Christianity and Science Fiction Conference Schedule

October 7, 2021 By James F. McGrath

The website for the conference on Christianity and Science Fiction is back up and running, thankfully! Here are the details for blog readers, for your convenience: Christianity & Science Fiction: A Virtual Event (11-12 October, 2021) The Michigan Center for Early Christian Studies, in partnership with the Department of Middle East Studies (University of Michigan), is pleased to announce a four-day virtual conference that explores the symbiotic relationship between Christianity and science fiction. The meeting is chaired by James McGrath,... Read more

Exorcism Left and Right

October 6, 2021 By James F. McGrath

I enjoyed talking about the story of the Gerasene/Gadarene/Gergesene demoniac in my Sunday school class recently. I explained why I believe that story (at least in the version in the Gospel of Mark) to be political satire. A Roman legion of unclean spirits comes to the Messiah to try to exorcize him, and then when that attempt fails, begs him not to exorcize them from the country. Showing a map to convey the geographical aspect of the story can be... Read more

Moses the Musical Lawgiver

October 5, 2021 By James F. McGrath

I’ll save the big update related to my work on the Bible and music for a bit later in this post. But first, let me start with music. And before I can share music I must confess that I somehow missed that 2021 is the 50th anniversary of Jesus Christ Superstar even though I talked about the rock opera in my class there is a delightful article featuring extensive interview with New Testament scholar Mark Goodacre that digs into the detail.... Read more

If You Don’t Build It, Will They Come Anyway? From an Iowa Cornfield to the Judaean Wilderness

October 4, 2021 By James F. McGrath

I am not a sports fan and so I am not sure why my mind made a connection between John the Baptist and Field of Dreams. I saw on the news recently that they have a real baseball field in the middle of a cornfield on Iowa and (after an introduction by Kevin Costner) they played a classic game in classic uniform. It was well attended. The movie Field of Dreams features the famous line “if you build it, they... Read more

AI News

October 1, 2021 By James F. McGrath

A round up of recent technology news that intersects with my interests: There are calls for papers on source code criticism and fiction and technology Eric Schwitzgebel has an important piece on his blog about creating AIs and giving them or not giving them the rights of persons. Here is a taste: That’s the dilemma: If we create robots of disputable status — robots that might or might not be deserving of rights similar to our own — then we risk moral catastrophe... Read more

#CFP Arkham’s Souls

September 29, 2021 By James F. McGrath

Call for Chapter Proposals: Arkham’s Souls: A multidisciplinary Analysis of Batman’s Villains and Villainesses (Edited volume – De Gruyter Comicstudien) Why Study the Villains of Gotham? Batman needs no presentations. The World’s Greatest Detective, the Cape Crusader. He is the vengeance, he is the night, he is BATMAN! The shadow of the Bat had reached every popular culture corner – and even more. The academy – the so-called “high culture” – did not remain indifferent to the charm of the... Read more

What Jesus Learned from Women: More Reviews

September 27, 2021 By James F. McGrath

This post will be full of all kinds of links related to Jesus. Let me begin with a new review of What Jesus Learned from Women that appeared in The Banner, written by Dr. Mary Li Ma. I am so very grateful for this appreciative and encouraging review, and recommend it to anyone who still hasn’t read the book and is unsure whether they should. There is also another review of my book about Jesus and the women who made an impact on... Read more

Forgive Us Our Debts, Not Repay Our Debts

September 8, 2021 By James F. McGrath

Several points come together in this blog post, emerging from the journey of my Sunday school class through the Lord’s Prayer. The petition for forgiveness in this prayer that every Christian denomination utters stands at odds with how some individuals and groups understand the atonement and the significance of Jesus’ death. In short, if you think that forgiveness of sin is only available through the death of Jesus, then you must understand that line (“forgive us our sins/debts”) either as... Read more

Jesus Snorted Like a Horse

September 6, 2021 By James F. McGrath

In a book discussion about my book What Jesus Learned from Women Elizabeth Raine pointed out that, in a story about Jesus performing a miracle, it says that Jesus made a sound, and the Greek word literally means “snorted like a horse.” She also pointed out that the making of groaning or other theatrical noises of this sort is characteristic of the magical papyri and thus of ancient healers and exorcists more generally. This was perhaps the least expected topic to come... Read more

Was Jesus a Racist?

September 3, 2021 By James F. McGrath

There has been a flurry of discussion online about the story of the Syrophoenician woman. One great thing about lectionaries is that they not only lead to different churches focusing on the same texts, but different bloggers and other online authors as well. Ian Paul’s approach poses the question in what I think is ultimately an unhelpful way, asking “Did the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7 teach Jesus not to be racist?” Many people have struggled with and resisted (whether... Read more