Over on The Burial of Jesus blog, I’ve shared the debate between William Lane Craig and James Crossley about the resurrection of Jesus, which apparently took place back in 2007. A major reason for writing my book on the burial of Jesus is the relevance of that subject to how we view the traditions about the empty tomb, resurrection appearances and so on. So obviously this debate interests me. I’ve embedded a YouTube version of the debate over on the... Read more

N. T. Wrong shared this cartoon from YouTube about someone finding himself in the same situation as Abraham in the story in Genesis. What do you think of the advice his co-worker gives him? I also liked this cartoon that was shared at The Rev’s Rumbles. I’m not sure why exactly… Read more

If I speak in the languages of peoples living and dead, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have a PhD and can fathom all sorts of mysteries and significant amounts of knowledge, and if I have the common sense to know that “faith that can move mountains” is a metaphor, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body... Read more

The Mandaean text Dmuth Kushta (“Image of Truth”) has only been published in booklet form by Majid Fandi al-Mubaraki in 2002, and isn’t even in the Drower collection. In it, there is a reference to a “king of the Nasoraeans”. This could be an important historical clue, perhaps comparable in value to the reference to Artapanus in the Haran Gawaita. Or it could simply reflect the use of “king” as a term for a “priest”. The entire phrase in which... Read more

Good news! My book The Burial of Jesus: History and Faith is now available for purchase at amazon.com. I do hope that some of my regular readers will read it, and will let me know what they think (whether here or at the blog I’ve created specifically for the book). But I’d be particularly grateful if you could find the time to recommend the book for purchase by your local university, seminary and/or public libraries. If they ask for a... Read more

Evolving Thoughts shared this wonderful clip under the heading “Cleesing the God Gene“: Elsewhere around the blogosphere, New Scientist has an article on the possibility that evolution may have preceded life. Undeception has an interesting post on “First Things and Last Things“. And Peter Rollins talks about our desire for a master we can dominate. Read more

My book The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context, forthcoming from University of Illinois Press in March of 2009, is now available for pre-order on amazon.com. A page has also been created for The Burial of Jesus: History and Faith and so I expect to be able to announce that it is available for purchase soon. Presumably this means that you can go ahead and start recommending one or both of these books to your local... Read more

Today I received my proof copy of The Burial of Jesus: History and Faith. After soliciting some feedback on how the final version looks (I can’t be objective about this, obviously), I gave my approval for the book to become available for purchase. It should be available within a week or so. I’ll let you know! Read more

Having provided round-ups of my blogging on Intelligent Design and on LOST, I thought I’d follow up with a collection of my posts on creationism. There is some overlap with the subject of Intelligent Design, but enough distinction (and enough separate posts) to make it seem worth doing. I’ve put serious ones, and in particular ones showing the problems with the way young-earth creationists misuse Biblical texts, towards the beginning. Creationism’s Cartoon PhysicsTeaching the Genesis Creation StoriesEvidence and Faith: The... Read more