Mike Leaptrott has a simply wonderful short reflection on his blog entitled “Jesus in CGI“. He considers the miracles and other such facets of the Gospels as “special effects” and considers how they (like modern CGI effects) have the potential to make the “movie” more or less enjoyable. Here’s a taste: Current flavors of fundamentalism rely heavily on a kind of CGI interpretation of God that fills in the gaps where human actors could not possibly succeed. By fixating on... Read more

Recently I finally got around to watching the movie Appleseed and its sequel Appleseed: Ex Machina. You can watch the trailer for Appleseed here and the trailer for Ex Machina here. Like many works of Japanese anime, these movies explore the integration of human and machine, as well as other technologies such as cloning. Both movies are trying to explore religious and philosophical themes, and yet the evidence of the superficiality of the filmmakers’ knowledge in these areas is evident... Read more

The Nation (HT PaleoJudaica) has a piece about Guy Stroumsa’s book publishing Morton Smith’s correspondence with Gershom Scholem, which may shed light on the question of whether Smith forged the Secret Gospel of Mark. Pomomusings is up to chapter 3 in Jack Rogers’ Jesus, the Bible and Homosexuality. Religion Dispatches discusses “Sex and the Seminary” (no, it isn’t a new TV show). Gumby the Cat has the perfect pie-chart on persecution and Pac Man. Michael Bird has a post on... Read more

Hat tip to Mark Goodacre for sharing this video clip (originally from Kelvington.com) of the U.S.S. Enterprise encountering the Tardis. Read more

There is an interesting parallel between the situation of those arguing for the inerrancy of the Bible and that of “mythicists”, i.e. those who argue that Jesus was originally thought of as a heavenly figure, one who was later then turned into an allegedly historical figure. The case for inerrancy has to be able to demonstrate that every single factual claim made in the Bible is without error. The case for errancy, by contrast, has only to demonstrate conclusively that... Read more

I recall reading somewhere not long ago in my studies of oral tradition (which has touched on folksong, epic, and the Parry-Lord school) that those who composed such works would often withdraw to compose their works, and then would return and send out troubadors or other performers. I couldn’t help but think of the way Jesus is depicted in some parts of the New Testament, as withdrawing to isolated places, and then returning and sending out his students (= disciples).... Read more

HT SF Signal Read more

I’ve neglected for a while to mention when new installments in the Battlestar Galactica webisode series The Face of the Enemy have been made available, but I thought I’d mention the most recent, #9, since it includes a discussion of the human tendency (and ability) to see (or not see) what we want to. You can find the episode as well as all previous ones on SciFi.com and Hulu. http://www.hulu.com/embed/CG41of9kc1-o7S5FEoezKg There are all sorts of other interesting things at Hulu,... Read more

Having posted several pieces both here and elsewhere on the subject of homosexuality, marriage, and the Bible, I suppose some readers may have been wondering about my own sexual orientation. And so, even though it may cost me some conservative Christian readers, I thought it was time to reveal the truth: I am a heterosexual. Those of you who have met me face to face or have seen photos of me probably guessed already that I’m straight, based on how... Read more

AIG Busted shared this video – the last in a long series, apparently, addressing the ways in which antiscientific creationists approach the evidence and why it is so problematic. The very ending will make it worth having watched the whole thing through. If this isn’t your cup of tea, you could always try the video shared by Friendly Atheist with monkeys discussing religion. It isn’t inherently atheistic, but illustrates that we speak about God and religion not only from a... Read more