It’s stinking cold up here in northern Alberta (Michael Pahl concurs). We’re going through a bit of a cold snap with temperatures around -25 degrees Celsius (that’s around -13 F for you Americans). We’ve also had a tonne of snow. It’s a sad day when you get excited by a forecast for -10 C weather by Thursday. And it’s only November! At least it’s a “dry” cold! 🙂
“Have you entered the storehouses of snow?” (Job 38:22)
Uh, yeah, I live in Edmonton!
I got back from Washington late last night to cold blizzard-like conditions in Edmonton. I could barely see the car ahead of me on the short highway trip into town from the airport. I was exhausted. I dragged myself out of bed today since I had to teach three classes (OT Literature, Intro Hebrew, and a senior course on Psalms).
I will probably write a post or two about SBL, but not tonight. Suffice it to say for now that I very much enjoyed this year’s SBL. I enjoyed meeting old friends (and seeing the new James Bond film with a number of them), making new friends and acquaintances, putting faces to the names of other bloggers, buying books (way too many!), and listening to some interesting papers (and some not so interesting).
For those who weren’t at SBL and still happened upon this blog, I trust you enjoyed (or at least tolerated!) my “Best of Codex” posts.
I am flying to Washington shortly. While I may post a bit about the conference from Washington, don’t count on it! 🙂
While I am away, I am going to run a little “Best of Codex” series. These are posts that I consider somehow representative of what I do on this blog. Some of the “Best of” posts are ones that are popular, some are ones that I enjoyed writing, while others illustrate some of my academic interests.
Please note that this is not scientific or anything! These are just some of the 500+ posts that I have written in the year and a half since I started this blog. If I thought about it longer, I imagine there would be many posts I would deem better — I will save those for the next time I run a “Best of Codex.”
Have a great weekend!
I recognize that this “theological” post is a bit off-topic for my blog (it has nothing to do with potties or Hebrew tattoos! :-)), but I figured I could branch out every once and a while!
My small group has just started working through Brian D. McLaren‘s A Generous Orthodoxy (Zondervan, 2004; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com) and we are all quite enjoying it. I have read most of it before, but will be working through it in a bit more detail with the group. I find McLaren an engaging and thoughtful read. He certainly is provocative and pushes the envelop in much of what he writes — something which I quite frankly find refreshing.
I recognize that McLaren has received quite a bit of flack for his views and that many consider the “emergent” movement suspect (for a kind response to critics of McLaren, see Scot McKnight’s post here). I am sympathetic to many of the themes and impluses expressed by McLaren and other authors associated with the emergent movement (if you can really call it a “movement”). I imagine much of my sympathy was fostered in the many theology courses I took with Stan Grenz at Regent College/Carey Theological Seminary. It was from Stan’s book Renewing the Center (Baker Academic, 2000; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com) that McLaren was first introduced to the term “generous orthodoxy” (Stan in turn got the language from Hans Frei). That being said, there are some aspects of McLaren’s work that as a biblical scholar/theologian I have some issues with (as McLaren himself anticipates!).
At any rate, if I feel so inclined I may post some musings on A Generous Orthodoxy in the upcoming months as we work through the book. So stay tuned (or if this isn’t your cup of tea, then I imagine there will be plenty of other posts for you to read!).
So, if you are thinking of buying me a Christmas present, you can always buy me some tickets to the 2007 Rugby World Cup since tickets go on sale today. Of course, you would have to buy me airplane tickets to France as well, since that is where the World Cup is being held next year.
Team Canada will have an uphill battle since we will playing in Pool B along with Australia, Wales, Fiji and the winner of the top team from Asia. Australia will be the toughest challenge. I also like Wales, but that is more because I have Welsh heritage. Canada’s first game is against Wales in Nantes on 9 September 2007 and will then we play Fiji in Cardiff on 16 September, Asia 1 in Bordeaux on 25 September and Australia in Bordeaux on 25 September.
I can’t wait. Rugby is the best game in the world!