Review of Stephen J. Nichols, Jesus Made in America: A Cultural History from the Puritans to the Passion of the Christ (Downers Grove: IVP Academic [InterVarsity Press], 2008). Criticisms from outside are easily dismissed. Those who criticize us in this way, we can reassure ourselves, simply don’t like us, or they are fundamentally opposed to [...]

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on my question about self publishing. If I go ahead with publishing in that format, I’d love to have a photo of a first century Jewish tomb or ossuary on the cover. Does anyone have any that they may have taken on a trip to Israel, and which they’d [...]

There seem to be two trends in publishing at the moment. On the one hand, larger presses are making cutbacks. On the other hand, there is a proliferation of self-published books and the process of publishing your own book is becoming cheaper and more convenient. Does anyone have thoughts on self-publishing? Has anyone done it [...]

I’ve made some links available on the Crooked Creek Baptist Church blog, allowing readers to compare different views Christians hold about the Bible, as well as get further information on the canon and other relevant issues. If anyone has suggestions about other resources (including your own blog posts – don’t be shy!) or better ways [...]

I’ve posted the video below before, but haven’t had the chance to watch it carefully and comment on it until now. Some of the most important elements are the following: 1) We learn that Dr. Marvin Candle is in face really an astrophysicist from Ann Arbor, Michigan whose name is Pierre Cheng or Chang. 2) [...]

Jim West pointed out this clip from “The Bible’s Buried Secrets” on YouTube. The documentary is controversial among fundamentalists, since it dares to present information that is common knowledge among all people who bother reading what Biblical scholars write. [shock, horror] Biblische Ausbildung has this great cartoon: Shuck & Jive has a Q&A; with Michael [...]

I just finished watching season 1 of LOST. What a marvellous bit of television LOST is! Just like the Black Rock made us presume there was a rock rather than a boat out there in the “Dark Territory”, the naming of Aaron and the naming of the three-hour, two-part season finale “Exodus” was a false [...]