Today various blogs I read converged around the topic of scholarship – what it is and how it is done. Jesus Creed discussed scholarly consensus and critical thinking, and explained why scholarship is not determined by a show of hands or popular opinion. That post was inspired by one at BioLogos by Karl Giberson with the memorable title “Would You Like Fries With That Theory?” This also relates to this comic shared yesterday at Bad Astronomy: Evangelical Textual Criticism distilled a list of the... Read more

Jimmy Kimmel had an excellent humorous game ad featuring Jacob and his brother: HT IO9 Read more

I spent quite a bit of time today recording a phone interview with Luke Muehlhauser for a podcast that will appear on Common Sense Atheism. It touched on my “Golden Rule approach” to historical study and interaction with other traditions, as well as evolution, the Clergy Letter Project, and much else. While we certainly have differences, Luke’s “Golden Rule Atheism” and my own “Scooby Doo Christianity” are not as far apart as one might initially assume they must be. Afterwards... Read more

“It is a known fact that Bible thumpers don’t know what they’re thumping.” — John Hobbins, “Camille Paglia has a case of Bible-envy“, Ancient Hebrew Poetry Read more

I thought that, since Romans 3:4 has come up in comments on a recent post on this subject, I would repost this blog entry from a couple of years ago, since it highlights that young-earth creationists, in spite of their emphasis on creation, actually make the Creator out to be a liar: Is “creation science” science? The answer to this question becomes clear through a simple glance through the footnotes of John Whitcomb’s classic The World that Perished. When he... Read more

Today I had it drawn to my attention that none other than Ken Ham himself has taken notice of some of my recent posts about young-earth creationism. He makes no attempt to answer (much less refute) my accusation that the peddling of pseudoscience distracts from things that Christians are commanded to stand for. And apparently didn’t find my April Fools spoof post about an unnamed creation museum’s unnamed restaurant funny. Read more

Having mentioned the subject of music, praise and worship recently, I thought I should share this parody video (HT Bob Cargill and Scot McKnight). http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11501569&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1 “Sunday’s Coming” Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo. Read more

Last night’s episode of FlashForward mentioned key ideas that are also discussed on LOST, and did so using the same terminology: the universe “course correcting” and the question whether the influence of the future on the present is the same thing as destiny. I’m curious whether these are features of the novel Flash Forward by Robert Sawyer. Which influenced the other? Go here to hear the latest official LOST podcast in which Damon and Carlton answer question that will help... Read more