A very long strike  has come to an end and my students have a test to be written soon after they return (the second week back, Thursday February 12 at 8:30am, to be precise).  A proposed revised syllabus for HUMA 2830 is now posted for discussion.

In an effort to help them in preparing for that and in refreshing their memories, I have been working hard on preparing as many podcast episodes as possible based on the lectures earlier this Fall, and have made only minor progress (it takes some time in editing and introducing each episode).  I am not completely happy with the shape of these episodes, but they are at least something.  One thing I do really like for sure is the opening music I am using, which is “Paradise Lost” by Namgyal Lhamo of Tibet (used under a creative commons-type license from “Podsafe audio”).

The podcast series will be “The Historical Jesus in Context” and below is a preview of the first 13 six, ten or so episodes, each of them about 30 minutes long (to be officially released in 2010 — I’ll see if I can prepare more and add them to this post soon):


Podcast 5.1: Studying the Historical Jesus - Sources and Problems, part 1


Podcast 5.2: Studying the Historical Jesus - Sources and Problems, part 2


Podcast 5.3: Studying the Historical Jesus - Sources and Problems, part 3


Podcast 5.4: Scholarly Portraits of the Historical Jesus, part 1 - Crossan


Podcast 5.5: Scholarly Portraits of the Historical Jesus, part 2 - Sanders


Podcast 5.6: Jesus, Galilee, and Israelite History, part 1 - To the Second Temple


Podcast 5.7: Jesus, Galilee, and Israelite History, part 2 - To the Time of Jesus


Podcast 5.8: Jesus, the Galilean and Judean


Podcast 5.9: Jesus in the Context of Educated Groups and Leaders


Podcast 5.10: Jesus and his Mentor, John the Baptizer


Podcast 5.11: Jesus as Teacher, part 1 - Method and Content


Podcast 5.12: Jesus as Teacher, part 2 - Present or Future Kingdom?


Podcast 5.13: Jesus as Healer and Exorcist


Podcast 5.14: Jesus as Prophet

UPDATE: There is just one more episode to edit in this series (on the role of Messiah).  I have changed this to series five (rather than four), since series four will be “Honouring the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean” (on Greco-Roman religions generally).