On behalf of Dr. James Linville of the University of Lethbridge, I am pleased to announce a call for student papers for the 4th Annual Research in Religious Studies Conference at the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta, Saturday 29 April – Sunday 30 April 2006. This is a special conference that their Department of Religious Studies holds especially for undergraduate and graduate students.

Papers from every discipline within the academic fields of the humanities and social sciences are welcome. The call for papers is posted online at the Lethbridge Religious Studies Department website or may be downloaded here.

From talking to Jim, he hopes that this conference will become a major event for Religious Studies students in the western provinces and neighbouring states.

Jim also noted that the University of Lethbridge has been selected to host the 2007 Pacific Northwest Regional meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Society of Biblical Literature and American School of Oriental Research. In light of this, the 2007 student’s conference will likely be scheduled just prior to this meeting, so contributors can attend both.

I think this student conference is a great idea and I am hoping to go down in April with some Taylor students in tow. Thanks for organizing this, Jim.

There has been a bit more discussion on the blog in regards to the 10th century abecedary inscription discovered at Tel Zeitah. See the additional posts by Jim West (here and here), while Joe Cathy responds to his detractors here. There is also a good discussion of the origin and order of the Hebrew alphabet on the Daily Hebrew blog.

As a point of clarification, the AP picture that I included on my previous blog entry on the inscription did identify P. Kyle McCarter as the individual in the photograph. The photograph was taken at a news conference at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary on Wednesday 9 November 2005.

Here is another AP photograph of the stone with Ron E. Tappy, the project director of the excavations, in the foreground. This side of the stone has a bowl-shaped hollow was carved in the side, which may suggest (according to Tappy) that the stone had been a drinking vessel for cult rituals.

BTW: The picture of the inscription by itself which is surfacing on the blogosphere is just a cropped version of the AP picture with P. Kyle McCarter in the foreground.

The latest Review of Biblical Literature has been posted. There are a number of Hebrew Bible related reviews as well as some interesting Second Temple ones. Here is a complete listing:

• Walter Brueggemann, Worship in Ancient Israel: An Essential Guide. Reviewed by Nijay Gupta and Thomas Hieke
• Bernd Janowski and Peter Stuhlmacher, eds., The Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 in Jewish and Christian Sources (Translated by Daniel P. Bailey). Reviewed by William Barker
• Rolf P. Knierim and George W. Coats, Numbers. Reviewed by Reinhard Achenbach
• Eckart Otto and Reinhard Achenbach, eds., Das Deuteronomium zwischen Pentateuch und Deuteronomistichem Geschichtswerk. Reviewed by A.G. Auld
• Madaline Vartejanu-Joubert, Folie et Société dans l’israël antique. Reviewed by Walter Vogels
• David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance. Reviewed by Eric Noffke
• Jean Duhaime, The War Texts: 1QM and Related Manuscripts. Reviewed by Annette Steudel
• Anthony Hilhorst and George H. Van Kooten, eds., The Wisdom of Egypt: Jewish, Early Christian, and Gnostic Essays in Honour of Gerard P. Luttikhuizen. Reviewed by Tobias Nicklas

Filed in: Reviews RBL

The list of the top 100 Spiritually Significant Films has been posted at the Arts and Faith Message Board.

I did a quick count and I have seen over 40 of the films listed. I agree with most of the list (not necessarily the ranking, but that they belong on the list), though there are always some that are absent and others that you wonder if they should be included in the top 100. I was somewhat surprised that I had not even heard of the top film: Rosetta (Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, 1999). It looks interesting. I will have to put that on my “to view” list.

I was happy to see one of my favourite films, Magnolia (P.T. Anderson, 1999) on the list at #27. I just presented a lecture on “Redemption in Magnolia” in my Religion and Popular Culture class last week — Going through the film again made me realize why I like that film so much. Brilliant!

OK, this advertisement for St. Paul Property and Liability Insurance is absolutely hilarious.

Thanks to Talmida for the heads up!