Steal my Bible will ya??

Blog readers of a delicate nature should turn away now....

From the Guardian...

A group of Franciscan friars furious at the theft of bibles from their church in Florence have taken the unusual step of praying for the thief to be struck down by diarrhoea.

Friars at the 15th century church of San Salvatore al Monte, which was a favourite of Michelangelo, were irritated when a rare and expensive bible disappeared from the lectern, and they flew off the handle when a replacement bible donated by a worshipper also went missing and within a few hours.
In a note, pinned up in full view of worshippers, the friars say they hope the thief sees the error of his ways. But in case he does not, they add: "We pray to God that the thief is struck by a strong bout of the shits." This turn of events will, they hope, "encourage him to carry out no further thefts".

Described by La Stampa newspaper as "the product of the Tuscan ability to be ironic about anything", the note and its unorthodox request will be forgiven, claim one of the friars. "It is not exactly clean language," the friar said, "but we couldn't put up with it any longer. The Lord and the faithful will understand."

Interior of San Salvatore al Monte

Now there's a proper group of biblenerds if there ever was one!

Senior Cycle Religion-The Inner Circle

For any teachers getting ready to return to work next week, make sure to get a copy of the workbook for the Senior Cycle religion book The Inner Place which has just been published by Veritas. I'm going back to school (literally) next week, to teach Senior Cycle Religious Education (i.e. there's no exam in the subject but it's taught as part of the commitment of the school to its ethos) and to train to be a fully qualified second level teacher. There may be a bit of slant to my posts in the next year!

The workbook contains worksheets to encourage students to explore further the ideas and concepts which are presented in the textbook and as any teacher of a non exam subject will attest, we need all the resources we can get!

According to the website blurb "there are also many suggestions for project work which will enrich the students’ involvement in the religion class and encourage further reflection on what is being presented." A mere €4.99 (plus €1.50 handling fee) it's well worth the investment. I'll let you know how it works out!

Resources for "Mary"

Published here with the kind permission of Intercom (subscribe today!!)

In honour of the Feast of the Assumption on August 15^th it is useful to look at some websites that offer helpful resources on Mariology and the various feast days associated with the Mother of Jesus.

The BBC website is always an excellent starting point for any theme which you wish to explore. The website here gives the history of the Feast of the Assumption and the teachings of the Vatican on the Assumption. The layout and text is simple and straightforward and would be a useful teaching tool and basis for further inquiry and study, which can be found on the various articles on the Feast of the Assumption and Mary on the website of the Catholic Encyclopaedia.

The website of the The MarianLibrary/International Marian Research Institute in Ohio and this Mary Page offers resources covering a wide range of materials.  Information is provided on recent bibliography, references to Mary on magisterial documents, and gives access to the data files of the Institute on all aspects of Marian studies, such as Scripture, the Liturgy, Mary through History, the special relationship between Mary and women, Mary in ecumenism and World Religions such as Asian religions and Marian devotions. Make sure to have a look at the contemplation on a fifteenth-century Greek Orthodox icon as a reflection on the Feast of the Assumption.

The website of Loyola Press, the Jesuit publishing company provides excellent resources on various Marian themes and is a great starting point for anyone who wishes to increase their understanding and prayer life. The site provides a downloadable PDF book on the life of Mary, information on Marian Celebrations and Feast Days, guidance on praying the Rosary and some meditations on the Rosary itself. There are also various Marian prayers and some helpful articles on Mary in Scripture, the Holiness of Mary and the Immaculate Conception. There are also links to the large variety of books the publishers have available, from those which would be helpful to younger children, to those who wish to follow a more in-depth study.

The website of the publication Scripturefrom Scratch hosts an article by Daniel W. Casey, Jr., is Professor of Biblical Interpretation at the Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies. It is a very accessible piece on the “Magnificat" and would be an excellent resource for either personal information or for use in the classroom.

Intercom Website Reviews

My June website reviews for the ever awesome Intercom (subscribe today!!!)

