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I.T. Soon

@isaactsoon.bsky.social
2.1K followers 793 following 615 posts

Writer of music, fiction, and scholarship. Recovering nihilist.

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Candida Moss @candidamoss.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It lives. I was honored to deliver the Hans Lietzmann lecture in Berlin and Jena a few years ago. And I am excited to see the results in print!
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My latest for National Geographic is on a stunning new ‘Fulgur Conditum’ inscription from Hadrian’s Villa that tells us a lot about how Romans reacted to lightning ⚡️ striking objects & the creation of sacred space. Thx 🙏 to Elizabeth Meyer & Alberto Samonà. www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...
nationalgeographic.com
The Ancient Romans Had a Strange Ritual After Thunderstorms
Archaeologists excavating at Hadrian’s Villa outside of Rome have unearthed a marble slab dedicated to Summanus, the god of nocturnal lightning.
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Alexiana Fry @alexianafry.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Calling all scholars of religion who are attending the upcoming #aarsbl26 meeting in Denver! I need your help, as I am using the current fun trend exemplified by "Subway Takes" to introduce the public to the world of (and the necessity of) religious studies - broadly speaking.
a gradient background with orange, teal, and magenta is the background. In a cream text, there are the words one line at a time "HOLY HOT TAKES." The first H has wings on it, the first O has a halo on it. The second o in the second line has flames on top of it, and the t has a "devils tail."
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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My new article on Hebrews and Concurrent Blood Sacrifice is now out with JSNT. This one took a long time to write (three years!), and I'm please to see it out in the wild. Enjoy. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
One Priesthood After Another: Hebrews, Concurrent Blood Sacrifice, and the Destruction of the Temple - Isaac T. Soon, 2026
This article argues that it is unlikely that the author of Hebrews, like many other Jewish texts from the second temple period, understood the sacrificial activ...
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Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
One option for humanities classes going forward: don't schedule the class, schedule the work
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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Didn't realize that Lewis's works have become this deuterocanonical for Protestants: religionnews.com/2026/09/23/m...
religionnews.com
Meryl Streep as Narnia's Aslan: Why some evangelicals call it blasphemy
(RNS) — News that Streep will play Aslan in "Narnia: The Magician's Nephew" has sparked casting debates similar to those over "The Odyssey." But for evangelicals, the concerns go deeper than culture w...
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maimonides nutz @maimonidesnutz.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I wanted to show y’all what I’m working on here first! It’s a Lilith amulet in the shape of a C1 (atlas) vertebra. My thought is that if you have something trapped in the bone where your head meets the rest of your body, it will be both the upper and lower limit of who you could be in the world
A cracked vertebra with a dark blob like figure in the middle. Both the figure and the vertebra are covered in Hebrew writingA silver medallion with a loosely human blob in the middle. She is surrounded by Hebrew writing
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Mateusz Kusio @mateuszkusio.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Feel invited to attend all or any of the sessions in this new online public lecture series, entitled "Prophecy, Divination, Verification, and Failure in Antiquity and Beyond", which I am organising within the framework of my FWO project "New Perspectives on the Delay of Parousia" +
Poster of a new lecture online public lecture series, organised within the framework of my research project “New Perspectives on the Delay of the Parousia”, funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO; grant number: 1214026N). Lectures, scheduled across the 2026–27 academic year, will be held on Zoom and open to the public.

Prophecy, Divination, Verification, and Failure in Antiquity and Beyond

(all times CET)

Friday, 2 October 2026, 5pm
Matthew Dillon (University of New England), When the Enquirer Misinterprets: Veracity and Prophetic Non-fulfilment in Greek Oracular Divination

Wednesday, 21 October 2026, 6pm
Hindy Najman (Oxford), Prophetic Ends: Vitality and Interpretation in Ancient Judaism

Friday, 6 November 2026, 4pm
Lindsay Driediger-Murphy (Calgary), Wake Up Dead Man: Talking Corpses and Other Misdirections in Roman Divination

Friday, 15 January 2027, 5pm
Robert Wiśniewski (Warsaw), To Catch a Thief: On Late Antique Thieves, Policemen, Neighbours, and Unexpected Benefits of Divination 

