A Date with my Wife at Barnes & Noble

Carol and I visited our local B & N this afternoon in order to hear our favorite teacher tell us something of the first century of the CE as they say in Academe. I think it stands for Common Era, though what is common about it I'm not really sure.

Big crowd, standing room only, at least on the side of the room I was on. Elizabeth's aging trophy husband Bill, ever the gentleman, gave up his seat to a younger woman. Elizabeth gave a very nice lecture and summary of the book.

Don't you just love Google: CE can stand for Common, Christian or Current Era and apparently is used in order to be sensitive to the feelings of non-Christians. Hmm.

Of course she willingly signed for free our copy of her just-published book, Jesus and First-Century Christianity in Jerusalem by Elizabeth McNamer and Bargil Pixner, which combines a look at some of the written sources as well as recent archaeology and some good guessing on the part of Father Pixner, may his soul rest in peace, and Professor McNamer.

Just like her marvelous Scripture from Scratch series, she is always interested in the commoners sitting in the pews. In fact she several times said "I did not want it to be a scholarly book that nobody could understand. My main thought was making it understandable for people in the pews." Good work, Elizabeth.