I finally got a chance to watch Avatar in 3D the other night—strictly business, of course, since I had assigned it to the Sociology of Religion class for which I am guest-lecturing this evening on the nature and definition of religion, using Avatar as a launching point. It was essentially what I had heard:... »

I’m way late to the game on this (thanks to being busy with my real work and falling behind on my feeds), but it’s still worth posting: John Anderson has posted a wonderful interview with Duke NT professor Richard Hays, where Hays gives a lot of details about his background and influences. As a... »

Lots of people have mocked Brett Favre the last few years for his retire, waver, unretire shenanigans, typically portraying him as indecisive or as a guy who just can’t stay away from the game. I’m convinced, however, that Favre is in no way indecisive; on the contrary, he’s just selfish (not really surprising; there’s... »

Nijay Gupta has posted a two-part interview series with NT prof Craig Keener, author of the Romans commentary in the New Covenant Commentary Series (Cascade/Wipf & Stock) with some outstanding material. Part 1 is here and part 2 here. A couple dandy quotes: NKG: Based on your work on this commentary, can you give us... »

A while back, I did a brief interview for a blog article examining ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” report on the Florida State athletic department’s academic scandal; since I was both a former player (albeit briefly) and a former tutor in the athletic department, I was able to see both sides of the academic support... »

Word is back from some very old friends of mine who have been missionaries (including a major medical clinic) in Haiti for years; obviously the earthquake has had awful consequences. If you would like to donate to the mission (they’re trustworthy, and the work they have been doing is wonderful), their contact information is... »