I am in Montreal for the SNTS (Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, or if you prefer, Society for New Testament Studies) conference. I passed by the religion department and was spotted by a Facebook friend, Frederick Tappenden, who kindly showed me around the campus a little bit. The religion department’s building has a beautiful chapel on the second floor, with a number of universities represented in the stained glass (although alas not Durham). Read more
Phil Long posted the latest Biblical Studies Carnival on his blog. I’m traveling to Montreal today for this year’s SNTS conference, and if I can, I’ll blog about it while it is happening! Read more
I found this SMBC comic funny, even though its view of Paul’s proclamation is problematic. Paul didn’t even call his message or the movement it expressed “Christianity.” And he was adamant that the gospel he proclaimed was about grafting Gentiles into the tree whose roots were the ancestors of the Jews. Yet the programming analogy still has merit. Programs evolve, and the fact that Bill Gates did not foresee issues of compatibility that would arise between Windows 3.1 and Windows 8, they... Read more
I agreed to review the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible by today, and although the print copy still has not reached me, I was given access to the ebook of the notes which are available through the Olive Tree app. The volume is edited by John Walton and Craig Keener, and published by Zondervan, and is due out later this month (although it is already available for pre-order on Amazon). I found that the commentary was, on the whole, very useful, although not evenly... Read more
I’m not sure why it took me so long to realize that the so-called “pro life” stance is, for the most part, a con, a scam, a diabolical deception. Perhaps it was the recent discussion on many blogs about voting for the “lesser of two evils” that clued in my subconscious on some level. The claim is that, when one choice is a baby-murderer, you should always choose the alternative, no matter how bad they seem. And that might be true – but... Read more
The blog Pictoral Theology shared the above cartoon. The title of the post aptly made reference to Jesus’ words about commenting on the “mote” (or speck or splinter) in someone else’s eye, while having a beam or plank in one’s own. I am sorry to be missing Gen Con this year, which takes place this coming week. Cosplay is a fun component of the gaming convention. But I am always delighted when my course on religion and science fiction meets... Read more
The above video is a fun illustration of something that is well-known to musicians but which sometimes surprises others: music recycles the same notes, chords, and intervals constantly. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Music is, after all, a kind of language, and in language we are not for the most part inventing new words, but using words that we already know in new and interesting combinations. Sure, there is musical plagiarism. But it takes more than simply using the same notes. Can you... Read more
I went to see Star Trek Beyond yesterday, and enjoyed it. It seems as though with each new film, the rebooted franchise seems a closer and closer match to the original series. The performances by Karl Urban and Zachary Quinto as McCoy and Spock are especially authentic in this regard – and the references to the death of Ambassador Spock, and the photo he left behind of the crew as they were in his timeline (many years later from the perspective... Read more
The above image comes via a post on Jerry Coyne’s blog, “The Truth About Creationism vs. Evolutionism.” Would it be fair to say that the biggest reasons for the debates about evolution among Christians, and between religious fundamentalists of various stripes and everyone else, stem from people not understanding how either of the two books in the top part of comic came to be? Failing to understand how science works, and failing to recognize the equally human processes at work... Read more
Matthew Distefano crafted a parody of the Sermon on the Mount, reenvisaged as it might have gone if Donald Trump had delivered it. Click through to read it. There is no need for anyone to say “blessed are the successful” or “blessed are the rich” or “blessed are the powerful.” It is typically a given, an assumption, the sort of thing that doesn’t even need saying. What Jesus said, on the other hand, immediately raises questions. Who will feed those who hunger?... Read more
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