The Post-Screening Discussion of A Polite Bribe at SBL 2014

A week ago, I received an email from Robert Orlando, the director and producer of the movie documentary Apostle Paul - A Polite Bribe, informing me that the post-screening discussion between him, Ben Witherington, and Larry Hurtado is up on vimeo for public viewing. At the Society of Biblical Literature meeting in San Diego, there was a showing of the film to the scholarly community (on the evening of Nov. 22nd, 2014). The dialogue which took place afterwards can be found below:


APB Post Screening SD from A Polite Bribe on Vimeo.

   I have not watched all of it yet, but it looks good at first glance. Both Hurtado and Witherington are very judicious and thoughtful scholars, and we also get a glimpse into the motivations and aspirations which spurred Orlando to pursue this project, for the benefit of many. 
   Here is also a link to my own blog review of the film. 

Book edition of the film (with notes!)
available for purchase at amazon

Lastly, in case anyone wished the film had footnotes for where its ideas were originating from, Orlando has published a book version of his thesis through Wipf & Stock Publishers. Click the link above to purchase it through amazon. Enjoy!

Proposals, Panels, and Exams

The end of February through early March has been a tough dry spell from blogging. I have several half-finished posts in the queue but have been delayed with: 1) grading 35 undergraduate papers, 2) grading 35 undergraduate quizzes, 3) grading 30 seminary New Testament 2 midterms, 4) grading 30 seminary papers, 5) grading 20 Greek II midterms, and then 6) I flew away this weekend to sunny/rainy/humid Orlando, Florida to attend the Association of Theological Schools Roundtable events for Ethnic/Racial and Midcareer Faculty (Mar 5-8, 2015). The rountables, by the way, were fantastic. I participated in a panel on collaborative projects, but also learned much from colleagues in the area of post-tenure research, teaching, administrative service, and formation (more on this in future posts).

Screen capture of INTI paper proposal statistics (Click to enlarge)

   Now, I have to read through 34 paper proposals submitted to the the Intertextuality and New Testament Interpretation Section (I'm a co-chair) for the SBL meeting in Atlanta this November 2015. Wow! I think this year is the most proposals we have received since we first started as a consultation group back in 2008. 
   In other words, I have to finish reading the proposals and some full papers before I can get back to blogging again. Stay tuned!