Friday, 5 February 2027, 5pm
Tucker Ferda (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary), Process Eschatologies, Interim Periods, the Question of Delay in Christian Origins 

Friday, 19 February 2027, 9am (note the hour)
Michael Hanaghan (ACU), Imperial Prophecy in Ammianus’ Res 

Friday, 5 March 2027, 5pm
James Crossley (Cambridge), Apocalypticism and the Development of Radical Traditions

Wednesday, 14 April 2027, 5pm
Hauke Rietsch (Brunel), Science, Risk and Prophecy

Friday, 23 April 2027, 5pm
Todd Lawson (Toronto), Protology, Eschatology, and the Seal of the Prophets in the Quran

Wednesday, 5 May 2027, 5pm
David Cook (Rice University), When/Where in the Week Is It? Specific Predictions and Their Failure During the First Islamic Centuries 

Friday, 28 May 2027, 3pm
Roland Boer (Chinese International Experts Bureau), The Interim Becomes the Norm: How Socialism was Transformed from a Brief Transition to a Long Historical Phase
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Tess Wingard @tesswingard.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
**COMING UP NEXT WEEK** ISMR presents, Prof. Michelle Armstrong-Partida, 'Enslaved Women & the Church in the Late Medieval Mediterranean' Online lecture, 13:00 EDT/18:00 BST, Mon 21 Sept Register for the stream here www.ticketsource.com/ideology-soc...
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Debby Sneed @debscavator.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
My co-authored article on a late 6th century BCE statue of a dwarf woman that was dedicated on the Athenian Acropolis was awarded a prize!
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Stephen Hopkins @phil-lol-ogist.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I regret having to cut this from my book
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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Had a fabulous time at the first day of our workshop on The Nameless in History. Lots of fantastic inspiration from many disciplines on how to deal with this particular gap in our knowledge. Among others my terrific colleague Pia Wiegmink spoke about US memorials for the nameless enslaved
A woman giving a talk in front of a screen showing a memorial from the University of Virginia campus
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Arthur Urbano 🌍📷🏛️🛫🇮🇹🤌😷 @arturoviaggia.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
So much of the ancient statuary and portraiture study I've been doing for this book has led me to the discovery that once upon a time, scholars were so eager to identify the subjects as well-known historical figures that they made leaps and bounds to identify them, without any evidence.
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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Look for this work! I'm a big fan of the Cambridge elements series which has allowed up and coming scholars to engage with the incredible scholarship out there while widening the field in innovative ways.
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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
looks like i’m joining the cambridge elements crowd at CUP. 𝘗𝘢𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 will be coming your way in the new cambridge elements in pauline studies!
the top half of the first page of my author agreement with cambridge university press, which names the relevant parties (CUP and yours truly), the element series (“elements in pauline studies,” edited by ryan collman and matthew novenson), and the title of the work (“paul and magic”).
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 07/09/2026
Academic humanities are constantly being forced into a defensive public stance. We ARE trying to fix this-see the World Humanities Report, which proactively shows the powerful contributions academic humanities makes to the world - but it doesn't break through worldhumanitiesreport.org
worldhumanitiesreport.org
Home - The World Humanities Report
The World Humanities Report Demonstrating the vitality of the humanities throughout the world
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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Whether we want to admit it or not, every NFL game is a snuff film. It's long past time fans of the sport faced up to a reality that becomes clearer every day: American football is simply too dangerous. This year, turn off the NFL. Our latest in @theguardian.com @us.theguardian.com.
theguardian.com
CTE in football players is a health crisis. It’s time for us to stop watching
A new study offers more evidence that America’s biggest sport produces life-altering head trauma. The NFL will never turn itself off, so it’s on fans to do so
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Daniel S. Richter has a new book—which I am stoked about—looking at the Antebellum engagement with Aristotle by enslavers. We should all buy this book when it’s out in October (although $105 is high!), but here are some other thoughts too. global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Aristotle in the Antebellum South

