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Oh for pete’s sake….

The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports

A minister and Christian radio station employee has been charged with indecent exposure and driving under the influence, police say.  Tommy Tester, 58, of Bristol, Va., was arrested last week by Johnson City police after they say Tester urinated in front of children at a car wash.  Police also said Tester, who was wearing a skirt, offered to perform oral sex on officers who responded to the car wash. He was also charged with having an open container of vodka in his car.

Thanks, TT, for providing more ammunition to the despisers of the Church.  But why oh why did you have to be a Baptist?  Couldn’t you have been an Episcopalian?  Your behavior would then at least appear almost normal.

(Sorry Chris….) 

I’ve happened upon a blog that’s new to me but that’s been operative for a good bit now- a biblioblog from Norway named, as are all the best ones, after it’s author. Give it a look. Even if you don’t read Norwegian there’s enough English that you’ll be able to find your way around. I’ve added a link to the blogroll.

What would Zwingli do? 

I was driving down the road the other day, minding my own business, when I noticed in the rear view mirror a car weaving between the lanes.  Odd, I thought.  Then said person accelerated and got within about a foot of my rear bumper.  Really odd, thought I.  Then he decelerated.  Whew, said I aloud.  Then he changed lanes and I picked up my cell phone to call the police and report what appeared to be a drunk driver.

Just as I had dialed 911 I glanced in my mirror and the chap slammed into me- at an intense rate of speed.  The phone was knocked out of my hand and I made my way over to the side of the road (actually, it was the Interstate).

Loony person pulled in behind me and got out of his car, stumbling towards me at which time I said “What that heck are you doing?????”  When he got close enough I smelled alcohol.  Great…..  Another moronic drunk driver endangering himself and others.

By then I had picked my phone back up and called 911.  The friendly officer arrived in less than 5 minutes and we made our report.  When asked if my recounting was correct the loon said “whatever he says it must be right.”  The officer had us exchange information and then he told me I was free to go- he still had some talking to do to the drunk. 

I’m fairly confident that they arrested him.  I hope so- for his sake and the sake of all others.

I reported my claim to the insurance company and they passed it off to his insurance company since it was his fault.  I followed all the procedures required of me, got an estimate, and called them up- Liberty Mutual they are- and have awaited since Friday a call from them.

Today the call came.  “We have done our own estimate and we can only justify an amount that’s half your estimate” or- in other words- you’re screwed.  So “we will send a check today and you should receive it in 2 or 3 business days” (just in time for me to be absent until next week when I return, for a day, from the CBA).

What would Zwingli do?  I know what Jesus would do.  He would leave it be and turn the other cheek and all that.  Sometimes he’s just not as vengeful as I wish he would be.  Like James and John, I want to call down lightning from heaven and destroy that unrepentant city (insurance company).  So, since I can’t get the sort of vengeance I want from our kind Lord, I ask again, what would Zwingli do….

UPDATE:  Well he’s kind of glaring at me…  I think I know what he’s about to say…  Dang.

[Originally posted July 31- scroll to the bottom for the latest update]

Gordon Raynal announced this on the Crosstalk list- The Jesus Project. It seems to be a ‘replacement’ or perhaps ‘continuation’ of the work of the famed Jesus Seminar. You’ll doubtless recognize a number of “Fellows.” I mention it here in case there might potentially be wider interest.

UPDATE: Chris Zeichman has commented as follows (see comments)-

“I might note that one should retain some skepticism about this project. Kloppenborg informed me that no one contacted him about the Jesus Project as of the day the site went up. Something to keep in mind.” He has also posted concerning the topic on his blog.

Indeed- that’s quite fishy isn’t it. Perhaps no one asked Bruggemann either- or perhaps Luedemann? Or Crossley? Or others? If “Fellows” are listed without their consent- this is a scandal and demonstrates the unethical character of the project’s organizers.

UPDATE II: It’s getting a bit shadier by the moment. James Tabor, listed as a fellow, has never heard of the project, as he says on his blog.

UPDATE III: It now seems that April DeConick wasn’t aware of inclusion on the list of “Fellows” for this “Jesus Project” either. She writes I know nothing more than has been published on CSER’s website. My name appeared on the website after the Scripture and Skepticism conference that took place in January 2007. Once I saw my name on the Fellows list along with a number of other scholars who presented papers at that conference, I just assumed that those who attended the conference were considered by CSER to be Fellows. This was only my assumption. It may be wrong.

