Today’s religion and sci-fi class focused on the writings of Erich von Daniken, the movie Knowing and other interpretations of ancient depictions of encounters with the divine in terms of extraterrestrials, of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Two students have already posted over on the course blog about the subject, one asking whether ancient prophets would be judged mentally ill if they lived today, the other focusing on this topic in the wider context of how we deal with the incomprehensible. I can... Read more

While the science blog Cosmic Variance at Discover Magazine discusses time travel on LOST as a metaphor as well as a scientific subject, the LOST metaphor of the board game (whether chess or backgammon) has become a reality as IO9 offers a J. J. Abrams board game: Also relevant is Buddy TV’s list of ways they don’t want LOST to end. Read more

I am grateful to Gorgias Press for sending me a gratis copy of Martin Zammit’s book `Enbe men Karmo Suryoyo (Bunches of Grapes from the Syriac Vineyard) – A Syriac Chrestomathy for review. The volume is a chrestomathy (i.e. a selection of readings) “intended primarily for students who have covered the essentials of Syriac morphology and syntax” (p.viii) and as such it makes a logical place to go next when one has completed John Healey’s Leshono Suryoyo: First Studies in... Read more

Archaeology of the Mediterranean World is looking at the usefulness in education of the iPad and other technologies. AKMA and Art Boulet blog about the iPad too. Targuman will be getting one. Daily Hebrew finds the iPad reminiscent of older tablets. The Austringer looks at the iPad’s relevance for students. Political Jesus is unimpressed. Jeremy is already worried about screen protectors. TheoFantastique looks at Avatar’s success. Religion Dispatches has two articles today about Avatar. The first, on the “myth of... Read more

Here’s my son playing a medley of three Irish polkas. Read more

Today in my religion and science fiction class, we brought together earlier discussions of Star Trek and Star Wars as mythologies for our era. In order to provide a humorous introduction to a comparison and contrast of these mythologies, I started things off with this video: We ranged far and wide, but one interesting theme, that of conquering evil by redemption rather than killing, led to an interesting question: Should Hitler Darth Vader be forgiven if he repents? His death... Read more

It has been a while since we’ve had a conversation about technology here. At present I use a number of devices that are antiquated if not obsolete, including a laptop which I rarely use because the battery doesn’t charge and the hard drive freezes if it is on for too long. And so I hope to at least take a close look at some more recent developments in the near future, with the aim of eventually replacing items that are... Read more

Today another colleague in religion and I made a guest appearance in a class on environmental biology. I covered primarily the Jewish and Christian traditions (with the main focus on Scriptures and the use to which they are put), while my colleague focused on Hinduism and Buddhism. We were both able to talk about our visits to India and the fact that revering the Ganges as a mother and a goddess does not automatically translate into not pollution. Indeed, the notion... Read more

The title of this post comes from Naked Pastor’s illustration posted today: One can obviously proof-text for views like those expressed by Pat Robertson about Haiti. But Father Matthew offers a well-rounded response that is more profoundly Christian and Biblical: This is relevant to faith and doubt, because for some, accepting complexity and being critical as Father Matthew does would make faith impossible for them, while for others, it is a faith like Pat Robertson’s that makes it impossible for them to... Read more

There’s now a theme song for those waiting for answers from LOST and doubtful that all the unanswered questions and mysteries can be addressed in the one season remaining: A few seem to me to be things that have been addressed, don’t need to be addressed, or we can work out from what we already know. For instance, the polar bears. But many of the questions are good ones, and there are hilarious moments towards the end of the song... Read more