Live Online Office Hours covered in the Duke Chronicle

The Duke Chronicle has a nice feature on the new phenomenon of Online Office Hours, in which I participated last Friday:

Professors offer online office hours
Jessica Chang

There is a pic. of me from the session. If you didn't catch it, most of the recording is archived for viewing at this link:

Online Office Hours with Mark Goodacre

It is missing the first five minutes or so, but otherwise it's all there, I am told. If you haven't the stomach for all that (and I know I haven't!), there is a brief clip over on Big Think:

Would Jesus tweet?
Duke University New Testament scholar Mark Goodacre says Saint Paul would be more inclined to Twitter.

My Duke Live "Online Office Hours"

I am back in my real office now, having left the virtual office of Duke's "Online Office Hours" where I answered questions on the New Testament in front of a camera. The studio is actually just around the corner from where I am; it is in the bowels of the Bryan Center, not from from Gray Building. I never knew it was there, nor did the Duke Chronicle photographer, Robin Mi, who snapped the picture here.

These online office hours are a new venture at Duke and I enjoyed being involved. The basic idea is that you sit in front of a camera and people email in their questions. (In theory they tweet and facebook them in too, but I don't think there was much of that in practice). The most difficult question I was asked was the first, about Dan Brown, since I have never read the Da Vinci Code, nor have I seen the film. I enjoyed the chance to talk a little bit about The Passion (BBC/HBO), especially in light of the tragic death of Frank Deasy yesterday. I was also asked about homosexuality and the Bible, penal substitution, the extent of Christian orthodoxy in the first century, the Gospel of Thomas, my recent podcasts on Junia and Mary Magdalene, and a wide range of other things.

No questions on Q or the Synoptic Problem, which is probably a good thing since I might have yabbered on too long about that. In fact in general, I did a bit too much in the way of yabbering on and did not pause often enough, but there is something quite unusual about being in what seems like an empty room, with just a camera for company. James, who asked the questions, was behind a curtain, just like in The Wizard of Oz, but there was no Toto to reveal him and the levers he was pulling, so he stayed there until the end.

It was nice to be joined by several bloggers, with questions from Brian Tucker on Pauline influence on Matthew, Jim West on Biblical archaeology and TC Robinson on the new perspective on Paul.

Apparently the whole thing will be archived and available soon. I'll provide a link at that point.

Many thanks to my colleagues at Duke who invited me to do this, and thanks to those of you who took part.

Join me on Duke TV "Online Office Hours" today

I'll be appearing live on Duke University's Ustream Channel today at noon EDT (5 pm BST) for an hour in "Online Office Hours". Please email, tweet or Facebook in your questions:

Me, Live

Jim West, Mark Goodacre Live, has a note from Duke Today about an event this coming Friday when I will be appearing live on camera at Duke to discuss the New Testament:

Online Office Hours tackles "New Testament in the News", September 18

This is "Online Office Hours" is a new weekly event at Duke and I am looking forward to participating. It begins at noon and lasts an hour or so, and then is available for archived viewing later. Here's how you can take part:

Viewers can submit questions in advance or during the session by email to live@duke.edu, on the Duke University Live Ustream page on Facebook or via Twitter with the tag #dukelive.

Or just go straight to the Duke ustream channel. I would prefer not to sit there just busking, so please join me if you can! It kicks off at 12 noon EST, which will be 5pm in the UK.

Update: thanks also to James McGrath on Exploring our Matrix and Joel Watts on Church of Jesus Christ for the mentions.