I really like this thought from the late Kim Fabricius: Information is power. Alas, so too is misinformation. It’s one of the things that I focused on when I taught a Speaking Across the Curriculum course at Butler University on religious rhetoric and communication, and it is something that I continue to focus on in many other contexts. The truth can be conveyed in ways that are uncompelling, and falsehood can be presented in ways that are persuasive. And so... Read more
New Scientist shared the results of a survey of the public which indicates that most people would not choose to live forever. This raises interesting questions for the future of conservative Christianity, which for an extremely long time has been cultivating a focus on eternal life as the thing it can offer to attract people. What happens if we reach a point in the future at which human beings, for the most part, do not view immortality as something attractive... Read more
Which is the more controversial? Bringing theology and Star Trek together, bringing theology and Star Wars together, or mentioning Star Trek and Star Wars together in the same post? The Popular Culture and Theology blog put the two calls for papers in separate posts, perhaps hoping to keep fans who are franchise fundamentalists from derailing and distracting from the clear worth of the volumes to which submissions are being sought. But I couldn’t resist bringing them together here because I... Read more
In a recent post, Vance Morgan shared his experience of growing up steeped in the end times speculations of Hal Lindsey and the Evangelical culture that fed into and was fostered by his work. He writes: Revelation has been called the most controversial book in the Bible, for good reason. The author’s nightmarish prophecies and visions of natural disasters, violence, bloodshed, revenge, and retribution have spawned countless movements, predictions, and crackpots—many of them violent and dangerous in their own right.... Read more
In this episode (one of the earliest I recorded, but which I delayed releasing so as to have a mix from the outset of conversations with guests from among my Butler University colleagues, from the wider Indianapolis community, and from further afield) I chat with my colleague in the Center for Academic Technology, Megan Grady-Rutledge, following up on a project we collaborated on last year, a Digital Humanities reading and discussion group for faculty from all across the university. Below,... Read more
As I teach my class on the historical Jesus and work on my project related to the historical John the Baptist, I find myself revisiting the question of the historical value of the Gospel of John. One thing that is not noticed often enough is that a number of the early events and sayings that are mentioned are said to have occurred before John the Baptist was imprisoned or executed. That time frame certainly makes sense for the focus of... Read more
About a year ago, Mark Goodacre shared that the classic documentary “Who Was Jesus?” is freely available online. I’m embedding the videos below, but do also recommend taking a look at Mark’s post to get a sense of what he appreciates about the documentary and his perspective on it. Charles Jones shared a couple of videos about famous excavations at Jericho: Carl Rasmussen also shared the above videos, together with some additional photos from Jericho. Brill shared a video about... Read more
There seems to be a lot of interesting things hitting Sheffield at present or set to do so in the near future. A falling TARDIS and recently-regenerated Time Lord are apparently going to make an impact there soon. Have you seen the new trailer? And then there is a new book series in biblical studies edited by Meredith Warren (on which see details in the image below). This seems like a good time for someone to work on a book project... Read more
I feel like I need to comment on the Daily Show’s sketch RoboChrist, since it intersects with a number of topics that interest me: the intersection of religion and science fiction on the one hand, and religious freedom on the other. But let’s be honest at the outset. It’s not particularly funny. It would probably have worked better if they had brought Donald Trump’s proposed Space Force into the picture and made some sort of parody at the imagined intersection... Read more
For a long time, there was nothing – at least, as far as translations of even small snippets and quotations of Mandaean literature into English are concerned. Then, translations began to be made – but not, for whatever reason, of the Mandaeans’ two most central and important sacred texts, nor of many others. When it comes to those, for almost a century there have been nothing but small translated excerpts in English, tantalizing hints at what one might encounter if... Read more
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