Blue Cord

By the lack of power vested in him, Chris Brady at Targuman declared January to be International Biblical Studies Writing Month. Bibliobloggers have been announcing what they will be writing about during this month–long burst of writing energy, so I thought I would do the same.

I am a contributor to the new lectionary series put out by Westminster John Knox Press entitled Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary.  For those unfamiliar with this series, it provides commentary on each of the four assigned readings from the Revised Common Lectionary for every Sunday in the three year cycle. The commentary for each reading consists of an exegetical essay, a theological essay, a homiletic essay, and a pastoral essay. I have been asked to contribute the exegetical essays for three readings from Year C:

• Exodus 14:10-31, 15:20-21
• Isaiah 65:17-25
• Acts 5:27-32

Why I have been asked to write the commentary for a passage from Acts is unclear, but I will happily accept the $0.08 per word for writing it.

So, in the spirit of International Biblical Studies Writing Month, I hereby vow to have this assignment finished by the end of the month.

Today was the first day of classes at Wartburg. I taught four sections of Literature of the Old and New Testaments back to back to back to back. This will be my schedule all semester. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 7:45 to 1:05, you will know where to find me. It was tiring, but I am thrilled to be back in the classroom after a year away from academia.

This evening I went out to dinner with my roommate. He is a Ph.D. student at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Chicago. Like me, here is here for just one semester and is only teaching the Literature of the Old and New Testaments. Over dinner he mentioned the fact that my name sounded familiar. He asked what my dissertation was about (the campaign of Pharaoh Shoshenq), and when I told him he said he had read it. Apparently Ralph Klein uses it in one of his Ph.D. seminars It is nice to know the book is actually being read.

I was printing out my syllabi for the classes I am teaching here at Wartburg College this semester, when I noticed a sign taped to the wall above the copier. Under the heading “What Would Yahweh Do?”, it asked whether God would print single– or double–sided documents. It offered the following passage in favor of double–sided printing:

Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, written on the front and on the back. ¹⁶The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets. (Exodus 32:15-16)

Of course, it is easy to see why God used double–sided printing. Rocks are much harder to recycle than paper.

We arrived safely in Iowa last night around 5:00 pm.  I am spending today getting settled into my new office while simultaneously doing all the work needed to get courses ready for the semester. I should be ready to start blogging about the Bible again sometime in the next few days.

We arrived back in Massachusetts around 6:00 tonight. We will be here for about fourteen hours before heading out on the road again. Tomorrow we will drive as far as Cleveland, and then Thursday should see us arriving in Iowa.

For those wondering who the “us” is, my mother decided to come along for the TN–PA–MA–OH–IA drive (I only include the states where we will be spending the night). This Saturday she will fly back from IA to TN. She thought she was coming to help me with the driving, but I had to remind her that she can’t drive a stick shift. So, she is here to keep me company.