An article of mine is now available (for those with subscriptions or access through libraries or institutions) in the most recent issue of the Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha. The article’s title is “History and Fiction in the Acts of Thomas: The State of the Question“. Read more

I didn’t know what else to call this post, which basically highlights two blogs that I’ve recently become aware of. Underverse continues the conversation about theology that has spanned Larry Moran’s blog, this one and several others (including most recently De-Conversion, C. Orthodoxy, another contribution by Anxious Mo-Fo, EvolutionBlog, Pharyngula, John Pieret, Ken Schenck and Kayology). Izgad has posts on humans battling mind-controlling aliens, formulating a Jewish view of Jesus, and a review of Expelled. Read more

I’ve just started working on developing a curriculum for use in the Sunday School class I teach (or perhaps a midweek Bible study). The original title that I came up with in conversation with some other members of the congregation was “Dealing With Our Differences”, but I’m becoming more inclined to go with “Delighting in our Differences”. You’ll see why in what follows. I intend to make the whole thing available online eventually, but I also want to post very... Read more

In light of a recent discussion on this blog, and perhaps all discussions on this blog and everything I’ve done with my life for the past twenty years or so, I’m inclined to ask the question: What is the relationship between Christian faith and education? The question arises for a number of reasons. First, Christianity has as a core (if not the core) component being a disciple of Jesus, and disciple is just an antiquated term for student. Second, if... Read more

Pew Forum has a lengthy interview with Andrew Newberg about religion and neuroscience. There are also articles by him available online. Mystical Seeker ponders the universe in all its unfolding creativity. Scot McKnight wrestles with the impression one can get from the Bible that God is a bully. NT Wrong blogs about the God of the flood story. Pharyngula points us to Josh Rosenau who points us to a poll at Coral Ridge Ministries. I’d like to suggest that the... Read more

Well, at some point when I wasn’t looking, the number of hits on my blog passed 100,000 and even passed 101,000 before I noticed. This is the number of hits since I moved my blog from its old location to Blogger back in June of 2007. Thanks to everyone who has visited, is visiting now, or will ever visit, always and forever, throughout endless ages! [Sorry, I got carried away there…] Read more

Some of my students this semester were unhappy that I made comments about the ways in which they expressed themselves in English. Here are some quotes from assignments I received this semester. I’d welcome input from anyone, but in particular other professors, about the standard of student English in our time, whether I’m too fussy in pointing out such instances, and so on. Below are just a few sample quotes. What grades would you give to assignments typified by such... Read more

Sadducees get a bad rap. If one attended Sunday school, one probably learned that as they didn’t believe in an afterlife, they were “sad you see” (which sounds like Sadducee). We only know about the Sadducees from their critics (or at the very least those who disagreed with them): Josephus is probably the least negative source, then there are the New Testament and Rabbinic literature, both of which are polemical. It is interesting to note that the Sadducees’ views, as... Read more

Below is the text of an e-mail that made it through the spam filter of not one but two of my e-mail accounts. Anyone who thinks that someone they don’t know will be contacting them to give them someone else they don’t know’s inheritance needs to have their head examined. Yes, this is a scam, and hopefully now you know. But what scares me is that we live in a world where people cannot tell just by reading the e-mail... Read more

Dan was kind enough to share his skeptical account of his own religious experience. Iyov has joined in the conversation (indirectly). Chuck Blanchard has not only joined in our ongoing conversation about progressive Christianity and metaphor, but also directs readers to a blog I hadn’t encountered before, which discusses Wright and Bultmann on the resurrection. Vridar has a series on the binding of Isaac and the death of Jesus, as well as pointing to Iranian bloggers’ letters to Jesus. Chris... Read more