Going into the new month with some not-so-light reading. One of my students asked me how I read, and this picture encapsulates my process pretty well. ​I scan a work, its arguments and its structure. Then I write in the margins questions of clarification and questions of substance (shoutout Dr.…

On Criticism: Why is some criticism vital and other, deadly?

“Last Week In Review.” Quick hits on what I wrote, read, and listened to over the last few days or so.

Just pressed send on a very big deal👀. Here we go!

I haven't seen Michael yet, but I have spent some time thinking with James Howard Hill Jr.'s insightful words on the film. It sounds like this film is most eventful when it asks much of the audience. As Hill invites us to ask, how exactly does one rightly watch horror?

Broadcast Seeding is up with a presentation by David Dault on his new book, The Accessorized Bible (Oxford University Press, 2026). Dault is President of the Society for Comparative Research on Iconic and Performative Texts and an Assoc. Professor at Loyola University Chicago.

San Francisco Airport has an amazing museum that made me pause in the hustle and bustle of travel. Currently up is an exhibit, “Women of Afrofuturism.” It kicks off with Nettice Gaskins’ piece, “mOTHERboard.” I could not have thought of a better way to end a conference on biblical studies,…

(no title)

Temp Office

“Teaching the Bible in the Age of AI: Pedagogy, Assessment, and Imagination”

Just Uploaded: Dr. Hannah Jung on Broadcast Seeding and Off-Script Now up on Broadcast Seeding, "'The Law of the Land': The Hermeneutics of Continued Mormon Polygamy after 1890” with Dr. Hannah Jung (Unviersity of Alabama). Jung recently presented at Off-Script: Conversations on Scriptures,…

@seedpods.bsky.social has been working with many of our students for several years to produce a brand new initiative. Go see. #decodingdiaspora decodingdiaspora.org

Are you coming to the REL Strategy Group tomorrow? Friday at Noon Central, Dr. Leslie Dorrough Smith of Avila University compares the state of the field from the view of HigherEd administation and the professorate.

This Friday at Noon Central, Casey A’Hearn presents at Off-Script: Conversations on Scriptures, and Our Subfield. Register at sowingtheseed.org/off-script!

Noon Friday 11/14. Off-Script is on its way! Join us for conversation on scriptures, scholarship, and our subfield! @caseylogan0122 will lead us in asking “‘What Does It Mean To Be Mormon and American?’ Scripturalizing John J. Stewart’s Pamphlet Program.” Scholars and graduate students come join us.

Great chat with Dr. @jennisifire.bsky.social about her latest book, Gender Violence in Late Antiquity: Male Fantasies and the Christian Imagination (Univ Cali Press). It’s on Broadcast Seeding now! sowingtheseed.org/podcast/epis...

One of my favorite things is that Off-Script has been one of those rare places where scholars-- at least for a moment --have been able to rest in having found some people with whom they can be, listen, work, and build together.

Learning new words. Writing new words. What is it all for anyway?

Closed a billion tabs on my phone on accident. Feels so good. Do it.Trust me!

May be over the hump on one of my book projects. We’ll see. It’s too early to call. #amwriting

@seedpods.bsky.social is now steering the RELtoolbox and has linked it to something new he’s cooking up and he needs your help. religion.ua.edu/blog/2025/10...

ListServ, Who Knew? Off-Script Newsletter I had no idea ListServ could produce HTML newsletters. Who knew? If you haven't signed up for the Off-Script Newsletter, drop your email in the form below so you can stay up on all the news happening in the critical comparative study of scriptures.

Teaching Lessons from the Mat I have never had the type of hobbies that are shared by the masses. I have played golf once. I've never been confident enought to play pickup basketball. (I'm not whether the flesh is willing and the sprit is weak or the other way around.) I played one disastrous…

Dr. Rachel Schwaller (@universityofkansas) will kickoff our first Off-Script of Fall 2025! Get ready to learn about her new project, “(Un)scripted (Un)settlement: Mapping the Language of Homeless Encampment in Lawrence, KS.”Fri. 9/12, Noon-1pm Central. Register at sowingtheseed.org/off-script

Off-Script: Conversations on Scriptures, Scholarship, and Our Subfield is back this Fall! Our first gathering will be with Dr. Rachel Schwaller (University of Kansas) on Sept 12.

6 Little Ways I Fought Back Against Our Technological Present

The Institute for Signifying Scriptures is launching a monthly, online seminar. The theme for this Fall 2025 is Memory and we'll be reading Zora Neale Hurston's Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo."

Coming soon from @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social

still got a few left. interested grad students & contingent folks, email me your mailing address and i’ll send you a free hard copy.

Last semester at Off-Script, Dr. David Lambert shared how he was reconceptualizing his understanding of "scripture" in light of assemblage theory. Happy to share that you can find his thoughts on this in print!

Long live the footnote--and the index too!

The medium isn't the only thing adapted in the film to musical production of Anastasia. My latest on the blog. sowingtheseed.org/2025/08/04/d...

Glad to see this piece of student-scholarship on a key development in intellectual property law. Religion in Culture MA student Maggie Weatherwax uses signification theory to break it down. religion.ua.edu/blog/2025/06...

Criminally underrated: research databases that actually work with institutional logins and bring you directly back to the desired document.

Prepping my new Sociology of Religion course and pleased to see @suzanneowenphd.bsky.social referenced!

What’s the word for refusing to do something because even though you might actually like doing the thing you hate bandwagons more? Um…asking for a friend.

1 Samuel 3 is about little children refusing to sleep at night and the parents who have given up. “I did not call for you!” is my new motto. #biblicalstudies #parenting

Has anyone seen studies on academic conference attendance over the past decade (esp. since 2019)? I'm especially interested in seeing trends religoius studies and the humanities. #highered #religiousstudies #humanities

I'll add that in discussions of Black history, the idea that it is a national celebration rather than evidence of emancipation as a slow and uneven process is pretty recent. It's been really fascinating to see how Juneteenth has become a national event. nmaahc.si.edu/explore/mome...

I’m teaching a new class this semester: REL108 Sociology of Religion! #acrel #sociology #religiousstudies

First draft is done on an article that’s been germinating for some time. Time to take a break from Art. A and move to Art B. Then I’ll go back and do revisions Art A, then send it out for pre-review while I work on B and so on… #process #research #amwriting

The head of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is heading south for a new job – president of the University of Alabama.

This November I’ll be popping into the SBL Paul & Politics section to discuss my work on the Philemon commentary and notes for the @wjkbooks.com NRSV-UE Study Bible.

Who is doing cool stuff with @ReligionData in the classroom? I'm looking for ideas. #humanities #sociology #acrel www.thearda.com

I’ve enjoyed learning from Prof. Oleg Kyselov about the study of religion in Ukraine. He has a great essay in the Bulletin for the Study of Religion on this topic. doi.org/10.1558/bsor...

Coming to terms with the realization that anyone inheriting my library will find no brilliant notes, just unintelligible scholarly scrawl. High fives to my people who write to remember and not to re-read.

CFPs: SCRIPT @ AAR and SBL 2025 Tis the season for Call for Papers, or as we sometimes call them, CFPs. I’ll sharing here some of the CFPs coming to my desk and why I think you might consider submitting a proposal. The first one up is for the Society of Comparative Research on Iconic and…

As a child, I thought I appreciated TGIF, but now I truly know. We made it, y’all. #Friday