This morning, languishing about and not wanting to get out of bed, I caught a short interview on NPR with Donald Knuth.

Knuth is legendary in the realm of information science/computer programming. Knuth himself developed the typesetting language TeX, primarily to typeset his continually-in-progress The Art of Computer Programming. He is guru above all gurus. Here is the short description/bio of Knuth from the interview page:

Donald Knuth is legendary in the computer science world for writing a series of must-have reference books called The Art of Computer Programming. Part cookbook, part textbook, part encyclopedia, these books are also considered by many to be technical and personal works of art.

One interesting part of the interview (towards the end) was when the interviewer asks if Knuth believes in God. Knuth does, and says he devotes a fair amount of time to thinking about such things. Interestingly, Knuth laments the possibility of there being a proof of God. He says that if such a thing ever occurred, he'd end up memorizing the proof and then wouldn't have any cause to think about it again. Not that he doesn't want to consider such things, but if it was empirically certain it wouldn't require the depth of thought and consideration that we are to give it. Because there's a mystery, it demands attention and consideration.

I'd never considered that perspective, but it makes a lot of sense. Of course, we're talking about Donald Knuth here, so it has to make sense.

Update: Programmers/Techies who are believers may find Knuth's book Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About an interesting diversion from the normal Comp. Sci. reading list. Here's part of the book blurb:

[Knuth's] starting point is the 3:16 project, an application of mathematical "random sampling" to the books of the Bible. The first lectures tell the story of the project's conception and execution, exploring its many dimensions of language translation, aesthetics, and theological history. Along the way, Knuth explains the many insights he gained from such interdisciplinary work. These theological musings culminate in a surprising final lecture tackling the ideas of infinity, free will, and some of the other big questions that lie at the juncture of theology and computation.

I've not read the book, I just came across a reference when searching for more info on Knuth and Christianity.

Driving back from a memorial service in Oak Harbor yesterday, I took the long way home through the Skagit flats and across Chuckanut Drive. Just north of Bayview, I spied a bald eagle in a tree. I pulled over, put on the telephoto lense, and snapped some pics. This is probably the best one. Too bad I didn't have more zoom and a better angle — it could've been a really cool photo.

More pictures taken that day (a few more pics of the eagle, plus some other shots) are on my photo site.

I can't believe I'm blogging this, but it's Friday so I guess it's OK.

A colleague at Logos is doing some work on the Semeia series. He came across the following and he knew he had to send it my way:

In James Brown double-voiced theological discourse, Jesus' cleansing of the Temple becomes “Papa Come Here Quick and Bring Me that Lickin' Stick.” His recounting of Peter's rebuke to Jesus' prediction of his own crucifixion was J.B.'s first big hit: “Please, Please, Please (Don't Go — I Love You So.)” In James' double-voiced discourse he sang of the New Covenant and grooved us at the same time with “Papa's Got a Brand New Bag.” Of course, Gethsemane's anguish in J.B. deuce-discourse can be none other than “I Break Out (In a Cold Sweat).” And “It's Too Funky in Here (Open up the Windows)” most certainly is about Lazarus locked up in the tomb for four long days.

(Osayande Obery Hendricks, Guerrilla Exegesis: "Struggle" As A Scholarly Vocation. A Postmodern Approach to African-American Biblical Interpretation. Semeia vol. 72, p. 78.)

I don't have any more context, and unfortunately vol. 72 is not archived at the SBL site, but this was too good to let sit. I immediately set about creating a Rhapsody Playlist. Here you go:

• "Licking Stick" - James Brown
• "Please, Please, Please" - James Brown And His Famous Flames
• "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Pt. 1" - James Brown
• "Cold Sweat, Pt. 1" - James Brown
• "It's Too Funky In Here" - James Brown

If you want to listen to the playlist, here's the link (requires Rhapsody, of course).

This only started the ball rolling. Here are some further funktastic suggestions (from various similarly funk-minded folk at the office) to fill out the "James Brown - Semeia Funkadelic Discourse" playlist:

• "Get on the Good Foot" - Healing the lame.
• "Get Up Offa That Thing" - Jesus healing the paralytic. 
• "Papa Don't Take No Mess" - Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees
• "The Payback" - Pretty much the whole book of Revelation, as well as other apocalyptic literature.

These are not a part of the above-linked playlist. If you think you can handle the funk, go ahead and add them to the playlist after you load it up.

Be careful out there, funky people. The groove you save may be your own.

I've always noted surface similarities between the account of Polycarp's martyrdom and Christ's crucifixion as recorded in the gospels.

But I haven't seen the similarity to the same degree that Lightfoot describes (Lightfoot, Ignatius & Polycarp, vol II pt 1, pp. 594-595). He writes:

The writers [of Martyrdom of Polycarp] betray an eagerness to find parallels between the sufferings of their martyred bishop and the passion of Our Lord. ... Accordingly the idea of literal conformity to the sufferings and death of Christ runs like a thread through the whole document. Some of the coincidences are fairly obvious; in other cases the parallelism is highly artificial.

