Songs of exile: a playlist for Psalm 137 Oxford University Press shared some settings of Psalm 137 on their blog, as musical accompaniment to their book about that Psalm, Song of Exile by David Stowe. This is a really useful resource, as it includes some classics that were unmissable, but also things that it would be hard to notice if one did not already know about them. For instance, this setting is titled “Wood Street,” and I never would have spotted... Read more
I had the idea for this rephrasing of Matthew 7:20 when having a discussion about actions and beliefs in Sunday school. The background image is a full-page spread that the New York Times made of all the people, places, and things that Donald Trump had insulted on Twitter. What do you think? Perhaps we should incorporate Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and other social media into not just our rendering of Bible verses, but also our proverbs. How about these? “Trust in Google... Read more
I recently discovered that several excerpts from Andrea Clearfield’s piece “Women of Valor” are on YouTube. This is an oratorio focused on the stories of women in the Bible. I had wanted to highlight it in my class on the Bible and music more than I was able to, as there was not yet a CD commercially available. That has now changed, as the piece was released on CD this year. Below are the YouTube excerpts for you to listen to. You can also find... Read more
The Evangelical Textual Criticism blog shared the above video and provides a transcript as well as some additional information and discussion. Read more
Someone on Reddit asked about Christian agnosticism, leading me to write the following (on which I based the quote in the image above, slightly modified to make better sense outside of its original context. A lot of commenters here seem to reflect the mistaken view that faith means feeling certain about something despite there not being sufficient rational grounds. But faith in the Christian sense (on which I recommend reading Paul Tillich’s Dynamics of Faith) means doing what the Bible... Read more
I thought that this quote from Randal Rauser deserved to be turned into a meme. He writes: Imagine a world in which all citizens were not extended protection by the police. Instead, the government aimed to offer people various tax credits and incentives to buy police protection from private security firms. And as a result, some people were protected by powerful armed militias, others had spotty protection from ill-equipped security guards, and still others were left to fend for themselves... Read more
First, I hope you all saw that Canon: The Card Game was featured in the online periodical Christian Today. I thought the author, Joseph Hartropp, did a fantastic job of conveying the essence of the game and the things that led to its creation. Before that, Doug Chaplin shared thoughts on the canon’s blurry edges. The things he focuses on – the ending of Mark and the story of the woman caught in adultery in John – are the very reason that I... Read more
I made it to just a tiny bit of the Midwest Society of Biblical Literature conference this year in February. I was scheduled to participate in a panel review of Urban von Wahlde’s book, Gnosticism, Docetism, and the Judaisms of the First Century, my contribution to which I shared here on the day I also shared it at the conference. However, since I wasn’t going to be there for the entire conference, I didn’t look closely at the schedule. And so I... Read more
I am grateful to Jim Davila for reminding me that the Mandaean new year has just begun. Iran Front Page has a wonderful selection of photos of a ceremony marking the event. Read more
Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy Call for Papers General Theme The Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy, a peer-reviewed, open access publication, is dedicated to the analysis of philosophical themes present in science fiction stories in all formats, with a view to their use in the discussion, teaching, and narrative modeling of philosophical ideas. It aims at highlighting the role of science fiction as a medium for philosophical reflection. The Journal is currently accepting papers and paper proposals. Because this... Read more
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