Then and Now
According to recent news reports, Yale University gave its former president, Richard Levin, a bonus of $8.5 million after his retirement. Even in comparison to the stratospheric salaries and perks given to administrators in higher education, this … [Continue reading] about Yale’s Betrayal
In order to make paperback edition of the book (just released last month!) more attractive for course adaptation, I have prepared a modifiable (.docx) syllabus structured around the course. It can be downloaded here or from this page, which also … [Continue reading] about How the Bible Became Holy Syllabus
Centrifugal force, entropy, call it what you will, but life has a way of drifting. All those good habits and intentions slowly, subtly, but inexorably begin to crumble, like the masonry on my porch. Three times a year I usually find enough energy … [Continue reading] about When the Center Does Not Hold
Prophets, according to the Hebrew Bible, cannot really afford to be wrong. Deuteronomy 18:20 in fact singles out accurate prediction of the future as a necessary characteristic of the future. Yet several of the prophets of ancient Israel - the very … [Continue reading] about Bad Prophecies
Last semester I taught a graduate seminar on Race, Religion, and Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean (see here). As a class project we began to compile a relevant bibliography and provide some minimal annotations. That bibliography is on Zotero … [Continue reading] about Race, Religion, and Ethnicity in Antiquity: Zotero Group