Christmas Dinner, 2012

 

Akkadian Translation of Dirty Projectors Song

 

Assyriology graduate students at Brown University Willis Monroe and Zack Wainer recently translated a song by the Dirty Projectors – Gun Has No Trigger – into Akkadian." Willis wrote out the cuneiform using an Old-Babylonian lapidary script. In the video below you can see the translated lyrics scroll on the screen as the song is sung in English in the background. Enjoy! 

2012 Christmas Card

 

The Pain of God

 

The horror and pain across the country, and indeed around the world, is deep indeed. The Newtown massacre Friday killed twenty first-graders along with several of their teachers and administrators. On how the tragedy hits close to home, read Dean Markham’s commentary today (click here). For a good beginning take on a theological approach to the devastation, you might start with Michael Brown’s column today (click here).   

Prof. Lloyd “Tony” Lewis Retirement

Tonight we celebrated the retirement service and dinner of my colleague and friend, New Testament Professor Tony Lewis. The chapel and refectory were jammed packed with Tony’s many students, friends, and associates. I would imagine there were about 300 people present. Tony’s portrait was at long last unveiled: 

Received my Copy of Daughter Zion

It appears to be a great collection of articles. The biblio on my own contribution is:

“The Fecundity of Fair Zion: Beauty and Fruitfulness as Spiritual Fulfillment,” in Daughter Zion: Her Portrait, Her Response (ed. M. J. Boda, C. J. Dempsey, and L. S. Flesher; Ancient Israel and Its Literature 13; Atlanta: SBL, 2012) 77–100. 

Online Formation Resources for Advent 2012

 

I collected the resources of this post in preparation for a Forum Presentation on “Advent in Cyberspace” for St. Paul’s Church, Alexandria, on the First Sunday of Advent, 2012.

Video #1, The Paradox of Christmas, from Ignitermedia:

Video #2, You Don’t Know Jack About Advent, from Busted Halo:

The rose candle among the purple candles of the Advent Wreath is the Gaudete candle, from the Latin term “Rejoice.” It is for the third Sunday of Advent (this year, 12/16/12), which includes a reading from Philp 4:4-7, with the theme “rejoice.”

Video #3, Advent in Two Minutes, by Busted Halo:

 

For the online Advent Calendar mentioned in the above video, click here.  For a Church of England Advent Calendar, click here. For a Liverpool Museums Advent Calendar, click here.

There are some nifty 2012 iOS Advent Calendars available:

You can check out the two apps pictured above in the iTunes store, by clicking here and here.

Video #4, “Advent,” by Spirit Juice Studies:

Video #5, Worship Fully, by Advent Conspiracy:

Video #6, The Advent Conspiracy, by Advent Conspiracy:

Advent Conspiracy has a remarkable Advent Calendar this year, which you can interact with using your phone as a QR-Code scanner:

To access the calendar as a PDF, click here. (Calendar detail shown above.)

Video #7, A Child is Born, by Igniter Media: