12 – Hobbit on Steroids; Verbal Autopsies; NASA vs. the Mayans

Last updated on: December 13, 2012 at 9:58 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

BREAKFAST LINKS 12/14/12: Jeffery Overstreet, Patheos/Good Letters: “But where Tolkien served the head and the heart, Jackson serves the appetite for adrenalin rush.” Bradley Abramson, Christian Post: Merry Atheistic Nothingness Kathryn Jean Lopez, Catholic Impulse: Sandra Fluke for Time’s Woman of the Year John Turner, Patheos/The Anxious Bench: “Human beings did invent religions, I told myself, but they did not invent God. They set up religions as a way of experiencing and re-experiencing their feeling that a God who lay... Read more

Who Owns “Evangelicalism” in America?

Last updated on: December 13, 2012 at 8:31 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

A little while ago, I had written two pieces (here and here) making the case for defining evangelicalism according to its theological distinctives and not its (pervasively but not exhaustively) shared convictions on social issues. Evangelical positions on abortion and gay marriage, I said, are positions that most evangelicals deduce from our core principles. But they are not the core principles themselves, and some evangelicals (who are genuinely evangelical theologically) do not arrive by deduction at the same positions. That... Read more

The Cliff is Nuts

Last updated on: December 13, 2012 at 11:48 am By Timothy Dalrymple

With the fiscal cliff looming in front of us, and negotiations extending to cover the debt limit issue, I thought this was an appropriate time to visit Justin Folk’s “The Spending is Nuts,” which won Powerline‘s video contest a little over a year ago: See the original announcement at Powerline for more info about the video and its maker. Read more

Breakfast Links for 12/13/12 – Leave Your Snakes Home; Jedi Knights and Faith; Positive Negative Thinking

Last updated on: December 12, 2012 at 10:16 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

BREAKFAST LINKS 12/13/12: Arlene Sanchez-Walsh, Patheos/Re-Generacion: “When I started teaching a class on global Pentecostalism this fall, I think the word was out that I was Pentecostal, and one of my students was stunned that I did not show up the first day of class in a long skirt, long hair, and no make-up–to which I added, that “I’d also left my snakes at home.” Terry Waite, The Guardian: The Plight of Christians in Lebanon Tim Dalrymple, Patheos/Philosophical Fragments: “I’m... Read more

In England, More Jedi Knights than Atheists and Pagans Combined

Last updated on: December 12, 2012 at 11:33 am By Timothy Dalrymple

Just-released Census figures reveal that 176,632 people English and Welsh self-identify as “Jedi Knights,” practitioners of the mystical pseudo-scientific pseudo-religion of the Star Wars franchise. For what it’s worth, that’s three times more than the number of self-identified Pagans, and roughly six times more than the number of self-identified atheists in those countries. Have you asked Yoda into your heart? Perhaps you should visualize a higher midichlorian count. As the Telegraph reports: Following a nationwide campaign, Jedi made it onto the 2001... Read more

Breakfast Links for 12/12/12 – Angelic Company; Seasons of the Soul; Hacking the Human Brain

Last updated on: December 11, 2012 at 10:59 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

BREAKFAST LINKS 12/12/12: Joel J. Miller, Patheos/Joel J. Miller: “Scripture treats angelic companionship as a standard part of our relationship with God. “The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them,” says Psalm 34.7.” Ron Quinlan, ChristianPost: One Last Christmas Paul Louis Metzger, Patheos/Uncommon God, Common Good: “So often we approach one another simply as mass, where we have no inherent meaning or value. Kind of like the stuff we buy at Christmas—no inherent... Read more

The Second Creation of Jesus Christ: Interview with Frank Viola Part 2

Last updated on: December 10, 2012 at 12:14 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

Yesterday I posted the first part of my interview with Frank Viola about his new book, coauthored with Leonard Sweet, called Jesus: A Theography. Frank blogs for Patheos, and the book has received a strongly positive response. Interested readers can get a free copy of Frank’s next book by going here, and they can learn more about Jesus: A Theography here. * The life of Jesus, as you say, encompasses not only those 33 years or so of his earthly life and... Read more

Breakfast Links for 12/11/12 – Sex and Control; What Ticks Jesus Off; Googling God

Last updated on: December 10, 2012 at 10:37 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

BREAKFAST LINKS 12/11/12: Calah Alexander, Patheos/Barefoot and Pregnant: “For these people, how painful must it be to read a prominent, widely adored Catholic blogger encouraging men to “control” their wives, stating that the “war on women…exists for the simple reason that erotic love demands it”? Eric Metaxas, Belief Blog: No Pressure, Mr. President Tim Dalrymple, Patheos/Philosophical Fragments: “Should the church and the state separate the sacred from the civil ceremony? Is this realistic? Does this provide relief on the question... Read more

Question of the Week: Can We Really “Get the Government Out of the Marriage Business”?

Last updated on: December 10, 2012 at 1:04 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before. A conversation is taking place on same-sex marriage. One side is for it. American law, they say, should not effectively sanction the traditional Christian view of marriage and reject other visions of marriage, including gay marriage. The other side is against. Heterosexual marriage is not merely a Christian concept, they say, but the foundation of western civilization and the further degradation of the marriage structure only invites continued social decay. Besides, they... Read more

Bethlehem Was Not the Beginning: An Interview with Frank Viola

Last updated on: December 10, 2012 at 11:49 am By Timothy Dalrymple

One of the pleasures of my role at Patheos is getting to know our excellent bloggers, many of whom are book authors as well. We recently added Frank Viola, and Frank’s Jesus: A Theography (coauthored with Leonard Sweet) is really making waves. It received a coveted starred review in Publishers Weekly. Rick Warren made it a featured book in his Pastor’s Toolbox and recently Derwin Gray, pastor of Transformations Church, tweeted: “Jesus: A Theograpy is the BEST book, besides the Bible, I’ve read about... Read more