The Importance of Theology and Science Fiction

Last updated on: July 24, 2015 at 8:48 am By James F. McGrath

This round-up of posts began when W. David O. Taylor shared his syllabus for an independent study about theology and science fiction. My own thoughts are turning to this very intersection of subjects, as one of my sabbatical projects is a short volume on theology and sci-fi. Then, Russell McCutcheon blogged about the AAR draft statement on responsible research, and felt that it related directly to something in the last season of Doctor Who. And today, there was the terribly ignorant... Read more

Sacred Selfies

Last updated on: July 24, 2015 at 6:51 am By James F. McGrath

I learned that the last supper selfie I shared recently is by artist Gunduz Agayev, who has created other images of religious people taking selfies. The Akedah selfie below is the one that seemed most striking and disturbing to me. Click through to see the others. Read more

Belonging to God

Last updated on: July 23, 2015 at 8:51 am By James F. McGrath

“It is much easier to belong to a group than to belong to God. To belong to a group one usually has to be convinced the group is ‘right’; to belong to God, one always knows one is as wrong as everybody else.” – Fr. Richard Rohr, Job and the Mystery of Suffering: Spiritual Reflections Here is another quote from Rohr that is every bit as timely as when it appeared in his Daily Meditations back in 2013: In recent... Read more

Gravity: Only a Theory

Last updated on: July 23, 2015 at 6:21 am By James F. McGrath

Skeptic magazine published this comic about climate change, gravity, and what pseudoskeptics get wrong when they complain that something is “only a theory.” Since I recently had a troll on the blog claiming to be well-versed in science and yet not understanding what “theory” means in the natural sciences, I thought I ought to share it. Read more

Biblical Scholars Fighting Creationism

Last updated on: July 22, 2015 at 8:41 pm By James F. McGrath

Hector Avalos has a new article in The Bible and Interpretation about the need for Biblical scholars to be involved in fighting creationism. Here’s a sample: Scientists are not trained to recognize how creationists are distorting biblical texts. Thus, Jerry Coyne’s Faith v. Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible (2015) does an excellent job of explaining scientific theory and methods, but one will not find any discussion of how most creationists are misreading Genesis 1-3. Creationists in the pews tend to shrug off... Read more

Trexegesis

Last updated on: July 22, 2015 at 3:19 pm By James F. McGrath

I’ve had my attention drawn to the Anomaly podcast about hermeneutics and Star Trek. It emphasizes why “It was the 60s” is not a sufficient justification for things like sexism on Star Trek: The Original Series. Here’s a sample: I tend to think there’s also extra pressure on Star Trek because it has a reputation for being progressive. For the time it was made it, it often was. But not always. And it’s worth noting that, in Letters to Star Trek (compiled by Susan Sackett), you can... Read more

Right-Wing Trolling is Deliberate and Planned

Last updated on: July 22, 2015 at 8:19 am By James F. McGrath

A lot of online discussion is ruined by trolling. Recently, I had someone draw my attention to a disturbing right-wing website. They sent me there for the post, which they thought was actually funny. I for some reason cast aside everything I had learned about the internet and…looked at the comments. What I saw there shocked me, but in a usefully educational way. I was able to read comments by far-right-wingers about how they would go to liberal and atheist blogs and Facebook... Read more

The Fastest and Strongest of Sci-Fi Ships

Last updated on: July 22, 2015 at 6:31 am By James F. McGrath

Gizmodo shared this infographic of the fastest ships in reality, NASA planning, and science fiction. You can probably guess which is the fastest, but if not scroll down to see. There was also a discussion at Comic Con this year about which would win in a fight: the Millennium Falcon or the U.S.S. Enterprise. Read more

Octavia Butler and the Parables of Jesus

Last updated on: July 21, 2015 at 2:12 pm By James F. McGrath

David Gowler has been blogging through the reception history of the parables of Jesus. Recently he surveyed Octavia Butler’s science fiction stories named after the parables. Here are links to the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth posts in that series. There is also a call for papers for a conference in February 2016, celebrating Butler’s letters, life, and legacy. Read more

Editor Sought for Implicit Religion

Last updated on: July 21, 2015 at 10:58 am By James F. McGrath

I learned a few weeks ago of the passing of Edward Bailey, who pretty much single-handedly pioneered the academic study of “implicit religion.” He also established and edited the journal by the same name. I had been in touch with him in connection with an upcoming issue focused on Doctor Who, in which an article of mine will appear. It was originally going to appear in the 2014 issue dedicated to science fiction and implicit religion, but was moved when it was... Read more