The official website of the Catholic Bishops has been revamped and is well worth visiting and bookmarking if you have not done so already. The site is very user friendly and easy to navigate which is useful as the site contains a huge amount of information and resources. Use the tabs at the top of the page to navigate the main sections of the site; news, features, publications, multimedia and the calendar. The multimedia section is excellent and contains audio and video files on important developments in the Catholic Church which are hosted on YouTube and therefore easily shared on social media and parish website. Particularly noteworthy are the new resources on the New Missal, including videos and resources from the National Centre for Liturgy.

The new Vatican news website is an excellent website featuring rich audio-visual media that can be easily shared on social networks. According to the Vatican, the website was ultimately created to ‘dialogue with the world.’ The site aims to gather news from all parts of the Catholic world and make it easy to absorb and discuss it. Since ‘dialogue’ is the ground of the modern communication revolution, this new site is bound to please the online Catholic community. The site also appears to have embraced a recurring criticism of previous Vatican websites that they tended to be quite drab. The site is colourful and contains content that changes quickly, surely a sign that the Vatican is embracing the fast paced, information hungry Internet. It includes Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter integration, streaming video, blogs, and a full archive of media. And mobile fans need not worry: everything on the site is fully accessible through iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. the news portal will offer live-streaming of papal events, audio clips from the Vatican Radio, pictures from the newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and printed transcripts of papal homilies, statements and speeches. Each of the Vatican media represented on the portal, including the Vatican Television Centre and the Vatican press office and information service, will retain their independent websites.
While the portal will initially offer two languages, English and Italian, the Vatican plans to add German, French, Spanish and Portuguese versions to the website over time. The Vatican may also add a search function and a distinct link to the Vatican homepage.  And yes, I am jealous of the fact the Pope has an iPad :)

The website of the Pontifical Council for the Laity was updated recently and now is split into four main sections-associations and movements, youth, women, and the Church and Sport. The website is a good source of resources for those who would like to know more about the role of the laity in the Church. The site has yet to embrace the design of more modern sites but is worth taking the time to navigate and see what is available.

Lastly for those who have embrace Twitter make sure to follow the Intercom magazine @IntercomJournal and give your feedback on content as well as what you would like to see included in future features!

The Great Isaiah Scroll

Photo of the Great Isaiah Scroll (well chapters Chapters 58:6–65:4) Photo Credit

The Isaiah manuscript A is one of seven scrolls discovered in Qumran in 1947. In subsequent years some 950 scrolls, most of them fragmentary, were found in this region. Of these, 200 are biblical (i.e. Old Testament) and represent all the books of the Bible, many in numerous copies, except the Books of Esther and Nehemiah.

This is the largest and best preserved scroll, and the only biblical book that survived in its entirety. The 54 columns contain all 66 chapters, without a marked division between what modern scholarship regards as First and Second Isaiah. The scroll is one of the oldest Dead Sea Scrolls.

The full scroll available to view on the Israel Museum website and is well worth taking the time to download. Apart from just dribbling over it showing my true nerdiness, I'm also using it in my classes on Isaiah and in a more general was, to demonstrate how an ancient scroll would have been used.

Blog Roll

I've finally got around to tiding up my Blog Roll, some Wordpress users have got even fancier (yes James McGrath, I'm talking about you and your lovely iPad-jealous.com) and have moved to Patheos which has a gorgeous layout and well worth a look in its own right. Some discontinued blogs have gone, though I just can't seem to let go of Hebrew Tattoos even though it has been over a year since the last post.

I've added Ken Brown's C.Orthodoxy which I've been following for a while but never added. Check out the great review of the new Harry Potter film. I've also managed to find another woman out there, Suzanne McCarthy on Suzanne's Bookshelf-worthy winner of the June 2011 Top Biblioblogs. Have a look at their list of biblioblogs and the Reference library for more great bloggers!

Let me know if you've any more recommendations (or can find any more broken links!)