Natural Slavery, Democracy, and the Ancients

Daniel S. Richter

Introduces the first account of how and why antebellum Southerners embraced Aristotle prior to the Civil War
Provides a new approach to the discipline of intellectual history that moves beyond the idea of "reception"
Describes how different political contexts and historical moments shape defenses of slavery
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 05/09/2026
sharing again for the weekend crowd. the humanities aren't in crisis, they're under attack -- because they're dangerous to people in power, because they ask their students to imagine possible worlds.
from the article: "Our tendency to see religion as a matter of personal, interiorized belief has led us to view its study as intellectually niche—or, to put it in neoliberal corporate speak—as a “low-skill” distraction. This is true of how we view the Humanities in general, of course—that, as Lauren Horn Griffin has so well explained, they’re seen as little more than “personal enrichment.” But that, she continues, is a right-wing act of controlling unruly ideas, of pushing to the margins disciplines that ask difficult questions of “invisible” power structures—say they’re irrelevant, deny them resources, call them “unprofitable,” make them disappear. But faculty, especially but not exclusively in Religion and other Humanities disciplines, often work directly against these forces. Because the discipline of Religion is attuned to issues of (presumed) interiority as well as actions in the public sphere, it’s these faculty who are some of the best situated to ask uncomfortable questions of those in power—be they federal policymakers or university administrators. 

