Terrible Review of What Sounds Like a Terrible Book

Last updated on: September 9, 2017 at 9:37 am By James F. McGrath

The quotations in the image below, which is embedded in the review of David Fitzgerald’s latest (three–volume!) book of half-baked and poorly-argued nonsense that appeared on the blog Debunking Christianity, is supposed to boil down what is positive about his books to their essence. But in fact it illustrates his inability to recognize when he doesn’t have a valid point and/or is not making a logical, reasoned argument. Here is the image: Let’s consider each of the two points above. First,... Read more

Illicit Antiquities Educational Games?

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 10:53 am By James F. McGrath

The illegal smuggling of antiquities has been in the news a lot lately (although it has never been entirely absent in living memory, alas). I wonder whether there are games that could be used to teach about this topic in a manner that is fun, and yet does not reward players for doing things that are illegal and/or immoral – or, if it does, at least brings the ethical issues into the player’s conscious awareness in the process. Thebes is one that looks particularly... Read more

Gospels.net Changes Hands

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 2:16 pm By James F. McGrath

I received the following from Andrew Bernhard about a site that he has maintained for many years: Gospels.net. Thank you to all who have visited my site during the past twenty years. I am humbled by the attention it has received and grateful for the opportunities it has provided me to connect with interesting people around the world. I am now pleased to pass gospels.net on to Mark Mattison. I have been impressed by his dedication, as an independent scholar,... Read more

Super Smash Gods Brawl

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 4:50 am By James F. McGrath

I had this game, “Fight of Gods,” drawn to my attention. It seems to take the “Buff Jesus” meme image and turn it into a video game. If you don’t know the image I’m referring to, here it is: This way of thinking about Jesus – or ignoring him and substituting other symbols – seems to be growing in popularity in certain circles. Someone recently told me to Google “Deus Vult” as an image search, if I wanted to discover a whole... Read more

National Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association Conference: Coming to Indianapolis

Last updated on: August 31, 2017 at 12:27 pm By James F. McGrath

I’m really excited about the fact that the major conference in the study of popular culture will be held here in Indianapolis in 2018. It is one that I have long wanted to attend, but given my diverse research and teaching interests (Biblical studies, science fiction, the Mandaeans, music, gaming, and more), I can’t get to every conference that would be of interest. Below is the call for papers for the program unit about games (HT RelCFP). I have developed an academically-useful... Read more

Suffering and Stupid Theology

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 8:19 am By James F. McGrath

I was already planning to share this graph by cartoonist David Hayward well before Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, and even before my wife heard some Romanian pastors talking about what God’s aim had been in causing the deaths of their children. It certainly reflects my own experience, but it is still worth stopping to ask why it should be the case that, as suffering gets worse, so too do the theological pronouncements that many people come up with. Is is simply that... Read more

White Dives and Poor Old Lazarus

Last updated on: August 29, 2017 at 2:33 pm By James F. McGrath

Jeff Carter shared the following reworking of a parable of Jesus on his blog: White Dives and Poor Old Lazarus There was a rich white man named Dives who used to dress in fine linen suits and who feasted every day on tasty victuals and wines. At his gate there used to be a poor black man named Lazarus, covered with sores (he did not have health insurance, of course). He longed to fill his belly with even the scraps... Read more

The Immigration Crises

Last updated on: September 2, 2017 at 8:55 am By James F. McGrath

The Butler Seminar on Religion and Global Affairs this year is focusing on “Religion, Refugees, and Migration.” It will feature four public lectures on September 19, October 17, January 23, and February 27. Each takes place from 7:00–9:00 pm at the Schrott Center for the Arts on the campus of Butler University, 4600 Sunset Avenue. The flooding in Texas provides for an interesting starting point for conversations about this. If someone needed to flee for their life from flooding in... Read more

Who is Jesus? The New Testament Answers as Blog Post and Movies

Last updated on: August 29, 2017 at 2:33 pm By James F. McGrath

I am really struck by the Lumo Project’s work to make movie versions of the four Gospels in the New Testament, using only the text as the script (even if obviously there are questions in the gaps in the text that they need to answer, as indicated in the video below). The actor who plays Jesus in these movies, Selva Rasalingam, is British but of Tamil extraction, and was chosen precisely because he vaguely fit the image of a random... Read more

Distraction Can Be Good Or Bad

Last updated on: August 31, 2017 at 12:45 pm By James F. McGrath

A friend saw the meme I made about conservative Christians, and suggested that one should be made featuring liberal Christians being distracted from organized religion by Jesus. I thought about it, and it seemed that liberal Christians are the dominant force in mainline denominations, which are certainly organized religion. But in a variety of forms of Christianity that fall under the umbrella of “progressive,” the focus is consistently on Jesus, with the Bible as an important collection of human writings... Read more