Your Christmas Gifts sorted

Finally, proof that I do more that post cartoons on my blog-the book I wrote as part of my postdoctoral research in the Milltown Institute and which was funded by the Irish Jesuits (no longer can I confuse people by saying I’m a Jesuit postdoctoral student. Yes women can get funding too....). Publishing your first book is weird. I can’t think of any academic terminology that better sums the experience up, so I’m going to stick with “weird” for the time being. Having your work out there for people to read and comment on without you sitting over their shoulder explaining yourself has to be one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever done (and I’ve tried to teach sexual ethics to the fifth years). I was ridiculously lucky to get a contract with Continuum (who are now owned by Bloomsbury, so I can legitimately say that myself and J.K. Rowling share the same publisher) who were very patient with all my spelling mistakes and my naive idea that it was a good call to publish something with English, Classical Arabic, Hebrew and Greek in it. English all the way in the next one I swear...

So give a kid a break and buy a copy for friends, family, co-workers....the dog...just once they don’t actually read it. If you want a copy for review (nice things only!) please feel free to email me or Continuum. The preview is available on Google Books and the blurb below

This book offers a welcome solution to the growing need for a common language in interfaith dialogue; particularly between the three Abrahamic faiths in our modern pluralistic society. The book suggests that the names given to God in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Qur’an, could be the very foundations and building blocks for a common language between the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths. On both a formal interfaith level, as well as between everyday followers of each doctrine, this book facilitates a more fruitful and universal understanding and respect of each sacred text; exploring both the commonalities and differences between each theology and their individual receptions.
In a practical application of the methodologies of comparative theology, Maire Byrne shows that the titles, names and epithets given to God in the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam contribute towards similar images of God in each case, and elucidates the importance of this for providing a viable starting point for interfaith dialogue.

Lordie, I've come over all American on my self-promotion, next thing will be business cards ;)

Using Word (Tag) Clouds in Teaching

I've been playing about word (or tag) clouds and teaching for a while now. My problem is that when I'm brainstorming with my students, I never know quite what to do with the results in terms of saving them for future lessons or for something that students can refer back to in their own time, for example when I use them with creative writing and ideas for an essay or story. My writing is the pits and words in a list like a word document don't ever seem to cut the creative mustard, so I've been hunting for an alternative.

While Word Clouds are not the answer to all the problems in life, they are a good start and something I'm going to try and use a bit more in class as an experiment. I use Wordle as a tool to create them but try to use others such as Taxedo, Tagcrowd, and Worditut. A word or tag cloud is simply a weighted list a visual representation for text data, typically used to depict tags on websites, or to visualise free form text. It's good to use to put together group work-for example if students are reviewing the Genesis creation accounts, you can see from the size of the word on your word cloud, the frequency it occurs in feedback.

Word Cloud for this website created on Wordle. Not sure why it looks like a hairdryer though...

Word Cloud of Exodus 15:1-18 created on Wordle.

And the Book of Jonah-I used this with some of my postgraduate students last semester when we were looking at the distribution of the divine names in the text.



Do remember that you have to set up Java to get the site to work properly and that you need to take a screen shot of the Word Cloud and crop it in a programme like Paint to save it as a png file you can work with. Most sites have a "help" section that guides you through the dumb questions :)

For more information on word clouds in education, have a look at research from Bath University (they have an excellent comparison of some of the top sites to save you the finger work), Box of Tricks (with great practical examples of use in a classroom) and more on Wordle in teaching with lots of samples. 

Lest I get too serious....

These all came from emails so if anyone wants to get cross about copyright infringements holla!

Website Reviews

A selection of website reviews reprinted with kind permission from the ever awesome Intercom. First published in June 2011.

The website for the Eucharistic Congress 2012 is fully up and running and if you have not viewed it for a while it is worth checking back to see how it has been updated. There is a countdown clock and the latest news now works on RSS feeds so you can easily be updated with the most up to date information. There are more videos (including Fr. Kevin Doran’s interview on EWTN regarding the preparations for the Congress) and an excellent event guide where you can search the events by each diocese. Registration for pilgrims to attend the conference opens in June and the website offers very accessible information on the different types of accommodation available, travel arrangements and information on the various programmes of Congress Week. There is also information on the Theological Symposium to be held in Maynooth, the speakers of Congress Week and an excellent “FAQ” section. The Congress Prayer and Hymn are illustrated with excellent videos and make sure to sign up for information and the e-zine. The website really contributes to both informing the public of the preparations involved in the Congress, and to raising interest and excitement in this special event.

