N T Wrong: Transmission cut?

There was a moment almost exactly a year ago when transmission was cut on Jim West's blog. Now we are looking at something similar with N T Wrong, whose blog now appears to be hidden behind a protected sign. On occasions like this, I am reminded of one of my favourite scenes in The Truman Show when the failure to broadcast actually causes some of the highest viewing figures in the show's history as everyone wonders what has happened. With Wrong, it seems clear that the end of his blog was not the end of the story, first with the continuation of the Biblioblogging Top 50, then the biblioblogging interview and subsequently the missing December carnival. All the while, James Crossley's blog has what must be the longest comment thread of all time on the biblioblogs, generated at least in part by my distaste with Wrong's language in the interview previously mentioned. The current cut in transmission coincides with the recent blog discussions surrounding Ethical Considerations Relating to Pseudonymous Biblioblogging over on Stephen Carlson's Hypotyposeis.

So is this another one of Wrong's mini-deaths, with another resurrection to come soon? Or is it just a temporary glitch from the anti-bishop -- he cocked it up?

My homepage and related materials

I have moved my home page and my own academic web materials to the following new locations at Duke:

My homepage

The Case Against Q Website

The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze

The Aseneth Home Page

This one is now particularly long in the tooth, but I keep it available for posterity / nostalgia:

All-in-One Biblical Resources Search

See also:

Synoptic-L

Xtalk: Historical Jesus and Christian Origins

The pages for the edited collection on The Passion of the Christ and for the Library of New Testament Studies remain on the NT Gateway.

New NT Gateway now live

The new version of the NT Gateway site is now live and it appears to have percolated nicely across the internet. Thanks for all the positive comments so far.

Just to clarify where things stand:

The New Testament Gateway: still at NTGateway.com, but with a major facelift courtesy of the fine work of the people at Logos.

NT Gateway Blog: visit the new NT Gateway blog for all the latest news about the site, with regular updates about the new content. Make sure you remember to point your RSS reader to the new feed: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/NTGatewayWeblog.

Mark Goodacre's NT Blog: this blog, for my own academic thoughts and reflections. Make sure you remember to point your RSS reader to the new feed: http://ntweblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

New NT Gateway site launched

The new version of the NT Gateway site has now launched. We flipped the switch at about 6.30pm ET tonight. Apparently it takes a while for these things to percolate through the internet. I can't see it myself yet, here in North Carolina, but Ryan Burns at Logos reported that it's appearing out there in Bellingham, Washington, and a friend reports that he can see the new version in Austin, Texas. If you can see the new version of the site, with its new blog, I'd love to see your comments below. Thanks. It's the same address -- NTGateway.com.

Blog migration success!

It seems that the migration of the old NTGateway blog and archives to this new location has been successful. I have made a few minor design changes but otherwise I am retaining the old look, at least for the time being.

Please remember to point your reader to the new feed, http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MarkGoodacresNTBlog

New blog URL

I am aiming to point my new academic blog at the following URL:

Mark Goodacre's NT Blog

It is not there yet, and it is possible that the migration will be a disaster (I have backed up all six-and-a-half years' worth just in case), but my aim is simply to switch from hosting the blog on the current NT Gateway to hosting it over on blogger. If things go wrong, check twitter for updates.

Blog changes

Because of the exciting developments at the NT Gateway, I need to make some changes to the way that I blog. The NT Gateway blog will continue with updates and information relevant to the NT Gateway site. Meanwhile, I am keen to continue with my own academic blog for my teaching and research thoughts, ideas, reflections. In the last few years, such material has been included on the NT Gateway blog. Now it will move to its own new location, along with the old NT Gateway blog archives. Details of the move, and where to point your browsers and Readers, will be coming soon. The Resident Alien blog is unaffected by these changes and will continue as normal.

Harold Hoehner (1935-2009)

Several blogs have reported the sad news of the death of Harold Hoehner (Evangelical Textual Criticism; NT Resources; Green Baggins; Denny Burk; Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth; ΕΝ ΕΦΕΣΩ; Pursuing Truth; Confessions of a Closet Academic). Here is the piece in Dallas Morning News:

Harold Hoehner, renowned professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, dies at 74
By Sam Hodges

Harold Hoehner, a renowned professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, died today. He was 74.

A seminary colleague, Darrell Bock, said Hoehner collapsed at home after jogging.

Hoehner taught at DTS for 42 years, and for long stretches oversaw its Ph.D. students and chaired its New Testament department.

He also published widely as a scholar.

“His magnificent commentary on Ephesians—his magnum opus—will continue to instruct and inspire pastors and teachers for many years to come,” the seminary said in a statement. “Because one of his books is entitled Herod Antipas, he became affectionately known to a generation of students as `Herod Hoehner.’” . . .

Dallas Theological Seminary apparently has a tribute, but there appear to be problems with their server at the moment. See also Justin Taylor, Between Two Worlds: Harold Hoehner (1935-2009) (with thanks to Michael Thompson for the link).

Biblical Studies Carnival XXXVII

N. T. Wrong once again emerges from the shadows, this time to provide an excellent, very thorough carnival for the missing month of December 2008:

Biblical Studies Carnival XXXVII

Developments at the NT Gateway

Regular readers will be aware that I have been rethinking The New Testament Gateway for some time now, asking questions about how it is to adapt to the changing face of the internet, making suggestions for the future, and engaging in discussions with others about how they can help. I am now delighted to be able to announce that the NT Gateway is partnering with Logos. Logos will be providing hosting for the site as well as installing a CMS and giving it a design facelift. I will continue to be the Editor. The address (NTGateway.com) will stay the same, so there will be no need to adjust your links or bookmarks. I am sure that readers will like the new version of the site as much as I do. It has a lot in common with older versions but at the same time introduces some major improvements.

