Rembrandt’s ‘St. Paul in Prison’ showing Paul being productive while practicing ‘social distancing’ (via Wikimedia Commons)
Students taking my class ‘The Christian Scriptures’ (a.k.a., ‘New Testament’) will spend most of the last few weeks of the semester engaging the Pauline Epistles. Due to COVID-19, there’s a possibility they’ll have to do this from home. Therefore, it’s time for me to begin gathering some online resources. If you think of something to add to this list, please leave a comment (but remember, I teach high school):
Laura Nasrallah of Harvard University has a bunch of short videos on Paul and his letters: The Letters of Paul. I think I may use a lot of this material, especially since the videos are shorter.
And obviously, I’ll have my students read from Paul’s letters themselves via BibleGateway.com.
Also, while students won’t be able to enter class to a ‘Song of the Day’ if we are forced online, I want to continue providing my Slides with one slide containing an embedded link to a YouTube video with what would’ve been the Song of the Day. So, what songs would you choose for Paul and his letters?
I need my employer to take advantage of this! For the kids, of course!
Honoring James Loeb’s original vision, Loeb Classical Library Trustees & HUP make digital #LoebClassics free to schools & universities impacted by #COVID19 until June 30.
By the way, if you want to use YouTube’s livestream option, you must activate it 24 hours prior to using it. Also, don’t forget to record your video as Unlisted so you don’t have just anyone showing up for office hours!
Zoom seems a bit much for me, personally. I don’t think I’ll have as many students needing the sort of live help my colleagues teaching math or language might need. Also, I considered Google Hangouts. Anyone see a downside to using YouTube Live?
Yesterday, I uploaded my first, short test video to Google Classroom. I’ve been using Google Classroom for a couple years already, so my students are comfortable with the platform. Also, my employer uses Google for a lot, so take that into consideration, since it means I’m not paying for extra space and such. But for those looking for a way to do assignments online, Google Classroom is a nice option.
First, you can upload assignments as Google Docs or Forms. If Docs, you can make sure each student gets their own individual version of the assignment. There’s more to say, but Google has said it already, so check out ‘Google tools help schools impacted by COVID-19’.
One of the things students might miss is your in-person instructions. Anyone who has made something using IKEA products knows that you might be better off checking YouTube for an instructional video. I want to have instructional videos, not just written text. So, I did a test run and it’s easy and it works.
If you have a Google account, go to YouTube. On the upper right-hand side you’ll see a little camera icon. Click it!
I recommend using the ‘Upload Video’ option, since ‘Go Live’ requires a certain number of subscribers, I think. Next, you can use your desktop to record a video and then upload it. Or you can use the YouTube app and record using your phone (which is what I did).
Make sure you give the video the setting ‘Unlisted’ under visibility. This means only people with the link can see it.
Once you’ve done this, place the link into the feed of your Google Classroom. Voila! You have video instructions.
Fun fact: my first teaching gig was through an online campus. (Shout-out: Western Seminary!) Also, because so many of my students miss a lot of class during the Spring Semester due to athletic events, fine arts conventions, etc., my curriculum has been 90% digital for about a year (in-class and homework). I use Google Classroom, Google Docs, Google Forms. So, when my employer announced we’re extending spring break due to COVID-19, and then going online indefinitely after that, I felt ready. I’ve been doing classes with an online element since I started teaching.
Many of you don’t feel as confident. One thing I’d stress is to not be a perfectionist about this. My class notes are digital not to supplant in-class educating but to supplement the learning of students who may miss a day or three because of a baseball tournament out of town. My recommendation: aim to be realistic. This is a pandemic. You weren’t given months and months to prepare for this. Build your online class to maintain learning but don’t try to match the glory of your classroom. It’s can’t be done. Online learning is no replacement for brick-and-mortar education.
Also, for those of you who work in higher ed: consider not doing an excellent job. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but as I said on Facebook and Twitter this morning: ‘Ok, but seriously, educator friends at the college-level and higher: if your classes move online do a decent job but don’t do a great job because you know many administrators will be looking into the feasibility of moving your classes online permanently so they can cut costs because education is a for-profit product to many of them.’
If you need to provide lectures for your students, consider Andrew Mark Henry’s advice for how to use YouTube:
For "asynchronous" classes, YouTube might be a good option. You can post videos that are "unlisted," meaning, they are visible only to those with the link. When you upload a video on YouTube, it is automatically set to "unlisted."
