And what a month it was, what with all sorts of holidays!  Of course, there was Hanukkah, Chanukah or whatever you call it. And also Christmas or the “unmentionable” holiday or whatever you call THAT, And New Years eve, or Hogmanay, or whatever the Scots call it! Now, Kwanzaa might come but once a year, but the Carnival is every darn month, as if there is always something more to say about the  Bible, let’s do something different. Instead of talking about peace on Earth, good will to non-gendered persons, lets get down to brass tacks, shall wee?

“Take it from me, whenever you see a bunch of buggers puttering around talking about truth and beauty and the best way of attacking Ethics, you can bet your sandals it’s all because dozens of other poor buggers are doing all the real work around the place.” – (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

So this time around, lets give another cannon a shot, and recognize some other festivities too. And let’s not forget that   DECEMBER 32 WAS HOGSWATCHNIGHT (or, for all you loyal Omnians out there, the  Fast of St Ossory)

And for the uninitiated, what is Hogswatchnight?  It is last night of the year on the Discworld, that rather silly (and very realistic, scientifically speaking, I’m being metaphorical) place in space riding through the cosmos on four giant … Continue reading

Here is the line up so far. Feel free to volunteer for the remaining months if you blog the Bible!

Jan. 1   Yours Truly

~~~~~~~~~~

February 1: Amanda MacInnis from Cheese Wearing Theology

~~~~~~~~~~

March 1: Duane Smith with his Abnormal Interests

~~~~~~~~~~

April 1:  Jim West, the Zwingli Redivivus  

~~~~~~~~~~

June 1:  Phil Long at Reading Acts

And don’t forget to send me your favourite Bible Blog posts from December for inclusion in the Jan 1 Edition at happilyunchurched[at]gmail.com!

One comment… Continue reading

I need volunteers to host the show for the rest of year!  Well, sign up!

Email happilyunchurched@gmail.com and get yerself famous!

And don’t forget to check out the GIANT November Carnival at Remnants of Giants!

2 comments… Continue reading

And its FINALLY spring! The shrubs are getting their leaves and there are a ton of weeds that still need pulling (I’ve already delivered THIRTEEN of those big paper bags of old leaves and twigs and assorted other sticks to the city’s grinding and mulching facility). And there are many steaks, roasts and other critter carcass components that need grilling or smoking. Better I do the cooking than hanging out at Church suppers:

And in TWO WEEKS I WILL BE MERRILY MARRIED TO MARY!

The gods agree to the wedding. Here is Jew-piter and Afro-dite
at the news of the engagement. Jew-piter was especially
pleased since Mary sewed the deity’s kippah.

Yup, May 28 is the big day and we are making the final arrangements. Then on May 31 we are off to Ireland for a while. I have a suit, too. Its even got pants so I will really be doing it up in style!

So I won’t be blogging much for the next little while.

Oh yeah, I also have to write a paper for a conference in Munich in … Continue reading

Slinky Rio Carnival Babes parading around 3/4 nekkid with big feathery hats 9.3% (4 votes)

Swanky Jazz Band 11.63% (5 votes)

Lolcats and Hotdogs 13.95% (6 votes)

Science Fiction TV and Movies 18.6% (8 votes)

Rate the posts on how much they are likely to be considered dilettantish or depraved by Jim West 18.6% (8 votes)

But the winner is:

All of the above in a jolly great hodge-podge 27.91% (12 votes)

And so, here’s Hodgepodge!

Don’t you feel in a carnival mood already?

Ok, so this carnival is late, but reality intervened. Anyway, with the aid some a number of avid bibliobloggers and their fans, I’ve received a number of suggested blog posts and I found a whole wack more on Biblioblog Reference library.

Here is the obligatory slinky Rio carnival babe parading around
3/4 nekkid with a big feathery hat. Didn’t say I’d get a full frontal Carnival picture, did I?

But let’s begin with the beginning, shall we? Here is a carnival cat just to launch the theme on a cat note!

The Top Biblioblog rankings for March declared April to be the Month of April in honour of April DeConick of Forbidden Gospels! So, lets start there, shall we?

