Bible Golf Balls Promise a Holy Hole in One

Here is an excerpt from story from the scotsman.com called “Bible text balls promise a holy hole in one“:

GOLFERS feeling below par and in need of divine inspiration could do worse than attend a church exhibition in the Capital. The Scottish Christian Resources Exhibition (CRE), at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre, will feature a set of three Glory Golf Balls, each inscribed with Bible text. One reads: “. . . but each shall go out straight ahead”, Ezekiel 46: 9; while another says: “Lift up your eyes on high and see . . . not one is missing”, Isaiah 40:26. The third reads: “I have finished the course. I have kept the faith”, 2 Timothy 4:7.

I could have used some of these balls — especially a bunch with the Ezekiel quote — for my round of golf on the weekend!

Update: After publishing my blog entry I noticed that Jim West over at Biblical Theology blog also noted this article, though he didn’t see the humour in it! (Of course, perhaps the sad thing is that many sincere people (including the manufacturers?) don’t see the humour in stuff like this either! This sort of “Jesus Junk” reminds me of an excellent book by Colleen McDannell called Material Christianity: Religion and Popular Culture in America (Yale University Press, 1995; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com), in which she examines the role these sort of material artifacts have played in Christianity and Mormonism.)

An Awesome Alberta Weekend

No this is not a paid advertisement for Travel Alberta! Now that I got that cleared up, I must say my family had a great weekend at Crimson Lake. The weather was great, the lake wasn’t that busy, and everyone had lots of fun. The kids had a great time searching for minnows and leeches off the dock, paddle-boating, kayaking, playing on Splash Island, eating s’mores around the campfire, and just being together with their buddies. Perhaps the highlight of the weekend for them was tubing. They had a blast! My oldest girl received the dubious honour of the only kid being flipped out of the tube — and she loved it. My other younger daughter was almost bounced out of the tube, though her bronco-bucking skills kept her in the tube. My four-year old boy wasn’t quite so adventurous! I got some reading in (though not much), but managed to get in a round of golf at a picturesque course near Rock Mountain House, as well as some cribbage and a game of chess. All in all it was an awesome Alberta weekend.

Here are a few pictures:


Here is a shot of our friend’s cabin from the dock.

Here is a shot from the cabin porch in the morning.

My two daughters are sitting on the outside…
OK, my youngest daughter is barely sitting!
She’s holding on for dear life.


My youngest daughter and her friend enjoying some waves.

Blogging Slowdown

I want to wish everyone a great weekend. I won’t be blogging the next few days as my family is heading to Crimson Lake, Alberta, for a long weekend full of tubing, canoeing, kayaking, and putting my feet up and reading on the beach.

Shalom!

Inexpensive Books and SBL Publications New Releases

The Society of Biblical Literature’s Summer 2005 Publications catalog is now available online. Included in it are three new releases:

Jim West over at Biblical Theology Blog has recently lamented the cost of books here and here, as has Torrey Seland over at the Philo of Alexandria Blog here. I (and especially my wife) would like to join the lament (so now it’s a bona fide communal lament!). I find it very difficult to purchase books from publishers in the U.K. and Europe due to budget constraints, and even if I did have the money, I’m not sure I could honestly justify the price in some cases. As someone who does typesetting and editing on the side, I also have a good sense of what goes into producing a book and the only conclusion I can draw is that materials and labour in the U.K. and Europe must be quite high! (Though I understand why some books, like DJD volumes are so expensive) On the other hand, I don’t think that the classic academic publishers are making money hand over fist on our esoteric academic offerings. That being said, I want to give public kudos to the Society of Biblical Literature for their joint publishing project with E.J. Brill Publishers. This excellent arrangement provides inexpensive volumes into the hands of students and scholars, whilebeautifullyy bound hardcover volumes areavailablee for libraries or independently wealthy scholars! It makes me proud to be a member! 🙂

Posted in SBL

Update to My Old Testament on Film Pages

OT on FilmI have made some up-dates to my Old Testament on Film pages. Most of the up-dates are based on an excellent, albeit almost impossible to purchase, book:

  • Richard H. Campbell and Michael R. Pitts. The Bible on Film: A Checklist, 1897-1980. Scarecrow Press, 1981.

This is an excellent resource which I wish I knew about when I was compiling my database of films! (Though I had many which they did not include.)

At any rate, I believe my list is comprehensive — or at least as comprehensive as I can get!