Discussions on "distance education" (the term is often a misnomer since I have had students living or working closer to the on-site classroom than my home is ;) often get bogged down in primitive notions of "presence". The idea of distance skeptics seems to be that we are only "really" present to each other when in the same room. This is evident nonsense. If Barbara and I are in the same room but she is playing Facebook Scrabble I will be lucky to get a sensible reply to any question I ask. If I am reading a book she will get one of those male grunts that merely means "I think I heard that you said something - but I have no idea what." We are virtually non-present to each other, though in the same room. By contrast if we are talking on the phione about some concern over one of the children, even though in different cities we are highly mutually present. 
Labels: communication, digital, sbl, teaching

Labels: biblical.studies, sbl, scholarship, teaching

Labels: 1chron, 1sam, 2sam, audio, bible, ruth, sbl
Ezra 9-10 is narrated with a gaze. It gazes at the “peoples of the lands” not merely to identify, but also to belittle and discriminate against. In this paper, I offer a Tongan reading of Ezra 9-10 with attention to objects of deriding gazes, and the myth/ideology behind the gaze vis-à-vis the colonial construction of the Oceanic island 'natives.' This reading is situated in the social location of Tongan commoners (tu'a), and theorized with the Tongan notion of fonua (land, place, sea, and people). Methodologically, it weaves together insights from various methods and categories from Tongan culture. This interpretive framework provides the lenses for enga[g/z]ing (gaze back at) the text.
Labels: biblical.studies, pacific, sbl
Labels: culture, nz, sbl, video
Labels: sbl
Labels: bibliography, sbl, zotero
Tim, do you know if there will be any SBL Biblioblogger gathering at the SBL international meeting in July?Oh, yes Stephen, there will, the hereby announced, but as yet undated (since it was your comment that reminded me of the need to get something organised ;) Great, First Ever?, SBL International Bloggerfest. International (and indeed national, of any and all nationalities) bloggers with an interest in academic study of the Bible and/or Theology in any other of its (subsidiary? ;) forms are invited to share a meal and chat. All you will have to do is get yourself to Auckland at the time of the International SBL meeting this July. If anyone has a suitable microphone system we'll also tag on a meeting of the International Society for Theological Podcasting (and related disciplines) and do a podcast... Minor details like exact date, and location (our house, or some suitable eating house in walking distance of the conference...) to follow. But please (and seriously, folks) book the concept, and once it is announced book the date too!
Labels: biblical.studies.online, blog, podcast, sbl
Well, they are all doing it, first (I think) in "our" circles AKMA, then JPS both of whom run genius level blogs! Susanne gave us a brief round up, though the best anyone except John (who, I am reliably informed, cheats by pasting lots of Hebrew into every post) could achieve on her tests was Postgraduate Level. So I gave in to the temptation (I blame it on the marking it makes me go all light-headed) and tested Sansblogue. You can see the result on the right...
Labels: bible.dictionary, bible.software, sbl
Labels: hypertext, internet, sbl, todo
Labels: bible.dictionary, biblical.studies.online, sbl, wikipedia
Labels: sbl

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