Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath - Page 2 of 1186 - The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis

What I Share Where

January 12, 2019 By James F. McGrath

I’ve developed a rhythm to my sharing of items of interest on social media. That includes, but is not at all limited to, my posts on this blog. I am on Facebook (where I have a page for my blog that you can find by searching for ReligionProf) and on Twitter (also as ReligionProf), as well as on LinkedIn and Instagram. I usually use Buffer to space out that sharing, so that it is not all happening just in concentrated… Read more

Queen, Progressive Rock, and Theology

January 11, 2019 By James F. McGrath

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I wanted to preface my review of the movie Bohemiah Rhapsody (which I posted yesterday) with some of the thoughts and interest I brought with me to the movie. But I soon saw that those would make much more sense in a separate post, and so I am including them here. I’ve begun working on a project about progressive rock and theology, and I was rather stunned when I read where Jerry Ewing, in his book Wonderous Stories “While no one would… Read more

Bohemian Rhapsody

January 10, 2019 By James F. McGrath

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I finally got to see the movie Bohemian Rhapsody this week, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, from even before the movie proper began, when the standard instrumentation on the 20th Century Fox fanfare was replaced with Queen style guitars playing the melody. The film teases where it will end – Live Aid – before rewinding to London in 1970, with Farrokh Bulsara (who will later go by Freddie Bulsara and then Freddie Mercury) working at Heathrow Airport. His family is a… Read more

ReligionProf Podcast with Ankur Gupta (Part 2): More on Robot Ethics

January 9, 2019 By James F. McGrath

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This week’s episode continues my most recent conversation with computer scientist Ankur Gupta. Ankur is surprisingly humble given some of the things that he has worked on. We have read Safiya Umoye Noble’s book Algorithms of Oppression, and have begun working on an article that interacts with it, and in the process I learned that he worked on the development of the very algorithm used in Google searches of the sort that is the focus of Noble’s book! I hope… Read more

Disarming Student Suspicions of Evolution

January 8, 2019 By James F. McGrath

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Rev. Dr. Charles Allen leads the wonderful progressive Christian campus ministry at Butler University known as Grace Unlimited. He has shared some of his own experience of being persuaded to adopt young-earth creationism, and then again to abandon it, in a manner that mirrors my own experience to a large extent. Here is an excerpt from what he wrote: Fortunately, my “evolution” out of that intolerant phase was not traumatic. Oddly enough, my creationist pastor played a bigger role than… Read more

Sound Pedagogy and Genre Bending Assignments

January 7, 2019 By James F. McGrath

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There have been a number of interesting blog posts and articles about pedagogy and biblical studies, with a number of very creative assignments and activities having been shared. Many of these have appeared over the past year or so through the website Ancient Jew Review, but a few are from elsewhere. Since the new semester is about to begin, it is about time I shared them! I think the one that first grabbed my attention and made me think I… Read more

We Three Spies of Parthia Are

January 6, 2019 By James F. McGrath

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I received a delightful email not long ago that has made me want to turn it into a short story, a piece of historical fiction rather than my usual sci-fi, so as to explore it. Alas, I didn’t manage to accomplish this by today (I had another story I was trying to get finished – that one most definitely is science fiction), and today would be the natural day to share it, being Epiphany, the day that celebrates the arrival… Read more

Doctor Who: The Power of Kroll

January 5, 2019 By James F. McGrath

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Before I dive into this episode from the Tom Baker era, let me draw attention to an article by a Butler University graduate, Emily Swan, who wrote about the most recent season of Doctor Who’s engagement with God and theology. Here’s a snippet: It seems natural that any show running as long as Doctor Who would need updates from time to time. And it seems natural that any show with a messianic figure like the Doctor would need amending as our cultural understandings… Read more

Liberal Arts at Starfleet Academy

January 4, 2019 By James F. McGrath

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Lately there has been an incredible amount of discussion about the liberal arts, liberal education, small majors, the humanities, and countless other aspects of education. I kept noting links to articles that I thought were worth sharing, but it took being reminded of the clip below from Star Trek: The Next Generation to prompt me into action. No less an authority than Capt. Picard himself speaks here about the value of being liberally educated! Michael Roth writes: [I]n a world… Read more

Doctor Who 2019 New Year’s Day Special: Resolution

January 3, 2019 By James F. McGrath

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This post contains spoilers – if you wish to avoid them, stop reading now! The title of the 2019 Doctor Who New Year’s Day Special, “Resolution,” is intentionally punny. It refers, of course, to the practice of making New Year’s resolutions, committing to changes in one’s life. But it also refers to resolution of plot tensions. In this case, both meanings converge on Ryan’s relationship with his father, who makes a guest appearance in the episode to resolve the longstanding… Read more