Mary Doria Russell mentioned on her blog that a 20th anniversary edition of her novel The Sparrow is planned. That novel, together with its sequel Children of God, are ones that I have mentioned here before on more than one occasion (including a podcast as well as movie plans that, for better or worse, seem to have come to naught). There are other science fiction novels that explore theological themes in fascinating ways, but when it comes to realistic characters that... Read more
Via Joel Watts on Facebook. Read more
The above words are how I summarized the gist of my recent post “Micah among the Baptists.” I thought perhaps they deserved a meme. If you agree, please share it! Read more
It seems that we may as well make a start to planning the dinner and get-together for scholarly bloggers at the AAR and SBL annual meeting in Atlanta in November. In the past we have referred to “bibliobloggers” in the title of the event, but I want to make a point of using more inclusive language, and inviting those who blog about any topic related to religion and who are members of either AAR or SBL. I’m thinking that Sunday evening... Read more
Having finished a study of 1 Corinthians, my Sunday school class proposed as its next topic to focus on the question of how works like Paul’s letters ended up as Scripture – what the process is, and also how it changes the way we read them. Someone said it reminded them of the Schoolhouse Rock treatment of “How a Bill Becomes a Law.” And so I made the image above. It would be interesting to give the entire process a cartoon treatment. This... Read more
A major error in the history of religion was rectified recently when Pastafarians released a photo, which provided evidence that religions were supposed to adhere to the Gregorian colander, not the Gregorian calendar… Read more
The theme of yesterday’s service at my church was Micah 6:6-8, well-known words as well as their immediate context. The immediate context is something typical of the 8th century prophets: a condemnation of those whose view of religion is that it means to practice injustice throughout the week, and then come seek forgiveness of the LORD through the offering of sacrifices, before starting the process over again. Here’s a question that doesn’t get asked often enough: If you believe that God... Read more
People are making “Straight Outta Compton” memes, and so I thought this blog should participate. I picked young-earth creationism as a subject for the memes not just because it is an easy target, but because of the terrible harm that young-earth creationism inflicts on Christianity, as well as on science education. Read more
Too often people accept concepts and ideas without ever taking the time to think through the implications. From Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. HT Jerry Coyne. Read more
I am grateful to IVP for sending me review copies of Michael Card’s most recent book, John: The Gospel of Wisdom, as well as his latest CD, John: A Misunderstood Messiah. Were it not for Michael Card and his music, my life would quite likely have been very different. I ended up studying theology because of a conversion experience in a conservative context, and that same context made me wonder whether studying multiple years made sense, given the imminence of... Read more
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