Ben Stein’s worst nightmare… NOTE: Any resemblance to any other photograph of Ben Stein is completely coincidental. Read more

The discussion on whether Jesus was wrong, and if so what the implications are, continues at The Busybody. J. C. Baker has a post on blogging and the academic job search. There is an Expelled plagiarism “paternity test” (HT Further Thoughts, Stranger Fruit, ERV, The Austringer and Panda’s Thumb). Open Parachute has a nice round-up of recent posts on Expelled. And Pharyngula has the latest on the plagiarism lawsuit subject. Drew has a fascinating post on William James’ views on... Read more

Do people actually fall for the sorts of e-mails that I sometimes share, like the one further below? Are people really able to convince themselves that if they share personal data with a stranger, they will get money out of the deal rather than getting ripped off? Would you buy a villa for a stranger? It has become commonplace to suspect that human societies today are in an intellectual decline. I’m not persuaded. I just think that (1) things that... Read more

The Lead has broken the news of Krister Stendahl passing away. This was apparently sent by the dean at Harvard Divinity School: To the HDS community– It is with immense sadness, but also with immense thankfulness for a singular life wonderfully well-lived, that I write to inform you that Krister Stendahl, our beloved friend, teacher, colleague, and former Dean, died this morning. A funeral service is planned for Friday morning at University Lutheran Church, and a memorial service to be... Read more

Attributes of God A-trih-byoots-uhv-gahd n.—Those qualifications we look for in a deity or spouse but secretly think describe ourselves. —from Crazy Talk: A Not-so-stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms, Rolf A. Jacobson, Editor (Augsburg Fortress, 2008) Read more

As I work through assignments related to the infancy narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, I am surprised how many students quote other sources claiming that Matthew gives Joseph’s genealogy while Luke gives Mary’s. There is only one major problem with this suggestion: it isn’t what these Gospels say. Both give genealogies that are explicitly said to be the lineage of Joseph. There is no way to interpret them as saying otherwise. To make Luke’s genealogy Mary’s, one... Read more

I’ve just learned that the web site of the NCSE’s response to the movie Expelled is now “live”. It is called “Expelled Exposed“. Take a look! Read more

“Stein employs the common dodge of enumerating all the admittedly unanswered questions in evolutionary theory and using this to refute the whole idea. But all scientific knowledge is built this way. A fishnet is made up of a lot more holes than strings, but you can’t therefore argue that the net doesn’t exist. Just ask the fish” (Jeffrey Kluger, “Ben Stein Dukes it Out with Darwin“, TIME magazine, Thursday, Apr. 10, 2008). HT The Panda’s Thumb Read more

This piece of news was shared by J. C. Baker, from the AAR web site: Board Action Regarding Independent Annual MeetingsApril 14, 2008 Dear Fellow Members of the American Academy of Religion: I write today to alert you to an action taken by your Board of Directors at its meeting this past weekend. In light of the scheduling and logistical problems connected with the proposed Independent Annual Meetings, and given the views our members expressed in our recent member survey,... Read more

I hope that no one who knows my views and reads my blog with regularity will experience heart failure, or even more mild ill effects, when they realize what this post is. It is an essentially positive review of a book (The Design Matrix: A Consilience of Clues) whose author Mike Gene considers himself a proponent of Intelligent Design. This is not to suggest that I find all of the author’s points and arguments persuasive or satisfying. But what Mike... Read more