I was just reminded that today is the day we should be celebrating the highlight of our year here at the ETC blog: the annual dinner. Alas, that will not be happening. We do hope all our readers are well despite the many losses, big and small, that this year has brought with it.
I remember my first blog dinner and being surprised by two things. The first was how big it was. There were well over 30 people in attendance, I think. I’m sure it has only grown since then. The second was how fun it was. I was just a student at the time but I was welcomed into the group straightaway. It’s truly one of the great things about our discipline, how collegial it is, and that is on full display at the dinner.
In lieu of this annual tradition, perhaps our readers could leave a happy note in the comments about (a) something good you read on TC this year; (b) a good joke at the expense of one of our contributors; or (c) a good meal you plan to have tonight instead of our usual fare of burgers at Hard Rock Cafe.
I do not have a joke, but I would like to express gratitude for the blog dinner which has long been a highlight of SBL for me. I especially thank Christian Askeland who extended an invitation to one such as I, a non-evangelical. My favorite memory from the dinner, was a couple of years back when Troy Griffitts, myself and another participant won the contest for knowledge about the blog!
ReplyDeleteI hope all our TC friends are doing well during covid, and hopefully we can all meet again in person safely and soon. November doesn't feel the same without SBL and our text critical sessions. I'm grateful that Hugh Houghton put together weeks of "Text Critical Thursdays" this past Spring. Also grateful for an online text critical community here at ETC, Facebook, and other cyberspace gatherings.
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone is doing as well as possible. The other day I was tinkering around and accidentally drank some invisible ink... now I'm at the hospital waiting to be seen...
Perhaps we can focus on jokes about some of the other contributors.
ReplyDeleteIn honor of Peter Gurry for having such a great idea, we should change all our default fonts on the blog to Papyrus and Comic Sans.
DeleteI'm currently reading Abidan Shah's Changing the Goalpost of New Testament Textual Criticism. Though it's based on his dissertation, it's definitely approachable for a non-doctoral readership, too!
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure what the best thing I’ve read on TC is this year, but I can say I am reading Gordon Campbell’s history of the KJV and it’s been great. It’s called Bible: The Story of the King James Version
ReplyDeleteI have appreciated updates on THGNT as well as the Legacy Standard Bible and forthcoming NAS update.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely miss the ETC dinner this year (among many other things). I will note, however, that it felt like last year's dinner in San Diego left something to be desired, IMO. Dirk and I had a taxi to catch to the airport and the pizza and conversations felt a bit rushed. Plus it was almost impossible to hear anything in that noisy restaurant!
ReplyDeleteKaspars