George Athas on the Bible's Attitude to Rape

This will be my last George Athas share for now, another lecture I haven't had time to watch, so saving this for later. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

George Athas - The Bible's attitude to Rape from Reason for Hope on Vimeo.

George Athas on the Tearing of the Temple Curtain

I've really been enjoying the blog of George Athas, OT lecturer at Moore in Sydney, he puts up brief but useful and challenging posts. He's doing some really interesting research as is obviously not afriad to slay the odd sacred cow. Fancy, for example, daring to suggest that Christian preachers have had it all wrong about the significance of the temple curtain being torn, I've been taught one meaning for this since I was knee high to a grasshopper, it's all about how Christ's death removed the barrier between God and humanity. George would beg to differ. Let me know what you think :-)

Hays on Figural Reading

I saw this posted on BW3's blog, and don't have time to watch it now so am putting it here for later. Should be good. Let me know what you think if you watch it.

Breaking news: Lot finally vindicated!

My earlier post about the story of Lot came down particularly hard on Lot for his callous attitude to his virgin daughters. However, it seems I may have fallen for a narrative trap and committed an injustice of my own. George Athas suggests an intriguing alternative in his article Has Lot lost the Plot?

It is free to view on Academia.edu so click on it, and don't forget to tell him I sent you. :-)
Let me know what you think.

I'm now a PhD candidate!

So, I am happy to announce that as of Feb 2017 I will be a PhD student at Otago University in Dunedin, NZ, working under the supervision of Prof Paul Trebilco. Paul is a highly respected NT scholar, probably best known for his work in Christianity in Ephesus/Asia Minor and early Christian self identification. My own research is (at present) going to be in the area of Mark's Gospel, Christology, narrative, and scriptural intertextuality.

My last stint as student was when this blog was birthed and it received a lot more attention when I wasn't trying to lead a church, so without making any promises I'm optimistic that this blog will find a new lease of life. A number of other blogs were reallly helpful in putting my PhD proposal together and while a scholar needs to consult articles and books, etc, blogs are often a wonderful source of concise information and cutting edge ideas that 90% of the academic world seem uninterested in. So, I'm also looking forward to engaging more fully in the "blogosphere" once more and expect blogging to benefit my research immensely.

I expect there will also need to be some reflective stuff on my last 6 years of pastoral ministry, I"ve got a lot to process and the blog is often a good way to get thoughts down in words.

Hope you'll join me on the journey!
Pax vobiscum.