Mythicism is complete and utter nonsense, especially when it thinks that there is something profound in making a comparison between Jesus and Batman. (See my earlier post on clarifying Gospel genres for a confused mythicist.) But I must admit, the depiction of Bat-Church in the trailer above is pretty cool! Read more
For those who may not have seen it yet. IO9 as usual has a scene-by-scene breakdown of the details. Read more
Matthew Montonini shared a quote from C. F. D. Moule about history and faith. Here is a longer excerpt: Decision there must be if there is to be Christian faith. Faith is faith, and no amount of photography and tape-recording of events could compel it. To see is not necessarily to believe. But, on the other hand, neither is blind faith real faith. For belief it is necessary to see–at least something. The decision to accept Jesus as Lord cannot... Read more
This election has witnessed a lot of firsts. Most recent, as of my writing this, is that the Clergy Letter Project has endorsed a presidential candidate for the first time. You won’t be surprised that the candidate in question is Hillary Clinton. I gather than Donald Trump did not respond to their questionnaire, but Hillary Clinton did. Here’s a sample from her answers: Do you believe science is a threat to your faith? I had the great blessing to be raised by... Read more
Let me start this round-up of recent blogging about Christology with a quote from a blog post by Larry Hurtado: All early expressions of Christology have a “subordinationist” character, in that they portray Jesus as sent, empowered, vindicated, and glorified by God (“the Father”). They weren’t touched by the concerns and issues that arose in the 3rd century especially. But in the inventory of honorific categories to hand to them, early believers were unhesitating and remarkably free in ascribing to... Read more
Via Hemant Mehta. What other clickbait headlines can you come up with for Biblical stories? Read more
A friend mentioned on Facebook having seen a billboard with these words on it at Oregon Health and Science University. I couldn’t find a picture of that actual billboard online, and so I made a meme with the phrase. It is indeed a great one. “If you know the answer, ask bigger questions.” How might that be applied to religion? Read more
As I’ve been talking with my students about the problem of evil, and their papers on the topic, it struck me that there is a parallel between the educational experience that I’ve been subjecting them to, and the idea of greater good emerging out of first order evils that is discussed and rejected by J. L. Mackie in his classic essay, “Evil and Omnipotence.” What is my role as professor? I expose students to challenging readings and assignments, in the hope... Read more
Charles Haberl kindly provided these details in response to my question about a Mandaean-owned restaurant in San Antonio: The restaurant you’re looking for is (appropriately enough) called El Rio. It’s at 1361 S Main St #600, Boerne, TX 78006, United States. It’s a half hour drive from the Convention Center, and so I don’t know whether I’ll be able to get there during AAR/SBL. Jim Davila said he wanted an update, and so I hope he sees this! Read more
Recently we had what I thought was a really fantastic discussion in my Religion and Science Fiction class about whether we ought to allow a robot candidate for president. There are so many interesting ethical questions that intersect with this! Obviously it is related to the questions of personhood and rights that we discussed in the previous class period. If a machine can be a person but not be eligible to run for president, how would we justify this restriction... Read more
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