Category Archives: Academia

We spent the weekend at Bald Head Island with family… what a great way to say goodbye to summer. In the BHI Conservancy shop we found a tempting book/kit: M. C. Escher Kaleidocycles: An Illustrated Book and 17 Fun-to-Assemble Three-Dimensional Models.

Kaleidocycles,

According to the publisher:

A Kaliedocycle is a three-dimensional ring made from a chain of solid figures enclosed or bonded [sic] by four triangles. These kaleidocycles are adaptations of Escher’s two-dimensional images of fish, angels, flowers, people, etc., transformed into uniform, interlocking, three-dimensional objects whose patters [sic] wrap endlessly. Kaleidocycles contains a 48-page book with over 80 reproductions and diagrams, assembly instructions, and a fascinating discussion of the geometric principles and artistic challenges underlying Escher’s designs and their transformation to three-dimensional models; and seventeen die-cut, scored, three-dimensional models (11 kaleidocycles and 6 geometric solids).

I was so tempted to buy the set, but I resisted. You might enjoy finding some similar projects online for free (let me know if you find any). Anyway, on to the assignment at hand.

Current Assignment: Monday, September 21
Read: Sonata for Unaccompanied Achilles and Chapter III: Figure and Ground
Listen: Sonata No. 1 for solo violin: Adagio (BWV 1001). If an accompanied version of this exists somewhere, I don’t know where to find it.

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Scrivener

I write (although I wouldn’t consider myself a writer). I am supposed to write a good deal. Many of my projects are large. I am not a linear writer. In other words, I don’t start at the beginning and just keep going until I get to the end (and then edit, edit, edit). Instead, I visualize the entire project and see an outline or skeleton. As I find resources, material, quotes, literature and even websites that I need to include, I try to place them on an appropriate “hook” in the outline in my mind. This can get crazy. Especially if you are juggling several projects. So, I went on a search. Now, don’t get me wrong. I have an exceptional wordprocessor (Mellel, which, by the way, has a new update. Get it!) and I use InDesign for extensive design and layout work. But, that doesn’t help me when I am organizing thoughts and working on various parts of a project (typically out of linear order). So, the search eventually led me to an amazing application which is the subject of this post: Scrivener.

What is a scrivener?
Scrivener definition

But what is Scrivener?
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Challenges facing African theologians

Ben Byerly’s blog Confluence has started an important conversation about the challenges facing African theologians.

Ben Byerly: Confluence

Ben is a PhD candidate at NEGST (Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology) in Kenya. He was born in Switzerland, but raised in Congo and Liberia and has lived in Africa about half his life. He seems (at least to me) to have a life-situation that gives him an important lens to view this situation. Start here and then read this. Once you are hooked, poke around his blog for some more of his thoughts. He’s identified some key issues and has some keen insights (and his African friends have contributed some interesting feedback). I look forward to seeing more of his posts on this topic.

From where I sit, I think that one small part of the difficulty in the West appreciating, accepting, and engaging African theological thought is the way that Africa is continually characterized in the West (even in our churches). Many times we see photos in churches, the news media, and online of Africa that only portray poverty, despair, ugliness, sin, war, or the West coming to the rescue. These photos are all quite professional and captivating. They are meant to elicit a response of caring by showing the stark difference between our lives and the lives of these people halfway around the world. However, if this is the imagery that is always used to depict Africa and African Christianity, then it is easy to see how the West does not even think there is anything good, wise, and beneficial that could come OUT of Africa.

Where are the photos of beauty, creativity, entrepreneurial success, family, tradition, pursuit of excellence? I am, of course, keenly aware that there are difficult images in Africa and I am not trying to minimize the need to be aware of those situations or the response that we should participate in. However, I think we are out of balance and I believe this contributes to how Western Christianity views Africans and African Christianity.

Want to hear about good things in Africa (aside from Ben’s blog)? Then you should follow @whiteafrican on Twitter. You should also regularly check in with the blog www.afrigadget.com which is inspiring and amazing. If more people appreciated this kind of imagery of Africa, then maybe we would be ready to listen to the theology too.

