#CFP Special Issue of Religions “So Say We All: Religion and Society in Science Fiction”

Last updated on: April 30, 2018 at 2:46 pm By James F. McGrath

For Star Wars Day (May the Fourth Be With You!) I thought that I should highlight the future special issue of Religions on science fiction, which is accepting submissions. I’m hoping to submit something myself, if I can make the deadline. Here’s the call for papers from the journal’s website: Dear Colleagues, Science fiction wanders perennially in realms traditionally considered the purview of religion, asking questions about the ordering of the universe, the nature of existence, and the proper basis for human... Read more

All Are Transgender In Christ

Last updated on: April 30, 2018 at 2:32 pm By James F. McGrath

J. K. Gayle wrote something in a blog post last year that I’ve been meaning to follow up on and blog about since then. Here’s an excerpt from the post, which is engaging some statements that emerged from the Southern Baptist Convention, as well as Jesus’ statement about eunuchs: Jesus’s discussion of marriage from the beginning between those grown up being boys and those grown up being girls is followed by a discussion of a different sort of sexual human.... Read more

Mandaeism ARAM Conference July 2019

Last updated on: April 26, 2018 at 10:59 am By James F. McGrath

There are two conferences coming up in July 2019 that ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies will be organizing. I’ve heard conflicting dates for the one on the Mandaeans (July 11-12 or 12-14) but we can at least mark our calendars approximately for the time being. Here are the details from the ARAM website: The Gnostics of the Ancient Near East, 8th– 10th July 2019 (University of Oxford) ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies is organizing its Fiftieth International Conference International Conference... Read more

A Conversation Between Jesus and Karl Marx

Last updated on: May 1, 2018 at 5:38 am By James F. McGrath

Vance Morgan recently posted snippets from an imagined conversation between Jesus and Karl Marx. It includes Jesus telling Marx thing like, “The percentage of your “followers” who have studied your book carefully is probably about the same as the percentage of my “followers” who’ve read mine carefully.” He started the post with a quote from Richard Rorty which is also worth sharing: “We should read the New Testament as saying that how we treat each other on earth matters a... Read more

Religion at its Best and Worst

Last updated on: April 24, 2018 at 8:36 pm By James F. McGrath

I shared the above quote previously some time ago, but apparently the image went missing, and so I thought I should rectify that by sharing it again! Do you agree with the sentiment in the quote? Why or why not? Religion at its Best and Worst Read more

Pen Seeking Understanding

Last updated on: April 24, 2018 at 2:31 pm By James F. McGrath

Scot McKnight wrote eloquently about the place of writing in the life of an academic: [W]riting can’t be done on the side because, as James Vanoosting says it, “Writing is not pedagogy but an epistemology” (160). In other words, writing is a lifestyle, a way of life, a way of being, a modus operandi, a way of breathing and eating and drinking. Better yet, writing is a way of learning, a way of coming to know what someone wants to... Read more

James, Brother of Jesus, Bother of Mythicists

Last updated on: April 28, 2018 at 6:22 am By James F. McGrath

It’s time to return once again to the subject of Jesus mythicism, the stance that denies the overwhelming consensus of professional historians and scholars that there most likely was indeed a historical Jesus of Nazareth. Evidence about his brother James (Jacob) is an important factor in historical reasoning on this subject. Tim O’Neill shared a blog post not that long ago about James, the brother of Jesus, and why he represents really strong evidence for the historicity of Jesus (despite... Read more

Nevertheless She Resisted

Last updated on: April 26, 2018 at 11:45 am By James F. McGrath

The Handmaid’s Tale returned with a new season that picks up where last season’s finale left off – which is also where, apart from an epilogue, Margaret Atwood’s novel left off. And so the new season (and any future ones that may follow it) have fewer constraints. For those who know Atwood’s novel well, this may be exciting, worrying, or a bit of both, depending on how one feels about how one has filled in the rest of June Osborne’s... Read more

Trading Dogma for Love

Last updated on: April 24, 2018 at 8:36 pm By James F. McGrath

Richard Beck wrote in a recent blog post: Certainty, conviction, and dogmatism reduces our anxiety in the face of life. Having all the answers feels good. That’s the upside. The downside is that certainty, conviction, and dogmatism makes you suspicious and wary toward people who have different beliefs. And that suspicion sows the seeds of intolerance. In contrast, if you don’t have all the answers in the face of uncertainty and tragedy, if you can’t tie a neat theological bow... Read more

If I Don’t Have Love (1 Corinthians 13 as Song)

Last updated on: April 24, 2018 at 9:19 pm By James F. McGrath

In other classes that I teach, I assign essays to students with no hesitation without feeling the need to actually write the essay in question myself. My work is full of writing of essay-like articles, chapters, conference papers, and reports, and so I feel confident that the assignments of this sort that I impose on students are doable. When I taught the Bible and Music for the first time, however, I felt that if I am going to ask students... Read more