How arrogant is the white man? We came to this country thinking we were going to India, and we called the Native Americans Indians. We found out a few days later that we were wrong, they weren’t Indians …but we’re still calling them that.–Louis C.K. Image A few months ago, some preacher friends and I spent the day with Peter Rollins, author of How (Not) to Speak of God and Insurrection. It was a laid back time of just asking... Read more
What does the word “evolution” actually mean? Does it mean a godless philosophy (for some, yes) or progress socially in the world (for some, yes). What does it mean in the scientific community? Denis Alexander, in Creation or Evolution: Do We Have to Choose?, answers this question in a lengthy, informed (and challenging for me) chapter that I sketch around three terms (age, genes, genomes). But this first: Christians often criticise atheist scientists for their poor grasp of theology, with some... Read more
This professor, Tal Gross, says Yes. Image. What say you? Granted, laptops have their advantages. A laptop can be securely backed up more easily than a notebook. A laptop allows students — especially those for whom English is a second language — to look up words and background on the fly. But such benefits are surely overwhelmed by the enormous gravitational tug of Facebook and e-mail. And so I’m left with a resolution for the new year: no more electronics in... Read more
Source: WASHINGTON (AP) – The 114th Congress that convenes Tuesday will count more minorities and women than ever, although lawmakers remain overwhelmingly white and male in the Republican-controlled House and Senate. A record 104 women will serve in Congress, and for the first time, African-American members of both genders and representing both parties will be among the ranks on Capitol Hill. The number of female lawmakers is up slightly from 100 at the close of the last Congress, but represents... Read more
Actually a better title for this post might be A Shocker! … Gould Defends Bryan. Today William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925, image source) is best known for his role in the (in)famous 1925 Scopes trial in Dayton TN. Stephen Jay Gould devotes much of a chapter in his book Rocks of Ages to Bryan. Gould does not support Bryan’s view of evolution – but he understands it. This incident provides a textbook example of the importance of NOMA (nonoverlapping magisteria). Pun... Read more
It is not uncommon to wonder if the apostle Paul somehow dropped the concern of Jesus with economic justice. Let’s begin with the Magnificat of Mary in Luke 1:46-55, where we hear her concerns with justice for the poor: for he has been mindful of the humble [poor] state of his servant (48). He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble [poor](52). He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the... Read more
Yes, that’s right. Look at this clip from England –article by John Bingham: Maybe 11am Sunday morning is not the most segregated hour. Maybe it is one of the few places where steps of integration can occur! They teach that people should love their neighbour but a major new study shows that churches are one of the few places most modern Britons might even meet them. Ground-breaking new analysis of the friendship networks of almost 4,300 people aged from 13... Read more
The very claim Christians have always made is that at some day God will judge us all. Every.last.one.of.us. The great, last judgment. The question many have against that claim is this: Is it all that simple, that God will save the Christians and all the non-Christians will be banned from God’s good, eternal blessedness? Yet, I think this one of the great issues of our day — so great it has become politically incorrect (theologically, socially) to talk about a final judgment.... Read more
What do we call God? Father, Son and Spirit? Trinity? God? The Blessed One? HaShem? This is the question R. Kendall Soulen asks in the first volume of his The Divine Name(s) and the Holy Trinity: Distinguishing the Voices. His is an attempt to speak into the debate about how Israel’s God (YHWH, the Tetragrammaton) morphed — in name-calling — into Father and Son and Spirit in the Christian tradition and also into the clamoring (in my opinion) voices of the... Read more
Source The 54-year-old singer said he suffered a “massive injury” while riding his bike in Central Park November, but he can’t remember how he ended up at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Bono decribed his gruesome injury by saying his humerous bone was sticking out through his leather jacket. “Recovery has been more difficult than I thought. As I write this, it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again. The band has reminded me that neither they nor... Read more
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