Blue Cord

I am pleased to announce that I have been chosen not to write the volumes on Ruth and Nehemiah for a new commentary series that is not being edited by Alan Lenzi. He is looking for other people not to contribute, so if you would like to get on the ground floor of this much-needed new series, I suggest you get in contact with him now. The series is expected not to be published in 2011.

Given the work I have been doing with academic publishing over the past few months, I am seriously considering starting my own publishing company just so I can put in a bid not to publish this new series. I have always wanted not to be a small business owner, so this is just the opportunity I need!

Please note: Lenzi’s series will only fail to cover the Old Testament. Someone else will have to take up the arduous task of not writing about the New Testament.

I was editing an article yesterday on the Acts of Philip, a 4th–5th century apocryphal work about the Apostle Philip. As I read it, I came across a line where the author says that Philip “converses with a penitent leopard.” It made me giggle, because obviously the author meant to say that Philip was talking with a penitent leper. Of course, the spell checker wouldn’t catch this, because both “leopard” and “leper” are valid words.

Just because I am a stickler for detail, however, I wanted to make absolutely sure that it was supposed to be a leper and not a leopard before I made the correction. So, I found the Acts of Philip online. And, lo and behold, it contains the story of Philip conversing with a leopard who is sorry for having attacked a goat (Acts Phil. 96–101).

So there you have it: a penitent leopard. I guess they can change their spots after all, at least metaphorically (Jer 13:23).

I have been tagged in the Binary Biblical Studies Carnival 11111 meme by Jim at Idle musings of a bookseller. Although Jim changed the number from 31 to 63 through the addition of a digit, I still feel compelled to play along.

The rules are as follows:

1. Tag five Biblical studies bloggers.
2. Invent fictional posts that they might have written over the last month.
3. Link to the original meme post at Lingamish.

Here is my offering for the meme:

1. Christian Brady at Targuman: “The Study of the Targumim Matters. No, Really!”
2. Steve Cook at Biblische Ausbildung: “Why So-Called ‘Second Isaiah’ is Actually the Work of the 8th Century Prophet.”
3. Jin Yang Kim at Old Testament Story: “Daniel the Wise-Guy: Interpreting the Book of Daniel as a Marx Brother’s Routine.”
4. Calvin Park at Random Bloggings: “How to Get Your Church Youth Group Interested in Learning Akkadian.”
5. Chris Heard at Higgaion: ” Simcha Jacobovici Has Asked Me to Write His Next Script!”

Apparently there is a new movie coming out called Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I know this because it has been advertised on every billboard, TV channel, cereal box, and Burger King glass I have seen lately.¹ Cable channels are also jumping in by running Indiana Jones marathons constantly or “documentaries” that explore some of the artifacts from the films. Don’t get me wrong, I am very excited about the fourth Indiana Jones film. I only hope it can live up to its advertising.

In the spirit of things, I thought I would get in on all the hype. After all, I love a good bandwagon. So, here is a link to a long lost letter sent to Dr. Jones explaining why he was denied tenure at Marshall College.

1. Yes, I know the Burget King tie-ins are actually kids toys, but I really miss the days when Burger King gave out actual drinking glasses with movie characters on them. [back]

Burger King has a new commercial. You can tell it is set in the future because almost everything is a clean shade of white. It starts out with a guy waking up in bed with a floating Burger King robot hovering over him. The man appears to be startled by the robot’s presence. The robot gives him a breakfast wrap and then makes a cup of coffee for him. The man continues to look at the Burger King robot warily. A woman (the guy’s wife?) walks in, looks at the robot with a somewhat sensual look, and says, “He’s so good with his hands.”

Am I the only one who finds this creepy?