Matt Page, the Resource Centre Manger at the Open Heaven Church in Loughborough, U.K., has put together an excellent little survey of films based on the biblical book of Genesis. It covers everything from the first silent film based on the book of Genesis (Joseph vendu par ses frères [Joseph Sold by his Brothers], directed by Vincent Lorant-Heilbronn in 1904) to more recent straight-to-video productions.

One film that I was unaware of — and based on Matt’s brief review is well worth a gander — is La Genèse, directed Cheick Oumar Sissoko (1999; Buy from Amazon.ca: VHS or DVD | Buy from Amazon.com: VHS or DVD). According to Matt, Sissoko’s film tells the story of Abraham’s family from an African perspective (it is even filmed in the Bambara language of Mali, spoken by only few million worldwide) and as a result it does a great job portraying the nomadic tribal context in which the biblical story of Jacob and Esau is set. Sounds facinating; I have already put a hold on it from our local library and I’ll post my review as soon as I have viewed it.

For an exhaustive listing of films based on the Hebrew Bible, see my The Old Testament on Film pages.

The New York Times Book section has a review of Robert Pinsky’s book, The Life of David (Nextbook/Schocken, 2005; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com).

The book is the first in Schocken’s Jewish Encounters series which will feature popular books on different Jewish themes. Here is an excerpt from William Deresiewicz’s review:

The Life of David grows increasingly strong as it moves from David’s early years to the years of his reign. The evolution from disconnected legends like David’s battle with Goliath to the fuller record of a sitting king allows Pinsky to move from the waters of speculation to the solid ground of interpretation. Pinsky’s reading of David’s mystifyingly disastrous attempt to take a census as the embodiment of everything threatening about his revolutionary transformation of the Jewish people “from a masked, uncataloged, exclusionary, taboo-ridden culture of tribes to a visible, enumerated, inclusive civilization,” is a tour de force of historical imagining.

Most important, Pinsky achieves his stated goal of making David more accessible without making him cease to be alien, as any figure from so remote a culture must always remain. Some might argue that a work of this kind ought not be attempted in the first place, that to embroider the biblical text is false and presumptuous. But what Pinsky does here is squarely within the Midrashic tradition of narrative elaboration, even if his methods and sensibility are unmistakably modern. Whatever may be said of David and his lineage, it is this kind of creative engagement that makes the Bible itself live and endure.

It sounds like it would be a good read.

Loren Rosson III discovered today that his blog is worthless! (I’ve suspected as much for some time! 😉

As it turns out, my blog is also worthless! Bummer… I guess I’ll keep my day job! At least I can console myself that I am not alone in my misery!

There are a number of Edmonton area academic events relating to religious studies coming up this fall that I am either involved in or have caught my interest. If you are in the Edmonton area, you may want to catch one or all of these events:

1. University of Alberta Human Rights Lecture (Wednesday 26 October 2005)

Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, will deliver the University of Alberta Visiting Lectureship in Human Rights on Wednesday October 26, 2005 at 7:30 pm in the University of Alberta’s Myer Horowitz Theatre. Khan will be the eighth speaker in the annual U of A Visiting Lectureship in Human Rights. Established in 1998, the lectureship has brought many leading human rights advocates to campus, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shirin Ebadi. Tickets for the lecture are $10 and available through Ticketmaster. For more information go here.

2. Taylor University College Public Lecture on Postmodernity (Thursday 27 October 2005)

Next Thursday night, Dr. Merold Westphal, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University, New York, will be presenting a public lecture entitled, “Religious Uses of Secular Postmodernism: Toward a Postmodern Christian Faith” (7:30-9:00 pm). Many Christians see postmodernism as a threat to their faith. This lecture will take a closer look at this perceived threat and uncover how many aspects of secular postmodernism are actually useful in proclaiming the Christian faith. The lecture is free and will be held in Stencel Hall, in the Taylor Seminary Building, 11525-23 Avenue (access from the West parking lot off 23 Avenue). For more information, including promotional materials, please go online here or contact me at your convenience.

3. University of Alberta Lectures on “Rethinking Religion”

The Program in Religious Studies and the Department of English and Film Studies are sponsoring a series of four lectures by Garry Watson, Professor of English, University of Alberta, on the topic “Rethinking Religion and Where We Stand in Relation to It.” The lectures will be delivered in Humanities Centre L-4 at 3:00 pm on Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, 7, and 9, with a reception following the final lecture on the 9th. For more information, check out the U of A Religious Studies website here.

4. Taylor University College Public Lecture on C.S. Lewis (Thursday 10 November 2005)

The fourth and final installment of the 2005 Taylor Public Lectures on Religion & Culture will be presented by Dr. Martin Friedrich, Associate Professor of English, Taylor University College. C.S. Lewis once said that his task as a writer was to get past the “watchful dragons” of his readers. In his lecture entitled, “Past Watchful Dragons: Christianity in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Dr. Friedrich will examine the literary techniques that Lewis employed to get past those watchful dragons and to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. The lecture is free and will be held in Stencel Hall, in the Taylor Seminary Building, 11525-23 Avenue (access from the West parking lot off 23 Avenue). For more information, including promotional materials, please go online here or contact me at your convenience.

5. Association for Research in Religious Studies and Theology Annual General Meeting (Saturday 26 November 2005)

The Religion & Theology Department at Taylor University College will be hosting the Annual General Meeting of the Association for Research in Religious Studies and Theology. This year’s theme is “Magic, Demons and Healing: Light from Aboriginal Religions on the Gospels.” The meeting begins with registration at 8:30 am and will be finished by 2:00 pm. Registration is $20.00 (students/seniors $10.00). Registration includes coffee, snacks, and lunch, which will be catered by Nak for Catering. The meeting will be held in classroom S1 in the Taylor Seminary building. For more information, please see my Edmonton Area Academic Events Calendar here.

I hope I won’t regret this post indicating that I hope to be back on track in regards to my blogging! We have settled into our new abode to a degree that I hope I can actually get some other work done besides house-related work! I have run the ethernet lines for my office and my wife’s computer; I have installed the new washer and dryer and plumbed in the laundry sink so that we can have clean clothes; I have disposed of the myriad of boxes that have been littered throughout our house. My home office still needs some work, though the essentials are unpacked and set up.

There have been a number of interesting “discussions” in the biblio-blogosphere of late that I have wanted to post on; perhaps now I will have the chance!