SBLAAR20: Day Seven

STEM, Science Fiction, and Religion—Seventh Day of a 10 day Academic Conference in 2020 Today marked my earliest morning attendance for this virtual conference. The “wildcard” session on religious responses to the coronavirus showed up on my daily ATIV email, and I listened in even before my first cup of coffee. This was an exciting…

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SBLAAR20: Day Six

Synchronicity is a Thing—Sixth Day of a 10 day Virtual Academic Conference in 2020 Expecting a live stream, I planned my day and family life around this SBLAAR20 scheduled event. You can imagine how disappointed I was to find the address was pre-recorded. The one social comfort of the virtual conference is that I am…

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SBLAAR20: Day Five

Rest & Recoop—fifth day of a 10 day Academic Conference in 2020 There are a few publisher sessions advertised on the conference app, but after dedicating most of this week to a virtual conference, I will take a break to help my family reorder the house, dress our Christmas tree, and mostly, to sleep in…

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SBLAAR20: Day Four

Tech in a Virtual Conference—fourth day of a 10 day Academic Conference in 2020 I responded to a request to serve as a “tech assist” during the virtual conference. This meant that I attended a handful of sessions as a volunteer representative of SBLAAR. Today, I am hosting two sessions; one was luckily in my…

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SBLAAR20: Day Three

Coffee & Zoom—third day of a 10 day Academic Conference in 2020 The adrenaline that helped me wake up early this week has now gone away, and it is sheer self-determination that draws me out of bed. Although I am excited to hear some of the paper topics, I think the real motivating factor is…

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SBLAAR20: Day Two

Busy Just Sitting Around—second day of a 10 day Academic Conference in 2020 Scanning for name badges takes on a whole new meaning in a virtual conference. Half of the meetings I attended were set up as webinars, so scanning for important people was impossible. But, where I could see the attendees, I engaged in…

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SBLAAR20: Day One

virtual conference

Not Zoom Fatigued Yet—First day of a 10 day Academic Conference in 2020 Today began the first-ever Virtual SBLAAR Conference. This seeming innocuous shift actually impacted my personal life in several ways. I have traveled on the third weekend of November to exotic American locations, like Boston and San Antonio, for the past decade. These…

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CSBV 2020 Spring Conference: Bible and Violence

CSBV bible and violence

One of the delightful consequences of CVOID-19 lockdowns is the pressure for academic gatherings to extend invitations for online attendance. This week, I signed on at midday local time to join an event hosted in the U.K. evening. Four papers were presented and adjudicated for an award. All focused on aspects of violence in biblical…

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