Biblical Archaeology Review has a free book in pdf format entitled The First Christmas, with perspectives from Biblical scholars about subjects such as the star and the birthplace of Jesus. There are some interesting Christmas perspectives around the blogosphere. Robin Parry recommends taking Christ out of Christmas. Richard Hall offers a defense of materialist Christmas, suggesting that it is the rest of the year that is the problem. Bruce Prescott shared a link to a Street Prophets piece on how... Read more

You see, no wimpy “happy holidays” from our favorite time lord… 😉 (HT Planet Gallifrey via IO9) Read more

The start of Romanian’s revolution which led to the overthrow of its Communist dictatorship, that is. Read more

When they hear the title of this blog post, Doctor Who fans will undoubtably think of the Dr. Who television special which claimed that the Doctor was half human – a notion then dropped from the canon of the show, unless I’m mistaken. Classicists may think of any number of demigods from classical mythology. But many people will think of Jesus, in spite of the fact that the classic orthodox Christology is not that Jesus has a divine Father and... Read more

An increasing number of people are finding their way to this blog searching for keywords related to Sydney Carter’s Christmas carol, “Every Star Shall Sing A Carol.” It is definitely something that I’ll discuss in my religion and sci-fi class next semester. I thought I’d provide the YouTube video and lyrics that I found online, for those who might wish to add an extraterrestrial or interplanetary dimension to their Christmas celebrations. EVERY STAR SHALL SING A CAROL(Sydney Carter) Every star... Read more

LOST fans will appreciate this video, which compiles all the times Hurley says “dude.” It then provides a statistical analysis, include calculations by season and DPE (“dudes per episode): HT Dispatches From The Island Read more

Some of you probably would love to own your own copy of The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context, but let’s face it, hardcover academic books are on the expensive side, and some of you are not made of money. (Note to readers who are made of money: Please do send me an e-mail and introduce yourselves!) Would you like to be able to purchase The Only True God in paperback? Well, if so, then here’s... Read more

The Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity shared this innovative church advertisement: The church responsible for the ads is a progressive Christian congregation, which said that the ad “is designed to challenge stereotypes about the way that Jesus was conceived, and get people talking about the Christmas story.” You can listen to the podcast online on the church website or below, or you can download the mp3. Read more

The Onion is often hilarious, but I wonder whether people who are not Bible geeks like me will find this article from today as amusing as I do. The headline reads “Sumerians Look On In Confusion As Christian God Creates World.” Enjoy! Read more

Dr. Jim Linville’s blog is always entertaining, but I particularly want to point out two recent posts related to homeopathy: First, there is a “homeopathic blog post” from last month, in case you missed it. Then, today Jim shared an announcement about a homeopathic degree program that many will find interesting. Read more