These exciting changes impact a little on this blog and on others of my web materials, and I will be explaining what is happening with these over the next few days. Stay tuned!

Biblical Studies Carnival XXXVIII

Many thanks to Judy Redman for an excellent Biblical Studies Carnival for January 2009:

Biblical Studies Carnival XXXVIII

God and the Movies on Radio 4

There was an interesting programme on Radio 4 yesterday about the impact that the commercial success of The Passion of the Christ has had on Hollywood and the desire to cash in on the "Christian dollar" in making Christian-themed and Christian-friendly films:

God and the Movies

You can catch it on the BBC iPlayer for the next six days.

Biblioblogging Top 50 for January and other Wrongs

N. T. Wrong re-emerges twice this week, first to present the latest Biblioblog Top 50. It's good to see this blog maintaining a high position in the list, but I am puzzled by the absence of Jim Davila's Paleojudaica, down from 15 in December. This makes little sense, below blogs that have posted next to nothing throughout January.

And the second re-emergence is an interview with Jim West over at Biblioblogs.com, Blogger of the Month for February 2009. The interview is actually very entertaining, and the anti-bishop reveals a bit more of his voice. He is clearly enjoying trying to see what he can get away with, though, since there is an obscenity of the kind that is surprising (and frankly not entirely welcome) in an academic venue.

Update (Wednesday, 13.41): it appears that my comment above was unpopular, and several people have objected to it. For a fairly lengthy exchange, see the comments section on Earliest Christian History.

SBL International Paper Proposal Accepted

I was happy to hear yesterday evening that my paper proposal for the Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting in Rome (30 June-4 July) has been accepted. I submitted it to the Paul and Pauline Literature section. Here is my title and abstract:

Does περιβόλαιον mean "testicle" in 1 Corinthians 11.15?

In a recent provocative article ("Paul’s Argument from Nature for the Veil in 1 Corinthians 11:13-15: A Testicle instead of a Head Covering," JBL 123/1 (2004): 75-84), Troy Martin provides a new translation of a famously difficult verse. Arguing that περιβόλαιον in 1 Corinthians 11.15 means "testicle", Paul is saying that a woman's hair is given to her "instead of a testicle". Paul is assuming ancient attitudes to the body, according to which hair is "part of the female genitalia". However, the lexical basis for Martin's case is not strong enough to justify the new translation. Neither of the texts adduced by Martin (Euripides, Herc. fur. 1269 and Achilles Tatius, Leuc. Clit. 1.15.2) is speaking about περιβόλαια as "testicles", thus the interesting contextual material from ancient medical sources are not relevant as background to interpreting Paul. The conventional translations, according to which a woman's hair is given "for a covering" or "instead of a covering", are preferable.

Tyndale Bulletin online

Over on BiblicalStudies.org.uk, Rob Bradshaw shares the excellent news that Tyndale Bulletin is now online. Everything is available from 1956 to 2005. This is a fine contribution to scholarship on the web. I am sure that I am not alone in being very grateful for the hard work that has gone into this, and to Tyndale House for providing permission. The index is here:

Tyndale Bulletin

E. P. Sanders's Academic Autobiography Back online

I am happy to announce that Ed Sanders's "Academic Autobiography" is now back online:

Comparing Judaism and Christianity: An Academic Autobiography
A paper read at “New Views of First-Century Jewish and Christian Self-Definition: An International Conference in honor of E. P. Sanders”, April, 2003
E. P. Sanders
April-May 2004

If you have not read it before, I strongly recommend it. If you have already read it, read it again.

Kenneth Clark Lectures 2009: David Parker

Earlier this week, I announced the good news that this year's Clark lecturer at Duke is David Parker. The official announcement is now available over on Duke's Divinity School website:

Kenneth W. Clark Lectures 2009: Dr David Parker

John Fenton: Church Times Obituary

This appeared a couple of weeks ago, but it was then hidden behind the subscription wall whereas it is now available for all to view, from the Church Times:

Obituary: Canon John Fenton
Leslie Houlden

All the other obituaries and reflections on Canon Fenton's life, including my own, are found under this label: John Fenton.

Biblical Studies Bulletin is back

The Biblical Studies Bulletin from Grove Books is back online with new content:

Biblical Studies Bulletin

I had thought that there had not been any new issues for a year, but the good news is that the latest editions are now available online, as follows:

BSB 47 (March 2008)
BSB 48 (June 2008)
BSB 49 (September 2008)
BSB 50 (December 2008)

It is now edited by Dr Richard Briggs of Cranmer Hall, St John's College, Durham University.

2009 Kenneth Clark Lectures at Duke: David Parker

Details of this year's Kenneth W. Clark lectures at Duke have been announced, and I am particularly happy with their choice of lecturer this year:

Textual Scholarship and New Testament Studies
Dr David Parker (Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology and Director of the Institute for Textual Scholarship, University of Birmingham)

Tuesday February 10 2009, 12:20pm, "New Testament Textual Scholarship Today"

Wednesday February 11 2009, 8.30am, "Using Textual Research"

Where: Westbrook 0016

Cost: Free