porch, Jacoby dropped the wooden dowel, which we use to secure our patio door, into the roller track. This had the effect of locking me out of the house. Within about 15 minutes, though, I succeeded in convincing him to pick up the dowel to let me back in. I'm glad he eventually decided to move it, or I would have had to call Erin in from Boulder! I had my cell phone but no keys.

Justin

An Interesting Article on Politics in Academe

Here it is.

Justin

America's Religious Landscape

I've been reading this report with some interest. The Pew Forum has done an outstanding job on a monumental study, although its most glaring weakness, I suppose, is that it is a poll. One of the most interesting findings is the political party affiliation of evangelicals. Republicans (and those that lean republican) make up just over half of the evangelical population, while Democrats (and those that lean democrat) and independents make up the other half. This gives a picture of evangelicalism quite different from the picture I have had during the last several years.

Check out this finding and other findings (along with maps and other resources) at the following address:

http://religions.pewforum.org

Justin

Summer Reading

I haven't read many school-related things so far this summer, but I have been dipping into other reading in order to provide myself a break. I've almost completed A. J. Cronin's The Citadel. It seems to be a pretty good book, although I think that I prefer his Keys to the Kingdom. (I have read the latter twice, and I've been impressed both times.)

While I was at my parents house, I also picked up Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. I enjoy Tocqueville's sociological perspective. This book is affording me the opportunity to read some political science. I hope to broaden my horizons with the classic political science and economic works over the course of the next year. We'll see how much time I have, though.

Justin

Family Reunion et Cetera

My first month of summer has been a flurry of activity. We recently had a wonderful family reunion (my mother's side of the family), and soon Erin, Jacoby, and I will absquatulate to Montana for over a week. I would love to reflect more on the reunion here, but I'll have to postpone this because Jacoby is presently under my care. (Perhaps I'll have the opportunity to reflect more with others in person.)

As far as goals for my schoolwork go, I have accomplished next to nothing. This promises to change, however, when we get back from Montana.

Justin

Jacoby's 15-Month Checkup

Jacoby went to his 15-month checkup today. He has descended to a lower percentile for weight (something like the 55th percentile), but he exhibits many developmental characteristics of 18 month olds and two year olds. (For example, he throws overhand, and his vocabulary is about 30 words, whereas the expectation for his age is four words, give or take.) Of course, I'm not implying that he will be a genius someday, but it is nice to know that he is on track.

Justin

At Long Last . . .

Last night I submitted my last paper for the year, which means my first year of Ph.D. studies is now completed. Here are my most recent reflections on the first year:

1. The confluence of taking care of Jacoby when not in class (or commuting), commuting almost two hours on class days, and completing all my schoolwork makes for a difficult life.

2. The feedback I received this year was, occasionally, more critical than I might have expected, but this indicates how much responsibility my professors take for molding me into a bona fide scholar in four or five short years. While the feedback was sometimes critical, I always received good marks. I sometimes wonder how much more I would have learned had I not been so busy with other things.

3. I was thrilled to care for Jacoby this year. My schoolwork, however, probably caused Jacoby to suffer on more than one occasion, and I feel bad about this, although see comment 5 below.

4. It has become clear that we will need to work out a better situation for Jacoby and my schoolwork next year. (I probably need to put in roughly 50-55 hours a week into my studies.)

5. I have come to realize how important it is not to be 100% "happy" to succeed in my studies. (Being "busy," on the other hand, discourages my success.) Dissatisfaction (that is, "unhappiness" but not "hopelessness") compels me to work harder, focus better, and produce higher quality work. As an interesting side note, the benefit of "unhappiness" (but again, not "despair" or "hopelessness") may also be true for children. Perhaps the "pursuit of happiness" is better than "happiness," in terms of succeeding in life.

That's all for now!

Justin

Nearing a Quarter's End

The end of the quarter is fast approaching, so my thoughts are turning to summer. I hope to get more time with Erin and Jacoby, and I hope to get some reading done. It's been a long year! It feels like I'm finishing really late in the year, but I guess I'm still used to the semester system.

I don't have much else to say at the moment. My last paper is due this coming Friday, and my biggest one is due Tuesday.

I hope to post something more substantial soon! (Jacoby began eating with a spoon tonight!)

Justin

For Paul, Did Christ Die "as a Gift"?

My latest paper concerns Galatians 2:21.

