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

I’ve added to the sidebar a gadget with the most recent comments that have been left, so that visitors can see where conversations are ongoing. Let me know if this feature is useful! I’ve also added some daily astronomy pictures, just because… Read more

Yesterday in my Sunday School class, we moved beyond our discussion of the varied portraits of Jesus found in the Gospels to begin to answer the question posed in Mark’s Gospel, “Who do you say that I am?” Being so used to discussing the views of others, it was interesting and helpful to have to give me own personal answer to the question. Ultimately, what I kept coming back to as central was Jesus as crucified Messiah. Historians may debate... Read more

“It simply was not possible physically for ancient historians with their work methods to dissect in memory contradictory variants into separate elements in order to produce a single, more logical version.” — Jocelyn Penny Small, Wax Tablets of the Mind: Cognitive Studies of Memory and Literacy in Classical Antiquity (New York: Routledge, 1997) p.185. Read more

While it is being said that NT Wrong (the blog, not the person behind it) is dead, we have also heard glad tidings of a web site’s resurrection. Early Christian Writings, one of the most useful online resources for the study of early Christian sources, has returned to life. So too has Early Jewish Writings. Hallelujah! Many thanks to Peter Kirby, who maintains these sites. Their value is great, and it is too bad that the internet is not designed... Read more