Bob MacDonald has posted the latest Biblical Studies Carnival. One of the things he includes is my post about the bloggers’ dinner at SBL and AAR this year. We have a proposed day and time, but still need a venue. Anyone know downtown Atlanta well enough to make some suggestions? The September carnival will be hosted by William Hart Brown. Read more
Michael Kruger has made a video which describes his own experience of having taken classes with Bart Ehrman, who he depicts as attacking Christianity. He complains that youth groups do not prepare student intellectually for their experience at university. That is true – but what Kruger seems to want is not intellectual and academic preparation, but inoculation that will prevent students from learning new things at university. He seems not to realize that it is the inaccurate depictions of the Bible, Christian history,... Read more
N. T. Wrong reminded me of this great quote from James Barr: In my opinion, it was a big mistake for many of the mainline religious organizations when they opposed the creationists by saying that the Bible should not be taken literally. This is not what the creationists do. It is, on the contrary, what the churches and other organisations should do: that is, to argue that, in this respect, the Bible’s figures should be taken literally, because it is when they are... Read more
On the day of Biblical interpretation, the fundamentalist sits on his glorious throne, and separates Bible passages before him, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And to those on his right, he says, “Come, things the Bible clearly says! For I was confident, and your fostered my arrogance; I was certain, and you gave me no reason to doubt; I hated others, and you assured me that God hated them too.” And the Bible said nothing in reply, because a book... Read more
I watched the movie Lucy a while back and meant to blog about it. Although it doesn’t have the kind of nuance and depth that Frank Herbert’s Dune novels have, the movie does have one thing in common with that series: the idea that a drug might be capable of unlocking humanity’s potential, allowing us to transcend not only our own physical and mental limitations, but even time and space, becoming in essence gods. It is interesting to reflect on the different... Read more
I really love this ancient Egypt version of the well-known boardroom suggestion meme! You need to know that meme, as well as the basics about Amenhotep IV, better known as the pharaoh Akhenaten. Historians and scholars have long wondered whether there was any influence from Akhenaten’s monotheism upon the emergence of ancient Israel’s. I’m not sure how to work an answer to that into the meme cartoon, however… Read more
Gamers have been fascinated by the lyrics to Baba Yetu, Christopher Tin’s award-winning music for the video game Civilization IV, for more than a decade. When the song was first released, there were attempts to transcribe and translate the lyrics, with some comical results – such as where someone thought the lyrics at one point were “simama mwehu” or “stand up, you insane person”! Now that the official lyrics and complete sheet music are available, the lyrics can be seen to... Read more
Via Unvirtuous Abbey on Facebook. I wonder whether the password is “MilkandHoney”… Read more
One of the disadvantages of not living in Australia is not being able to go to Rev. Avril Hannah-Jones’ church for their annual sci-fi and fantasy service. For a sense of the church’s outlook apart from their love of science fiction, take a look at this recent post from Avril’s blog. Read more
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