From Reverend Fun. Read more
From Reverend Fun. Read more
Here is a larger excerpt from the blog post from which the quote comes: Here’s a common issue that comes up in classes, when I am out speaking, or when I get emails and comments on blog posts I write: Pete, you’re talking about all these historical problems, tensions, contradictions in the Bible–basically the messiness of the Bible. So how can we now trust the Bible? I mean, how can such a messed up book be our faithful standard and authoritative guide for faith and life? Here... Read more
I was planning to share the meme above, contrasting Han Solo’s statements about the Force and related matters in “A New Hope” and in “The Force Awakens.” But then I saw the humorous version below, and knew it was best to share them both together. Do feel free, however, to talk seriously about the shift from confident skepticism to chastened believer, if you think that’s what we see in Han over the course of the films. And if you scrolled... Read more
Existential Comics has a new offering set in the Star Wars universe. Above are just a couple of panels, excerpted to whet your appetite. Click through to see the rest of it, and discover what you can learn from Master Spinoda… Read more
The quote comes from a recent post about ignorance, education, and faith on Cindy Brandt’s blog. Read more
The new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is intriguing, although I confess that it hasn’t really made me more excited about the movie that will be in cinemas in December. It took a while until the music or the action in the trailer started to really connect with me – although when it did so, it was wonderful. Perhaps that was the point – to drop us into a world that we think ought to be familiar, and... Read more
April DeConick shared the news on her blog that E. J. Brill is launching a new academic journal dedicated to the study of Gnosticism. Here is what the Brill website has to say about the journal: Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies is a peer-reviewed publication devoted to the study of Gnostic religious currents from the ancient world to the modern, where ‘Gnostic’ is broadly conceived as a reference to special direct knowledge of the divine, which either transcends or transgresses conventional... Read more
I was very struck by Allan Bevere’s recent post, “God is not an absentee landlord,” because that very image of God appears in one of Jesus’ parables, assuming the historic understanding of that parable is correct. Absentee landlords have been hated by ordinary people down the ages. I’ve long wanted to do a study of the negative images of God and the kingdom of God in parables attributed to Jesus in the Gospels – the absentee landlord, the unjust judge, the man who... Read more
It seems that I have reached the point in my life where I am doing scholarship even in my sleep. A few nights ago I had a dream in which I was looking into the possibility that “God’s government” would be a good way to translate the New Testament phrase “the kingdom of God.” I was working through the parables, noticing many where the first impression one gets is that the rendering simply doesn’t fit, and then discovering that on... Read more
Ron Huggins asked an interesting question in an interesting way recently. Some view Galatians as the oldest piece of Christian literature we have. And at the very beginning of that letter, Paul contrasts human authorities with God and Jesus. And so, he asks, is this – arguably the oldest Christological statement in the New Testament – also the highest – i.e. one that makes a contrast between humans and divine beings, and places Jesus on the divine side of things.... Read more
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