"For if justice comes through the Torah, then Christ died 'as a gift.'"

Paul uses the most interesting Greek word here: δωρεάν. The word means "as a gift" almost everywhere else in the NT, but translators and interpreters have preferred to translate the word here as "in vain" (a meaning attested nowhere else in Greek literature). They do this in spite of the fact that Paul regularly uses other words to mean "in vain." My paper is arguing that the word δωρεάν should be read "in the manner of a gift, i.e. without providing compensation" (or something close to this). (Romans 3:24 also plays a role in my paper.)

I'm slogging my way through the paper at a snail's pace, but I hope the pace will pick up tonight now that I feel like I'm on to something. I've only found a few commentators who seriously deal with the issue.

I better keep my shoulder to the wheel!

Justin

Most Unique Word of Jacoby's Vocabulary

Today Jacoby added "bogie" to his vocabulary. Jacoby was not referring to a bogey in golf, however. He was referring to this sort of bogie. (He found a picture of it in our visual dictionary.) What's next?

Justin

Jacoby's Latest Word

Jacoby began to say "taxi" today. (It sounds a little like Ahi [the tuna].) It took me a while to figure out what he was saying. When I finally opened his picture word book (which we were looking at together this morning), he pointed to the taxi and said quite clearly "Ahi." He continues to try out new words all the time now. Fun!

Justin

An Evangelical Manifesto 2

Martin Marty has weighed in on the matter.

Justin

An Evangelical Manifesto

Reviews of the recently released "Evangelical Manifesto" (here is the abbreviated version) have been mixed. For those who have not yet heard, numerous notable evangelicals of many theological stripes (check the list; you may be surprised!) issued the Manifesto in an attempt to depoliticize Evangelicalism. The Manifesto states, "We Evangelicals see it our duty to engage with politics, but our equal duty never to be completely equated with any party, partisan ideology, or nationality. The politicization of faith is never a sign of strength but of weakness." The document claims elsewhere that Evangelicals have often become "'useful idiots' for one political party or another."

I was surprised by some of the names on the list. Even conservatives such as Kay Arthur, Jack Hayford, and some from Dallas Theological Seminary signed the document. The variety of signatories on the list surprised me. I'll admit that I have not yet read the entire Manifesto, but it may be a step in the right direction for the Evangelical movement. The weakness of the document, however, is its quest for the via media. Based on my quick perusal, the document fails to propose the best way for Evangelicals to move forward.

Justin

French Exam Results

J'ai réussi à mon examen!

Justin

A Budding Bibliography

I have been working on a bibliography that will encompass many of the works I hope will be included on my comps. The list is nowhere near complete. I've only been able to work on it as I have time. I hope to divide the bibliography into subsections as it grows, but here is what I have so far:

Working Bibliography for the New Testament

Aune, David Edward. The New Testament in its Literary Environment. Library of Early Christianity. 1st ed. Vol. 8. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987.

Bultmann, Rudolf Karl. Theology of the New Testament [Theologie des Neuen Testaments.]. Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 2007.

Carcopino, Jérôme and Henry T. Rowell. Daily Life in Ancient Rome; the People and the City at the Height of the Empire [Vie quotidienne à Rome à l'apogée de l'empire.]. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968.

Collins, John Joseph. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature. The Biblical Resource Series. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1998.

Hays, Richard B. The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics. 1st ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996.

Hurtado, Larry W. Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Grand Rapids, Mich.; Cambridge, U.K.: W.B. Eerdmans, 2003.

Klauck, Hans-Josef. The Religious Context of Early Christianity: A Guide to Graeco-Roman Religions. Studies of the New Testament and its World. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000.

Kümmel, Werner Georg. The New Testament: The History of the Investigation of its Problems [Neue Testament.]. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1972.

McDonald, Lee Martin and James A. Sanders. The Canon Debate. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002.

Metzger, Bruce Manning and Bart D. Ehrman. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Millar, Fergus and American Council of Learned Societies. The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 337. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993.

Neusner, Jacob. From Politics to Piety: The Emergence of Pharisaic Judaism. 2nd ed. New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1978.

Nock, Arthur Darby. Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

Parker, D. C. The Living Text of the Gospels. Cambridge, U.K.; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Price, S. R. F. Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor. Cambridge Cambridgeshire; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Robinson, James McConkey and Helmut Koester. Trajectories through Early Christianity. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971.

