The Bible and Culture

By now, Sheldon, in Big Bang Theory, is probably the most famous geek from Texas who grew up in a fundamentalist household. Not far behind surely is Donald Miller, only his story is true, or truish.... anyway, in a post modern kind of way. You will perhaps look in vain to find Blue like Jazz in the theaters, and here in Lexington it only showed up a week late at the Kentucky Theater. Never mind, it is worth the wait.This is not your ordinary Christian movie. It's not one that will … [Read more...]

Here is a helpful post by my Asbury colleague and friend, Craig Keener.  … [Read more...]

Critical thinking has become something of a hot topic in reason years, even within the context of conservative Christianity. Here, to start us off are several definitions culled from the Wikipedia page on critical thinking--- Critical thinking has been described as “reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do.”[2] It has also been described as "thinking about thinking."[3] It has been described in more detail as "the intellectually disciplined process of actively an … [Read more...]

The following is Larry Hurtado's summary and assessment of a new article by Tom Wright. ------ Wright Reviews Scholarship on Paul by larryhurtadoProbably writing sometime ca. 70-120 CE, the author of 2 Peter refers to a collection of Paul's letters as already enjoying a scriptural status, but observes that "there are some things in them hard to understand" (2 Peter 3:15-16). Such has it ever been, so it seems, now perhaps more than ever. Hence, the major industry comprising Pauline … [Read more...]

First of all let's get the naked truth out of the way. Full disclosure about full disclosure. This series is not for children. It is also not for the faint of heart. It is about the cut throat imaginary world (medieval in character, but without Christianity at all) of George R.R. Martin. And yes there is from time to time various parts of the human anatomy on display which one will not see in a PG or PG 13 movie or ever on regular network television. If this is a deal breaker for you, … [Read more...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HMHXH_xERL8 … [Read more...]

This post is done in memory of the late great Dick Clark, a good friend of young people and their music for more than three decades, and to whom many artists owed their very careers. In the history of American popular culture Dick Clark's American Bandstand will go down as one of the most important television shows of the last 50 years, helping to ease social and racial tensions during and after the civil rights era. ----------Rolling Stone is trying to survive in the mostly post-rock n' … [Read more...]

It's not an easy thing to play a legendary strong character like Margaret Thatcher, especially one who still stirs passion and debates amongst the living. But Meryl Streep is more than up to the task. Frankly I would watch Meryl play Swiss Cheese and doubtless the reviewers would all lament that she was cheesy--- but then that was the part she was meant to play at the time.If you want to see the scope and breadth of what magic Meryl can do just take two recent movies in which she … [Read more...]

Here is a link to Craig Evan's post on Talpiot Tomb B/the Patio Tomb and its contents. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-a-evans/the-socalled-jesus-discov_b_1425104.htmlCraig and I had a further exchange and here are more comments from Craig...."I have gone through my ossuaries/burial sources and there are plenty of “fish-like” urns, amphorae, pillars, etc, most of which represent a nephesh, as Eric Meyers stated at the outset. Even the Jonah/fish theme appears here and there in J … [Read more...]