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

Tomorrow I’ll be a guest at a discussion on campus about “whether others have to be wrong for us to be right.” In essence it will be about matters like convictions, Evangelicalism and pluralism. It is part of the “Big Questions” series sponsored by the Center for Faith and Vocation. I for one am a critical realist, and really find it disappointing when someone says that all views are equal. That, to my thinking, simply shows that the person who... Read more

This is circulating via e-mail and on the internet and so I thought I’d share it: If you had purchased $1,000 of AIG stock one year ago, you would have $42 left. With Lehman, you would have $6.60 left. With Fannie or Freddie, you would have less than $5 left. But if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have... Read more

As I begin this post, Exploring Our Matrix has been part of the Christian Century blog network (CCBlogs for short) for just under three hours. I thought I’d introduce new readers from there to my blog, and regular readers from here to that network. For those new to Christian Century and its blogs, this magazine is to the Christian mainline what Christianity Today is to Evangelicalism. Christian Century reflects the widespread approach to Christian faith that sees it as essential... Read more

If you are a Gnostic and are thinking of voting for McCain, I should remind you of an important Scripture reference. In the Gospel of Philip 80 it says: “one must not give help to those who are well off” This is the translation by Marvin Meyer in The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (HarperOne, 2007) p.182. Other translations render the saying differently, but this wouldn’t be the first time that those reading different translations drew different conclusions about how to put... Read more

Michael Halcomb of Pisteuomen has created a gem of a book with a narrow but important audience. The title is Loving the Biblical Scholar in Your Life for Dummies, and it can be downloaded for free. Biblical scholars reading this will surely want to share this with the special someone in their life. Thanks Michael! Read more

In an interview with Stephen Colbert in today’s newspaper, it mentioned that something he likes to do and hopes to begin doing again soon is teach Sunday school. Now that would be a fun class to attend! Apparently this is old news, but I wasn’t aware of it until today. I wonder if he’ll be willing to regularly offer some Sunday school clips online somewhere. There’s nothing like laughter to help people cope with thinking about tough questions and challenging... Read more