ROOMS AND PRESIDERS TBA

8:50:                    OPENING COMMENTS

Session 1          RELIGION AND OTHER EXERTIONS: (aka no pain, no gain).               

9:00-9:30             From the Ancient to the Modern: Examining the Relationship Between Athletics and Religion through Time
Taylor Grant, University of Calgary

9:30-10:00           Westernization of Yoga: The West’s Devotion to Lycra and the Mat
Keightley Bertram, University of Calgary,

10:00-10:30         S&M and a goddess?
Lilian Marshall, University of Manitoba

                            15 Minute Break

Session 2A        ARCHAEOLOGY                                                               

10:45-11:15         Exotic to Local: Exploitations of Raw Copper Material Resources in the Near East from the Bronze to the Iron Age
Elsa M. Perry, The University of Lethbridge

11:15-11:45         Hydrological Wonders of the Iron Age II period: Judah and Israel
Ariel Pollard-Belsheim, University of Lethbridge

11:45-12:15         Fighting Words: The Attempt to Authenticate the James Ossuary Inscription
Laura Shuttleworth, University of Lethbridge

Session 2 B       THE NAZI BOOT                            

10:45-11:15         “Broken-in Horse” or “Fiery Stallion”: Christian Fundamentalism and Resistance in Nazi Germany
James Forbes, University of Lethbridge

11:15-11:45         Legalized Mass Murder: German Racial Hygiene, Anti-Semitism, and Eugenics
Krista Conrad, University of Lethbridge

11:45-12:15         Defying Dehumanization: Anticipating the 614th Commandment amidst Nazi Terror
Jenae Dunlop, University of Lethbridge

Session 2 C       RELIGIOUS CHANGE AND RETENSION                

10:45-11:15         Ecstatic Power: Examining the Rise of Pentecostalism through the Lens of Durkheim, Marx and Weber
Ron MacTavish, U of Lethbridge

11:15-11:45         Mu shu kyo for Young Japanese People
Marina Umeno, University of Lethbridge

11:45-12:15         The Family Analects: Interpreting Confucianism in Diasporic Chinese-Canadian Writing
Mimi Lin, University of … Continue reading

They are roughly categorized, a full schedule will be sorted out in a bit.

Unlike other conferences, we sort out our sessions and topics AFTER all the papers are selected, so no good ones get left out. That makes grouping them together a tricky business.

ARCHAEOLOGY
Corey Davis, University of Lethbridge,
The Emergence of Ancient Israel

Elsa M. Perry, The University of Lethbridge,
Exotic to Local: Exploitations of Raw Copper Material Resources in the Near East from the Bronze to the Iron Age

Ariel Pollard-Belsheim, University of Lethbridge,
Hydrological Wonders of the Iron Age II period: Judah and Israel

Laura Shuttleworth, University of Lethbridge,
Fighting Words: The Attempt to Authenticate the James Ossuary Inscription

ANE RELIGION
Matthew Pawlak, University of Lethbridge,
The Religion of the First Israelites

Jessica Swann, University of Alberta,
Vanity: Wisdom Literature of the Ancient Near East

Zak Stinson, University of Lethbridge,
Kemetic Magic: On the relationship between Society and Magic in Ancient Egypt

EASTERN RELIGIONS
Cristina Atanasiu, University of Calgary,
The Smile of the Poor, Little, Young Prince, The Construction of the Early Mahayana Bodhisattva Image”

Adeana McNicholl, University of Manitoba,
Blood Sacrifice and Spirit-Deity Worship in the “Healing Buddha Sutra”

Ryan Pickard, University of Lethbridge,
The Origins of the Ishiyama-Hongan-Ji war and their significance on the History of Japanese Buddhism

Meaghan Snethlage, University of Lethbridge
Paradoxical Buddhism: Warfare in History … Continue reading

As usual, there is a great variety of topics. Here is a selection:

Rituals, Feasts and Fasts: The Ritualization of Disordered Eating, Gina Carroll, University of Calgary.

Imagining Ethiopia: a “Fabular” History about Demonic Representations in Antiquity, Ryan C. P. Fics, University of Manitoba.

Contesting Identities, Divine Lands and Talking Trees: Analyzing Yaqui resistance to the Porfiriato through spiritual healers, Brenda Garcia, University of Lethbridge.

The Family Analects: Interpreting Confucianism in Diasporic Chinese-Canadian Writing, Mimi Lin, University of Lethbridge,

S&M and a goddess? Lilian Marshall, University of Manitoba.

Families Across Borders: State Conflict and Mormon Border Crossing in the Late Nineteenth Century, James Forbes, University of Lethbridge.

The Richard Dawkins Foundation Online: Inconsistency, Ideology, and Secular Activism, Stacie Swain, University of Alberta.

Antisemitism in Argentina from the End of the Second World War to the Turn of the Century, Danielle Simmons, University of Lethbridge.

