New Online Course at revJohn

Beginning January 20, look for a new online course here at revJohn:

Paul and the Philippians

Each week we'll cover one of the four chapters in Paul's letter to the young church at Philippi. No text required, just your Bible. And we'll visit a few online sites as well.

I hope you can participate.

One Last List for 2009. Really. I Promise.

Here are two blogs that I look forward to reading each time a post show up in Google Reader:

April DeConick - The Forbidden Gospels (academic biblioblogger)

Bob Cornwall - Ponderings on a Faith Journey (Disciple minister, theological blogging)

If you haven't visited these two quality sites, bookmark them as part of your 2010 resolutions.

2009 New Testament Books

Ben Witherington gives us his Top 10 New Testament books for 2009. Any thoughts on his list?

Surfing Safari

Here are five websites/blogs that I enjoyed this year. When you're in the mood to surf the net, give them a visit.

1. The Pioneer Woman Cooks - Ree Drummond (cowboy cooking)
   
2. My Jewish Leaning (all things Jewish)
   
3. Chart Porn (data visualization)
   
4. Jesus Creed - Scott McKnight (Christianity from a scholarly, evangelical perspective)
   
5. Lecturefox (free university lectures, especially see the Yale series)
   

Novels You Might Enjoy

Here are six novels that I really enjoyed this year, although all came out before 2009. I'm a little behind in my reading. In no particular order, the books are:

1. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (heaven and healing)
2. The March - E. L. Doctorow (Sherman's march - get in step)
3. Winter's Bone- Daniel Woodrell (a 17 year-old holds a poverty stricken family together deep in the Ozarks; I think my cousins are in this)
   
4. The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon (an alternative history, murder mystery, word fest)
   
5. People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks (a mystery about a book - the Sarajevo Haggadah)
6. Gilead - Marilynne Robinson (an aging third generation preacher writes to his son about life and family and of course theology)
   

Theology After Google

Here's an announcement about Theology After Google, a conference in March that will be of interest to progressive Christians and churches communicating theology through blogs, social networks, etc.

"Progressive Christian theologians have some vitally important things to say, things that both the church and society desperately need to hear. The trouble is, we tend to deliver our message using technologies that date back to Gutenberg: books, academic articles, sermons, and so forth. We aren't making effective use of the new technologies, social media, and social networking."

Tony Jones gives us some insights into why new technologies are important for theology.

The Torah: A Women's Commentary

If you plan on doing Old Testament Studies this upcoming year, let me strongly recommend The Torah: A Women's Commentary edited by Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss. Here is the link to three comprehensive reviews of the volume at the Review of Biblical Literature. Three characteristics that make this volume unique are:

• It follows the liturgical division of Torah into 54 sections (parashah) for the public reading of Torah in they synagogue during the year (all of Torah is covered during the annual cycle of reading)
  
• It is written by scholars who are all Jewish and who are all women
• Contributors represent a variety of approaches (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, as well as unaffiliated and secular)
  

There are five elements that make up the commentary of each Torah portion:

1. The Central Commentary - scholarly exegesis of the biblical text
2. Another View - a short essay that supplements or challenges the central commentary
3. Post-biblical Interpretation - rabbinical teachings on the text
4. Contemporary Reflection - a section by a rabbi or adult education expert on the meaning of the text for Jews today
5. Voices - creative responses to the Torah section (mainly poetry)

For more information, here is the Amazon listing.