I had a friend reach out to me today because COVID-19 (now a pandemic, so that’s disturbing) has shut down his classes and it’s time to transition to online education for a week or two. (By the way, Alie Ward’s Ologies podcast did a helpful episode on COVID-19 for those who want to learn more.) Previously, on Twitter, I tweeted links to some of my favorite educational YouTube channels, and he was asking if I could point him in the direction of those resources. I presume there are others who face a similar predicament. If so, I can help some of you by pointing you in the right direction. (Obviously, I’m more useful to those who teach Humanities-related topics). Here’s my starter list:
If you teach STEM-related topics, I’m sure some of these will help you get started in the right direction. If you have YouTube channels you’d like to share, leave a comment.
In 2015 I traveled around Israel with my doctoral studies supervisor (now Doktorvater), Craig Evans, my good friend, Greg Monette, and several employees of Faithlife, as they worked on a documentary that addressed what archaeology can tell us about the context of Jesus’ life (‘Archaeology and Jesus’). One of the things we noticed is that when it came to the site a given archaeologist was working, they tended to be quite apologetic, but when it came to other sites, they tended to raise the demands of the criteria. It was good to see that people who work with material artifacts are required to do interpretation just like those of us who work with texts because sometimes archaeology is seen as a much more exact science than the evidence supports.
BAR, Spring 2020
One of the debates we encountered had to do with the location of Bethsaida. We visited Et-Tell where Rami Arav explained to us how they know this is the Bethsaida mentioned in the Gospels. On the trip we met Mordechai Aviam while visiting the dig at Shikhin (see my interview with James R. Strange, ‘Shikhin Excavations’). While I don’t remember Aviam discussing Bethsaida then, I do remember some archaeologists expressing skepticism regarding Et-Tell. It turns out that Arav and Aviam are featured in this month’s Biblical Archaeology Review debating the identity of the real Bethsaida. Arav argues for Et-Tell still. Aviam, along with R. Steven Notley (who has made a similar public argument in Christianity Today: ‘Have Archaeologists Found the Lost City of the Apostles?’), argue for El-Araj.
See, I did meet Aviam!
This makes me want to go back to Israel again. It’s one thing to read about these debates in a magazine. It’s something different to have visited at least one of these places and talked with the personalities doing the work. Again, I’m glad to see that there’s some strong subjectivity to the work of archaeologists. This means we must do more than just examine the material remains to make claims about the past. That said, archaeology has a special role to play in that anyone can create a narrative, but you can’t make the remains of a city appear or disappear overnight (usually), which is why archaeology is so important to our understanding of the past, the Bible, etc.
This morning I’m re-reading the encounter between Jesus and the Gerasene ‘Demoniac’ (Mark 5.1-20) and the texture of the narrative stood out to me. The man runs to Jesus, prostrates himself, and then shouts ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me (ὁρκίζω σε τὸν θεόν, μή με βασανίσῃς).’ Initially, this seems to be the man himself, who is tortured by ‘unclean spirits’. This is a pitiful line since he seems worried that Jesus will do to him what the spirits have been doing (v. 7). But the narrator adds that this was a response to Jesus act of commanding the spirit to come out of the man (ἔλεγεν γὰρ αὐτῷ· Ἔξελθε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἀκάθαρτον ἐκ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου in v. 8).
Suddenly, there’s a secondary voice and this one is more ironic. The dialogue shifts to a conversation between Jesus and the unclean spirit (vv. 9-12). In light of this new information, one looks back at the initial plea and wonders where the line is between the man’s request and that of the unclean spirit(s) (‘Legion’). It seems that, in part, the man’s cry is that of the unclean spirit(s) meaning they’re begging Jesus not to do to them precisely what they’ve been doing to the man.
Not sure why this has never popped out at me. The narratives of the Gospels can be so interesting.
Jesus exorcising the Gerasene demoniac, from the Hitda Codex manuscript via Wikimedia Commons
Originally, I thought I’d limit this blog to commentary on the interface of Religious Studies, Biblical Studies, pedagogy, and adolescence. I’ve decided I’ll broaden things a bit. On occasion, I may write on topics outside of the study and teaching of religion. I may write a little on the practice of religion as well—areas related to philosophy, theology, and ethics. That said, as a high school teacher, I think it’s wise to avoid writing on politics and many current events. Hopefully this topic doesn’t make anyone irate!