Preparations for World Youth Day 2011 are well under way and information can be found on the official website. The website gives plenty of colourful information on the preparations in Madrid and worldwide for the event in August. The multimedia section is particulary useful, with videos, audio clips and photographs of everything from the WYD Hymn, to the stations of the Cross, to a day in the life of the diocese preparing for the influx of pilgrims. The site, taking its target audience into account, makes full use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter(@madrid11_en), XT3 and Flickr which makes for a fun and exuberant website with lots of information to explore. The website also gives the current location of the WYD Cross and Icon as it makes its own journey to the Madrid and the handy “ABC Guide” to WYD covers all practicalities that a pilgrim or an interested party may require.

Resources from Spiritfest 2011

As usual I'm playing catch up with everything I need to share! I've posted my Powerpoint and Handouts from the workshop I gave for Spiritfest 2011 in the Armagh Diocese on July 2nd. The event was a a three day festival of prayer in preparation for the Eucharistic Congress in 2012. International keynote speakers such as Fr Lawrence Freeman and Monica Brown were joined by Bishop Richard Clarke, Rev Ruth Patterson, Fr Paschal McDonnell and Professor Eamon Conway. I really njoyed the one day I attended-I got to a presentation on contemplative meditation given by Lawrence Freeman. I deliberately went to something different and was pleased with what we talked about, though it also reiterated for me the importance of knowing the time limits of your workshop or session and keeping to them! An hour on an uncomfortable chair helped me connect with my students no end! He also talked about meditation with children, the theory of which I enjoyed, but am a little skepical about the practice! Maybe I'll be brave enough to try it next year. For more info on Laurence's work have a look here.

Praying the Psalms

Praying the Psalms

The YouTube of Zucchero and Andre Bocelli singing "Miserere" or Psalm 52

Can't believe I missed these...

I'm doing a bit of work on the difference between religious imagery and kitsch (there be a thin line let me tell you) but there is very little debate surrounding what category the Ten Plagues Finger Puppets fall into.

Available from Amazon and several other stores what Pentateuch class could survive without these? All credit to the designer Yitzy Erps.

EABS Annual Meeting-Blog

If you're attending the EABS International meeting during the summer in Thessaloniki (more info here) make sure to check out the meeting's blog with lots of helpful info regarding accommodation, the weather and cultural info and excursion options.

Teaching Resources-The Seder Plate

As part of my teaching on Exodus I talk about the Passover and have blogged on the resources I have used here.

One thing I always wanted was a Seder plate to bring into class (and here I include second and third level teaching) so that I can show my students. Now Seder plates are not the easiest thing to pick up in Ireland and any ones I found were very beautiful but prohibitively expensive for my salary (or lack of). The same with online as postage on a large ceramic plate from the US to Ireland always made it difficult-that was until I found ChocolateGelt and their Plastic Seder Plates for a mere €2.25 each. (Glet is slang for money)

They offer very reasonable shipping-here’s the copy from my invoice for shipping to Ireland

Products
------------------------------------------------------

2 x Plastic Seder Plate Jerusalem (EACH) (Item #1237) = $5.50

------------------------------------------------------

Sub-Total: $5.50

United States Postal Service (1 x 0.78lbs) (First-Class Mail International Package): $9.04

Total: $14.54

They arrived super fast too-though it gave my Dad something to puzzle over and he was very disappointed that there was no chocolate in the massive box that arrived for me!

I only wish I’d ordered some Chocolate Seder Plates at the same time :)

Some more resources since I last blogged:
 
The Virtual Seder Plate
How to Prepare the Seder Plate
Guide for Jewish Children: Contains Hebrew but also lots of bright and colourful illustrations that can be used in an Irish classroom
Colouring Page
BBC activities for the Passover (with info on the Seder Plate) Note the videos are only available in the UK.
Make your own Seder Plate (young children)

FaithConenct Website Review-for Second Level Teachers

Review of FaithConnect website for second level RE teachers in Ireland as published in the ever brilliant Intercom :)

The FaithConnect website is an interactive website for second level Senior Cycle non-exam Religious Education which was developed by a team from Mater Dei and Veritas, lead by Enda Donlon and Orla Walsh. The website centres on the ‘Search for Meaning’ segment of the curriculum framework for the subject, and the topic is presented in three separate sections that can be used with Transition Year, Fifth Year and/or Sixth Year students. These sections are A) Searching, B) Symbol and C) Religious Faith – a response to life’s search for meaning. One section is ample to make up an entire Senior Cycle Module or a full TY RE programme.

