March and April 2020 were bad months for most people as COVID-19 changed the way we lived. Just as many people were preparing to return to work for the first time in three months, May ended with another murder of a black man in police custody followed by riots throughout the country. Given the loss of life from the pandemic and the deep divisions in America playing out nightly in the streets of many cities, commenting on an academic issues in biblical and theological studies seems less important. I really do not think shouting at each other on Twitter helps, and I am confident passing along conspiracy theories on FaceBook makes things worse.
Despite all the weirdness and evil in the news over the last month, there were some quality academic posts in the world of biblical and theological studies this month. This month’s Biblical Studies Carnival host Bobby Howell posted the Biblical Studies Carnival 171 for May 2020 at The Library Musings. Head over to his blog and check out his collection of postings during the month of May. He focuses on Old and New Testament, Biblical Greek, Biblical Hebrew and a helpful set of links to articles at Torah.com. Click all the links!
In other blogging news, Aaron White has returned to blogging as he begins his Brill LXX Commentary on Judges, Pastor-Scholar Meets Commentary: A Log on Writing a Commentary. Bookmark it, but also read his comments on The Mysterious Mu.
Brian Small had some links to reviews on Hebrews resources posted in May, I miss the old Hebrews mini-carnivals he used to post.
James McGrath posted several excellent posts on making the transition to online teaching and the future of education in the post-COVID-19 world.
For future Biblical Studies Carnivals…I have a couple of veteran bloggers lined up for the next two months. The godfather of blibioblogs Jim West (@EmilBrunner1) will host the June Carnival and Bob MacDonald (@drmacdonald) has the July carnival. I am looking for volunteers through the rest of the year starting with August 2020 (Due September 1). Even if you hosted in 2019 feel free to volunteer again. I am always interested in getting new bloggers and podcasters involved.
Are you new to blogging? Are you a lapsed biblioblogger? James McGrath has some encouraging words for you.
Would you like to see your posts included in a future carnival? Start by writing a quality academic post, perhaps a book review. Then send the link to the upcoming host. It is entirely their decision to include your post in their carnival, but you can at least nominate yourself for inclusion. Sometimes you have to toot your own horn.
If you have questions about what writing a carnival involves, contact me via email, plong42@gmail.com or twitter DM @plong42. I would be happy to answer any questions.
Hi Phillip, I haven’t been doing the Hebrews Highlights lately because no one is blogging on Hebrews lately.