Daniel Gullotta on the Obscure but Historical Jesus

Last updated on: August 24, 2015 at 9:30 pm By James F. McGrath

Daniel Gullotta has been busy online defending the historicity of Jesus against internet pseudoskeptics who don’t understand how historical studies works, and so draw problematic conclusions. In a recent blog post he explained why it is unsurprising that Jesus doesn’t get mentioned by his contemporaries. And then he engaged David Fitzgerald in a debate on the Miami Valley Skeptics podcast. Be sure to see his blog post about the debate as well, where he clarifies some things which, in the process... Read more

The Blogroll is Still a Thing (But Should It Be?)

Last updated on: August 24, 2015 at 11:18 am By James F. McGrath

Fred Clark recently mentioned the blogroll as an antiquated artifact from the past. I wonder whether he is right. But first, are you aware that this blog has a blogroll? It is on a separate page, rather than in a sidebar. And while I’ve continued to add to it, I rarely remove anything. And so I am not sure how many of the blogs on the list are still active. I also maintain a list of useful sites. Are such things... Read more

Talking Back to the Bible

Last updated on: August 24, 2015 at 6:26 am By James F. McGrath

For the inerrantist, it is all supposedly about getting “back to the Bible,” and there have been numerous fundamentalist pamphlets, books, and sermons with that title. Once we escape the grip of inerrantism, we can instead talk back to the Bible. As I wrote in response to a Facebook comment on a recent post, instead of feeling that we are merely passive listeners to a communication from God, with our only responsiblity being to understand God correctly, we become active... Read more

Straight Outta Gallifrey

Last updated on: August 23, 2015 at 8:00 pm By James F. McGrath

Another Straight Outta Compton meme, this one for Whovians. This comes courtesy of Innerd Space on Facebook, who also shared this: Read more

The Effect of Biblical Inerrancy

Last updated on: August 23, 2015 at 6:12 am By James F. McGrath

A quote from a recent post of mine, turned into a meme. There it was a question – here it is a statement. Read more

James Dunn Still Believes

Last updated on: August 22, 2015 at 3:09 pm By James F. McGrath

Ken Schenck has been blogging through the book I (Still) Believe: Leading Bible Scholars Share Their Stories of Faith and Scholarship, about the personal faith journeys of academics in the field of Biblical studies. Since Ken has reached the chapter by our doctoral supervisor, James D. G. Dunn, I thought I would now draw attention to the series. He has also blogged about the chapters by Walter Bruggemann, Richard Bauckham, Ellen Davis, and Gordon Fee. I’m planning to read the book, but... Read more

Do the Fundamentalist Rocks Cry Out?

Last updated on: August 22, 2015 at 6:32 am By James F. McGrath

Fundamentalists say that the Bible must be trustworthy in everything it says – about nature, science, history, or any other topic – or else it isn’t trustworthy in what it says about God. Let’s see what happens if we apply the same logic to the natural world. The Bible says that the created things give reliable testimony to their Creator. In Romans 1:20, we read, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly... Read more

Revelation by the Numbers

Last updated on: August 21, 2015 at 6:08 am By James F. McGrath

Ian Paul shared this chart a while back, suggesting that it provides evidence for the unity of Revelation. I’m not so sure – I’m not entirely persuaded by redactional proposals, but I definitely see why such solutions to the puzzles of Revelation appeal to some. What do readers of this blog think? Is the Book of Revelation a unity, or can we detect multiple hands involved in its composition and editing? Read more

Doctor Who meets David Hume

Last updated on: August 20, 2015 at 8:24 am By James F. McGrath

This delightful video explains David Hume’s view of miracles and why you shouldn’t believe in them, using illustrations from Doctor Who. Fantastic! Of course, as I have pointed out before, this is precisely the point at which Doctor Who sends mixed messages. It regularly expresses disdain for superstition and belief in the supernatural, and yet depicts precisely the same things supposedly happening as a result of wibbly-wobbly reversals of the neutron flow. When you watch the video, it is definitely... Read more

Consequences of Making the Bible Holy

Last updated on: August 20, 2015 at 6:34 am By James F. McGrath

By treating the Bible as the place to find all of the answers, we have taken away its power to lead us to ask deeper questions. By using the Bible as a weapon, we have weakened its ability to heal. By making the Bible holy, we have stripped away what makes it sacred. Words from a post by Alise on the blog Knitting Soul. Read more