Wednesday, February 16, 2011

666 & the Mark of the Beast

New Release
Besides delivering conference papers and writing articles, Rockhurst University faculty also publish books.  Here's my first academic book in print which I'll incorporate into my Book of Revelation class.

Read what some endorses have said about it:
"Daniel Stramara whirls his way through Revelation, imaginatively unfolding a complex web of intriguing possibilities to argue that Revelation draws from liturgical lections associated with the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost). Read along—it's certainly a fun ride."
—Warren Carter
Professor of New Testament  Brite Divinity School

"Daniel F. Stramara, in his engaging new work, God's Timetable, sheds light on many of the exegetical enigmas in the Book of Revelation. Stramara reads Revelation within the liturgical context of the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (Shavu'ot), a festival whose apocalyptic significance is attested by other important Jewish writings of John's time. Ultimately, Stramara's work reveals a community very much at home in the world of first century Judaism."
—Paul B. Duff  Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies  The George Washington University

"As strange as it may seem, some two millennia after the writing of the Book of Revelation we now have a work that provides an original and convincing account of the meaning of the last book of the Bible. In this blockbuster, Daniel Stramara deciphers some of the most mysterious and puzzling images in Revelation. Carefully grounded in Jewish and Christian scholarship, God's Timetable will be a standard against which future works on Revelation will be measured."
—Wilburn T. Stancil  Professor of Theology and Religious Studies  Rockhurst University

"While many recent studies on the Apocalypse focus on the resistance of Christians to Empire, Daniel Stramara challenges readers to interpret the Apocalypse in its Jewish setting. His placement of the Apocalypse in the context of the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) is both compelling and convincing. By proposing the Feast of Weeks as a hermeneutical key for understanding the theological and ideological focus of the Apocalypse, Stramara opens a new window and lets in fresh light on this enigmatic work."
—David M. May  Professor of New Testament  Central Baptist Theological Seminary

If you're interesed in getting a copy follow this link:
http://wipfandstock.com/store/Gods_Timetable_The_Book_of_Revelation_and_the_Feast_of_Seven_Weeks/

Here's a list of other books published by my departmental colleagues:
http://www.rockhurst.edu/academic/theology/scholarship.asp

Rockhurst faculty are expected to be deeply engaged in teaching, scholarship, and service.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Blizzard Babies

Bring it on!

Well, once again Rockhurst University is closed due to bad weather.  This time the blizzard of 2011 that's supposed to be a whopper striking about 3/4 of the nation in some way or another.

Of course you know what that means: November there's going to be a baby boom!  This'll be good news for Rockhurst's enrollment in eighteen years!  Hopefully that crop of blizzard babies will be a hardy breed, poised to learn how to weather whatever gets thrown at them.

That's actually the over-arching thrust of Rockhurst right now: preparing young men and women for whatever life throws at them by giving them a well-rounded and well-grounded education in the Catholic Jesuit academic tradition.  The Catholic Church has endured the many storms and major events of history and managed to find a stability, and ability to survive by adaptation.

So why don't you check us out?  http://www.rockhurst.edu/
And we have a pretty gnarly Nursing Program as well through the Research College of Nursing, ready to deliver all those blizzard babies!  http://www.researchcollege.edu/