The final chapter in Keith Ward’s book The Big Questions in Science and Religion focuses on the question of divine action. This is, in essence, the biggest question for a religious worldview interacting with modern science: What does God do? Ward begins by emphasizing the need to address such questions from a well-informed perspective: “Unfortunately, in religion, many people who are unable to cope with the complexities of academic theology tend to think that they have a better grasp of... Read more

Ken Olson has written an insightful review of Eddy and Boyd’s The Jesus Legend. It touches on a number of issues that I’m currently working on, such as oral tradition and historical reliability. I highly recommend it! Read more

A while ago I shared a video offering a “review” of LOST by someone who hadn’t seen it. Well, even funnier is this video in which someone who has never seen a Star Wars movie all the way to the end trying to piece together what happens in the trilogy. You will cry laughing! http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2809991&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn’t seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo. On a more serious side, I also was made aware of an... Read more

Review of Biblical Literature has just announced that from now on it will also be maintaining a blog, providing both an additional format for accessing book reviews and a forum in which they can be discussed. The address is http://rblnewsletter.blogspot.com/ Read more

Stephen Colbert is always entertaining, and his new segment “Yahweh or No Way” is no exception. The clip below touches on one subject mentioned here very recently, and is worth watching all the way to the end: .cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url(‘http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png’) !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{color:#868686;text-decoration:none;}.cc_links a:hover{color:#67bee2;text-decoration:underline;} The Colbert ReportMon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Yahweh or No Way – Roland Burris Colbert at ChristmasColbert Christmas DVD Green ScreenBill O’Reilly Interview In other news, scientists have been exploring our matrix, while the... Read more

I’ve been known to pass on a good meme now and then. I’ve also at least once meant to return to one and failed to do so. Jim West tagged me on one that I’d just as gladly ignored. The rules are as follows: Go to the 4th folder in your computer where you store your pictures.Pick the 4th picture in that folder.Explain the picture.Tag 4 people to do the same. The reason I could not ignore it was not... Read more

Working on the subject of oral tradition has further exposed me to the fascinating field of psychology of memory. Not only is our memory of stories we’ve heard fallible, but our own memories of our own experiences are plagued by the same issues. And so even if Richard Bauckham is right about the importance of the ongoing presence of eyewitnesses in the earliest Christian community, this doesn’t serve as a magic wand that will suddenly allow historians to presume the... Read more

Several bloggers have already noted the list of the Top 100 Theology Blogs that has been posted at the Christian Colleges web site. In addition to feeling honored to have made the list myself, I was delighted to learn that there is a blog dedicated to a subject that fascinates me, the rabbinic discussion of those who say there are “two powers in heaven“. Read more

My main academic project for my sabbatical is on oral tradition in early Christianity, and what is involved in taking seriously the fact that, even though all we have are literary remains, these are products of a primarily oral environment, and even when a literary relationship can be shown to exist, orality ought not to be ignored. Mark 13 is a great case for illustrating Matthew’s literary dependence on Mark. Not only is there extensive verbatim agreement over the course... Read more

Here is Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy webisode number 10, the last in the series. http://www.hulu.com/embed/9N4Deu2w5no4T5yzgEwCzg Read more