The list is a long one.

• The officer who apprehended Polycarp was named Herod (MPoly 1).
• Polycarp's location betrayed by a slave boy is likened to Judas' betrayal of Jesus, though this is a bit of a stretch. (MPoly 2)
• Polycarp, like Christ, was betrayed by those in his own "household' (though again, a bit of a stretch). (MPoly 6)
• Polycarp predicted his death by fire, much like Christ prophesied his own death (MPoly 5)
• Polycarp didn't flee to escape his capture, much like Christ did not hide or run away (MPoly 1)
• Polycarp's pursuers were armed sought him "as a robber" (MPoly 7)
• Polycarp's declaration of "God's will be done" (MPoly 7, cf. Mt 26.42)
• A voice from heaven encouraging Polycarp (MPoly 9, cf. Jn 12.28)
• Polycarp's body pierced (MPoly 16, cf. Jn 19.34)
• Interference of Jews in disposing the body (MPoly 17, cf. Mt 28.62)

Lightfoot goes into more detail at several points and adds other points to his list that I've not included above. Most interesting to me is the thought that several martyrdom stories, not just Polycarp's, contain elements that seem to be related back to the suffering and crucifixion of Christ.

Apparently some use this as evidence that these sorts of stories are false or are embellished to the point so as to not be reliable. But this sort of conclusion seems invalid to me (as it does to Lightfoot). Why wouldn't Christians pick out and emphasize supposed similarities between the suffering of a martyr and the crucifixion of Christ? The point isn't that Polycarp was some sort of Christ figure -- far from it. The point in the narrative of Polycarp's death is that he died a death worthy of a saint. There may very easily be some embellishment in the account (the bit about all the blood extinguishing the fire, a dove flying out of Polycarp's body, and the sweet resultant aroma seems a little much to me) but that doesn't mean we throw the whole thing out as fiction.

I've been feeling nostalgic recently. Dad, you'll appreciate this.

Within the past week, I remembered how my Dad always used to listen to Willie Nelson in the car. Specifically, I remember the album Stardust (link requires Rhapsody).

I vividly remember driving in the car, just me and my Dad, from our house to the Navy Exchange for something or other. I remember the car -- a 1977 [or 1976?] silver Ford Granada with maroon interior. Willie Nelson was playing on the cassette deck. And my Dad and I were singing Georgia On My Mind and Blue Skies, along with Willie, as we were headed to the store.

Why do I remember this? I'm not sure. I was looking for a good edition of Ray Charles singing Georgia On My Mind, but Rhapsody's only edition (that I can find) is Ray singing live, and the recording isn't the best. Then I saw Willie's version and had to check it out again. I'd recently mentioned to a friend how my Dad used to listen to Willie in the car, and how we'd occasionally sing along. I guess actually seeing the link in Rhapsody put me over the edge.

And when I listened to the album, I was right back in the silver Ford Granada, sitting in the front seat with Dad, singing right along.

Ahhhhhh, nostalgia.

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While I'm here, I'll offer a short side note. I haven't been blogging much lately, either here or over at PastoralEpistles.com. I've been trying to spend my spare time a bit more focused on my writing project on the Pastoral Epistles, which means less outside reading. In addition to this, I've had something else come up that I'm not prepared to blog about (don't worry, it's all good) that has caused me to focus my attention elsewhere. I'm still here, I'll just be blogging less frequently than in the past.

Clicking a link from the home page in Real Rhapsody today, I stumbled upon James Carr. The album is The Essential James Carr.

This man's voice exudes soul. The Rhapsody "mini-review" says it all:

Simply put: Carr has one of the most devastating deep soul voices of all time. He makes the line "just like the fish needs the ocean/just like rough hands need a little lotion" on "A Man Needs a Woman" sound like scripture, and his take on "Dark End of the Street" will turn you into dust. His music is totally essential.

You need to listen to this album if you have Real Rhapsody. If you look back fondly on the tune "Stand By Me" by Ben  E. King (before its horrible radio over-play when the movie of the same name was released), then you will enjoy this album.

Here's a short bio on James Carr. Sounds like a sad story. If you have Rhapsody, take some time and give the album a good listen.

Checking the NETS Provisional edition site again, I note the presence of a few books I hadn't seen yet:

• Tobit
• Proverbs
• Lamentations
• Susanna

Hop on over & grab 'em while they're hot.

I came across these in unrelated searching awhile back.

The Bibles Repository

Most interesting (to me, anyway) are the facsimile editions of Codices Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, and Sinaiticus.

Here is more information about the host, bibles.org.uk.