Still More ‘Ark of the Covenant’ Stuff

As reported in Time Magazine:

Parfitt, 63, is a professor at the University of London’s prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies. His new book, The Lost Ark of the Covenant: Solving the 2,500 Year Mystery of the Fabled Biblical Ark (HarperOne) along with a History Channel special scheduled for March 2 would appear to risk a fine academic reputation on what might be called a shaggy Ark story. But the professor has been right before, and his Ark fixation stems from his greatest coup. In the 1980s Parfitt lived with a Southern African clan called the Lemba, who claimed to be a lost tribe of Israel. Colleagues laughed at him for backing the claim; in 1999, a genetic marker specific to descendents of Judaism’s Temple priests (cohens) was found to appear as frequently among the Lemba’s priestly cast as in Jews named Cohen. The Lemba — and Parfitt — made global news.

Here’s what I’ve been able to find on the History Channel special. I think the History Channel and the Discovery Channel are owned by the same company- which means we may well have another Talpiot Tomb fiasco on our hands.  I’m sort of surprised that HarperOne is involved… but stranger things have happened I guess.  Anyway- it looks like there’s going to be something on TV on March 2nd to watch and maybe even discuss…

Another Essential Post: Zwingli’s 67 Articles

I hadn’t really noticed it before, because I never had any reason to look online to see if Zwingli’s 67 Articles were available (because, as you might expect, I have hard copies in a number of sources). Astonishingly, they are not to be found. Not in complete transcription. So I’ve uploaded to the server a copy, in English, of the 67 Articles along with the briefest of introductions. If you have never read them because you haven’t been able to find them- now you are “without excuse”.

Oh My, Watch Those Typos!

Or you can print something remarkably uncharitable! Like these folk did.

Just so you know, it’s supposed to be “Church of Christ” and not “Church of Satan”. Although, given the fact that Mary Winkler is C of C… (I’m just kidding, I love the C of C). [Via Katie Granju].

Vile Cat Propaganda

Propaganda, that’s what this is, pure, undefiled, horrid, totally depraved, inspired from the slimy pits of Satan’s hell where the good Bishop is eternally clutched between the horned one’s jaws and his sycophants scream aloud in the darkness- ‘alas, alas, had we only listened to Jim….’

Whether it’s a frisky kitten or a tubby tabby, a cat at home could cut your heart attack risk by almost a third, a new study suggests. The finding, from a 10-year study of more than 4,300 Americans, suggests that the stress relief pets provide humans is heart-healthy.

Clearly this isn’t true- just ask the folk mauled by cats in San Francisco at the Zoo and all the babies who’s souls were sucked out of their noses while they slept. Cats aren’t good for you- they are killers secretly seeking to take over the planet. Don’t be fooled!

And One More Book You Must Acquire

James Crossley has written a volume due out not soon enough that will fascinate and intrigue as well as provoke and delight (all but a few- and they won’t be delighted at all it’s safe to guess). Equinox will publish it and the title is Jesus in an Age of Terror: New Testament Projects for a New American Century. Be sure to read the blurb. Of particular interest to readers here will be part one, which is described thusly:

This book will apply the work of Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman, Edward Said and several others on international politics and the supportive role of the media, intellectuals and academics to contemporary Christian origins and New Testament scholarship. Part One will look at the ways in which New Testament and Christian origins scholarship has historically been influenced by its political and social settings over the past hundred years or so. Moving on to the present, the following chapter will then apply Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model of manufacturing consent in the mass media to the recent explosion of biblical scholars writing on the internet, in particularly ‘biblio-bloggers’. It is clear that political views in ‘biblio-blogging’ conform strikingly to the emphases that come through in Herman and Chomsky’s analysis of the mass media and intellectuals, particularly with the standard lines on the ‘war on terror’ and views on the contemporary Middle East. The rest of the book will take up modified key areas of the propaganda model in more detail. [Emphasis mine]

What fun! I’ve already asked the North American distributor of Equinox for a copy.

