Jimmy Carter Leaves Southern Baptist Behind

Looks like Jimmy Carter is leaving the Sothern Baptist Church over there treatment of women...

At their most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.

Full Story Here:

Five most important primary sources for my understanding of the Bible.

In no particular order, and in no way to diminish others who have made equally convincing lists, here are the texts (primary sources) that have most influenced my reading of the bible.

1. Enuma Elish: This is great text that details, among other things, the exploits of Tiamut and Marduk. This is one of the ANET that ought to inform any reading of the Hebrew Bible, my work on the divine warfare led me to this text and it completely made me think my rather naive view of the creation myth and the exodus "event".

2. Ugaritic Ba'al Cycle: Like Enuma Elish this text is very important for understanding the gods of the ANE, here the exploits of Yamm and El are detailed, and like Enuma Elish this cycle is key in understanding divine warfare and the exodus event.

3. Galen of Pergamum: On the Passions and Errors of the Soul: This is a key text on the role of the passions written shortly after the time of Paul. This text helped solidify the importance of self mastery and its role in the cultural zeitgeist during and after the time of Paul, not to mention the fact that It is a very entertaining read.

4. Qumran Hymns: Early in my biblical studies education I determined to sit down and read through the dead sea scrolls, it was tedious at times, but the Hymns totally made up for the effort. To this day I often rather mischeviously read, or quote, a hymn in the presence of devote Christians and they always assume that I am reciting one of the Hebrew Psalms...

5. Pseudepigrapha: There are a lot of choice texts in the pseudepigrapha, so if I had to pick just one set of texts I would have to chose the Tales of the Patriarchs (I know I just grouped a bunch of texts together, but it's my list so they are to be considered one text from this point forward :) ). These are key texts in the Sin - Exile - Restoration motif that was present during the Second Temple period.

What to do on the 4th?

What better way to spend the 4th:

Read some Cornel West: Here

or listen: here (search for Cornel West)

here is a quote:

The question is, as the American democratic experiment has grown old, the challenge is for that experiment to really grow up. James Baldwin used to say that innocence itself is the crime prior to the committing of the concrete crime. And optimism. George Santayana put it so well in his essay on William James. He said, “Americans believe they’re always already on the right track,” so even if they fear they may have done something wrong, like the prison in Iraq, it’s just an abnormal, aberrational thing that couldn’t have anything to do with who we fundamentally are. He says, “Well, you’ve got to check yourself.” That wonderful moment in Melville’s Pierre where he says, “Look at that Christian gentleman dressed so sharp and beautifully, and yet just a few weeks ago he kicked his slave in the head, and three years ago he shot down an Indian.” So you get an Indian annihilator and a slaveholder dressed so smoothly, speaks with such eloquence, hiding and concealing his dark side. You see that in the vanilla suburbs, hiding and concealing the decrepit school systems in chocolate cities, hiding and concealing the inadequate childcare, unavailable health care, shortage of jobs of any quality, and yet still the sugar-coating. That sugar-coating is associated with the optimism.

Mike Bird's Aussie Christmas Tree

from the londonist.

Hanging out with Dick

At least I have good company down here in the bowels!