jesus – somethinggrand

A Radically-Reinterpreted New Testament

Last fall my friend Dr Christine Jamieson asked if I might contribute to an upcoming issue she was editing for the Canadian-based journal Critical Theology. I wrote a short piece inviting theologians to consider what implications might arise for their work from recent research in New Testament, early Christian, and early Jewish studies. While academics produce excellent work both in Theological Studies and in Biblical Studies in Canada and around the world, they often don’t talk to each other, as I pointed out. I’m fortunate to be working and teaching as a Gatto Chair of Christian Studies at Saint Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia. This means I can pursue biblical studies research while attuned (I hope!) to the “engaging church, culture, society” that Critical Theology’s byline promises.

The journal issue came out in November. I was delighted to see my article there, and I wanted to share it. What I didn’t know was that Critical Theology has recently become open access, meaning it’s no longer hidden to everyone except subscribers. Thanks to Novalis Press for making the journal available – coincidentally, Novalis was the publisher for my first book, Pairings: The Bible and Booze.

I also didn’t realize – until I read the issue in full – that this issue of Critical Theology begins with a brilliant, timely, and powerful piece about the importance of theology in the university, written by my Montreal Concordia colleague Richard Bernier at Concordia’s Department of Theological Studies.

You can read Richard’s stirring defense in the open access issue HERE. I’m reproducing my own short article below for your convenience. But I recommend the whole issue to you! And I thank Christine for inviting me to be a part of this worthwhile project.

Good reading!

“The aims of biblical studies to make the [New Testament] texts strange, and theology’s work to make them relevant, are opposed”

“taking care to situate the earliest people and texts within their Jewish contexts and against previously neglected literary and material artifacts, shows us the foundations of Christianity in a new light”

“Paul made his travels and did his preaching under an urgent apocalyptic deadline that turned out to be wrong”

“Many of the preoccupations of the historical Jesus and Paul are revealed in recent research as being foreign to our time and place to the point of seeming bizarre”

Anderson on Advent Calendars – on CBC’s “Cost of Living”

(plus a cat video)

This last week I had the pleasure of appearing on a segment of the CBC Radio program “Cost of Living“ — about Advent Calendars. OK, I say, “pleasure,” but some of you are as avid about Radio One as me, so you know it was more akin to whatever was happening at those early Beatles’ concerts:

Cost of Living with Paul Haavardsrud airs across the country on Sundays at noon, and is rebroadcast Tuesdays at 11:31 a.m. It’s also on-demand on podcast platforms and CBC Listen. We enjoy the show, so it was quite a thrill when CBC producer Leah Hendry contacted me to ask my thoughts on Advent and on Advent Calendars. Being me, I had a LOT of thoughts. I probably wrote and researched as much as I would for a university lecture! Of course, most of it didn’t make it on to the episode. Cost of Living is a highly-scripted production, so I knew my part would be distilled to a few quick clips. As a life-long fan of CBC Radio, and someone who already felt fortunate to appear on Nova Scotia, Montreal, and Saskatchewan CBC shows a number of times, it was a real honour to “go national!” As my friend Ken Wilson put it, “you’re famous! You’re on the national network!”

It just so happened that I heard the segment live when I was in the car, headed to town. So I pulled over, grabbed my phone, and recorded the five minutes for posterity.

Now, you may not be enamoured of listening to the radio as a background to turn signals and shifting back-seat groceries and windshield washer antifreeze. The sound quality isn’t bad for something captured on an Android device after taking off my gloves. But it is “real time, in-the-car” audio.

So if, like me, you prefer your CBC programs polished, and in full, then have a listen to the entire half-hour Dec 5, 2025 episode of Cost of Living. You can listen to it HERE.

Since I had several pages of notes on the history of Advent Calendars, I pitched an article to The Conversation Canada. That piece, titled “The Surprising Theology Inside Today’s Advent Calendars,” is out today, HERE. (They say it’s a two-minute read, shorter than most folks spend every visit to social media.)

On the CBC clip I said I wanted a whiskey calendar. But we actually have these ones pictured, with chocolate and cat treats, originating from Europe (IKEA) and from BC. What kind of advent calendars are you using this year? Let me know in the comments! On a more spiritual level, I’ve been following Ray Aldred’s daily advent devotions “Alongside Hope,” the Lutherans Connect Advent series, as well as enjoying occasional advent reflections from Sheila O’Handley, a real life hermit from Cape Breton whom I had the pleasure of meeting with my class this fall.

After The Conversation article came out, I also had a lovely, and somewhat more spiritual, conversation with Alison Brunette at CBC Breakaway, in Quebec City. You can find that 9-minute conversation HERE.

So, whether reading, listening, reflecting, or just eating chocolate…happy advent!

Bonus Cat Content: Theodore in the Snow

Apropos of nothing else in this post, but in celebration of the fact that the first major snowstorm of the season hit recently, here’s a fun 12-second video for you of our not-so-feral-anymore cat Theodore, who sleeps in the house at night now. Today Sara took this video of his joy jumping back out into the deep new-fallen snow. She missed the part where he rolled crazily around in it when he first dashed out. It’s like a child’s celebration of winter. Enjoy!