Roland Boer's Blog, page 76

'Tears come to my heart as I write'

Guess who wrote these:

Among my own family – and it is a very pious and loyal one …

If I had not been brought up in the most extreme orthodoxy and piety, if I had not had drummed into me in church, Sunday school and at home the most direct, unconditional belief in the Bible and in the agreement of the teaching of the Bible with that of the church…

The tree of religion sprouts from the heart, overshadows the whole man and seeks its nourishment from the air of reason.

I was happy then, that I know,...

Death Road - A Bicycle Ride You Must Do

It's called the Death Road, between La Paz and Coroico, Bolivia:

Dunedin School Lists Bible and Critical Theory Call for Papers

Over here - and they actually have a pub in mind, with a picture: the Captain Cokk.

Bible and Critical Theory Seminar Call for Papers: Dunedin 7-8 February 2010

After the success of our Newcastle Bible and Critical Theory, we're off to Dunedin, the nerve centre of innovative biblical studies in New Zealand.
Important Information first:

DATE: 7-8 FEBRUARY 2010

CONTACTS: James Harding (james.harding(at)stonebow.otago.ac.nz)

Roland Boer (roland.t.boer(at)gmail.com)

Papers are invited on all aspects of the intersections between the Bible and critical theory, which now, I must admit, also includes matters of religion, politics and culture.

Due date for paper p...

Accommodation, Canberra Style, or, how to Understand Gaddafi

Since I wasn't allowed to sleep in my office while in Canberra as research fellow at the ANU, I decided to sleep in my tent. The thing is, it's still a bit crisp in Canberra, with temperatures below zero at night. Winter sleeping bag, thermals, beanie - great way to sleep. So I zip up early in my winter gear and wake at first light.



I must admit the view is a bit better than waking up on the floor of my office:




One morning I realised that I am probably in a much better position to understand ou...

The Dunedin School and Pornography

Over at the Dunedin School, Dean Galbraith (here) suggests that the moment of critical biblical studies coincides - if it is not connected to - the emergence of porn in the 18th century. He does so on the basis of a reading of Jean Goulemot's great work, Forbidden Texts.

Goulemot's book is a great read, but it tends to see France at the forefront of all things erotic and porno. I believe the Italians were first and the church was right up their collective arse. Pietro Aretino's Sonnetti...

Search for the Weirdest Conference Paper Abstract

As a follow-on from the wanky research centre search, it's time for the weirdest conference paper. One rule, they must be actual conference papers and not mock-ups.

For starters, here is one by Thor Beowulf (brilliant name - I always wanted to call one of my kids Tim-Boer) for a conference at Monash later this year:

The silent narrative of trees in the cultural/religious landscape

This paper will concern itself with the existential agency of trees in the cultural/religious experience. Throughout...

Search for the Most Ridiculous Name for a Research Centre

Over at my facebook page we got a thread going on wanky names for research centres.

It all started with The Australian Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing at Newcastle University (
And then John Lyons put me onto the Centre for Neighbourhood Research (CNR) at Bristol and Glasgow (here). Sad to say, they've closed the neighbourhood since the funding ran out.

But the wankiest of the lot (so far) is Macquarie University's ...

Criticism of Heaven Out in Paperback

At long last the paperback of Criticism of Heaven is out. The peerless lefties at Haymarket Press have done a deal with Brill to bring out the paperback of this one and the other four volumes in this series.

You know, eventually you'll be able to buy the box set, along with an author's uncut version of Criticism of Heaven, which is about 100000 words longer than the available text - yes I had to 'shave' a few words off the original 290000 word ms when Brill published the hardcover.

Where can yo...

Democracy, Australian style

Every now and then there's something that makes me feel all patriotic. Like Family First and the Shooters' Party ...

It's been said that the voting public over this way likes to play a joke on democracy. We have this wierd bicameral political system with two houses of parliament, elected in very different ways. So the lower house may form the government of the day, but the upper house needs to pass any legislation before it's approved. So what do we do? We vote in a government, but then elect ...