I think that the Adobe Spark Video app is going to be a perfect tool for students to use on my upcoming trip to Israel and the West Bank, to comment on photos as they go and essentially work on their final project for the trip on the go, as they create presentations which they may later adapt, edit, and recycle in their live or recorded final presentations. It is also a great way to share content from the trip... Read more
Mark Sandlin shared a prayer and I immediately wanted to pass it on to readers here: Good and gracious God, We love you. But, the you we love is the you we have created. We love discovering that you are much like us – after all we are created in your image, right? We love those moments when when a piece of scripture confirms the things we long suspected and gives us divine permission to hold on to biases, judgement... Read more
Via Joel Watts on Facebook, I learned of the passing away of Kenneth Bailey. Bailey grew up in the Middle East and then taught New Testament there, and learned a great deal from his students, insights which he shared with others in his writing and speaking. His work on the parables in Luke, as well as the Lukan infancy narrative, were particularly influential on me. His insights will be missed. See my review of one of his books, my post on his... Read more
This meme was drawn to my attention in a comment on an earlier post. It focuses too broadly on atheists in general, and it is simply incorrect about what the coins say. But its main point retains some validity nevertheless. While it may be appropriate to withhold judgment about a matter if the evidence seems insufficient, the attempt to argue that because someone is only mentioned in the New Testament, therefore they are not historical, simply does not work. History... Read more
The latest Existential Comics has a very entertaining exploration of what it might be like if Descartes and Spinoza were roommates… Read more
Pete Enns shared a quote from James Sanders, which he then paraphrases in this way later in the post: Put the Bible in its place and then you will see its deep religious value. If you treat the Bible as a rulebook dropped out of heaven, you will miss the purpose for which the Bible was written in the first place. The title of his post highlights the irony. Bibliolatry commits the sin that is ranked as the worst and given... Read more
I was asked the following on Facebook, and thought I would share it today: Hey, I have a question from those of us who have to preach on Trinity Sunday. What about the Trinitarian formula in Matthew 28? Original, later addition? Here is my response: I don’t think it is a later addition, although the manuscript evidence is less than clear. But at any rate, the formula seems to reflect a very early creedal practice associated with baptism which is... Read more
Short movies not made by major studios are becoming more and more impressive. What do you think of this? It is particularly interesting now that there is Batman vs. Superman (which I have yet to see). Read more
In case you haven’t seen the new trailer for Star Trek Beyond. Read more
On Cindy Brandt's Unfundamentalist Parenting blog, there is a great guest post by John Stonecypher describing the challenges that confront those who were brought up to view the Bible as one thing, only to discover it is something else. Loving Star Wars, and passing on that love with all its complexity, helped provide a useful analogy. Here's an excerpt: Here’s the thing: Star Wars is no more consistent nor moral than the Bible. Did Han shoot first or didn’t he?... Read more
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