Last month, the Duke University Center for Jewish Studies convened a 2-day conference on The Bible in the Public Square, featuring an all-star lineup of experts addressing the role of the Bible in everything from public schools and American politics, to the Middle East and popular culture. Of course no forum on this particular topic would be complete without a contribution from Dr. Mark Chancey of SMU, whose groundbreaking research on modern-day Bible electives in public schools — much of it done in partnership with the TFN Education Fund — has established him as one of the nation’s leading authorities on this subject.
Video of the conference is now online, including Dr. Chancey’s presentation on the history of Bible courses in American public schools.
We commend all the sessions to you, including (and I’m not kidding here) a truly arresting presentation by Rubén R. Dupertuis of Trinity University on a pop culture project to illustrate Bible stories using Legos. Fair warning, that clip includes graphically violent and sexually explicit imagery of famous Bible stories — in Legos. Enjoy!
The Brick Testament would, indeed, be very, very odd if it weren’t all essentially transcribed directly from such a well-known book. One fairly NSFW story there is “The Second Circumcision” from the Book of Joshua. Graphic, yes, but only if you’re a Lego Literalist.
That story didn’t make it into Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible at all.