Happy Eid to all who celebrate!

To all these terrific resources, I'd like to add:

Congratulations!

Why write when I can make pour-over coffee?

Ending 2025 to the sounds of a heavy downpour, the warmth of good friendships & the memories of wonderful books I got to read this year.
May 2026 treat us kindly.

Augustine in the Cairo Genizah Thinking about the letters of Augustine reminds me of one of the more interesting manuscripts I encountered this year. Among the many remarkable manuscripts in the Cairo Genizah is Cambridge Univer…

Brent Nongbri on "Augustine in the Cairo Genizah":

Nothing but the truth!

Current read (from #aarsbl25 haul). Been a long time since I enjoyed a non-fiction book so much.

“Between you and God, stands the poor person.
His hand is stretched out in the middle, through it you give and receive.
Through it you can buy, the kingdom that is greater than all….
To the poor he has entrusted his wealth, the treasury of divinity.”

Isaac of Antioch, On Almsgiving

Job alert: the project “Biblia Arabica: Researching and preserving the Arabic translations of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament” jointly led by Prof. Dr. Ronny Vollandt and Prof. Dr. Nathan P. Gibson is announcing 2 new PhD positions.
(2) job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/5...

Job alert: the project “Biblia Arabica: Researching and preserving the Arabic translations of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament” jointly led by Prof. Dr. Ronny Vollandt and Prof. Dr. Nathan P. Gibson is announcing 2 new PhD positions.
(1) dynamiken-des-religioesen.uni-frankfurt.de/ausschreibun...

Belated but here we are. #AARSBL25 was a blast. Attended wonderful panels, met old friends and made new.
As my first time in Boston, it also marks my discovery of Brattle Bookshop, which means I bought more books from the city than from the conference. Another first!

Of course!

No, al-Hajj is the proper form and is quite commonly used

I confirm: "al-Hajj Abdullah"

Join Us for a Groundbreaking Conference on Coptic Christianity!

May 19-21, 2025
Fordham University, Lincoln Center Campus

The Orthodox Christian Studies Center is proud to present its inaugural Coptic Christianity Conference:

Thank you!

Just finished the first rough draft of dissertation chapter one. Feeling rather pumped (and very sleepy!)

This year I'm on the #aar steering committees of the Middle Eastern Christianity Unit & Religion and Memory Unit. Check out our CfP(s) & consider submitting a proposal!

MECU June: papers.aarweb.org/group/14948
MECU Nov.: papers.aarweb.org/group/14947
R&M Nov.: papers.aarweb.org/group/14993

It's a slow but satisfying day of dissertating at home. Almost 900 words in today.

I found the SBL one. AAR is trickier: the only thing I could find quite a bit of search is a "search by keyword" page. Weird but I guess that's it

Is it just me who can't find the #aar #sbl call for papers, or are they really hidden in some obscure nook of the website?

AI struggles to understand human history and fails miserably when tested The study, which is the first of its kind, evaluates the historical knowledge of leading AI models such as ChatGPT-4, Llama, and Gemini.

“But when it comes to making judgments about the characteristics of past societies, especially those located outside North America and Western Europe, their ability to do so is much more limited.”

The intellectual always has a choice either to side with the weaker, the less well represented, the forgotten or ignored, or to side with the more powerful.

—Edward Said

I know. The evil is unspeakable.

Writing at USC's philosophy library is always a lovely experience.

My Gen Z daughter and her Altadena and Pasadena classmates are showing us the way (RNS) — It should not be surprising that the children of this community would lead in taking care of their own across faiths, ethnicities and languages.

Gen Z leading the way.
religionnews.com/2025/01/16/m...

Copts celebrate Nativity on Kiahk 29 (currently corresponds to January 7) and Epiphany on Tobi 11 (corresponds to January 19).

The Syriac Orthodox celebrate Nativity on December 25 and Epiphany on Jan 6.

I believe this is the case only in the Armenian church. The Coptic and Syriac traditions do not combine Nativity and Theophany.