FaithConnect is an interactive website so each student needs to have their own personal account and an individual computer in front of them to use this resource successfully. A student licence provides access to the FaithConnect body of content, a personal profile page, online workbook, journal and blog (an option that the teacher must turn on). This licence is valid for the school year and the website can be accessed as many times as a student wishes from any computer. Student work can be downloaded and saved at the end of the year. For every 25 student licences purchased a school is entitled to receive a complimentary teacher licence (minimum purchase of 10 is required). This features all the management tools and support they will need to use this resource with your class. It is easy to set up and use. The teacher site also includes access to the virtual staffroom where teacher can ‘connect’ with other teachers to discuss and share ideas. The price for the school year is €10.00 per student per section.

Each theme is presented in three sections that are divided into three stages, for example Section A is “Searching” and is split into “The Search for Meaning in Today’s World”, “Sources for Meaningless” and “Questioning as part of the Search for Meaning”. Each section has three set Outcomes for the students to complete and it is here that the pedagogical benefits can shine.

Outcome One is presented in a creative web format that will enable the students to complete an online workbook, journal and blog. For students who are so familiar with these forms of communication and self expression in a more secular setting, it is fantastic to see these media being used to aid their religious and spiritual growth. This outcome also contains a variety of interactive content, which includes online texts, images, streamed videos and “just for fun” exercises. There are also lots of links to external websites for more information and additional material for debate.

Outcome Two empowers the students to take responsibility for the content explored in the first outcome of each section. This is achieved by students creating digital resources that may be shared with their own school community and uploaded to the FaithConnect website for use with the FaithConnect online community. The students develop their filming, editing, and production skills within this section, as well as expanding their own individual understanding of the importance of the search for meaning in their lives.

Outcome Three is parish based and proves that a good online resource does not mean that you are stuck in front of a glowing computer screen all day. This section requires the students to choose a specific topic from the sections studied and then to connect with people in their local area in order to explore how such an issue has affected, impacted upon, or transformed these people’s lives in various ways. The interview is recorded and uploaded to FaithConnect as a podcast.

In addition to these sections, there are also a number of features and resources which enhance the interactive learning experience for students and teachers. Each student can create their own “Profile”, working in much the same way as a social networking site such as Facebook. “Moments of Prayer” invite students to take time out of their day, either alone, or within their own class group, to establish an online prayer routine. There is a huge library of prayers that both teachers and pupils can use. The Words of Wisdom section contains inspirational and motivational quotations which can serve as a link between different sections, or allowing the student to engage at a more thoughtful level with the material discussed. There is also a workbook and a blog, where students can answer specific questions relating to the outcomes above. The student Journal is an online resource whereby they can record their thoughts and answers in relation to the different outcomes. Very usefully, teachers can view these journal entries and leave comments for the students.

For further information please contact Ailís Travers.

Resources for Ministers of the Word

I've been working a bit on resources for Ministers of the Word lately and thought I would share what I had already collected:

For anyone who wishes to offer more resources to their Liturgy groups, there are ample websites containing lots of resources for various groups, including Ministers of the Word. The Archdiocese of Dublin website  is an excellent starting point, particularly for those who are starting a group or who wish to begin formal training of the Ministers of the Word in their parish. The site contains three main pages devoted to the Ministry of the word, including guidelines for those involved, reflections for those participating and a blessing that may be used at the commissioning of a group of ministers.


