Disarming Student Suspicions of Evolution

Last updated on: January 4, 2019 at 9:48 pm By James F. McGrath

Rev. Dr. Charles Allen leads the wonderful progressive Christian campus ministry at Butler University known as Grace Unlimited. He has shared some of his own experience of being persuaded to adopt young-earth creationism, and then again to abandon it, in a manner that mirrors my own experience to a large extent. Here is an excerpt from what he wrote: Fortunately, my “evolution” out of that intolerant phase was not traumatic. Oddly enough, my creationist pastor played a bigger role than... Read more

Sound Pedagogy and Genre Bending Assignments

Last updated on: January 6, 2019 at 9:08 am By James F. McGrath

There have been a number of interesting blog posts and articles about pedagogy and biblical studies, with a number of very creative assignments and activities having been shared. Many of these have appeared over the past year or so through the website Ancient Jew Review, but a few are from elsewhere. Since the new semester is about to begin, it is about time I shared them! I think the one that first grabbed my attention and made me think I... Read more

We Three Spies of Parthia Are

Last updated on: January 5, 2019 at 9:41 am By James F. McGrath

I received a delightful email not long ago that has made me want to turn it into a short story, a piece of historical fiction rather than my usual sci-fi, so as to explore it. Alas, I didn’t manage to accomplish this by today (I had another story I was trying to get finished – that one most definitely is science fiction), and today would be the natural day to share it, being Epiphany, the day that celebrates the arrival... Read more

Doctor Who: The Power of Kroll

Last updated on: January 4, 2019 at 10:20 pm By James F. McGrath

Before I dive into this episode from the Tom Baker era, let me draw attention to an article by a Butler University graduate, Emily Swan, who wrote about the most recent season of Doctor Who’s engagement with God and theology. Here’s a snippet: It seems natural that any show running as long as Doctor Who would need updates from time to time. And it seems natural that any show with a messianic figure like the Doctor would need amending as our cultural understandings... Read more

Liberal Arts at Starfleet Academy

Last updated on: December 22, 2018 at 3:08 pm By James F. McGrath

Lately there has been an incredible amount of discussion about the liberal arts, liberal education, small majors, the humanities, and countless other aspects of education. I kept noting links to articles that I thought were worth sharing, but it took being reminded of the clip below from Star Trek: The Next Generation to prompt me into action. No less an authority than Capt. Picard himself speaks here about the value of being liberally educated! Michael Roth writes: [I]n a world... Read more

Doctor Who 2019 New Year’s Day Special: Resolution

Last updated on: January 2, 2019 at 11:45 pm By James F. McGrath

This post contains spoilers – if you wish to avoid them, stop reading now! The title of the 2019 Doctor Who New Year’s Day Special, “Resolution,” is intentionally punny. It refers, of course, to the practice of making New Year’s resolutions, committing to changes in one’s life. But it also refers to resolution of plot tensions. In this case, both meanings converge on Ryan’s relationship with his father, who makes a guest appearance in the episode to resolve the longstanding... Read more

ReligionProf Podcast with Ankur Gupta: Sapientia ex Machina

Last updated on: January 1, 2019 at 9:50 am By James F. McGrath

In this episode, Ankur Gupta and I are back in the sound booth, and talking about way more than just driverless cars. Our project connects with so many different technologies that utilize or integrate some form of AI, that the challenge is knowing what to focus on next. Listen in as we brainstorm, reflect, and simply chat about these things together! In this first part of what becomes another two-parter, our conversation starts with a look back on our experience... Read more

Happy New Year 2019!

Last updated on: January 1, 2019 at 7:49 am By James F. McGrath

Happy New Year! Is 2019 going to be the end of the current decade, given that most consider it to have started in 2000? Or does it only feel like it should be the end of a decade at the end of this year, after which we will move to the “20s”? Either way, it will be nice a year from now to have a decade that we can refer to so much more easily than the “noughties” or the... Read more

Top 3 ReligionProf Top 10 Lists of 2018

Last updated on: December 22, 2018 at 3:41 pm By James F. McGrath

I’ll end the year by rounding up the top ten most visited posts on my blog during 2018. I’m delighted that the #1 destination on the blog is actually the front page, meaning a lot of people come here not because of a link they came across on social media as their first point of contact with the blog, but rather because they made a deliberate choice to visit my blog and see what is here. And precisely because many... Read more

I Can Only Imagine Leviticus In The Good Place

Last updated on: December 29, 2018 at 1:54 pm By James F. McGrath

I would have titled this post “I can hardly imagine Leviticus in The Good Place” but I wasn’t sure that readers would immediately pick up on the movie/song reference. This post emerges out of thoughts I’ve had recently related to the TV show The Good Place and the movie I Can Only Imagine. The initial prompting in the direction that led to this post came from someone who asked me about the prominent place that shrimp cocktail plays early in the show. Shrimp and... Read more