[leighton]Win or lose, Tod Cochrane just sent us the podcast awards packet. Looks like there may be an acceptance or rejectance speech from us after all on a live, non-editable feed. As long as there is no new age music it should be a good time.

“CRITICAL: Please do some test Skype Video calls with friends to make sure your video image is good aka lighting and that you are not creating an audio echo when you make calls. If you have a closed ear headset this is the best way to connect to prevent audio echo. I would hate to have you call in and then have to disconnect you because of an echo.
Many times folks get excited especially if there are more than one of you and start screaming, if you think you are going to be screaming test your skype connection with that level of excitement so that you can make sure you do not create a feedback loop.”

That is one guarantee I can make, there will be no screaming on our side of things. I take no responsibility if screaming ensues on Podcast Awards side.

[ann]A new episode of ANN is upon you! We cover the Catholic Church’s recent threat to withdraw from charity services entirely if they are forced to stop discriminating against the gays in Washington, DC. Also, we recap the brief but entertaining career of Carrie Prejean as a beacon of conservative family values.

Give it a listen here.

[chuck]Because of internet connection and Skype issues, we’ll have to delay the podcast until tomorrow. The good news is, you’ll have an ANN at the same time. So don’t look at it like procrastination, more like delayed gratification.

And we’re all about gratification.

[leighton]A listener asked me about getting a picture of my family up and although it’s taken me a while, here it is:

As an added bonus, and to make fun of those who actually believe in haunted houses, here is the news report concerning my childhood home being haunted and them tearing it down. Just a little background, all those spooky feelings people felt when they went there were derived from my buddy’s and my discovering people in there and telling them of the adopted children dying. As you can see, the story took on a life of its own and went national:

Lastly, because I doubt many of you believe the foolishness I bring up concerning my family, here is a video of my brothers and sisters when they were in their late teens. They put this “concert” on and actually attempted to get admission from those who came to it. There was even talk of putting on a second “concert”, however, I believe they may have figured out just how asinine things were and given up on their dreams of groupies(In case Youtube doesn’t allow the sound, follow this link: https://www.irreligiosophy.com/images/lipsync.m4v) :

[leighton]Due to Charley’s and my extracurricular activities where terrifying children and adults is concerned, we will not be doing any ANN’s for the month of October. This shouldn’t bother anyone since no one listens to them anyway, but it is too bad for us because Glenn Beck has once again proven his stupidity. We will return to our regular dispersement of ANN’s as soon as Halloween has ended.

[leighton]We here at Irreligiosophy are more than pleased to have such a renowned guest as Bob on our show. In fact I’m pretty sure Charley nearly lost control of himself much like he did as a youth doing pull-ups. At any rate, he is a brilliant man and a witty guest and we are glad to have him.

From his website:

Robert M. Price (born July 7, 1954) is a Mississippian by birth, lived in New Jersey for most of his life, and has recently resettled in North Carolina. After early involvement in a fundamentalist Baptist church, he went on to become a leader in the Montclair State College chapter of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. Having developed a keen interest in apologetics (the defense of the faith on intellectual grounds), Bob went on to enroll at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he received an MTS degree in New Testament. Billy Graham was the commencement speaker.

It was during this period, 1977-78, however, that Bob began to reassess his faith, deciding at length that traditional Christianity simply did not have either the historical credentials or the intellectual cogency its defenders claimed for it. Embarking on a wide program of reading religious thinkers and theologians from other traditions, as well as the sociology, anthropology, and psychology of religion, he soon considered himself a theological liberal in the camp of Paul Tillich. He received the Ph.D. degree in systematic theology from Drew University in 1981.

After some years teaching in the religious studies department of Mount Olive College in North Carolina, Price returned to New Jersey to pastor First Baptist Church of Montclair, the first pastorate, many years before, of  liberal preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick. Price soon enrolled in a second doctoral program at Drew, receiving the Ph.D. in New Testament in 1993. These studies, together with his encounter with the writings of Don Cupitt, Jacques Derrida, and the New Testament critics of the Nineteenth Century, rapidly eroded his liberal Christian stance, and Price resigned his pastorate in 1994. A brief flirtation with Unitarian Universalism disenchanted him even with this liberal extreme of institutional religion. For six years Bob and Carol led a living room church called The Grail. Now, back in North Carolina, he attends the Episcopal Church and keeps his mouth shut.

Robert M. Price is Professor of Biblical Criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute as well as the editor of The Journal of Higher Criticism. His books include Beyond Born Again,  The Widow Traditions in Luke-Acts: A Feminist-Critical Scrutiny, Deconstructing Jesus, and The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man. Forthcoming titles are The Crisis of Biblical Authority, Jesus Christ Superstar: A Redactional Study of a Modern Gospel,  The Da Vinci Controversy andThe Amazing Colossal Apostle.

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