Then and Now
I have been in Rome this semester, which has been an extraordinary experience. I have been working especially hard on my new book, which should be finished soon. I've been invited to speak about it in Paris on December 12 (in English!)- if you are … [Continue reading] about When in Rome, go to Paris…
I recently taped a long interview with Dr. Yeshaya Gruber of the Israel Bible Center on my book, How the Bible Became Holy. I enjoyed our conversation together. You can check it out … [Continue reading] about Interview: Why is the Bible Called “Holy”?
During one of my low points during COVID, I read Martin Seligman's book, Flourish. The book was a bit uneven, but I was intrigued enough to take the online VIA (=Values in Action) Survey of Character Strengths. According to the test results, … [Continue reading] about Branching Out
One of my goals when I started the Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine project was to reach a point where we could not only make inscriptions relevant and exciting, but also that we could use them for digital analyses. I am happy to report a first … [Continue reading] about Inscriptions and Machine Learning
This last semester I taught a new course, "Happiness and the Pursuit of the Good Life," the goal of which was to put positive psychology and religious texts into conversation. The class was overwhelmingly popular. I ended with around 400 students, … [Continue reading] about The Larger Picture