At (regional) public universities like ours, this means highlighting a population that is quite different by class, race, gender, and sexuality than found at, for example, the Ivies. Humanities education, including Religious Studies, helps inure students to authoritarian thinking. At their best, the Humanities are attentive to the frictions that create lived experiences—particularly those that are oftentimes marginalized. The Humanities explain how things have been different, could have been different, could be different now, and may be different in the future. They are about possible worlds."
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Prof. Dr Beth Singler @bvlsingler.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I met someone at a conference in the Summer who told me this piece was coming. I had my own run-ins with him while I was at Cambridge, so I am glad more is coming out into the open www.ft.com/content/c2d0...
ft.com
James Orr and the gospel of the new British right
Reform’s policy head is a Cambridge theologian with an enviable contact book and a belief in ‘faith, family and flag’
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Tony Burke @tonyburke.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Seven (?) years in the making, submitted to my editors yesterday. 624 pages, covering almost 400 texts but 100 or so pages over my page limit. Happy to leave this in the hands of the editors for a while and move on to something else (or just get more sleep). My thanks to all who helped along the way
Draft of opening page to Introduction to Christian Apocrypha by Tony Burke
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Dr. Elizabeth Schrader Polczer @libbiesp.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
@joantaylor.bsky.social we did it!! We got the Bible changed! Honestly I wasn't even thinking about how the footnotes might change in Matthew 27 and Luke 8. These updated footnotes are in the brand-new third edition of the Jewish Annotated New Testament. Buy it here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Another museum heist has occurred, with the Bronze Age hoard of Villena being stolen. This collection comprises artifacts crafted from gold, silver, and amber. de.euronews.com/kultur/2026/...
share.google
Diebe stehlen Bronzezeit-Schatz von Villena in unter vier Minuten
Die Diebe lösten am Stadtrand von Villena einen falschen Alarm aus, lenkten so die Sicherheitskräfte ab und stahlen im Museum 59 prähistorische Exponate in weniger als vier Minuten.
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Caroline (Carrie) T. Schroeder @ctschroeder.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Amy-Jill Levine is one of the most important living biblical studies scholars and has had immense effects on the field and the public. The Catholic Biblical Association — a prof society AJL has been active in for decades — has elected her pres. Some have responded w/ hateful, antisemitic reactions+
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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Can attest these are often the highlights of my week. So much to learn!
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Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox.com · 15/08/2026
TW: Suicide If you tell people you have SI, many are likely to suggest you call 988 or text the suicide lifeline. These are good resources *if you need to be kept physically safe;* they are not as helpful if your ideations are passive. Allow me to share some things that have helped me. /1
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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Having spent last week in an archive at a residential school in Northern Ontario I can say unequivocally that the use of a genAi like Claude to do family history for truth and reconciliation is fundamentally misguided. 🧵
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Pasts Imperfect is back! This week, @jbrya.bsky.social discusses Zora Neale Hurston's 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩. Then, the mass grave at Phaleron (Attica) confirms a local population; UNESCO protects Sebastia; geoglyphs in the Amazon; ancient world journals by @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & more!
pasts-imperfect.ghost.io
Pasts Imperfect (8.13.26)
This week, classicist Jermaine Bryant discusses Zora Neale Hurston's posthumously published The Life of Herod the Great. Then, a new study of the mass grave at Phaleron (Attica) confirms a local popul...
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Sabrina Inowlocki @sabrinainowlocki.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Turns out the Martyrs of Palestine and Pamphilus of Caesarea are chick-magnets. I just found out that Liz Penland, Erica Carotenuto and myself have a predecessor. The Pamphilos entry in Pauly-Wissowa by "E. Hoffmann" is not by an Ernst but an Eva.
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Perusing @lrb.co.uk, but rather than reading about the Odyssey (which I am seeing again tonight), I'm exploring "Polar Bears in Rome," Michael Kulikowski's review of _The Northern Routes to Kingship: A History of Scandinavia AD 180–550_by Dagfinn Skre. Were there ever polar bears in the Colosseum? 🐻‍❄️
lrb.co.uk
Michael Kulikowski · Polar Bears in Rome: Roman Scandinavia
Over the past two generations, the boundaries of the classical world have been stretched to the steppe frontier of China...
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Andrew Jacobs (he/him) @drewjakeprof.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
new open access article from @jennisifire.bsky.social! a taste (i think) of her next book! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Scandal and the Late Ancient Christian Historian | Church History | Cambridge Core
Scandal and the Late Ancient Christian Historian - Volume 95 Issue 1
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A. M. Vincent @vincent.northsky.social · 10/08/2026
Absolutely my writing process.
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William B. Bowes @wbbowes.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
My second monograph (with De Gruyter-Brill) has a page now - forthcoming in a few months. I hope it will be a standard 'go-to' on this topic! brill.com/display/titl...
brill.com
Reuse and Rewriting in Ancient Judaism
"Reuse and Rewriting in Ancient Judaism" published on 01 Jan 2027 by Brill.
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Joseph A Marchal @jamarchal.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
they take a little longer to arrive, but nothing beats getting physical copies of the latest issues of QTR: A Journal of Trans and Queer Studies in Religion! With @dukepress.bsky.social
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British New Testament Society @bntsoc.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Plenary spotlight: Louise Lawrence, University of Exeter, and An-Ting Yi, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, “Challenging Contexts in Conversation”. Their session considers contextual scholarship, disciplinary identity and the future of New Testament Studies. #BNTS2026
