People like me who identify themselves as liberal Christians often get asked, “Can you explain the basics of liberal Christianity to me?” I have done so from time to time in the past and thought it was about time to answer the question again. One of the first questions that is sometimes in mind even if not articulated is whether there is any difference between liberal Christianity and progressive Christianity. The short answer is not necessarily, but sometimes. As in... Read more
Doctor Who Explores Theology 24 October 2022 at 7:30 pm St. John’s College, Durham University LRC Lecture Room In this public lecture Dr. James F. McGrath, a “doctor who explores theology,” explores the theology that Doctor Who explores. The classic episode “The Enemy of the World” saw one of many instances in which someone pondered what the Doctor might be a Doctor of. “A Doctor of Divinity?” Astrid Ferrier asks, and the Doctor tries to change the subject. Since then... Read more
This started out as a collection of links, but I also want to float an idea and get feedback on it sooner rather than later. The Gospels depict John the Baptist as predicting someone who comes after him (i.e. one of his followers) being stronger than himself and enacting the judgment that John merely foretells. The Gospels differ on whether John says he is not fit or not worthy to do something with that person’s sandals, and whether the action... Read more
The Sinai Manuscripts Digital Library (SMDL) at the UCLA Library is currently hiring for several grant-funded, remote positions. The SMDL (https://sinaimanuscripts.library.ucla.edu) is a collaborative project between St. Catherine’s Monastery of the Sinai, the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL), and the UCLA Library to make available online all manuscripts held in the Monastery library. The project’s focus has been on multi-spectral imaging of palimpsested manuscripts through the Sinai Palimpsests Project and the imaging, description, and publication of the Sinai Arabic and... Read more
When I saw that Isaac Morales had just published a book with the title The Bible and Baptism I quickly contacted the publisher to request a review copy. Working on a project about John the Baptist, I knew the book would be of particular interest to me at present. The book is part of a new series from Baker: A Catholic Biblical Theology of the Sacraments. Biblical theology has been defined in more than one way, and for those not familiar... Read more
I am now settled in in Oxford continuing my research on John the Baptist. There have also been thrilling opportunities to hear music and look at manuscripts, mostly ones relevant to my project but sometimes just really awe-inspiring ones for someone in my field. Here at Magdalen College there is a handful of fragments of papyrus that are sometimes called the Magdalen Gospel. If you are a New Testament scholar you know it as P64. It is an important manuscript... Read more
I was disappointed by the commentary from Ian Paul and Ben Witherington on the subject of Mary Magdalene and the question of what her nickname means, a question which is the focus of a recent article by Libbie Schrader and Joan Taylor. If you don’t have access to the article, its two authors offer a presentation about their research and many journalists have reported on it. Witherington wrote dismissively about their proposal in a way that made clear he hadn’t... Read more
I have been reading Francis Watson’s recent book What Is a Gospel? (not least because I will be giving a talk in Durham University’s New Testament Seminar on October 24th, but also because Eerdmans kindly sent me a review copy). The book is rich with insights and suggestions that are bound to move discussion forward not only on the subject of the genre of the Gospels, but also on related subjects like the Synoptic problem and the relation between canonical and... Read more
There is an exciting new Global Faith And Media Study that has been released, gathering perspectives from journalists and the public all over the world in order to assess the current situation when it comes to reporting on religion. As I began to take a look at the data, as well as the public-facing summary of it in infographic form, I immediately experienced two different reactions. On the one hand, my worst fears about trends in journalism and media coverage... Read more
I had the opportunity to read Doug Cowan’s latest book The Forbidden Body before it was published, and just recently participated in a recorded Zoom conversation with him and other academics who share our interest in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and religion. Cowan’s book is marvelous – often disturbing and shocking, but it is about sex and horror and so that could not be otherwise. As someone for whom horror is the genre of popular culture in which I’ve had the... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In