As the professor snips the richest bud for his lapel, his scalpel of reason lies on the tray: some weekly wanderings

Steve Salyards (an elder of the La Verne Heights Presbyterian Church, PCUSA) offers a ‘modest proposal for an “extended lectionary”’ and reflects on the intention of the five Otago-Southland presbyteries (of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ)) to form one Presbytery for the area south of the Waitaki and identifies some broader implications for Presbyterian polity.
Trevin Wax interviews NT Wright about his latest book After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters.
Trevor Cairney posts on what rappers can teach us about language.
Eclipse over Burma a Bad Omen, Say Astrologers.
The January 2010 (3:1) issue of American Theological Inquiry is out.
Miep Gies has died, aged 100.
Robert Minto is getting into Barth’s Protestant Theology in the Nineteenth Century.
Michael Dirda reviews Umberto Eco’s The Infinity of Lists: An Illustrated Essay.
George Hunsinger on ‘Are the gospels reliable?’
John David Penniman shares a ripper from Moby Dick
Is Google good for studying history? See also Dan Cohen’s piece.
Jim Gordon on contemporary theologians he can’t live without.
Finally, a warning to bloggers: ‘I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned’. (Jesus, in Matthew 12:36–37)