A Book You Must Obtain

The Old Testament: Between Theology and History

That’s the title of an excellent book forthcoming in the Westminster John Knox Press written by Niels Peter Lemche (and scheduled to appear by November- just in time for the Boston meeting of the SBL).  It

“… has four parts, introduced by a “Prolegomena” and followed by an “Appendix” on the history of Palestine. The first part, “From Theology to History,” presents an outline of the emergence of historical-critical studies and describes some of its major characteristics. … The point of departure for the second part, “The Crisis for History,” is the basic logical problem of classic historical-critical study, i.e., the kind of circular argumentation used by this direction within biblical studies, sometimes called “the hermeneutical circle.” … In the third part, “From History and Back to Theology,” I try to present a kind of “consolation” to readers by proposing a new way for critical studies. … The fourth part “Old Testament and Biblical Theology,” is devoted to theological discussion about the Old Testament in the 20th century “(excerpted from the Preface).

It should be of wide interest to biblical scholars and historians and when price and availability details are announced, I’ll post them. It is certainly something to keep your eyes open for and it most certainly is something worth reading.

[N.B.- This was posted formerly but I was able to locate a copy and am compelled- because of my great enthusiasm for it- to locate and offer it again].

Tyler Williams: Risen From the Dead!

Tyler’s been on hiatus for a long time and has returned- with a new URL.  You can visit here and I’m glad to see that his last official post won’t turn out to be remembered as ‘the hockey brawl’.  I was worried about the lad.  Just imagine, fame attaching to a brawl.  

Will Some Witless Dolt Actually Believe It?

Probably. And what’s it? The nails used to crucify Jesus are for sale on Ebay! If anyone does believe it, they deserve to pay a very high price for their folly. With thanks to David Ker for noticing it.

UPDATE: Stephen comments (and I repost it here because some of you don’t read comments)

In case you are someone else are actually interested. These appear to be old door nails, with huge heads. We researched and built the synagogue doors using nails like this at Nazareth Village. This size of a head takes quite a lot of pounding to flare out this wide. The door boards first have holes drilled through and then the iron nails were inserted, pushed through the aligned holes and then pounded so that the head is flush with the door’s exterior surface. The protruding point on the other side is first bent and pounded flush on the doors interior. The widened head of the doornail is intended to make it difficult to knock the head off (if not the door could easily be dismantled from the exterior, by intruders breaking off the nail heads). Crucifixion nails would normally be made of bonze, not iron, which could easily be unbent at the tip (like a brad) in order to take the body down form the cross.These were also often reusable. Iron nails were typically dificult or impossible to unbend. The use of iron nails could make it necessary to break the wood of the cross or the body part in order to separate the two (as in the case of the Givat HaMivtar crucified man). The date of these nails is difficult to determine without seeing them closer. Two thousand year iron would normally be more corroded that what appears in this photo.

Comment by Stephen Pfann — February 21, 2008 @ 5:45 pm

My Theory

Here’s what I think happened:  NT Wright, prodded by Chris Tilling, hired Charles Gadda who with the help of Chris Heard and Herhsel Shanks and The American Homeschooling Association (a.k.a., the ‘home. ass.’) and other nefarious techno-geeks hacked into my site using the password that they cleverly discerned in order to shut me up about Wrightianity, the archaeology of Qumran, homeschooling, and BAR.

My initial depression (aided in no small part by the frigid weather and flurries of snow that were then falling) brought about a desire to abandon once and for all any further exchanges in blogdom.

Then a flurry of mail arrived urging continuation and even a hint that Zwingli would be disappointed with me if I fled the scene and hid from the field of battle.  Well that will push one’s buttons, I must say.  With Zwingli’s portrait hovering over my left shoulder and Calvin glaring at me and Luther scowling and Bultmann looking more than disappointed, I decided to strap on the weapon (!) and enter the contest again.

Not for myself though, but for all those who are oppressed by the Wrightian-Tillingian-Gadda-ian-Heard-ian-BAR-ian coalition of misprision.

That’s my theory, and I’m sticking with it…

A Tool For the Obsessive/ Compulsive Organizer

I discovered this pretty cool tool the other day while working on the Church calendar (which I print up and distribute monthly.  It’s a little site that lets you download a whole range of calendars in .doc format and then you can easily edit them yourself.  It’s worth a look (since I know I’m not the only OCD organizer around).

[And I'm posting this with the 'Scribe Fire' addon for Firefox- so here goes nothing...]