And now, for something completely different: GEB virtual course

I’ve been thinking of finding some folks to “take” one of MIT’s OpenCourseware classes together.

After thinking through various possibilities (face-to-face bookclub, social networks, listserv, etc), here’s my proposal:

  1. Use my blog as the meeting place and record of conversation for the MIT course: SP.258 / ESG.SP258 Gödel, Escher, Bach


    2. The Penrose triangle, also known as the tribar, is an impossible object. It appears to be a solid triangle made of three straight beams of square cross-section which meet at right angles. It is featured prominently in the works of artist M.C. Escher, whose earlier depictions of impossible objects partly inspired it. (Image by MIT OCW.)

  2. Here’s the course description:

    How are math, art, music, and language intertwined? How does intelligent behavior arise from its component parts? Can computers think? Can brains compute? Douglas Hofstadter probes very cleverly at these questions and more in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, “Gödel, Escher, Bach”. In this seminar, we will read and discuss the book in depth, taking the time to solve its puzzles, appreciate the Bach pieces that inspired its dialogues, and discover its hidden tricks along the way.

  3. In the bricks-and-mortar version of the course, they met twice a week for an hour. In our virtual version, we’ll discuss two sections in a week starting after Labor Day. We’ll follow this reading/listening schedule which follows the same order of the original MIT course. I’ll create a post for each of the reading and listening assignments (one on Mondays and the second on Thursdays). You can join in the discussion at any time during that week but make sure you have done the reading/listening first! It will be most productive if we move through the material together as much as possible. I reserve the option to close comments after a week, so that we keep moving forward and focus on the discussion for the most current reading/listening. However, if you get behind, you should feel free to jump back in later in the semester.
  4. There will be an optional chat discussion once a week. We’ll figure out the format (iChat, AIM, Google chat, etc) and the day and time once I know who is interested.

Who’s interested?

UPDATE: There is now a page (see tab in the blue bar above) for the “Gödel, Escher, Bach” Course Schedule. This page has the reading and listening schedule and links to MP3 files for the music referenced. The dates listed are for when the discussion on the reading/listening will commence (so be prepared ahead of time). If you cannot keep up with the full schedule, you are welcome to participate in whatever chapters you are able to prepare for.

Another resource: MIT’s Highlights for High School recorded six lectures from a summer course (2007): Gödel, Escher, Bach: A Mental Space Odyssey. A good overview of the main concepts in the book. You need RealPlayer to view the one-hour lectures.

Have a sticky beak at these gucci videos

It’s obvious from the total views listed for these videos that not enough people have followed the links on Ros’ blog to see what Michael Bird is really like. Considering I just spent intolerable amounts of time traveling back from vacation in a car, I might attribute some of his insanity to travel toxicity (most of the videos were filmed on a road trip with Zondervan). But probably not. In any case, I point you to these videos because we all need a little more humor in our lives. Just doing my part.

SLA Appetizer

It seems like everyone is throwing “SLA” into their conversations about learning Biblical Hebrew. But like most areas of study and research, SLA (Second Language Acquisition) is not monolithic. We cannot co-opt this research out of context. I am grateful to have a few colleagues in the field. They have been giving me some very helpful research to read and also some valuable direction for interpreting the “SLA” field and how it may contribute to understanding Biblical Hebrew language learning and as a result, what type of pedagogy should be considered. Their insights and cautions are invaluable as I begin to evaluate and critique some current trends in BH pedagogy (i.e. the COHELET Project). The more I read, the more I see that we must be much more careful about loosely claiming the SLA banner and tagging it onto our Biblical Hebrew methodologies in the hopes of finding some magic pill to solve our learning/teaching issues. While I continue to read, here’s a cautionary quote from an interview with Rod Ellis (2000):

“One of the main things that SLA has actually contributed to is the demise of the method construct, the notion that there is a method out there that will somehow enable learners to magically learn successfully in the minimal possible time. One of the major lessons in studying SLA is that learning a second language is hard work and takes a long time. There are no short cuts.” [emphasis mine]

Time Allocation for Reading, Writing, Work, Life, and Sleep?

