A bit of updating on the blogroll

I've been making some additions and removals on my Blog roll. I don't like to remove items because, even if people say they can no longer continue blogging, the stuff they've already written is always worth staying linked to. Some people have also closed theri blogs to outsiders but I keep them in the hope that they will re-open. eventually However, a couple of blogs have gone and deleted themselves altogether including James Harding's Calvinolatry, which despite it's short life span, had some good stuff so I'm sad to see it gone completely.

I've made other positive changes too. First off, Ronald Boer's Stalin's Moustache has now moved to Wordpress so I've added his new site to the roll. He says he's moving all his old content over but I'm not deleting his old blog until I know for sure. I've also added English Eclectic, a new blog by Paul Halsall who self identifies as "an English Historian who happens to be Gay, Catholic and a Democratic Socialist". Paul has been living in the US for the last 20 years but is back in the UK now. He set up the vast resource, the Internet History Sourcebooks Project, which includes the People With a History Online Guide to Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans History.

I've also discovered Mary Beard's blog, A Don's Life, over at the Times online blogs. Mary Beard is a Classicist at Cambridge and classics editor for the Times Literary Supplement. She describes herself as " a wickedly subversive commentator on both the modern and the ancient world."

There are some other blogs that have relocated and I intend, over the next few days, to add their new sites to the blog roll as well.

Welcome to my blog roll Calvinolatry and the Dunedin School

I don't know what this thing is for Calvin around the Biblioblogosphere. It's bad enough he's the focus of a book chapter I'm working on or supposed to be working on anyway when I can find a gap in my life. Believe me, I don't find Calvin pleasant company, no doubt much to Roland's and Jim's consternation. But I'm pleased to discover that James Harding down at Dunedin has now joined us all online with a new blog called Calvinolatry. So I'm adding it to my blog roll. And his first post is on the David and Jonathan story from 1 Samuel, a little taste of his excellent paper in Newcastle. And here's a little snippet

But here's an interesting thought. Would Zehnder have offered the disclaimer had he been exegeting Ezek 16; 23? Would his implied reader be as offended by the language there as by David's imaginary hard-on in 1 Sam 20:41 and Jonathan's mythical membrum virilis in 2 Sam 1:22? Would the same implied reader be more offended by talk of men whose "cocks were like those of stallions" (Ezek 23:20) or by the just God having his daughter/wife stripped and thrown to enemy soldiers to be raped? Whose genitals need protecting and from whom?

James is from the University of Otago in Dunedin and he and some of the others there have set up a group blog called the Dunedin School which I've also added to my blog roll. It was set up last month and they even have me in their blog roll but no one bothered to tell me. I've only had a skim through but it looks like some really excellent stuff there.

Also I really like Fred Clark's work at Slacktivist and not just his Left Behind series (which has been going for about 6 years I think). But checking it out tonight I find a really lovely story about a preacher throwing a surprise birthday party for a prostitute in a 'greasy spoon' joint, Charity, conclusions and cake. I recommend it and here's a sample

After the party, Harry is surprised to learn that Tony is a preacher.

"What kind of church do you belong to?"

"I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning."

We can either take offense or we can give a party. It has to be one or the other, we can't do both.

I prefer the one with cake.

I'm also one for parties and I agree with Fred, I prefer the one with the cake.

And finally I was planning to write a follow-up post to my same sex marriage piece from earlier this week but the new blog additions circumvented me. I might still start it tonight but I can't see it being published tonight. But, God willing, it will be up over the weekend.

Updating my blog roll

Over at Jim West's blog, he's put up a post with a pie chart reprsentation of "where bibliobloggers live and work". He states that "the South is well represented" which I at first took to be us folk in the southern hemisphere but of course he really meant folks in the southern states of the US - typical Yankee! But he got the data for the pie chart from the complete list of 213 biblioblogs here. Checking out the list I found that most of us true southerners come from the following countries: Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and South Africa. I think Kenya is south of the equator or close enough to it that I'll count it in. Singapore too. So I've decided to add all those blogs to my blog roll. We true southerners should all link up, I reckon. So from Australia I've added Judy's research blog (Gospel of Thomas), Mark Stevens' Scripture, Ministry and the People of God, and Tim Lewis' Source Theory; from New Zealand Tim Bulkeley's Sans Blogue and Gavin Romney's Otagosh; from Brazil Cláudia Andréa Prata Ferreira's Estudos Biblicos and Lingua Hebraica, Airton José da Silva's Observatorio Biblico, J R Coffer's A Cruz de Clio and the group blog Ad Cummulus; from South Africa Daniel and Tonya's Hebrew and Greek Reader; from Kenya Ben Byerly's Blog; and from Singapore Tony Siew's Revelation is Real. I've also just discovered from Peru Manuel Rojas' Estudios Biblicos and will add it shortly. I'm also likely in a spirit of ASEAN solidarity to add blogs from Malaysia and Philippines.

There were a couple of other blogs I added today, too: J K Gayle's blog Aristotle's Feminist Subject which is included in the list of biblioblogs under Theory and Receptioon and Megan Rohrer's Transcript. I discovered this blog by accdient looking up the publisher's page for the Queer Bible Commentary. Megan had been writing on Divine Sex Changes in Genesis and citing my Genesis chapter from the Commentary. In her blog sdhe gives "weekly reflections on the lectionary texts through my eyes which are shaped by my experience as a queer, transgender, lesbian, feminist, pastor to the homeless in San Francisco" and I think should be added to the list of biblioblogs.

Also earlier this month I discovered and added I'm Christian. I'm Gay. Deal with it! by an anonymous clergyperson who is out to his congregation. Not a biblioblog but biblical matters are obviously in its purview.

Finally, definitely not a biblioblog but one on Buddhist Studies, Another Note, by a friend of mine here in Brisbane who likewise wishes to remain anonymous. I've also added it recently. I've told him I wish he could be a student of mine; he'd certainly keep me on my toes. Or even better students of each other. In fact, I'd really like it if there could be a bit of a Buddhist Studies Biblical Studies cross-fertilisation. Certainly if you check out his blog you'll see plenty of bloggy goodness that is worthwhile not only from a Buddhist Studies perspective but is rich with insight from a Bib Studies perspective too.

UPDATE It appears that Kenya is on the Equator and so in both northern and southern hemispheres. Singapore is close enough to the equator to be an honorary southerner. I'm still to decide on whether to add Malaysian and Filipino blogs in a spirit of ASEAN solidarity.