There is a call for papers for the Metanexus conference “Cosmos, Nature, Culture: A Transdisciplinary Conference” to be held in Phoenix, Arizona, July 18 – 21, 2009. Those academics who are interested in the relationship between religion and science should definitely take a look. Read more

Stephen Law and AIG Busted continue the discussion of the historicity of Jesus (and Fred Anderson considers Robert Price on both Jesus and Superboy). Pisteuomen wants bibliobloggers to meet in Boston in November. Antiquitopia continues reading the socialist Bible. Drew Tatusko wishes you a Biblical “trick or treat”. Bible Films Blog has an entry on Ebert’s book about The Last Temptation of Christ. Bob Cornwall is all agog about dispentationalism. Use Your Head draws attention to evolution week on Teachers... Read more

Bad Astronomy points out the return of good astronomy, as Hubble comes back online and gives us this photo: Elsewhere around the blogosphere, Sandwalk responds to John Pieret about naturalism and God, while Michael Bird notes that the Carrier-O’Connell debate about the resurrection has begun online. Read more

The discussion of whether Jesus existed has spread to C.Orthodoxy. Experimental Theology discusses the existence of Hobbes. Jason explains why you should vote – especially if your name is [insert name here]. Scotteriology explains why Barack Obama should be viewed as the Lord’s anointed one. Jesus Creed discusses racism in Christian theology. NT Wrong explains his categorization of biblioblogs. Shuck and Jive highlights the usefulness of NT Wrong’s list of biblioblogs for stalking Bible scholars. Jim Davila, Claude Mariottini and... Read more

Exploring Our Matrix just passed the 200,000 visitors mark. Thank you for visiting! Read more

I’ve been having quite the interaction on this blog recently about the historical evidence for the existence of Jesus. More recently, Stephen Law has joined in and responded to me on his own blog. I know there are a lot of readers of this blog with some background in historical study including several who work on Biblical history. What do you make of the interaction thus far? When I’ve failed to persuade some of my dialogue partners, is it because... Read more

Michael Barber has a great quote from B. F. Streeter on form criticism. Deepak Chopra may be worth quoting on the subject of the upcoming election. The Austringer tells us what we can do to help support science education in Texas and warns of more Discovery Institute misinformation. NT Wrong separates bibliobloggers into liberal and conservative categories. Undeception talks about the lake of fire in Revelation. The latest Christian Carnival is up at Fish and Cans. Chet Raymo reflects on... Read more

Last night I dreamt I was on the island. Behind everything that was going on there was an artificially intelligent computer. I don’t think my subconcious mind managed to contribute anything to unravelling the mysteries of LOST. A student of mine, on the other hand, is making better progress. He started watching only recently on DVD, and so he has yet to experience the pain of having to wait a whole week for the next installment. Here are some thoughts... Read more

OK, I admit it, a better title would be ‘”Did Jesus Exist?” on YouTube’. Be that as it may, I decided to upload a video addressing some of the points that I’ve been trying to make in recent discussions on this blog and elsewhere about the historical evidence for the existence of Jesus. Here’s the video: Two points are perhaps worth emphasizing in writing here as well. First, claiming that Jesus existed does not mean, from a historian’s perspective, claiming... Read more

I didn’t sleep through class. But I did get an e-mail about a site called “I Slept Through Class“. The site offers students an opportunity to upload and download class notes. Are other educators aware of this? Do you think this is good news or bad? Will it encourage students to sleep through class, or to collaborate in ways that may in fact be helpful to their getting the most out of their college experience? Read more