Congratulations to Lutz Doering on his recently revealed/announced move to Durham (HT: nijay). Notable because Lutz is very interested in various matters epistolary, partly connected with his ongoing work on 1 Peter, but also more broadly concerning Jewish epistolography. E.g. (excerpted from his list of publications):

‘Jeremiah and the “Diaspora Letters” in Ancient Judaism: Epistolary Communication with the Golah as Medium for Dealing with the Present’, in: Reading the Present in the Qumran Library: The Perception of the Contemporary by Means of Scriptural Interpretation (ed. K. de Troyer & A. Lange; SBLSymS 30; Atlanta (Ga.): SBL, 2005), 43–72.
‘First Peter as Early Christian Diaspora Letter’, in: A New Perspective on James and the Catholic Letter Collection (ed. K.-W. Niebuhr & R. Wall; Waco: Baylor University Press, forthcoming).

His is also working on a collection:
Ancient Jewish Letter Writing (publication in TSAJ, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck; expected for 2009).

The Postman

Last night I watched, strictly for research purposes, the Kevin Costner movie The Postman (based on a novel by David Brin). In many ways this was typical Costner: an over-long post-apocalyptic hope movie, with shallow characterisation and cheap plot-devices. The one feature of interest is the way that the Postman and the facilitation of communication by letter-carriers between isolated communities produces hope and restores civilisation. The letter-carrier motto is iconic in this movie.