THE MONTH OF APRIL The most recent news from Prof. DeConick is that the cover of … Continue reading

So, with the conference going on this weekend (and the fact that my marking isn’t done yet, either) the Carnival might be a little late. Sorry about that, but that’s the way the feathers fly. Hope you’re not too mad at me.  James McGrath (pictured below) is already getting his carnival outfit together. He just needs the feathers:

I blame for all my work piling up on Scott Bailey, since he is the only biblioblogger who is coming to our conference. He  hails from the nice part of biblioblogging-land. Here is his garage:

So does Joel Watts, the  biblical literalist, who, unable to fill his prescription at Scott’s place, had to go shopping.

Mike Kok, now at Sheffield, also presented at our conference one year. Here is a photo of him delivering his paper, entitled “The search for the historical Jesus in Mark’s Gospel. He’s got to be … Continue reading

Here is Joel Watts.

Looking about ready to lay a few eggs, Joel! Very Unsettled Christianity, to be sure!

And then there is James McGrath:

Been exploring a bit more than your Matrix, haven’t you?

Bob Cargill in the photo below.

Beginning one of his XKV8shuns. Like a good bunny.

Jim West is a bad, bad, boy!

He’s a real Zwinger!

And lastly, here is Duane Smith

He seems to have some, well, abnormal interests.

6 comments… Continue reading

As some of you may be aware, I’m host of this month’s Biblioblogger’s Carnival, and I need some recommendations for blog posts that deal with the Bible in an academic or otherwise serious way. I know it is still early days, but I have a very important conference on April 30-May 1 so hopefully I will be able to get most of it done by 29th and then on May 1 just update the last few days. So, if you stumble across any blog posts about the Bible that make you think deeper than “Wow, the Bible is great” or “Wow, the Bible is crap”, drop me a line and a link at

happilyunchurched [at] gmail.com

And don’t forget to vote for which theme the carny should have!

This is the same poll as I posted earlier, so I haven’t lost anyone’s vote.

3 comments… Continue reading

Send your submissions to happilyunchurched[at]gmail.com!

Now, all I’ve got to do is decide on a theme for the carnival. Dr. Platypus, Darrell Pursiful had a basketball theme. A few months before that Jim West had a rodeo carnival. So I need one, too. And  you can help! I thought up some possibilities, and I will let my raving fan base of (yes, all three of you!) decide. So, vote in my poll! You can pick up to 2 choices!

And don’t forget to vote for the thinkingshop as your favourite (or at least tolerable) Bible blog by emailing bibliobloggerstop10 ( at ) yahoo.com

Upcoming carnivals (list cut and pasted from Jim West)
June 1, 2011- Joel Watts
July 1, 2011- Christian Brady
August 1, 2011- Daniel McClellan
September 1, 2011-James McGrath
October 1, 2011- Scott Bailey
November 1, 2011- Tom Verenna
December 1, 2011- Remnant of Giants

2 comments… Continue reading

Over at Darrell Pursiful’s blog, Dr. Platypus! Lots of good stuff

Darrell had this to say:

“By far, however, the most exciting battle” was the dust up between me, the SBL and John Hobbins, and a host of other (mostly in the comments made on one of Scott Bailey’s posts on the issue of secularism

Jim Linville wrote When an Academic Society Does the Church’s Work. Can Elephants in the University be Academic? James McGrath countered with The SBL, the Academy, and the Church. Jim followed up with a swipe at a comment from John Hobbins in Just How Badly Can Someone Miss the Point? This was followed by rejoinders by Scott Bailey, John Hobbins, and another by Jim.

I expect to resume posting on this in the near future! And the Lolcat Jim West contest got mentioned to0 (for better or worse).

Needless to say there was a lot of posts on the lead Jesus books with contributions by  Jim Davila, John Byron, and Doug Chaplin and  April DeConick among others.

In other news, Jim West is again the Top Biblioblogger based on Alexa rankings. Of course, his cause is helped by his frequent posting of total depravity such as the image below.

I would NEVER stoop to that sort of thing. My own ranking went up a little to #30 but it has NOTHING to do with such depravity.

And yours truly will be hosting the April Carnival on this very blog! … Continue reading