j.c. baker

I am sorry for my recent absence; the semester is at that extremely busy period and something had to give.

I did want to post this, though, as some readers will be interested. Thanks to Stephen Carlson at Hypotyposeis for pointing this out. A new biblical studies mailing list, called The Biblicalist opened earlier this month. You can read about it below and click the link above to join if you like.

Welcome to The Biblicalist, a biblical studies list of academic emphasis open to all who wish to approach the Bible in its wider context, past and present. All viewpoints and perspectives which draw on the work of scholars in biblical studies and cognate disciplines are welcome.

Topics of discussion include the interpretation of particular texts of the Bible and related literature, the background of ancient Near Eastern and Classical cultures, theological and philosophical reflections on relevant issues, and the Bible in art and literature, including the reception of the Bible from ancient times to the present.

As Kevin Edgecomb states in the inaugural message (Mar. 4, 2008):

As you will have seen in the protocols we sent out when you joined our list, we’re intending this to be a wide-ranging list with a central focus on biblical studies, but also open to numerous other discussions as well: Classics (not only as background to Early Christianity and Early Rabbinic Judaism, but discussed on it own merits), archaeology (particularly biblical archaeology, but generally Near Eastern and Classical, as well), reception of the Bible in the wider arts (literature, glyptic arts, cinema, etc), those Bible-related works falling into the generally recognized (though problematic) categories of apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, Rabbinic literature, issues on translation, theology (whether ancient or modern, Christian, Jewish or otherwise), philosophy (whether reviewing the history of ancient philosophy or discussing topics philosophically amongst ourselves), and all kinds of other things.