iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Seriously: every bit of pushback I’ve ever received for banning AI in my classroom has come from administrators. But it’s not so surprising: AI is a reverse technological age gap, despised by the younger generations but supported by the still-neo-capitalist centrists who run institutions.

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Sam Brody @samuelhayimbrody.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

day 1 of any academic studies bible class is “what is ‘the bible’” and guaranteed their train will never get to that station

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Here’s mine - for which I have gotten repeated pushback from higher ups:

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I tell my classes all the time: no one has ever opened the Bible and read something in there and said “oh shit, I guess I was wrong about that, I’ll change my mind/behavior now.” Which is why trying to convince someone that their reading of the text is faulty somehow is so ineffective.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Ever had a major figure in the field call your first book “borderline incompetent” in the flagship journal of the field? I have. (Made my career, to be honest, but I’d still rather it hadn’t happened. Probably.)

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Recently finished a relatively new semi-accessible scholarly book, and man, Israeli archaeology really can’t get away from the Bible, huh? It’s like imagining historians of England who just had to tie everything back to Shakespeare somehow. It makes the whole project seem impossible.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Dear god someone pay me to do a line by line review of this

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Dear god someone pay me to do a line by line review of this

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Super fucking cool, genuine response. All the credit: thanks for listening. Really well done.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I’d also really love to know if this is a real Christian thing - like has the 613 come to have some independent Christian meaning, or is it just used as shorthand for “what Jews believe” (as different from what we believe)?

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Dude, I did start this mostly joking - just pointing out that it’s kind of a category mismatch to put the Jewish idea of 613 commandments into the Christian idea of the OT. Now you’re playing the “your feelings don’t matter” card, which seems like a wild place to have gone.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Less important - but not unimportant.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Feels weird to tell me that the thing I obviously care about isn’t a thing that Jews care about. I promise that stuff like Christian Seders bothers “us.”

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Legitimately interested: can you tell me where the 613 commandments come into Christianity? Because even in Judaism that idea doesn’t exist until the middle of the first millennium CE, and there’s no attempt at enumeration for another five hundred years or so after that.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Yeah - I know what the OT is, and I don’t have any problem with Christians using the term. It’s more that the 613 commandments is an entirely rabbinic concept, and belongs to the Jewish Bible, not the OT. Combining the two feels vaguely supersessionist, like a Christian Seder.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

The how many laws in the what now

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

There’s stuff about which the Bible is bad all on its own- slavery, women, homosexuality - and bad people take advantage of that stuff. Then there’s stuff that isn’t in the Bible at all, and bad people make the Bible into a source for - and racism is one of those things.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

If you’re going to invite me to be on your editorial board, probably don’t a) fail to describe any of the responsibilities, b) forward me the message from the EIC saying they’re on a tight deadline to add members, or c) extend the offer also to any students I might have. Must be a terrific journal!

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

You mean your workplace doesn’t have this sort of thing? Your loss I guess.

A desk beneath a sign saying “picture book of the week,” holding a children’s book called “the lord is my shepherd” with the picture of a sheepdog on the cover

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Four sources of the Pentateuch, four ideas about Moses’s heritage and relationship to Aaron: P: brothers, both Levites J: brothers, only Aaron is a Levite E: not brothers, no one is a Levite* D: cares about neither thing *requires emendation in Exodus 2:1 that I’m increasingly confident of

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Very proud of my doctoral student Paul Essah, who is now ABD and ready to start writing his dissertation, “Revelation as Decolonial Praxis: The Politics of Knowledge and the Book of Daniel.” It’s going to be AMAZING.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Just a fun little pre-Passover reminder that not everyone in ancient Israel thought that Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. Enjoy!

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

I teach a course on how to engage with scholarship - how to read, how to do panels and book reviews - and one of the first things I tell the students is they can’t say that they liked or didn’t like something. They have to say what it’s trying to do, and what they can profitably take from it.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Quick plug: I’ll be presenting at the "New Insights into the Hebrew Bible" conference March 20–22. Join me and 12 other scholars for a deep dive into Genesis. Register by Feb 28 to save up to 25%. bartehrman.com/nihb

Announcement for a lecture called “When Abraham Negotiated Against God…Or Not”

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Jill Hicks-Keeton @jillhickskeeton.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Hi, friends. An FYI for those interested: I've published an article in JSP about Esther as "American scripture." Includes analysis of the Heritage Foundation's "Project Esther" (2024) and its strategies for regulating free speech, higher education, immigration, and foreign policy.

