The Bible and Culture

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...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z22LkbEY5dM&feature=context&context=C4569a4dADvjVQa1PpcFPH6CWRjF-qKXrmJ3uJIplFIxlo6Rw5mXw … [Read more...]

Having seen the graffiti at Smyrna with my own naked eye, naturally I was very interested to see the following two posts by our friend Larry Hurtado. My own judgment is we do indeed have early Christian graffiti at this site off the agora in Smyrna, which is just another reminder that early Christian communities were not largely composed of a bunch of illiterate slaves or peasants. Ordinary people were expected to be able to read these graffiti and respond accordingly. The Earliest … [Read more...]

http://frankviola.org/2012/04/10/benwitherington/ … [Read more...]

Here is a nice reminder from my friend Larry Hurtado that early Christian symbols and talismans are not ink blots into which we can read just anything. -- BW3 Earliest Christian Symbols: Corrections by larryhurtadoI've mentioned before that the Internet is great for some things, but that also there are sites (often set up by well-meaning people) that publish out of date and inaccurate information. Many are the posts that could be written giving examples, but one will serve.If you … [Read more...]

Coca-Cola was originally green. ------------ --------- --------- --------- ---- It is impossible to lick your elbow. ------------ --------- --------- --------- ---- The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska ------------ --------- --------- --------- ---- The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...) ------------ --------- --------- --------- ---- The percentage of North America that is wilderness: … [Read more...]

In 1 John 4 we learn that “God is love”, which is in fact the second attempt at defining God in this discourse, the first coming at 1.5 where we heard ‘God is light’ and we may also rightly compare Jn. 4.24 where we are told God is spirit, a statement about God’s metaphysical nature, where as the two other predications are about God’s character.While we might be tempted to think that this phrase means that God is loving, and so defined by his loving activities, and while that is true, it w … [Read more...]