The number of very productive and helpful blogs on the Biblioblogs list causes me to wonder: How do they do it?

First of all, it is nearly impossible for me to keep up with reading all the posts I want to (not to mention the rabbit trails they lead to). Many of them are well researched and notated, how do the authors find the time to be so productive online? What about teaching or other jobs? I look at my own set of circumstances and sometimes feel overwhelmed or frustrated at my attempts to work on various projects. I want to know how some of you manage your schedules and how you prioritize.

Here’s my situation:

  • I work 20 hours a week. Occasionally during that time I can be online, but mostly not.
  • I want to swim/bicycle/run several times a week. Exercise is a priority and I am trying very hard for it to not be crowded out (as has been easy to do in the past).
  • I am married and have extended family very nearby. This means that there are things we do together that add events into my schedule. I am very grateful for family time and even for the opportunity to teach several of my young grandchildren Hebrew starting in August.
  • We own a house. My deck is currently in pieces waiting for me to finish putting it back together. There is a garden to tend. My husband helps with household tasks, but the bulk of that responsibility is on my plate (for various reasons).
  • I have a dissertation to finish!
  • I have several other writing projects. These include some reviews I am writing, three papers for presentations in the fall, and research/analysis/writing for a section in a book.
  • Reading, reading, reading. This is not a chore, but finding the time to do it sometimes is.
  • I have a blog (obviously). My list of draft posts is rapidly growing, while my list of published posts grows slower than I desire.
  • Sleep and rest. I’m convinced that 8 hours of sleep is physiologically (and mentally) best, but how to fit it in seems to elude me.
  • Working on Hebrew.

I also like to bake bread, make tofu, and cook. Add to that Church, visiting friends, hiking, and things like shopping at the Durham Farmers’ Market and you start to see that my list of “priorities” greatly exceeds the amount of daily time I have.

OK, so how do you use your time? How much do you sleep? When do you read (and how much)? I want to hear from people like John Hobbins, Mike Aubrey, Jim West, Ros Clarke, and Daniel & Tonya (to name just a few). Be practical. I need to learn from you!

Book Meme

Daniel and Tonya tagged me in the recent book meme that is making the rounds:

Name 5 books or scholars that had the most immediate and lasting influence on how you read the Bible.

In no particular order:
1. Mark Smith’s (peer-less) work on the Baal Cycle introduced me to the world of Ugaritic and all it has to offer (I would gratefully accept a gift of his latest book, since I cannot afford the $300+ pricetag) . His books (such as The Early History of God) piqued my appetite to understand the cultures surrounding ancient Israel and the text of Scripture.
2. Christo van der Merwe’s A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar. This book gave me a good foundation and also challenged me to think through the description of BH grammar by looking at the data myself.
3. The Art of Biblical Narrative (Robert Alter) and Narrative Art in the Bible (Shimon Bar-Efrat). I know, I’m cheating to list two here, but they both helped move me from an atomistic reading of Scripture and lifted my head up to see the discourse level and the art of Hebrew story-telling.
4. Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible (Jon D. Levenson): “[M]yth does not mean ‘untruth’ or ‘falsehood,’ in spite of such usage in ordinary discourse. One should not allow this pejorative use of the word to prejudice oneself against the Aristotelian position that poetry is truer than history. One implication of this discussion will be that mythopoesis, ‘ the making of myth,’ is a means by which man discerns and conveys truths otherwise inexpressible. If this implication is correct, then the familiar interpretation of the religion of Israel as radically demythologized, besides being factually inaccurate, obscures great spiritual treasures” (104-105). That’s just one gem.
5. John Hobbins: his blog Ancient Hebrew Poetry continues to educate me, inspire me, challenge me, and give me cause to debate. He lives his life as husband, father, pastor, and scholar in a way that resonates with my own priorities.

I hereby tag: Art Boulet, Daniel Kirk, Ben Byerly, Brandon Withrow, and Ros Clark.