Looking further afield, the Liturgy Commission in England and Wales has produced a range of materials to help those who have a ministerial role in the celebration of the Liturgy of the Word understand their responsibilities. Worksheets are used to address subjects such as the “role of the reader”, for example, the skills and abilities they need or the assistance they might find helpful. The site includes a brief consideration of why the readings are read at Mass; the language of the scriptures; encouragement for readers to practice how to read the different types of readings which feature in the Lectionary – poetry, narrative, discourse, letters etc; a list of resources for developing practical skills. These skills are treated thoroughly such as why should a reader prepare a reading? How might they do this? What are their other responsibilities? How might they deepen their love for the scriptures? There is also a check list to help give feedback to readers: Do they read audibly, clearly, expressively etc? Do they stand well at the ambo and make good use of the microphone, etc?

In conjunction with this online resource, there is a PDF document available for download from the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales that would be excellent for discussion by any group of readers. This contains factual information which is clearly explained (such as the Vatican’s pronouncements on the participation of Ministers of the Word during the Liturgy) with suggested further reading for those who are interested. There is advice for the Coordinator of the readers and how to select people to serve, as well as how to offer support for those involved in the group.

Thanks to one of my students, Phillip Lough for recommending Lector Notes (which is full of usefulnotes and links). Finally, St Benedict’s Parish in Canada’s website has some beautiful prayers for Ministers of the Word for personal reflection and for use at meetings of this important Liturgy group.

I recently gave a short presentation on the Reading for the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday that you might find helpful.

Readings for Easter

Readings for Easter

Some light relief...

I started my lectures of Images of God in prophetic Literature course with a cartoon and have since been under pressure to provide light entertainment at each lecture....here's some for "Creator" :)

Church "wins" Court Case over Banned Bible Ad

As someone who is teaching Leviticus next week, I've just printed out the BBC Northern Ireland report quoted below to give to my students:

A High Court judge has overturned a decision by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that an advertisement by a Belfast church was homophobic.


Sandown Free Presbyterian Church launched judicial review proceedings against the ASA after being found to be in breach of its code of practice.

The judge ruled the ASA's decision interfered with the church's rights to freedom of expression.

Rev David McIlveen described it as a landmark ruling.

The case centred on a full-page advert taken out in the News Letter ahead of a Gay Pride parade in Belfast in August 2008.

It was headlined 'The word of God against sodomy' and invited people to meet for a peaceful gospel witness against the act.

After receiving seven complaints that the notice was homophobic, the ASA ruled it could not appear again in the same form.

Freedom of expression

It also told the church to take more care in future to avoid causing serious offence.

Sandown Free Presbyterian Church's legal team argued its rights to religious belief and freedom of expression under European law had been breached.

They also claimed the church was not offered the chance to offer an explanation before the ban was imposed.

The church argued the ASA misinterpreted a quotation from the Book of Leviticus which branded homosexual acts an abomination.

According to the church the description applied to sodomy itself rather than any individuals.

In his ruling on Tuesday, Mr Justice Treacy stressed the context of the advertisement was important.

"Bible scripture"


The judge noted that the advertisement contained no exhortation to violence and that it also made clear how violent antagonism towards homosexuals was unacceptable and unjustifiable.

He said: "The applicant's religious views and the biblical scripture which underpins those views no doubt cause offence, even serious offence, to those of a certain sexual orientation.

"Likewise, the practice of homosexuality may have a similar effect on those of a particular religious faith.

"But Article 10 (of the European Convention on Human Rights) protects expressive rights which offend, shock or disturb.

"Moreover, Article 10 protects not only the content and substance of information but also the means of dissemination since any restriction on the means necessarily interferes with the right to receive and impart information."

Mr Justice Treacy emphasised that his assessment took into account the very particular context in which the advertisement was placed.

He noted: "The fact that the advertisement did not condone and was not likely to provoke violence, (it) contained no exhortation to other improper or illegal activity, (and) constituted a genuine attempt to stand up for their religious beliefs and to encourage others to similarly bear witness."

He said this had been done by citing well-known portions of scripture which underpinned the church's religious faith and its call to bear witness.

"Whilst such views and scriptural references may be strongly disdained and considered seriously offensive by some, this does not justify the full scope of the restrictions contained in the impugned determination," the judge added.

