Students in my classes, and I myself, regularly use images from The Brick Testament in powerpoint presentations. But this is the first time I’ve come across a live-action rendition of a Biblical story using LEGOs. http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/ueIMqO08XlM?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0HT Know Thyself Read more

My students in “Faith, Doubt and Reason” have been thinking about the story of Abraham nearly sacrificing Isaac in conversation with Plato’s Euthyphro, Clifford’s “The Ethics of Belief” and other readings from this semester. And so this cartoon from The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus seemed particularly worth sharing… It’s actually pretty much the same ending as in the Bible, except with a modern-day angel…and presumably different consequences for Abraham. Read more

In my course on the Book of Revelation yesterday, we found ourselves talking about the Book of Job, which had also been the topic in my course “Faith, Doubt and Reason” earlier the same day. Job and Revelation intersect on a number of points of commonality and contrast. Both address theodicy, but they disagree about whether there is an afterlife in which that issue might possibly find resolution. In talking about the ending of Job, I couldn’t help but make... Read more

More at Scotteriology Read more

Nikki Stafford is organizing Lostaholics Anonymous. When I have time, I may outline a twelve-step program, although the truth is that for many the issue is coping with symptoms of withdrawal, rather than ongoing addiction… Read more

I thought I’d share a link to the Wikipedia entry on “Historical Method.” Obviously it is an attempt to outline and summarize what several other books about historical method (only a couple of which I have read or consulted, but in relation to those it seems to get the gist about right). I share it not because it is authoritative but as a basis for discussion of the following question: Is there anything in the method outlined there (or better yet in... Read more

I thought of the role blogs play for some of us when I saw this cartoon in a New Yorker article about education (which Chris Brady shared): Read more

Having spent so much time looking at the planned Qur’an-burning, it would be an inexcusable failure on my part if I didn’t share this follow-up with you: someone has taken the news piece about the person who snatched the Qur’an of a would-be Quran-burner, and set it to music using (the increasingly popular) auto-tuning (HT Unreasonable Faith): http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/4HX5-ulcdXc?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0 Read more

Two pieces of Biblical studies humor have resurfaced in the biblioblogosphere. First, here’s Bultmann reads Mother Goose: Bultmann Reads Mother Goose by Jack Lundquist I–A: Hey diddle-diddle, I-B: The cat and the fiddle, II–A: The cow jumped over the moon, II–B: The little dog laughed to see such sport, III–: And the dish ran away with the spoon. Authorship and Date Internal evidence rejects the view that wehave here an original composition by Mary (Mother) Goose of Boston(1686–1743).[1] The phrasing... Read more

Prelude in G# minor op.32 no.12http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.1.swf Prelude in Bb minor op.32 no.2http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/jyyny_Od1zI?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0 Dedicated to Ken Schenck on his birthday. Public domain sheet music of these and other pieces can be found at IMSLP, for those who find that useful. Read more