I recently discovered that several excerpts from Andrea Clearfield’s piece “Women of Valor” are on YouTube. This is an oratorio focused on the stories of women in the Bible. I had wanted to highlight it in my class on the Bible and music more than I was able to, as there was not yet a CD commercially available. That has now changed, as the piece was released on CD this year. Below are the YouTube excerpts for you to listen to. You can also find… Read more
Scott Carroll on the Claim of a First Century Papyrus of the Gospel of Mark
July 23, 2017 By James F. McGrath 11 Comments
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD9CIH-l25Y[/youtube] The Evangelical Textual Criticism blog shared the above video and provides a transcript as well as some additional information and discussion. Read more
Christian Agnosticism
July 22, 2017 By James F. McGrath 40 Comments
Someone on Reddit asked about Christian agnosticism, leading me to write the following (on which I based the quote in the image above, slightly modified to make better sense outside of its original context. A lot of commenters here seem to reflect the mistaken view that faith means feeling certain about something despite there not being sufficient rational grounds. But faith in the Christian sense (on which I recommend reading Paul Tillich’s Dynamics of Faith) means doing what the Bible… Read more
Privatizing Healthcare is like Privatizing Police Protection
July 21, 2017 By James F. McGrath 7 Comments
I thought that this quote from Randal Rauser deserved to be turned into a meme. He writes: Imagine a world in which all citizens were not extended protection by the police. Instead, the government aimed to offer people various tax credits and incentives to buy police protection from private security firms. And as a result, some people were protected by powerful armed militias, others had spotty protection from ill-equipped security guards, and still others were left to fend for themselves… Read more
The Canon’s Blurry Edges
July 20, 2017 By James F. McGrath 7 Comments
First, I hope you all saw that Canon: The Card Game was featured in the online periodical Christian Today. I thought the author, Joseph Hartropp, did a fantastic job of conveying the essence of the game and the things that led to its creation. Before that, Doug Chaplin shared thoughts on the canon’s blurry edges. The things he focuses on – the ending of Mark and the story of the woman caught in adultery in John – are the very reason that I… Read more
The Testimonia Flaviana at the Midwest SBL
July 19, 2017 By James F. McGrath 3 Comments
I made it to just a tiny bit of the Midwest Society of Biblical Literature conference this year in February. I was scheduled to participate in a panel review of Urban von Wahlde’s book, Gnosticism, Docetism, and the Judaisms of the First Century, my contribution to which I shared here on the day I also shared it at the conference. However, since I wasn’t going to be there for the entire conference, I didn’t look closely at the schedule. And so I… Read more
Happy New Year, Mandaeans!
July 18, 2017 By James F. McGrath 1 Comment
I am grateful to Jim Davila for reminding me that the Mandaean new year has just begun. Iran Front Page has a wonderful selection of photos of a ceremony marking the event. Read more
Call for Papers on Personhood in Science Fiction
July 18, 2017 By James F. McGrath 1 Comment
Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy Call for Papers General Theme The Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy, a peer-reviewed, open access publication, is dedicated to the analysis of philosophical themes present in science fiction stories in all formats, with a view to their use in the discussion, teaching, and narrative modeling of philosophical ideas. It aims at highlighting the role of science fiction as a medium for philosophical reflection. The Journal is currently accepting papers and paper proposals. Because this… Read more
Majestic Journey
July 17, 2017 By James F. McGrath 0 Comments
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRv3-2zASVo[/youtube] I’ve been a fan of Kevin Kaska’s music ever since I first encountered it sharing an album with John Williams’ Trumpet Concerto and Essay for Strings. I’m delighted to find that more of his music has been released, both on CD as well as being found on YouTube. On some of the pieces below, you’ll definitely hear the influence of Williams’ music – for instance, I heard very definite echoes of “Duel of the Fates” in “Battle for Atlantis.” Read more
Wibbly Wobbly Gendery Bendery
July 16, 2017 By James F. McGrath 2 Comments
With the announcement that a woman will be playing the Doctor, it occurred to me that “Wibbly Wobbly Gendery Bendery” would be a great title for a blog post. I began typing it in on Google, to see if anyone had already used the phrase, and it autocompleted it for me. The quote from “Blink” from which the phrase “wibbly wobbly timey wimey” is taken has already been reworked more than once to be about gender rather than time. You can… Read more
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