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Josephine beckbook.com Riesman @josie.zone · 05/02/2026

@joelbaden.bsky.social Just wanted to tell you that I am ADORING your Great Courses series!!!! Bravo!!!!

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

What - and I’m not sure how else to put this - the living fuck is this shit doing in the New York Times? The Kingdom of God Is Ruled by the Humblest of Men www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | The Kingdom of God Is Ruled by the Humblest of Men

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

And universalist religions, granted immense power, become, let’s say, oppressive to those religions that would like to just be left alone to do their thing in peace please.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Poking through some recipe reviews on the NYT just now and saw multiple people commenting on the irony of using *kosher salt* in a *pork dish* and the fundamental lack of the most basic understanding of what kosher salt is just kills me every so often.

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Kevin Manzel @kevinmanzel.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Favorite Courses 1. What Wrote the Bible? (@joelbaden.bsky.social) 2. Understanding Western Art (Dr. Noah Charney) 3. How Science Shapes Science Fiction (Dr. Charles Adler) 4. Archaeological Mysteries of Europe/Mediterranean (Dr. Karen Bellinger) 5. Forgotten America (@phdrachel.bsky.social) 2/3

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Like many scholars, especially in the religion space, I get a lot of crazy mail. The one that came today is particularly impressive:

Just a completely batshit insane letter from someone who claims their ancient ancestor helped Moses cross the desert.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

You know what makes a great last minute Christmas gift, but doesn’t really work as a stocking stuffer? My “Who Wrote the Bible?” on Great Courses! www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/who-wrote-th...

thegreatcoursesplus.com

Who Wrote the Bible? Searching for Its Origins and Authors

Reveal the voices behind the Bible’s beloved books, what is known of the authors, and the fascinating process by which this world-shaping text took shape.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Happy to receive a copy of this volume (to which I made a small contribution):

Image of the cover of the newly released essay collection “Readings of Trauma,” edited by Alexandra Grund-Wittenberg and Maike Schult.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Good thoughts from Chance here. To put this another way: people who are complaining that they can’t get jobs because people aren’t interested in dead white men…maybe are forgetting the generations before this (all of them) when anyone *not* interested in dead white men couldn’t get a job.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

I work with the very coolest people.

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Kevin Manzel @kevinmanzel.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

I don’t think I’ve binged a 24-lecture course as fast as Who Wrote the Bible by Dr Joel Baden. And his ideas keep prompting new thoughts and questions for me. I love that.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

It’s so nice to go to the conference and see all the people I never get to see in my day to day life…

Joel Baden and Jackie Vayntrub at the annual SBL conference

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

For Halloween, a bunch of students in my intro Bible class dressed up… as me. Evidence below.

Joel and his intro class, all dressed up as Joel (blue button down and jeans)

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

For no reason at all, a late night picture of Mylo.

Mylo, little frenchie, sleeping soundly under a blanket.

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Jeremiah @kingjeremypdx.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

@joelbaden.bsky.social just finished this excellent book. As great as it is, the conclusion and introspection at the end was even better and the most impactful to me.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

It’s still basically the “debate me, bro” mindset. We shouldn’t play that game.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

How do we choose one “theme” over another? Great: kindness to immigrants is definitely a consistent biblical theme. So is slavery. So is religious intolerance. Thematic thinking doesn’t make the Bible more liberal.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Just to make this point again, since it becomes relevant occasionally: if you use Bible verses as prooftexts like this, then you’re also saying that we should have the death penalty, forbid gay male sex, and allow chattel slavery of foreigners. Because the Bible is unambiguous about that, too.

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Castor @racastor.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Been reading @joelbaden.bsky.social 's book while my car is getting new tires. The essays on נפש‎ and רוח were insightful. Been a great read so far, even if you're familiar with the Hebrew it gives you moments of pause you didn't consider.

The cover of Lost in Translation by Joel Baden.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

First copies of the latest book:

Cover of Joel Baden, “Lost in Translation,” new book published by Fortress.

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

First copies of the latest book:

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Joel Baden @joelbaden.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Ah - there’s no difference. I don’t have any way of knowing *who* inserted this (or any other later insertion) or *when* it was inserted. I care that it’s not from any of the sources and has to have been done in light of their combination. So anyone from the redactor to Augustine is fine by me.

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