Jim West hosts the Biblical Studies Carnival for June 2020 at Zwinglius Redivivus. He entitled it “Its the ‘Pandemic / Societal Apocalypse / Is June Finally Over? / Ugh What a Miserable Month’ Edition of the Biblical Studies Carnival.” Jim is correct, June was not a particularly good month. We keep thinking it is going to get better next month, but the trend does seem to be pointing toward “immanent apocalypse.” On June 1 everyone was assuming COVID would take the summer off and everything could return to normal. By June 30, COVID is even busier and businesses are shutting down again. Just when you thought racist attacks on people of color couldn’t get any worse, George Floyd is killed and protests shook most communities across America (and the world). Just when you thought the current administration could not possibly shock us with embarrass itself and the nation any worse that it already has….well you get the idea.
Biblical Studies is not immune from sin and stupidity. This month most people heard Old Testament scholar Jan Joosten was arrested and sentenced to prison to a year in prison for possession of child pornography. For me this was shocking, but it led to comparison to other scholars who have been arrested and convicted for similar crimes, some of which were news to me. Late in the month, the Logos Academic Blog posted a study on what the Law says about eating bats. The author attempted humor but ending up insulting people with what appeared to be racist comments. When scholars like Max Lee (follow him on twitter, @ProfMaxLee) and Jennifer Guo (follow her on twitter, @jenniferguo) made serious protests, the #LogosBatPost led to an apology from Logos CEO Bob Pritchett.
On June 26, James Dunn died. Many bloggers have posted tributes to one of the most significant New Testament scholars in the last fifty years. it is hard to image writing on the Gospels or the Pauline literature without interacting with James Dunn.
My theory is someone from the future keeps time traveling back to January 2020 and is trying to fix everything but they just keep making it worse. This makes more sense that some of the crazy conspiracy theories floating around FaceBook or YouTube.
The good news is we now have Jim’s Biblical Studies Carnival to uplift our spirits. He has a collection of links for the Hebrew Bible/LXX, New Testament, Archaeology, Books, and Miscellaneous. He has also collected choice Tweets on biblical or theological topics from June. Head over to Jim’s Carnival and see what academic biblical blogs have been up to in June.
Here’s the schedule for the next few Biblical Studies Carnivals:
- July 2020 – Bob MacDonald (@drmacdonald) has the July carnival.
- August 2020 – Phillip Long, Reading Acts (right here!)
- September 2020 – Brent Niedergall
I am looking for volunteers through the rest of the year starting with September 2020 (Due October 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.
How can you get your posts into 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.
Phil, this was an interesting page you posted. You have kept up with the local news across America and then around the world. Your statements reflect the reality we find ourselves in, but not without hope. Christians are not exempted from the aspects of a sin cursed world. I find it most interesting and I should not as a student of the Word, our Righteous and Holy God will take the very things the left (and sometimes the right) and mass media says about others and turn it back on them. God is long suffering during the age of grace, but His judgments will come, even as Satan is on borrowed time awaiting his final end.
I have added to my paper on Purl Pickett and Diane Mullen is proof reading it. Diane worked under her father at the Grace Mission as his personal secretary. She did a lot of the typing from the handwritten Bultema manuscripts that were printed. I wrote this back in 2017 and saw some corrections to be made. Then updated some areas with new information. Pictures have been added to this as well. It addresses my time as a student and the boat ministry with Purl, 1972-1980. This is not written as a technical paper but s light, readable story on these eight years as I reflected back. It would be nice to see something written in a formal setting on Baker, Dean and Vinton. I believe there is a tape on Baker’s life story, but I have not heard it. Up date me on anything that has been written or recorded.
I have chapters started on Bultema and Calvinism and Bultema and Premillennialism. DeWitt did a paper on premillenarians as you know. I read it again and refreshed my memory on the great controversy in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I may have mentioned Dr. James Brookes before, but it seems he is left out of the discussion. He was a Presbyterian and wrote several books after the Civil war to the 1900s. I have read two of his books that I purchased online and read short articles online. Bultema in *Maranatha* refers to Brookes more than Darby and Scofield. As I may have mentioned before, I wonder why Bultema did not consider moving over into the Presbyterian camp? I believe DeWitt refers to Brookes once in passing. Maybe there is something I have missed and don’t see why he is not a critical writer or thinker.
Well enough for now, hope to see you in church soon. Kendall