Syneidon Podcast: Exploring the Gospel of Mark

Regular readers will know if my enthusiasm for the University of Birmingham's Syneidon Project, which is run by Richard Goode and Helen Ingram. Helen is already known to many of you through her blog The Omega Course, recently mentioned at the Biblioblog T0p 50 website, and to others she is famous for her church organ renditions of rock classics. Both Richard and Helen are University of Birmingham PhDs in New Testament and it is excellent news that Syneidon now have their own podcast:

Syneidon Podcast

The first episode is entitled Exploring the Gospel of Mark - 1. Richard is the compère and has a fine voice for radio. He is joined by another Birmingham graduate, from the Queen's Foundation, Robert Foster (who was in my first ever Greek class in Birmingham some years back!). And there is an interview with David Parker. Helen supplies the music, her own composition and not Metallica.

I hope to add a page to the NT Gateway soon on Podcasts, encouraged by the fact that I hope to have my own podcast available soon. I will have details there and here when it is available.

"Gabriel's Revelation" Tablet

While I was away from the blogging machine, a major story broke and the media and the biblioblogs have been full of it, Israel Knohl's interpretation of a newly discovered text on a tablet called "Gabriel's Revelation". Syneidon has a good summary of the issues, with links, and several bibliobloggers have been on hand to provide intelligent, critical commentary of the kind that establishes a major contribution to the discussion, with up-to-date, accurate and cautious assessments that contrast with some of those from various media outlets. Particularly worthy of note are the contributions by Tyler Williams on Codex Blogspot, Knohl, "Gabriel's Revelation" Tablet and the Resurrection; The Messiah Tablet (with tons of links) and Joe Zias on the ‘Vision of Gabriel’ ‘Messiah Tablet’ Or Whatever You Wish to Call It on Jim West's blog; New Messiah Stone by Michael Bird on Euangelion; Messianism before Christ: Gabriel's Revelation by Stephen Cook on Biblische Ausbildung; The Vision of Gabriel by Ed Cook on Ralph the Sacred River; New Inscription Found: "Messiah to be Raised After 3 Days"?! and Messiah Tablet Confirms Published Dissertation by Michael Barber on Singing in the Reign. Jim Davila is on top of the news over on Paleojudaica, Vision of Gabriel, Vision of Gabriel Inscription, Vision of Gabriel, Vision of Gabriel Watch, Vision of Gabriel Watch and An Anti-Messiah. Excellent work here from the bibliobloggers, as ever up to speed and ready to provide intelligent commentary on the breaking stories of the day.

Syneidon Research Digest

Syneidon continues to update its Research Digest, an excellent way to find out about some of the latest contributions in the major Biblical Studies journals:

Syneidon Research Digest

Recent additions include digests of Amin Baum's recent Novum Testamentum article on anonymity in the Gospels and Eric Eve's fascinating New Testament Studies article, "Spit in Your Eye: The Blind Man of Bethsaida and The Blind Man of Alexandria". The page is getting a little long, though, and it would be worth considering breaking it up into bite-size chunks.

Syneidon Survey

Syneidon now has its own RSS feed, which is good news for the increasing numbers who access everything this way, and it is asking the question today about what tools you find most useful:

Bible Study on the Internet Survey

Syneidon Research Project

I'd like to mention the Syneidon Research Project, which is based at the University of Birmingham and describes itself in the following way:

Syneidon: A Non-technical Introduction to the Biblical Study of the Old and New Testaments

The work of Biblical scholars is usually published in specialist journals which, together with their highly technical language, remain inaccessible to the general public. SYNEIDON is dedicated to providing an accessible and non-technical introduction to the academic research of the Old and New Testament for everyone who wishes to widen their understanding and appreciation of these texts, regardless of faith or academic ability.

The creator is Richard Goode, a recent PhD from Birmingham, a student of David Parker, who I got to know well while I was in Birmingham. This new project looks really worthwhile. Helen Ingram, one of my former PhD students, who wrote on Jesus and Magic, is also involved in the project. There are already lots of useful resources available on the site, and they encourage you to get involved in their Forum. I am looking forward to seeing how this project develops, and I wish them all the best for its success.