Even though the number of universities represented is a bit lower this year (which I blame on increasing travel costs and no funding for student travel), we are even having one intrepid soul … Continue reading

The paper was originally intended for an SBL session in 2012 (Chicago), but I had to back down after another new section was approved for two sessions instead of the expected one, so I ended up over-committed. Anne Moore, my good friend from the University of Calgary was on the Bible and Film committee, so felt a little betrayed, so I will be making good my treachery! I don’t know where ST 130 is on the U of C campus, but I suspect I will get there, sooner or later!  I think I will start with a nice Midrash on Genesis.

Also, a BIG apology to Douglas Trumbull, director of Silent Running for misspelling his name on my abstract. The error is mine, not the person who made the poster at the U of C!

I will be reprising the paper (probably a somewhat longer version) in Lethbridge in a few weeks.

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Metacriticism of Biblical Scholarship Consultation   evaluates suppositions in and underlying biblical scholarship, including how an explicitly non-religious approach differs from what is even now represented as historical-critical scholarship, especially when compared to other secular disciplines within the Humanities (history, classical studies) and the Social Sciences (e.g., anthropology, sociology). At the Baltimore Annual Meeting, we plan three sessions: (1) one assessing how scholarship has addressed biblical passages urging mass violence toward targeted groups, including scholars’ use or avoidance of the term ‘genocide,’ jointly sponsored with the Use, Influence, and Impact of the Bible Unit; (2) a session on academic freedom in biblical studies, across all types of institutions; and (3) an open session, for which we welcome proposals on any subject within our Consultation’s purview.

So, if you need a home for a paper on biblical violence, academic freedom and job security, or would like to offer reasoned complaints about the state of biblical scholarship, we are your Consultation!

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The consultation is co-chaired by Rebecca Raphael and myself, and we are hoping for some good proposals and good turnouts to our sessions. This will be the first year we open the unit to all and sundry, so hopefully we will get a lot of responses and our Consultation will prove its value.

Brought on by the number of cases in which scholars have been disciplined when their academics interfere with the faith statements of their schools, the MBSC thought it would open up a conversation on the topic. Of course, the most recent example of this situation has only just been “resolved,” with Prof. Christopher Rollston voluntarily leaving Emmanuel Christian Seminary  (Johnson City TN) where he was being disciplined for criticizing in a Huffington post article the tradition of not seriously questioning the biblical marginalization of women. The ridiculous over-reaction to this by Emmanuel, and especially Prof. Blowers, would have been comical if someone’s career was not on the line! Basically, Blowers and the school’s president not only made asses of themselves, but managed a Keystone Cops series of screw ups in trying to claim the moral high ground as they were selling out to a donor who seemed to have no appreciation of real academics. Various idiots weighed … Continue reading

His latest misfire is now posted on his own website.

It was a stupid column, quite representative of its author with his almost completely shot-off foot, which is often in his mouth. Basically, Hillyer was trying to use our freedom of religion to affirm obligations to preserve Christian privilege (Mr. Hillyer is a Mormon).

He writes:

Freedom of  Religion does not mean that public spaces and public discourse must be free from religious expression. We should not, in the name of tolerance become completely intolerant of public worship in any form.

The difference, of course, is between public worship and  worship on behalf of their body politic by those who confuse their elected office with the right to choose for the electorate what or who should be worshipped, or that there is something worth worshipping.

He quotes a Sikh MP (Nina Grewal, Vancouver) who told Parliament about the “forces of political correctness” and said that:

 To embrace a diverse, secular, multicultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic society, there is no need to preclude the celebration of Christmas. Rather than diluting the traditions, they should be celebrated, whether they are Vaisakhi, Diwali, Chinese New Year, Eid, Hanukkah or Christmas.

Sure, how about a public self-flegellation on Parliament Hill next Ashura. Or, in respect to those with ancient Aztec heritage, a few human sacrifices. Ah, but I forget. … Continue reading

Ok, it gets a little preachy at the end, but the very end is still pretty darn good

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I got my copy of a volume I contributed to last year!

Remembering and Forgetting in Early Second Temple Judah

Ed. by Ehud Ben Zvi and Christoph Levin

This volume collects revised versions of essays from a 2011 workshop held in Munich onRemembering and Forgetting in Early Second Temple Judah . The authors of the essays address these issues from both general methodological perspectives and through case studies emerging out or associated with a wide range of texts from the prophetic literature, the Pentateuch, the historical books, Psalms and Lamentations. All these texts share one main feature: they shape memories of the past (or future) and involve forgetting.

Contributors: Bob Becking, Ehud Ben Zvi, Kåre Berge, Diana Edelman, Christina Ehring, Judith Gärtner, Friedhelm Hartenstein, Michael Hundley, Jörg Jeremias, Sonya Kostamo, Francis Landy, Christoph Levin, James Linville, Zhenhua Meng, Bill Morrow, Reinhard Müller, Urmas Nõmmik, Juha Pakkala, Hermann-Josef Stipp

Now, I’m not giving this away but the publisher, Mohr Siebeck, bless their souls, included TWENTY FIVE OFFPRINTS of my essay!
YES! Christmas shopping is DONE, DONE, DONE! Muwahahahaha!

My papers first page or so:

 Lest we Forget our Sins: Lamentations, Exilicism and the Sanctification of Disjunction

George Santayana is remembered for saying that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I would offer my own little twist. Those … Continue reading

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