First Day at SBL
What a blessed time. I got into DC last night at about 9pm and, since we had similar flight schedules, traveled with Chris Spinks to our hotel. My first steps out into the brisk, cold air were a beautiful welcome back to the East Coast, which feels so much more like home. After checking in, Chris and I went out to a place called “Dakota Cowgirl,” which apparently is a place where same-sex male couples go for food and drinks before or after hitting the gay club upstairs. So I guess Chris and I could have seemed like a gay couple, while our waitress called us each “baby” a few dozen too many times, but I had a good cup of chili.
This morning I went with Rob Muthiah over to the session for Mennonite Scholars and Friends, with a presentation from Daniel Boyarin responding to J. H. Yoder’s ideas of the Jewish-Christian schism. It was a great presentation with excellent responses. Afterwards, I greeted my former pastor (and now Goshen College president) Jim Brenneman and several other fellow Anabaptists from Pasadena Mennonite Church.
We walked over to the Convention Center and I picked up my tote bag and name tag holder and took awhile to try to find a place to eat in the Convention Center. We ended up eating at the “Café” behind the publisher exhibit, where I paid $10 for a salad, an orange, 10 oz. of OJ, and a sugar cookie. I’m going to stay away from the Café in the future. In the meantime, though, I ran into several Messiah profs (John Yeatts, Reta Finger, Susie Stanley, the Jacobsens, and Brian Smith [though, that was intentional]). It makes me wonder if I’ll run into any fellow Messiah alums. I surveyed the vast offerings of books and made a couple bargain purchases and generally had a grand old time.
Mount Washington and the GRE
I am nearing the end of this long summer academic journey. I have never had to think so much over one summer. Christina (my wife) and I are finally taking a nice vacation on the East Coast, visiting my mom and then her parents. My mom and her friend Ellen have this great place up in northern New Hampshire and we’re just kicking back for some well-deserved rest. Yesterday we drove up to the summit of Mount Washington which purportedly has the “worst weather in the world.” It boasts the highest wind speed ever recorded by humankind: 231 mph. When we stood on the summit, the temperature was about 47 degrees F and the wind was going about 45 mph. It was hard to stand up. The reason I look like a secret service agent in the picture is because I was trying to hold my glasses on my face. The picture makes it look a lot easier than it was. When we descended from the “tip top” rocks, it was much better. It was still pretty darn cold, but the wind calmed.
It was a little bit like preparing for and taking the GRE this summer. I started taking the Kaplan course about two months ago and for the past couple weeks I’ve been taking quizzes, practice tests, and memorizing vocab galore. Then the day came. September 7th, 12:30pm. Then I was done. I stepped out of the wind and I am amazed that it’s over. I will continue studying over the next several months because, even though I got a good score, I need to do better. I am feeling a little bit of GRE withdrawal, but it’s good to have a break. With this break I’m working on my paper for Intro to Early Judaism. It’s the first time all summer that I only have one academic task on which to focus. I will have to write more about that paper when it is slicked up a bit more.
Also, I have to send a thank you out to graham for adding this blog to the Anabaptist Aggregator. It’s a good group of thoughtful Anabaptists and I’m honored to be a part of it.
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Elsewhere . . .- Blog titles beginning with "A" to "Z" on your reader Mark Goodacre
- Of making many books there is no end Chris Brady
- Free Online: The Liddell-Scott Jones Lexicon S and C
- Does Higher Criticism Attempt to “Destroy the Bible”? II agathos
- Steven J. Friesen and the Identity of Satan’s Throne in Pergamum alan
- Does Higher Criticism Attempt to “Destroy the Bible”? agathos
- Bloomsbury buys Continuum Mark Goodacre
- Imperial America Peter J. Leithart
- C.F.D. Moule on the Birth of the New Testament d. miller
- Responding to Kostenberger (with comparisons to Marshall) Jeremiah
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