Sanders, E. P. Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE-66 CE. London; Philadelphia: SCM Press; Trinity Press International, 1992.

Schürer, Emil, Schürer Emil, Géza Vermès, and Fergus Millar. The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C.-A.D. 135). Edinburgh: Clark, 1973.

Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. 2nd. ed. London: SCM Press, 1995.

Schwartz, Seth. Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E. Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001.

Smith, Jonathan Z. Drudgery Divine: On the Comparison of Early Christianities and the Religions of Late Antiquity. Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion. Vol. 14. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Justin

Jacoby's Reading

Books and balls interest Jacoby most right now. He especially loves three books. He loves the farm book his Aunt Megan and Uncle Mark gave him (pictured below), a small children's picture book, and especially the Ultimate Visual Dictionary. I've had to hide the latter because he will sit for 45 minutes or more thumbing through its pages and won't take "no" for an answer if the book is in his view. The benefit, I hope, is that Jacoby is learning the names of lots of things. He now recognizes nouns used for sports, travel, animals, and human body parts. I'm interested in getting him another picture book in another language at some point (French, German, Greek, or Latin?), but for now at least, English provides him with plenty of new words. Perhaps he'll grow up to be a bibliophile.


Justin

On (Re)Learning French in Less than a Week

In two days and seventeen hours, I will be taking my French exam. It's always fun to see how my strategy changes as the exam approaches. Tonight I am (re)learning the entire French verbal system. In my experience, the verbal system is the most difficult element of any Romance language. This is my first priority. After this, I will focus on learning a 75-page vocabulary list. We'll see how that goes. There are no guarantees on these sorts of exams! Back to studying . . .

Justin

The Latest Movie We've Seen

Not too long ago, Erin and I saw Juno, a wonderfully touching comedy. We both enjoyed the movie very much. Ellen Page successfully brings the viewer into the awkwardness of the teenage experience. Juno shows how a pregnant teenager comes to understand herself better. I think this is probably the best movie that I've seen in the last year.

Granted, Erin and I don't get to see too many movies anymore. Other recent movies that we've seen include Love in the Time of Cholera, 300, Ray, The Great Debaters (me), and The Departed (Erin). Love in the Time of Cholera presents an image of love quite different from, and in no way preferable to, Gone with the Wind. 300 plays off our fascination with the "other" (particularly the Persian, but also the Spartan to some extent). Ray had a marvelous moment of discovery near the end, but Ray's numerous indiscretions and downward spiral went on interminably, it seemed to me.

Justin

Nine Days to Relearn French

I have nine days left to relearn French. At this point, I'm focusing on prepositions, verbs, and logical connectors. I'm a bit stressed over the test, but I hope that I will pull through with a satisfactory score. I only need a 70 percent, and I get to use one dictionary and one verb book. I guess I know what I will be doing this weekend!

Je dois étudier!

Justin

Park Time Again

We're visiting the parks again!



Justin

On Writing Well

I was recently perusing Bryan Garner's Garner's Modern American Usage (Oxford, 2003) for some editing that I was doing, and I ran across his entry entitled "Superstitions." (Bryan Garner also wrote the section on grammar in the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.) He lists some of the usual superstitions, like the following:

1. "Never end a sentence with a preposition."

2. "Never split an infinitive."

3. "Never begin a sentence with because."

I very much appreciate Garner's demonstrative quotations from past grammarians and highly respected writers that show statements like those listed above to be false. But when it comes to breaking the superstitious rules listed above in my own writing, I think twice before I do it. People that have usually read my work are people who learned writing in a different era, so they sometimes view rules like those mentioned above as errant. Moreover, if I did need to correct such readers on a matter of grammar, they might think that I am nitpicking.

As a result, I've taken on two styles of writing in the past: one writing style for the work in my discipline and the other style for work outside my discipline. I am trying more and more, though, to write the way I feel is best.

Justin

Introduction

I've decided to give blogging another try. I've started two other blogs, but they quickly vanished for lack of attention. This time I intend to be better about it, although my entries will be sparse until my spring quarter is over. I have my 13-month-old son to take care of, my wife to spend time with, an imminent French exam that I feel unprepared for, and two classes that carry heavy reading loads. In spite of my busy schedule, I feel like I need a place to chronicle the happenings of my journey through my Ph.D. program, to share a bit about my family, and to express myself. Feel free to read, and leave comments if you'd like!

Justin