It seems that the “Project” has simply, randomly assembled a list of “Fellows” without inquiring as to whether or not said persons were actually willing to associate with them.

UPDATE IV: Chris Heard has some valuable observations on the topic here. In particular he is right on the money when he writes, in an email to those responsible

I wonder if you could clear up some confusion for me about the recently-publicized Jesus Project (http://www.jesus-project.com). The Project’s web site lists a number of Project “fellows” (http://www.jesus-project.com/fellows.htm), but at least one of these scholars, James Tabor, says he’s never heard of The Jesus Project (http://jesusdynasty.com/blog/2007/01/12/the-jesus-project/). What exactly is the status of these “fellows” in relationship to the Project? Is this a list of people who have agreed to be part of the Project, or a list of people the Project management is planning into invite to the December 2007 conference? Many people in the “bibloblog” circle are very interested in this question.

Why am I making so much of this? Because scholarship is first and foremost an enterprise of honesty. We may disagree. We may dislike one another. We may even have hard feelings about the viewpoints of others. But we all have an obligation - whether we call ourselves scholars or someone else calls us that- to be HONEST. And it is DISHONEST to list persons as participants in a project who have no clue that they are so listed. It is the equivalent (in the opposite direction) of resume padding- a loathsome practice which invites, rightly, the totality of Divine Wrath.

UPDATE V: Be sure to check out James McGrath’s posting today here on the topic. I think he and I are on the same page. And Mark Goodacre writes on the Crosstalk list- I took the liberty of asking Richard Bauckham about his involvement with the Jesus Project and he responded by saying “I have nothing whatsoever to do with the Project, and can’t imagine how I got listed as a fellow”.

If Richard’s (and others) inclusion in the list of Fellows without their knowledge isn’t fraud, what is?

UPDATE VI: Doug Chaplin has some very astute observations concerning this “project.” Pay close attention to his closing paragraph in particular.

UPDATE VII: From Roger Pearse on the Crosstalk List- I understand from an email that James M. Robinson also was not asked to be a fellow.

This mountain of evidence shows fairly conclusively that the “project” has serious problems with the truth.

UPDATE VIII: I think with this note from Dom Crossan to Jeffrey Gibson (which Jeffrey posted on the Biblical Studies list) will be the appropriate last word on the topic.

Hi Jeffrey:
I was voted in as a a Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion a few years ago and have received an award for scholarly research from them. But I am not particularly interested in “The Jesus Project”–in either theory or practice–and will ask them to withdraw my name from any association with it. Thanks & best wishes,

Dom

UPDATE IX: Mark Goodacre notes today that the Jesus Project website has essentially ‘closed down’ (my phrase, not his)- evidently because of the fact that so many have noted the erroneous nature of its claims concerning participants (fellows). I have only one word for its shutting down- excellent ‘updating’ - Good! And, by the by, Mark has another posting on the topic today with a response from Robert Price. He provides some important information.

UPDATE X: “R. Joseph Hoffmann” has composed a statement about the “Project” (pointed out by Mark Goodacre) which essentially ’shoots the messenger’ and ignores the fact that many of the persons listed on the “Project’s” website have disavowed any knowledge of being listed. Interestingly, while “Hoffmann” assails me for passing on reports of misdoing, he fails, utterly, to explain why Richard Bauckham, for instance, was included as a “fellow” when Richard obviously had no part in it. Nor does “Hoffmann” explain how Walter Bruggemann showed up on the list. He further intimates that persons raising questions about the “Project” are somehow attempting to undermine its work. Personally, I couldn’t care less about the “project” or its goals. What concerns me is the false presentation of a list of participants who had no idea they were listed. Ethics may not be a real issue to some, but for many of us, it is.

I’ve mentioned previously the Virtual Qumran webpage (which includes a number of interesting computer animations of the site among other things) but there’s also a blog on the project by Robert Cargill that keeps up to date with the latest Qumran stuff.  Take a gander.

Antonio Lombatti has a very brief piece today on Hanan Eshel and Qumran. Give it a quick read (and quick it will be!) It’s in reference to Eshel’s presentation at the recent IOQS meeting where he delivered a paper titled Sixty Years After the Discovery of Cave 1–How Many Fragments Are Still Out There? Now that’s an interesting question, isn’t it. I think if anyone might know the answer to that it would be Lee Biondi. Perhaps Lee will comment. The program of the IOQS, by the way, can be viewed here.