HT Anthony Solomon on Facebook (I’d seen the first part of this before, but not the whole thing) Read more

Apparently confidence in clergy has hit an all-time low. But I’m glad I took a closer look at the chart Heather Wax posted. Initially it appeared to be a straight ranking, placing the public’s perception of clergy honesty and ethics below car salespeople and even lawyers! Read more

Or at least, I think that’s what you say when you finally cave in and sign up for Twitter. I currently have little interest in it, but I assume (especially after a friend sent me this) that I may need to become interested at some point, and I was concerned that by then all the user names that were even half descent might be taken. Read more

"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from President Augustus, that all the world should be taxed less." Read more

Andy Schlafly (founder of Conservapedia and the Conservative Bible Project) was on The Colbert Report yesterday: The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Andy Schlafly www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating I loved the contrast between the “best of the public” vs. “the mathematicians” and the whole discussion of what truth is and how it is identified. But also worth noting is the notion of “free market parables.” One thing Biblical scholars are aware of... Read more

Click here for a list of Jim West’s best blog posts of the year! Read more

I have got to find a way of integrating this into my class next semester. Alas, I don’t have Blu-Ray capacity (at least, not yet)… Read more

The scare quotes in the title are necessary. This could be a hoax, of course, but a document that purports to be Kent Hovind’s “doctoral dissertation” is making the rounds. I couldn’t get the links at WikiLeaks to work, but this site has it. A Simple Prop has a photo of the “university” from which Hovind’s “doctorate” was obtained. Read more

Most readers will already be aware of the NT Pod podcast on the question of Jesus’ birthplace by Mark Goodacre, and the response from Clayboy. I thought I’d chip in with my $.02 worth. For me, the fact that Jesus was known as “Jesus of Nazareth” (such designations indicated one’s place of birth, as the case of Saul of Tarsus seems to confirm) is key evidence pointing to Jesus’ birthplace having been Nazareth. Although Matthew and Luke seem to agree... Read more

One of the interesting-looking books I picked up at SBL this year was Paul Was Not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle by Pamela Eisenbaum. I have not read it yet, but Religion Dispatches has an article by her that gives some indication of the points made in the book. Henry Neufeld has joined in the conversation about essentials and the relative importance of various beliefs and practices. And both Hemant Mehta and Clay Naff have noted... Read more