I’ve mentioned it in passing, but I’m now the guy on the hook for the “Thoughts from the Church Fathers” column in Bible Study Magazine. My first column is in the May-June 2010 issue:

Brannan, Rick, “Fighting Over Moses’ Body” Bible Study Magazine 2, no. 4 (May/June 2010): 43.

The column is relatively simple and is designed to let the writings of the fathers speak for themselves on a particular topic. I find a quote, usually appropriate to the theme of the issue, and write a short intro as well as a short biographical bit about the church father in question.

It’s a fun little gig and hopefully folks get introduced to the fathers through the column!

I’ve been reading through the 4th century (probably) “Life of Polycarp”. This work includes several supernatural/fantastic stories supposedly from the life of Polycarp. Lightfoot’s big edition has the Greek text with notes and an English translation.

§27 has the story of Polycarp and one of his deacons, Camerius. They’re traveling one day, and a widow gives them a tiny birdie as an offering. So after the long day of travel, Polycarp and Camerius stop at an inn and crash for the night.

In the middle of the night, the angel of the Lord appears to Polycarp telling him that the inn is going to crash down. Here’s Lightfoot’s translation:

And when night was nearly half past, an angel of the Lord stood by him and smote his side and said, ‘Polycarp.’ and he said ‘what is it?’ The angel replied, ‘Rise and go out of the inn: for it is on the point of falling.’

So Polycarp tries to wake up Camerius. Polycarp is unsuccessful, Camerius is in some seriously deep sleep. Polycarp tries again:

And when the angel stood by him a second time and said the same thing, again he told Camerius to get up. And on his [Camerius’] saying in reply ‘I have trust in God that, while thou art here, the wall will never fall.’ Polycarp said, ‘I too have trust in God, but I have no trust in the wall.’

At that point, I laughed. Seems reasonable to me.

First, if you’re into Twitter, you can find me there now. Just search for “Rick Brannan” or go here: http://twitter.com/RickBrannan. If you know of anyone I should be “following” (sounds so Jim-Jones-cultish that way, doesn’t it?) let me know here in the comments. Tell your friends.

Why did I take the Twitter plunge? It is primarily because I’d like to experiment with Twitter while I’m at BibleTech:2010 and see what others are doing in that area. Seems like I should try to have some sort of audience before the conference.

Speaking of BibleTech, did you know there is now a BibleTech blog? check it out: http://www.bibletechconference.com/blog/

On my recent relative blog silence, it is mostly due to working on project that requires me to go through the Greek NT at a relatively quick pace. That means less time for blogging. But know that lots of good stuff is cooking; hope to have some announcements here over the next few months.

Last question/note: Should I submit a proposal to SBL’s Greek Language and Linguistics section? I’m thinking a revised and cleaned version of the αλλα paper I did for ETS in 2008 would be suitable; it would also be the impetus necessary to prepare a version for submission for publication. Let me know what you think in the comments if you have an opinion on this.

Yes, there has been a relative absence of posting on this blog. As is the case with many things, life intervenes.

In my reading or studying I note things almost every day and think “I should blog that!” but have not been able to get around to it. The latest? The use of πλην in Mt 26.63-64 and how it is very similar to my understanding of the use of αλλα. And then there was that thought about the usage of parenthetical comments in John’s gospel (but I’m sure that’s been done over in the commentaries).

But, no time to write up such things. I’m working on several projects, both at the office and at home, and ETS/SBL is approaching (Will you be there? I’ll be at SBL. If you want to meet and chat, send me an email, text geek at g mail dot com, and we’ll try to get together).

But most importantly, Ella has really been into tea parties lately, and a three-person tea party (Ella, Bear and Bunny) is lopsided, so I like to join them when I can to make it an even four.

For the past year I’ve been spurty (is that a word?) in my blogging. That will continue for the foreseeable future. I’m not going away, and I appreciate those of you who continue to peek over in my little corner of biblioblogdom to see how I’m doing.

I mentioned “several projects” above. One such project I hope to publish here on the blog soon. Another will be published in an upcoming issue of Bible Study Magazine, I’ll link here when that is available as well. So keep comin’ back. Really, there will be substantive posts coming.