The Cavalier Daily strikes again. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 "Scott Beardsley’s appointment [as UVA president] epitomizes a semester defined by absence, secrecy and institutional disregard." www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

Nag Hammadi friends: If you had to choose one “gnostic” text to read in a grad seminar on religious thinkers in antiquity, which would you choose and why? Bonus if it comes with an article that is readable for students with no Coptic and little experience with the corpus.

If your crèche has an ox and an ass or exactly three magi, congratulations: You’re having a very apocryphal Christmas already! Tony will explain.

Holiday Mutual Aid: PLEASE SHARE WIDELY! It’s time for YEAR 6! With recent federal-level changes creating new challenges in our community, we’re prioritizing core necessities. We are still welcoming traditional gifts. More info below. We take care of us. To Give C: $zyahnab Venmo: Zbryant01

UVa faculty senate resolves that “any individual selected for the presidency under the current search timeline and by a Board that does not have its full complement of 17 members including 12 alumni and 12 Virginia residents should be aware…” 1/3

For every democracy which has enjoyed prosperity for a lengthy period first develops by nature an attitude of discontent towards the existing order, and then looks around for a master. When it has found one, it soon begins to hate him. So was it in this case for the Tarentines. – Polybius 8.24.1

He’s got my vote. m.youtube.com/watch?v=C2AQ...

We just sent out the December edition of our newsletter! It covers the announcement of our next webinar on preventing displacement, our first ever holiday gift guide, a city bike infrastructure advocacy opportunity, the vigil for those who died while homeless, and more. mailchi.mp/livablecvill...

Excellent editorial by the student paper: “Perhaps the most obvious epitomization of Mahoney’s desire to be protected from, rather than to protect, the University community, was his decision to be accompanied by a police guard as he entered the Faculty Senate.” www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

“Boys also have lower mean scores on the SAT in reading and writing, score lower overall on the ACT and have lower grade point averages in high school. “If we were going to eliminate preferences for men, the undergraduate population would skew to 65 percent female overnight,” Mitchell said.”

Once again: the presidential and provost search must be paused, Sheridan and Wilkinson must resign, and the student newspaper is utterly outpacing all other news sources. Wahoowa!

Join us on the First Friday of December for a workshop with Sam Cook on the Monastic Use of Coptic Apocrypha!

An election for the 2025-2027 NASSCAL Board of Directors will take place at this week's First Friday Workshop (Dec. 5). The slate of nominees can be found here: www.nasscal.com/2025/12/02/n...

I do love an advent calendar!

well, what the heck. it's the tuesday before thanksgiving, and whoever is on here deserves a treat: the first new translation I've posted in a long while: the Life and Martyrdom of Susanna: andrewjacobs.org/translations...

I love this pope.

Happy St Katherine's Day to all scholars, librarians, and Katherines. May you win an argument against an annoying man today, in the true spirit of Katherine herself.

I agree with the UVa faculty senate: the Rector and Vice Rector must resign, and the presidential search must be paused.

AAR/SBL folks: Sunday, 8-11pm First Church Boston (on Marlborough between Clarendon and Berkeley)!

lovely and enlightening event about @ingerkuin.bsky.social's new DIOGENES book in conversation w @aristofontes.bsky.social. there were sheet cookies with the cover!

Early Christian Epistolarity is out now! Get your copy (or, you know, get your library to order it) at brill.com/display/titl.... It was an honor to work on this project with Judith Lieu @greggiven.bsky.social @angelastandh.bsky.social @cavanconcannon.bsky.social, Harry Maier (1/2)

From the inimitable @ingerkuin.bsky.social!

Teaching post-doc position in UVa’s College, renewable for up to three years total. Apply!

Former BOV Rector Hardie to current Rector Sheridan and BOV member Manning: “I am very disappointed that two of my closest friends decided to leave their friend the Rector out of such a conservation. Stand by your president. This is sickening to me. I am appalled.”

Shopping for new books at SBL 2025? Here are some suggestions for titles related to Christian apocrypha. www.apocryphicity.ca/2025/11/16/c...

youngkin serving the commonwealth by conspiring with the white house to destroy one of its flagship educational institutions

Governor Elect Spanberger advises the UVA BOV to pause selection of a new President until they have a Board approved by the General Assembly. A good and fair call.

Thank you, @abigailspanberger.com! This is the right path for restoring faculty, staff, student, and alumni trust in our BOV. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...

Alumni and friends of UVa Religious Studies: you are invited to our reception at the AAR/SBL annual meeting! Sunday, November 23, 8-11pm at First Church Boston. The venue is not a literal ship as in years past, but the etymology of “nave” keeps us in line with UVa tradition.

my already pretty reasonably priced LIFE OF THECLA translation/introduction is now UNreasonably cheap with the code CONFSHIP! $9.50! I think it includes US shipping? stocking stuffers for all of your apocrypha lovers! wipfandstock.com/978166674640...

I did not write the headline, but I have an op ed on Prop 50 over at the @sfchronicle.com. Shorter version: the nationalization and polarization of our politics is what got us here, and it's also the most likely way out. It will take national partisan Democratic hardball to enact anti-hardball.

❤️❤️❤️

Join us Friday for the November 2025 First Friday workshop with Ivan Miroshnikov (University of Helsinki). Register at the email in the image below for the pre-circulated paper and Zoom link.

BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students. Follow AP for live updates.

Blah blah blah men…Young women are ready to set the country on fire

The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae thinks I’m working too hard.

Amazing action happening on the Charlottesville downtown mall now!

Amazing action happening on the Charlottesville downtown mall now!

ICE Agent, 7-Year-Old Both Wearing Same ‘Military Commando’ Halloween Costume

Another great way to help out the food banks and get a little something (or a lot of something if you’re like me 🫣) in return!

If you’re free tomorrow at 8am US Eastern / 1pm CET, come talk with me about the Byzantine apocryphal reception of Onesimus! genaut.univie.ac.at?page_id=671&...

Join us on Friday, November 7 for @nasscal.bsky.social’s First Friday Workshop with Ivan Miroshnikov on “Textual Fluidity in the Coptic Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles”!

Everything's bigger in America... When I was given the chance by Basic Books to translate and adapt my 2022 Dutch biography of Diogenes they said they wanted more Diogenes and to their credit did not blink when in the end I gave them as much as 50% more.

Trump Touts Productive Call With Putin About Ballroom Sconces https://theonion.com/trump-touts-productive-call-with-putin-about-ballroom-sconces/

Dr. Phyllis Tribble 1932-2025 Feminist Biblical Interpretation Scholar Assistant and Associate Professor of Religion at Wake Forest (1963–1971); founding faculty member and Associate Dean of the School of Divinity (1999-2002) and University Professor (2002-2012) www.linkedin.com/posts/wakedi...

It's not too late to sign-up! Level 1 offered this fall and Level 2 offered in January. An affordable option for ancient language learners (and lovers)!

Breaking News: The University of Virginia struck an agreement with the White House to remove the threat of a federal investigation, part of a Trump pressure campaign. It's the first public university to do so. nyti.ms/3Wgo2JR

Excellent piece by @fishkin.bsky.social! www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

Sweet Lord, this is absolutely appalling. www.politico.com/news/2025/10...