I’ve read some really interesting stuff about this artifact in Ha’aretz, the New York Times, and so on. Like most of the rest of you, I’m in wait-and-see mode. The excavators have not released enough data for the rest of us to draw (m)any useful conclusions yet.

Go for it. Knock yourself out. As long as you take your lead from the brilliant John Hobbins, you’ll be just fine.

I’ve just finished a project that’s been hanging over my head for some time, along with an application for a one-course release in Spring 2010 and a good bit of WECSOR/SBL-PCR organizational work. And I taught a class today. And graded some papers.

I can only say this: teaching three different classes, sitting on three committees, running one extra faculty meeting per week, coaching one soccer team and assistant-coaching another, starting up a home Bible study, and fielding the papers for SBL-PCR’s Hebrew Bible section are, particularly when they all happen at once, not very conducive to scholarly production, blogging, or, well, sanity.

Of course, like all the rest of you, I’m eagerly awaiting more news from Qeiyafa.

James West will speak at Pepperdine at 7:00 PM on October 21, 2008, as the second lecturer in this year’s newly-renamed W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture Series. His topic will be “Spirituality and Religion: A Cheyenne Family Story.” Mr. West, who holds an M.Div. from Andover Newton, founded and presides over the charity Futures for Children (Albuquerque, New Mexico) and has many other experiences in business, charity, and government.

Oh, you thought maybe I meant someone else?

Remember a while back, when I shared with you my plans to incorporate a role-playing pedagogy into my Religion 101 classes? Circumstances (a mixup on the maximum class size) forced me to delay that experiment until the spring semester. At the time that I first mentioned my plans, I wrote that “no Old Testament games currently exist using the Reacting method.” It turns out that wasn’t quite true, though I didn’t know it at the time. The latest issue (11:4, September 23, 2008) of Teaching Theology and Religion includes a short article by Dr. Adam Porter of Illinois College, who uses Reacting-style games, and one of those treats on Old Testament topic (the Josianic/Deuteronomic “reform”). Here’s the abstract from Porter’s article:

I have been experimenting with using role-playing and games in my religion classes for several years and have found that students respond well to these pedagogical tools and methods. After reviewing my experiences, I explore the reasons for students’ positive response. I argue that role-playing games capitalize on our students’ educational expectations and fondness for game-play, by drawing them into exploring significant texts and ideas. Of particular interest for religion and theology professors, these sorts of games also encourage empathy towards other viewpoints.

I’ve sent an e-mail to Porter to try to start building a network of biblical studies professors interested in this pedagogy. I’ll keep you updated!