I was really struck by the juxtaposition of two signs on the site of the Church of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the Peacemakers” is one of the beatitudes. Most of the people who visit the site are Christian pilgrims. Isn’t it jarring – even to gun-loving American Christians – that visitors to the site need to be told not to bring weapons that are antithetical to peacemaking to the site? I heard a sermon recently which emphasized the difference... Read more
From Jacob Wright on Facebook comes this nice piece, imagining what a modern fundamentalist might be expected to say, if Paul said the kinds of things that he said in his time today: “APOSTLE PAUL EXPOSED!” A fundamentalist response to Paul’s preaching to the Athenians in Acts 17: In Acts 17, Paul is invited before the leading philosophical thinkers of the day to present the gospel to them. Keep in mind they are all idol worshipping pagans. Paul starts off... Read more
Via the NASSCAL blog, this exciting announcement: The North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL) is pleased to announce Studies in Christian Apocrypha, a book series produced in collaboration with Polebridge Press. Christian Apocrypha is a term encompassing Christian texts—such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Acts of John, and the Apocalypse of Peter—that are not included among, but nevertheless bear some relation (in form, content or otherwise) to the texts of the New Testament. Apocrypha have been part of the... Read more
This Bizarro cartoon gets at one of the problems with the idea that Adam and Eve were created instantaneously as adults, or even as grown children. For that to have happened, the things that humans normally learn growing up would have had to have been pre-programmed into them. And that creates issues, perhaps especially for those who think that humans were created with free will, and that that is important. If you want to create intelligent sentient beings while avoiding this... Read more
Here is a photo of me next to a replica of the Pilate Stone, in the place where the inscription was found, Caesarea. Sites like this are also important for the way they give a different picture of Herod the Great that is crucial for those whose impression of him is shaped wholly by his role in the infancy story in Matthew’s Gospel. Of related interest, see Brian Renshaw’s blog for the latest Biblical Studies Carnival! Read more
Here are a couple of interviews about Star Trek that were shared recently by the Sci Phi Journal. Click through for more! Read more
Almost everyone made it to Israel and one last straggler will be here soon. We visited Joppa before going to our hotel in Tel Aviv. Joppa is known to many from Jonah and Acts in the Bible, and/or from the story of Andromeda in Greek myth. Read more
I often like Non Sequitur comics very much. But this one is simply wrong. There certainly have been individuals who have stood in the way of scientists, motivated by their narrow religious beliefs. But to suggest that that is typical either historically or in the present day flies in the face of the evidence. There are plenty of young-earth creationists around my university’s campus, but my colleagues in the natural sciences and their students do their work unhindered. And looking... Read more
I am departing for a short-term study abroad experience in Israel and the West Bank that I am leading, for students at Butler University and Christian Theological Seminary. There are blog posts scheduled all through the trip and so even if there are problems with getting access to wi-fi, things should still feel pretty normal around here. But if things go as planned, there will be posts of photos from the trip here regularly too! Read more
This is one of several great quotes from John Pavlovitz’s recent blog post, “Why this Christian doesn’t need a perfect Bible.” The key reason is that it is idolatry, it attributes to the work of human hands an attribute that belongs to God alone. Click through to read the rest. Read more
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