Today, I had a brief conversation with a colleague about animal rights. This isn’t something I’ve pondered extensively but it’s something that’s been in the back of my mind for a while now, at least since the days when I used to co-blog with Joshua Paul Smith. My thinking about the matter has intensified over Lent as I chose to use this year’s Lent to ponder meat consumption, it’s various implications, and to see how my body would handle a vegetarian diet (so far, so good). My encounters with Wesleyan-Anglican Christianity, my teaching on traditions like Buddhism, my own philosophical wrestlings with the grounds for moral behavior, and reports I’ve heard regarding the state of industrialized animal farms, has pushed me to begin thinking seriously about whether my worldview needs vegetarianism to be consistent. (Also, I’d add the adoption of Frida into our family, which gives me a daily interaction with an animal.)
I’ve not arrived at a conclusion. I don’t want to be preachy about it. I do want to be able to articulate why I can live with this or that level of suffering in sentient beings (or not live with it) and better understand my own practices in light of realities such as climate change. I will say that the recent two-part interview with David Clough on the Panpsycast has been one of the best articulations for why vegetarianism needs to be considered, not only from a philosophical perspective, but also from a theological one within Christianity.
If you’ve thought about this matter, or tried practicing vegetarianism, I’d like to hear your thoughts on these matters as I continue to use Lent to wrestle with what I believe and how I think I should act.
This past weekend I went to Dallas, TX, to attend the 2020 Southwest Commission on Religious Studies. It was located at Dallas Marriott Las Colinas. Usually, I don’t write about the hotels in which I stay, but I do want to make it known that if you’re going to be in the Dallas-area, this is a hotel worth considering. It’s in such a peaceful area with scenic views of Lake Carolyn and good food within walking distance. Anyway, to the conference itself.
Saturday I attended three sessions. In the morning, I went to the SBL-Hebrew Bible session (Theme: Genesis) where I heard a paper juxtaposing Tamar’s use of her sexual agency with that of Potiphar’s wife by Margaret Schmeltekopf Hambrick; a paper dealing with some of the recent interpretations of the Yahwist source by John Ahn; a paper arguing that death was expected for Adam and Eve in Eden even prior to their disobedience by Bruce Wells; and a very thought-provoking paper arguing that Rebekah plays the role of trusted successor to Abraham (whereas Isaac is passive) by Kelsey Spinnato.
In the afternoon I had intended to go to the SBL-Second Temple Judaism session but decided I needed to go to the SBL-New Testament session (Theme: Gospels) where I heard a couple interesting papers on humor in the Gospels from Acacia Chan (discussing Luke 7.44) and Jon-Michael Carman (discussing Mark 5.26). The other two papers were very good as well. Amy Smith Carman did a feminist analysis of the woman at the well in John 4.4-42 and Justin King and Mitchell Elequin argued that Mark’s Gospel is full of Pauline themes indicating Pauling influence. The last one sparked a enjoyable, if not semi-heated, question and answer session that I wish could have gone much longer than the allotted 10 minutes!
The final session of the day, the SBL-New Testament session (Theme: Reading Romans with Beverly Gaventa), was an enjoyable dialogue between the legendary Beverly Gaventa and a panel of scholars who chose to interact with selections of her scholarship from over the years. It must’ve been the anticipation of this session and it’s influence that resulted in my book selections, so here’s the obligatory picture of the books I bought:
I haven’t delved deep into Pauline thought for a few years now, but here’s my semi-spontaneous book purchasing from the conference, so my partially subconscious, partially conscious mind must be ready to think with Paul again!
On Sunday morning I attended only one session: the SBL-New Testament themed session (Biblical Studies in the Bible Belt: Pedagogy and Best Practices) where I presented. If you’d like to read my paper and learn more about what I had to say, I’ve posted it here: 2020 SWCRS Presentation: ‘Reading the Bible with iGen’. I joined Jiliam Nelson Engelhardt who talked about how varieties of the statue ‘Diana of the Tower’ can help students understand textual criticism; Lora Walsh who exemplified how she teaches literary devices in biblical narrative to her students, and James R. Wicker who discussed the use of humor when teaching the Epistle of Jude. I had a great time and here’s a picture my lovely wife, Miranda, took from the back of the room (because yes, she was sweet enough to go all the way to Dallas to hear me talk for 20 minutes!):
If you have questions about the TV on top of a beach towel in the corner of the room, you’ll have to contact James Wicker!
The blog of Brian LePort 