A new mural has appeared in Ternopil, dedicated to children killed in Russia’s attack. The artwork, showing a child shielding her toys from a Russian missile, was created by artist Andriy Yermolenko. He described it as “a cry for help to the global community.”

Violence has no place in America. Michelle and I are praying for the servicemembers shot in Washington, DC today, and send our love to their families as they enter this holiday season under the most tragic of circumstances.

Celebrating the book release. Empire Criticism of the New Testament @mohrsiebeck.bsky.social #sblaar2025

So fun to see a book you’ve contributed to in the wild! #sblaar2025 #aarsbl2025

Scholars waited for books, patiently or impatiently, as the case may be. #aarsbl2025

#aarsbl25 Got an earful at check-in at the Commonwealth about the persecution of Christians in America 🙄🙄🙄

Good statement from the US conference of Catholic Bishops

From the weekend: my latest on Substack. rohadi.substack.com On disability justice.

Amazon has a sale on the SBL Study Bible kindle version! Get your copy for $2.99

A #Roman tile fragment with some dog pawprints, impressed into the clay while it dried before firing #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology

Driving along listening to Michael Licona’s Jesus, Contracted and suddenly in chapter 3, a completely gratuitous sexist joke. Zondervan, this was published in 2024. Do better.

Especially RIP to diversity at AAR/SBL

I love language and culture. But language includes more than words; it includes gestures too. Yesterday I discovered that thumbing one’s nose at people is no longer part of our set of communicative gestures in the US. I assume it’s been replaced by the L, loser sign and the finger?

Thinking how hard it is to just listen when someone is hurting and you can’t fix it… while listening to a friend tell me how hard it was at a family funeral this week to just listen when you can’t fix it.

My philosophy studies son wants to know who Biblical scholars would substitute for Hegel…

America is in danger of experiencing an academic brain drain  economist.com/science-and-...

“You live in a great big spaceship, and you don’t have any chairs, and you don’t even notice because nobody ever come round.” Doctor Who 🤣🤣🤣

Another xenophobic bill from this legislature, which has the potential to impact international faculty and students. Click below to learn more and take action.

A truly beautiful detail from an Etruscan bronze mirror, depicting a winged Lasa, a protective deity (much like later Roman Lares) associated with Tuan, the Etruscan goddess of love. Perhaps a wedding present for a young bride, and later placed in her tomb. 🏺 #ancientbluesky 3rd c. BCE. #ARTIC 📸 me

This just went into production. It's a game-changer. @laurarbnsn.bsky.social @winzenj.bsky.social

Can we get more of this? “The Japanese American National Museum will ‘scrub nothing,’ Fujioka said, and instead will highlight the importance of DEI. “Our community is based on diversity, equity is guaranteed to us in the Constitution, and inclusion is what we believe in,” Fujioka said.

AAUP has just published a memo laying out the many legal reasons why universities should not hand over the names & nationalities of their students or faculty, as the Trump admin has asked. Please share freely with your friendly university admin! @aaup.bsky.social www.aaup.org/news/institu...

Susan Crawford wins the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, according to many election analysts. This after Elon Musk and others poured millions into anti-transgender advertisements in the state. The anti-trans panic failed in Wisconsin. This is a major victory for LGBTQ+ people in the state.

I don't care what side of the Israel-Palestine conflict your sympathies lie on, snatching up people with a valid student visa for the crime of writing an OpEd is naked fascism and if you don't oppose this you are a threat to this country's most basic values

Ancient Romances: Alexander lives with Oenone as his wife. Then, “Time went on, and Alexander took Helen to wife: Oenone took his conduct exceedingly ill.” Did she now?

We just wanted to take a moment to thank all our new supporters! Tomorrow, there will be more of us!

A lot of global academic conferencing is centered around the US, and US academic orgs have to be thinking very seriously now. You cannot continue to carry on with in person conferencing as if foreign scholars have no impediments to travel. I know we like to pretend everything is "normal" again but..

Chris Shea gets up to speak before biblical scholars: “I’m a classicist. Please be kind. It’s the Ides of March. It’s not a good day for us.” 🤣🤣🤣

I 💗 what I do. “Boy” (παις) can mean child or slave. Yesterday I looked to see if this was true of “little child” (παιδιον). Yes, but rarely. I found it in the 5th and 4th c. BCE in Aristophanes, and also in 3 lists of slaves. These kinds of searches always feel like digging for buried treasure.

(1/3) It needs repeating: in 1994, Ukraine was persuaded to give up its nuclear weapons to Russia in return for the US, the UK, and Russia guaranteeing Ukraine’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity.

Monday I am presenting "Relapsing, Reverting, or Rejecting? The Purpose of Hebrews and Early Judaism” at the Houston Theological Seminary Research Seminar. Feb 24 at 3:00 (CST). DM me for the link.

Get the ebook of Yet with a Steady Beat: Contemporary U.S. Afrocentric Biblical Interpretation edited by Randall C. Bailey for $5 now through 23 Feb. when you use code BHM2 at checkout. buff.ly/3ufgdqX #BlackHistoryMonth

"Whereas Euro-Americans view the American myth as being realized, the African American’s narration of nation provokes and challenges America"–Lynne St. Clair Darden Get the ebook for $5 through 23 Feb with code BHM2 #BlackHistoryMonth buff.ly/34MzSDJ

"In the 19th & 20th cent., on into today, those who are looking at Paul’s letters to think about race relations are beginning to emphasize the liberative themes.." Watch the interview on Paul’s Letters with Love L. Sechrest #BlackHistoryMonth buff.ly/3XR6ySN

This was so much fun!

Folks, we don't have to come out of these hard times STRONGER. That's subtle ableism going down. Sometimes you come out of hard times and your body is like, nah, I'm not putting up with that ever again. Softer rather than stronger.

"Should 1.5 of the Song of Songs be translated as 'I am black and beautiful,' or should it be translated as 'I am black but beautiful'?" Watch Herbert R. Marbury's interview on the importance of diversity for Bible translation. #BlackHistoryMonth buff.ly/3DbdHFD

For accessible biblical scholarship on a diverse range of fascinating topics, follow @bibleodyssey.bsky.social!

@mirjamjekel.bsky.social Are you following Eurovision this year? Which of these are you? www.reddit.com/r/eurovision...

Classic poems as limericks.

One of those days

As I love accommodations and post boxes—and since my feed can be full of gloom—here’s a post box!

It's #blackhistorymonth so let's celebrate!