#CFP The Senses of Science Fiction: Visions, Sounds, Spaces

Last updated on: March 28, 2019 at 3:42 pm By James F. McGrath

The Senses of Science Fiction: Visions, Sounds, Spaces An international conference organized by the Speculative Texts and Media Research Group, American Studies Center, University of Warsaw December 5-7, 2019 University of Warsaw, Poland For most of its history, or at least since the late 19th century, the core conversations of science fiction (SF) have not been kind to the senses. For different reasons in different decades, the creative communities and the critical circles have focused on the genre’s status as... Read more

The Future of Gen Ed: Recap, Part 1

Last updated on: April 26, 2019 at 3:03 pm By James F. McGrath

I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in the Inside Higher Ed 2019 Leadership Series workshop “The Future of Gen Ed 2019.” It was incredibly informative and at times downright inspiring. You can read Coleen Flaherty’s account of the event that inside Higher Ed published. What follows below is based on my own notes taken while in attendance. The introductory session reminded us that Gen Ed is distinctive of US higher ed in comparison to others, especially... Read more

Heresy Therapy

Last updated on: April 25, 2019 at 2:16 pm By James F. McGrath

Richard Beck wrote: People don’t just wake up one day to suddenly and brazenly espouse a heresy. In my experience, you end up a heretic because there’s a gnawing theological issue that’s keeping you up at night. The burden and size of this issue often grows and grows until a lack of progress in its resolution becomes intellectually and emotionally intolerable. The biggest culprit here is theodicy. But it can also be a particular view of God or the “texts... Read more

Technology and Grace

Last updated on: April 24, 2019 at 10:18 pm By James F. McGrath

Anyone who makes a sweeping generalization about the inability of technology to being a means and mediator of grace has had a very narrow experience. They have never seen someone living in a foreign land for a long time reconnect with an old friend from back in their home country. For that matter, they must never have seen someone who was sad or suffering take momentary but real comfort from a cat video. But they have probably had the experience... Read more

ReligionProf Podcast with John the Baptist (no, seriously!)

Last updated on: April 23, 2019 at 10:05 pm By James F. McGrath

This week’s podcast features John the Baptist both as guest and as subject of discussion. By this stage, you’re already clued in that my guest is Jonathan David Lawrence of Canisius College, but you’ll still have to listen to the podcast to find out how he got that nickname. Among the things we talk about in the podcast is gamification. Jonathan created a card game to introduce students to similarities and differences between creation accounts across a range of... Read more

Malaugmented Reality

Last updated on: April 18, 2019 at 3:18 pm By James F. McGrath

This is another of those posts that started as a link dump and grew until it was out of control. The original idea that sparked it off was the notion of “malaugmented reality” – a phrase I encountered on P.Z.Myers’ blog Pharyngula. We have begun to speak of “augmented reality,” and the experience of the world as having a whole other layer – whether of gods, demons, spiritual warfare, conspirators, aliens, lizard people, or anything else – is potentially a... Read more

Progressive Christian Easter

Last updated on: April 21, 2019 at 11:27 pm By James F. McGrath

It can sometimes seem that Christian and non-Christian perspectives, religious and secular perspectives, academic and devotional perspectives, can find little common ground. Progressive Christian are committed to building bridges and at least listening to other perspectives, while also articulating our own stance with confidence and conviction. There is no one “progressive Christian perspective” on Easter or resurrection. But here is one progressive Christian perspective, in the form of an excerpt from a blog post Jim Burklo wrote: Jesus’ fan club... Read more

Easter and Historical Nuance

Last updated on: April 20, 2019 at 3:10 pm By James F. McGrath

The key question of Easter is not one that historians can answer. Did God vindicate Jesus beyond death? But that doesn’t mean historical research is irrelevant to everything to do with Easter. As one example, Phillip Jenkins blogged about the ending of the Gospel of Mark, drawing much the same conclusion as I do about connections between a lost ending, the Gospel of Peter, and chapter 21 of the Gospel of John. See my book The Burial of Jesus for my views... Read more

Superseding Supersessionist Theology

Last updated on: April 19, 2019 at 8:58 pm By James F. McGrath

When I shared yesterday’s blog post on Facebook, I added some words, which I want to also share here, to provide further opportunity for discussion and input from blog readers. I already had the post scheduled for yesterday, based on conversation about the Gospel of John in my Sunday school class last weekend. There is no way to talk about the imagery in the Gospel of John, the timing of the crucifixion, and other related matters without talking about Passover. And... Read more

The Lamb (not Goat) of God

Last updated on: April 19, 2019 at 7:51 am By James F. McGrath

Working through the Gospel of John in my Sunday school class, we conveniently reached the passion narrative close to Holy Week. Of course, we’ll still be talking about these texts for weeks to come, and so it is not as though there’s a precise alignment. But there is still something nice about having this sort of convergence occur. We considered what appears to be John’s creative change to the timing of Jesus’ last supper and crucifixion, making the final meal... Read more