Rev McIlveen expressed delight with the outcome outside the court.

Flanked by the Rev Ian Paisley, he said: "We want to make it clear we had nothing against the seven people who objected to the advertisement.

"This is a landmark now for future decisions. People can quote the Bible and that's a freedom that we have sought."

I teach Leviticus as part of my Pentateuch course and for ages couldn't find a useful "secondary reading" to go along with the text that was at a level suitable for my students and could give them a "way into" the text. So I composed the following based on the "Dr Laura Letter". I give my students a handout with the biblical texts that are referenced and we start from there! There's rather a lot in the above news article (the impact of the phrase "Flanked by Rev Ian Paisley" cannot be ignored, nor the use of "Bible Scripture" in inverted commas. And you could teach a whole course on "People can quote the Bible and that's a freedom that we have sought". In fact I smell an essay question!)

Dr Laura Letter

Must Watch TV-Bible's Buried Secrets on BBC 2 Tuesday 21:00

Now I have to admit that I haven't seen the BBC 2 documentary "The Bible's Buried Secrets" which began last week and airs again tonight in the second of three parts but as one of my friends declared "any excuse". Meaning, isn't it fantastic that we actually have something "Bible" to watch (that isn't on the History Channel).

The host is Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou (who I met only very briefly at SOTS where she is secretary) who is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religous Studies in the University of Exeter. She blogs here on the BBC website about making the programme.

I teach on Tuesday evenings and have yet to reach the dizzy heights of a salary that would allow me a Sky+ box so I shall have to await a rerun. Meanwhile I have benn entertained with the reviews of it. I offer a reward to anyone who can find me a review of programme based on the Bible with a male presenter that features so much focus on the presenter's makeup and clothes. Though I suspect you'd be hard-pressed to find a programme that would feature bible archeology and a black cocktail dress (SEE, I told you you *had* to watch it).

The Daily Telegraph and here. Daily Mail readers doubt the ability of a Senior Lecturer ("She looks awful young!"-read "She's wearing knee high boots!") to know anything about anything (look at comments below the article). There's also an interesting article in TIME magazine on Asherah.
Tonight's episode is "Did God have a wife?" Let me know what you think!

Website Reviews: Bible Study Group Resources

Published with kind permission of the Editor of Intercom.

Many parishes are setting up Bible study groups for interested parishioners. There are plenty of general resources for Bible study on the Internet but here are some that are specific to Catholic group work.
The Scripture School site has been developed to help make resources better known, both to individual Catholics and to diocesan and parish staff involved in adult faith formation. The site contains descriptions and evaluations of Bible study resources of various types and levels (from the complete beginner to those who wish to consult more advanced material. Advice on when to use each resource, depending on where you are in your knowledge of the Bible and ideas for parish (or other) study groups for each level of Bible study that is discussed. There are also links and information about Catholic publishers with a range of books for all levels of study.

The website of the Catholic Biblical Association of Canada offers a wealth of resources for setting up a bible study group and for beginning personal study. The link from the home page to resources includes plenty of resources to begin explorations of the sacred texts. There are links to online bibles (Word on Web), information on biblical archeology and video resources. The sections on “Jewish roots” and “Greek language” offer fantastic insights on biblical themes from the area of their original contexts and language. Lots of the resources are by Fr Murray Watson who recently graduated with his PhD from Trinity College, Dublin.

The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology is a non-profit research and educational institute that promotes life-transforming Scripture study in the Catholic tradition. The Centre serves clergy and laity, students and scholars, with research and study tools, from books and publications to multimedia and on-line programming. The site contains some excellent resources such as podcasts, reflections on the readings from Sunday Mass, audio resources, “homily helps”, and study aids. There are endless PDF files on various biblical topics and will offer information and inspiration to any size and level of group. Registration is needed for Bible Study notes but this is free, secure and well worth doing.

Bibledex is a project by the University of Nottingham’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies in conjunction with video journalist Brady Haran. These video resources (hosted on YouTube) make an excellent starting point for any group discussion as they give a broad and informative guide to each book of the Bible with excellent commentaries from biblical theologians.