Earlier today I read a witty bit of satire on the blog de-conversion, in a post entitled “Salvaging Santa.” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the approach to Santa depicted in that post – and the approach to faith it was intended to parody – is in fact one that I’d advocate and view positively. I think it is the fact that some people still approach the Bible or other aspects of traditional religion differently... Read more

Although many have found the historical Jesus a figure they could not follow in the way they had once been able to follow the “Christ of faith,” it struck me recently that in some ways following the historical Jesus – i.e. making Jesus as understood and accessible through historical study a central component of one’s Christian faith – parallels what it must have been like to be a disciple of the “real Jesus” almost two millenia ago.  (Note: I’m using... Read more

I remember when I first encountered the Google Reader sidebar as a fabulous feature on Mark Goodacre’s blog, and soon copied it on my own. I also know that there are people who still enjoy the links they find there. But I’m curious how many readers find those links useful, and how many never (or almost never) know I’ve linked to another blog unless I actually include the link in a post. I know that many more people nowadays (myself... Read more

I have an appreciation for music of various sorts, and hate to do anything to spoil good music (I know someone who cannot enjoy several pieces of Rachmaninov because they were hijacked as pop songs). But I also enjoy musical satire (as my mentions of and links to Igudesman and Joo and Victor Borge indicate). And so I’ve left doing mischevious things to Christmas songs until the post-holiday season, when the versions I’ve tampered with won’t come to mind and make you giggle... Read more

Starting next Sunday, my Sunday school class will be reading Scot McKnight’s book The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible together. We’ll be reading chapter 1 for next time. For those who may be interested, I previously reviewed the book here on this blog. Read more

“I assure you as one who’s come through this process, letting go of inerrancy is an act of faith in the One who should be standing behind our beliefs, whom we have encountered in some meaningful way.” –Steve, ‘The place of fear in our bibliology’ at his blog Undeception I had a hard time choosing just one short quote from this post which is both insightful and full of memorable gems of wisdom. I recommend reading the whole thing. Read more

It wouldn’t be a typical Christmas for me without jumping in my TARDIS and spending an hour in the UK watching the Dr. Who Christmas special. (Surely you wouldn’t expect a time lord to wait until it is shown in the US, would you?) All I’ll say is that it is fantastic, with some footage near the beginning which I hope to clip and include at some point in my religion and sci-fi course. And the ending (which is a cliffhanger until... Read more

A colleague forwarded me an article that appeared on CNN today, about Jesus being “rich.” Where to start? I think an interesting verse to look at is 2 Corinthians 8:9. The classic view is that the reference is to “spiritual riches”, to a pre-existent status given up in the incarnation. A number of scholars have raised significant doubts about whether Paul held to a view that could accurately be described as “belief in Jesus’ pre-existence”, in which case it becomes... Read more

Having posted an assortment of Christmas video and music clips, let me offer three more, for a variety of tastes. The first is an exploration using LEGOs of what happens if you forget to get Darth Vader a Christmas present: The second is a classic Christmas song by a classic progressive rock performer, Greg Lake: And finally (in three parts, below is part one) there is Cantate de Noel by Arthur Honegger: Something for everyone, I hope! Merry Christmas! Read more

(I’d much rather have shared something from Keith Emerson’s Christmas album, but couldn’t find any selections from it online. None of Kate Kestrel’s Christmas songs from Terrahawks either…) Read more