Anyone who followed the interaction between Jimmy Dunn and Theodore Weeden about the claims Kenneth Bailey made about oral tradition in Arab society, may be aware of an example Bailey appealed to in support of his case for “informal controlled oral tradition”. He mentions a story about missionary John Hogg recorded in the biography of him written by Rena Hogg, his daughter, a story that was still circulating when Bailey visited the area in which Hogg had worked after many... Read more

I don’t normally pass on reviews from Review of Biblical Literature on my blog, since I assume that most readers who would be interested in them receive them anyway. But the latest issue has a review of Intelligent Design: William A. Dembski & Michael Ruse in Dialogue (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007) by Chris Heard, which will be of interest to those outside of Biblical studies. Read more

Pizza Lunch DiscussionWednesday, October 22nd, 12:00 – 2:00, Jordan Hall 340, Butler University What is the relationship between history and faith?In the rush to get from the story of the crucifixion to the story of the resurrection, have readers tended to miss some important details about what happened in between?Has contemporary American Christianity become too focused on the afterlife? Come join us for a discussion of these and other subjects touched on in the new book The Burial of Jesus:... Read more

I thought about calling this post “Go Take A Leap” but then decided against it. When we’re younger, leaps of faith are all the rage. Take a stand for something you believe to be true, whether your religious tradition or your favorite band. As both Blaise Pascal (sort of) and Neil Peart put it, “You bet your life”. We take a leap of faith in the sense of choosing something to believe in, and believing in it passionately. As we... Read more

I just wrote my blog action day post for this year, and set it to be published at 12:01 am on October 15th. This year’s subject is poverty. Do consider blogging on that subject then! Read more

There is now another review of The Burial of Jesus: History and Faith on Amazon. I invite you to take a look, and once you’ve read the book, I hope you’ll post your own review there! Read more

This post continues my review of (perhaps here turning more into a dialogue with) Keith Ward’s most recent book, The Big Questions in Science and Religion. This chapter’s title, like the previous, could be understood to make an unjustified assumption, in this case that the universe will end. It could well be the case (as in many Eastern traditions as well as streams of Process theology) that there has always been and will always be some universe. Ward once again... Read more

CNN reports the following about a minister speaking at a McCain rally: A minister delivering the invocation at John McCain’s rally in Davenport, Iowa Saturday told the crowd non-Christian religions around the world were praying for Barack Obama to win the U.S. presidential election. “There are millions of people around this world praying to their god—whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah—that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because... Read more

It is interesting that religious significance is being attributed to both Barack Obama and Sarah Palin by individuals and communities that are very different, but have in common a tendency towards extremism. On the one hand, BuzzFlash goes so far as to suggest that Sarah Palin is a “Manchurian Candidate” representing a theocratic brand of Apostolic Pentecostalism (HT Rev’s Rumbles): On the other hand, Louis Farrakhan’s Messianic view of Barack Obama is being highlighted by conservative sources like Uncommon Descent:... Read more

For those who want to know what will happen in season 5 of LOST, just watch this video (which also addresses the question whether you can review at TV show you’ve never watched): HT Aldenswan (if the embedded player doesn’t work, the original can be found here) Read more