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Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Post your faculty lounge
static.klipy.com
Manly Spa Day Cheers
Alt: Manly Spa Day Cheers, two men wearing white robes
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Liv Mariah Yarrow (pronounced "leave") @profyarrow.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I want to be very clear about the pandemic. People died awful deaths. Dr. Fauci is a national hero. In the early days I lost colleagues my own age and younger in good health and prime of life. I attended god awful zoom funerals before anyone really knew how to host a zoom mega meetings. 1/
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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Have you ever heard about the story of John Nzipo from the Matikula Kraal, a Zulu community? In the 19th century he found himself attending one of Canada's earliest residential schools in Northern Ontario, Shingwauk. + www.cbc.ca/news/indigen...
cbc.ca
Uncovering the story of John Nzipo, the Zulu man who spent 3 years at a residential school | CBC News
John Nzipo, a 22-year-old student from Africa in 1892, was likely the only non-North American Indigenous person ever enrolled at a residential school in Canada, according to the researcher who has bee...
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
In Rome last week, archaeologists uncovered rooms on the Caelian that may be the 2nd century CE vigiles' (firefighters 🔥) barracks near the Colosseum. The other known vigiles barracks is the Excubitorium of the VII Cohort in Trastevere. Augustus 1st federalized the firefighters into state brigades.
labrujulaverde.com
One of the 7 Stations of the Vigiles, the Firefighters of Ancient Rome, Discovered on the Caelian Hill
Excavations carried out as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) have brought to light an architectural complex of incalculable value in the heart of Villa Celimontana. Under the...
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Heike Omerzu @heikeomerzu.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Come and work with me, Kelsie Rodenbiker, Daniel Maier and Amit Gvaryahu in Copenhagen! Deadline 30 September @kelsbot.bsky.social @ucph.bsky.social
employment.ku.dk
Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) or Associate Professor (Open Rank) in New Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen
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Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Did you know that early Christian ascetics who gave "everything" away often retained a single slave? Just out, a new study by Erin Dailey and Justin Pigott: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Ascetics, slaves, and necessity in Late Antiquity: renouncing all wealth, but for a single slave
Slave owners in Late Antiquity viewed the possession of at least one slave to be a necessity and a defining mark that distinguished the dignified social classes from the poor. Ascetics who shared thi...
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Joseph A Marchal @jamarchal.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
don't miss out! the deadline for proposals to the ever amazing, annual Queer and Trans Studies in Religion conference is ONE MONTH from today, August 15! studyofreligion.ucr.edu/holstein-cha...
studyofreligion.ucr.edu
UCR Conference on Queer and Trans Studies in Religion
UCR Conference on Queer and Trans Studies in Religion - February 12-14,2027. The UCR Conference on Queer and Trans Studies in Religion (UCR-QTSR) is proudly celebrating its ninth year as the leading i...
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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
CW: sexual assault On my second rewatch of Nolan’s Odyssey I had in mind Dr. Emily Wilson’s critique in her LRB review about the film not having any sex (“There are no sex scenes”). The comment is directed primarily toward Odysseus who does not have onscreen sex with Calypso or Circe. +
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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Just rewatched Nolan's The Odyssey and I'm firmly convinced that the film, as a whole, is about viewing the Trojan War through the eyes of the subaltern (Athena = the enslaved woman), a perspective that Odysseus gains as he sees the consequences of his cleverness and must reinterpret his world. +
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Brandon Massey @mbrandonmassey.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
How can slavery studies reshape the ongoing quests for the historical Jesus? We invite paper proposals to the conference "Jesus and Slavery: New Quests, Methods, and Perspectives" to be held in 27–20 August 2027 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Proposals are due 31 August.
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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I'm currently in Northern Ontario doing some archival work on a project about the teaching of the bible at residential schools in Canada in the 19th century. Did you know that residential schools were not a phenomenon unique to Turtle Island? Check out this helpful resource:
routledge.com
Residential Schools and Indigenous Peoples: From Genocide via Education to the Possibilities for Processes of Truth, Restitution, Reconciliation, and Reclamation
Residential Schools and Indigenous Peoples provides an extended multi-country focus on the transnational phenomenon of genocide of Indigenous peoples through residential schooling. It analyses how suc...
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Nyasha Junior @nyashajunior.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Hey faculty! A colleague is teaching their very first undergrad course. What one piece of advice would you offer? 📚
static.klipy.com
Keegan-Michael Key: Huh What
Alt: Keegan-Michael Key as teacher asking Huh What, Black man with very receding hair line wearing white collared shirt with brown tie and blue pen in shirt pocket
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Rev. Dr. Liz Gloyn @lizgloyn.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Dissertation: submitted ✅
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Chad Loder @chadloder.dev · 02/08/2026
The diarrhea lettuce company, Taylor Farms, uses slave labor contracted from the Arizona Dept. of Corrections. The backbreaking labor is often performed by imprisoned Mexican nationals who would be otherwise ineligble to work in the US. They are paid $1.50 an hour.
futurism.com
The Diarrhea Lettuce Company Has Been Linked to Forced Labor
The lettuce-producing Taylor Farms was linked to the widespread use of prison labor before its involvement in a cyclospora outbreak.
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Flint Dibble @flintdibble.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Everyone's comparing Nolan's Odyssey to Homer, but I think there's much more richness The ancient Greeks adapted the Odyssey into ART While these images might appear static to us, I want to walk through how an ancient Greek saw art: AS DYNAMIC STORYTELLING like our films 1/13
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