iTanakh is getting more than a facelift

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Icon combining a Dead Sea Scroll fragment with binary codeiTanakh—the Web’s premiere index of free online resources for the academic study of the Hebrew Bible—went offline briefly recently during some server reorganization, but now it’s back, sporting a spiffy redesign. The new template not only uses a database on the back end instead of static HTML pages, which makes maintenance and updating much easier, but also incorporates several social media features. You can easily share links on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever. You can rate the listings from ★ to ★★★★★, and you can comment on the listings. I hope these new features make iTanakh more fun, interesting, and interactive, and perhaps even that they promote some discussion of the articles listed.

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Leadership changes in the SBL-PCR

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Society of Biblical Literature logoSix years ago, Mignon Jacobs of Fuller Theological Seminary accepted the role of Regional Coordinator for the Society of Biblical Literature Pacific Coast Region when Claremont’s Tammi Schneider was term-limited out of that position. Now Mignon has reached the end of a fine six-year run as Regional Coordinator—the maximum allowed by SBL rules—so the mantle now falls to her hand-picked successor. You guessed it: that would be me.

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Whatever happened to iTanakh?

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Icon combining a Dead Sea Scroll fragment with binary codeIf you’ve tried to visit iTanakh recently, you may have received a “page not found” or “server not responding” error. I apologize for that; I just discovered it this morning and I don’t know how long the service has been down. The problem apparently stems largely from my hosting provider changing the way they organize files on the servers, a change meant to accommodate a new front-end for users. At any rate, iTanakh will be down for a while, but I definitely intend to bring it back.

In fact, I’m working on a way to bring it back better than it was before—better, stronger, faster. Well, maybe not faster, but you get my drift. I’ve purchased some software that promises to help me transform iTanakh from static HTML pages to a database-driven site. If all goes well, the software will even let me enable some quasi-social features like link ratings and user comments on the various listings. Please stay tuned, and don’t give up on iTanakh!

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Pepperdine Bible Lectures 2013 via iTunes U

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70th Annual Pepperdine Bible Lectures program bookDuring the first week of May each year, Pepperdine University hosts the Pepperdine Bible Lectures, drawing several thousand members of Churches of Christ to campus for three and a half days of preaching, worship, and Bible study classes.

In past years, Pepperdine has contracted with an independent firm to record and distribute the Bible lectures. Those recordings were convenient, but could get expensive. This year, Pepperdine decided not to subcontract the recordings, and to try to make the recordings available for free via iTunes U. Not all classes were recorded, and speakers weren’t informed of this until Thursday night.

Sadly, my own class—“As Far As We Know: Genesis 1 and Contemporary Science” was not recorded, though I could easily have carried my own recording equipment had I known about the new procedures. On the other hand, Richard Beck’s two-day series on “Love Wins” (part 1, part 2) and Jeff Childers’s two-day class entitled “‘Eucatastrophe!’ Says J.R.R. Tolkien” (part 1, part 2) are among the 65 sessions published so far.

So head on over to the 70th Annual Pepperdine Bible Lectures page in the iTunes store, browse the selections there, and find something interesting to help you pass the time during an upcoming commute, workout, or similar activity.

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Posturing for praise and prayer: standing, kneeling, and bowing

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A young African American man kneeling in prayerRichard Beck’s account of kneeling for prayer at the San Buenaventura Mission during his recent visit to the Pepperdine Bible Lectures touched a nerve with me.

The old kneeler creaked loudly in the silent space, with a big echoing knock when it hit the floor. I knelt and took out my prayer book for morning prayers.

In many Church of Christ worship services nowadays, including the song services preceding the keynote sermons at the Pepperdine Bible Lectures, a sort of expectation has developed that the congregation will stand during songs that refer to standing. Continue reading →