Archives For Nota Bene

Notable Topics about the Bible from Outside Japan

Picturing Others in Children’s Bibles, Bible Manga, and Bible Anime

August 22, 2012 — Leave a comment

Would you be surprised to learn that Bible manga, Bible anime, and Bible story kamishibai, or “paper theatre,” are very popular in Japan? (No? I didn’t think you would be.)

But do you ever wonder how images shape, restrict, and expand our interpretations of familiar Bible stories? How “visualizing” biblical stories impacts their meaning?

I think that this kind of biblical interpretation should receive serious attention anywhere the Bible is “pictured,” and especially in Japan. So new studies about graphic retellings of the Bible tend to stir my interest. Continue Reading…

In Nota Bene, Pop Culture, Publications
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Review of Biblical Literature

August 18, 2012 — Leave a comment

Do you like to know what biblical scholars think about the writings of other biblical scholars? If you do, then you should know about the Review of Biblical Literature (RBL), a digital and print publication of the Society of Biblical Literature.

RBL Search - Japanese as KeywordSearch of RBL reviews with “Japanese” as keyword in review returns 25 titles

Here’s how RBL describes itself: Continue Reading…

In Nota Bene
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Periodicals about Japan at Emory’s Pitts Theology Library

July 27, 2012 — Leave a comment

Yesterday I visited Pitts Theology Library at Emory University. Surely it has the best biblical and theological studies collection in the Southeast U.S., where I’m spending most of my summer.

After I finished my own little research project, I asked one of the reference librarians if I could get a list of the periodicals about Japan there at Pitts Theology Library. I was hoping that the list would include several of the most important periodicals related to biblical studies, theology, and religious studies coming out of Japan. If so, I knew it would be instructive and interesting to others.

Pitts Theology Library

The librarian kindly generated a list of 31 periodicals with “Japan” as a keyword somewhere in the record (including place of publication, etc.). Of course, this yielded titles for which Japan is neither the country of origin nor the main focus, but that’s to be expected. Continue Reading…

In Nota Bene, Publications
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