Multiple posts came to my attention recently, all of which seek to respond to the conservative assumption that it is liberals who need to worry about being wrong in accepting gays and lesbians, as well as more generally. Cindy Brandt writes, To be honest, I am not certain this is the correct stance to take. Long ago, I repented of an idolatry to certainty. I gave up the need to be sure of anything, because I saw how I had wielded my certainty as a... Read more
There has been a significant amount of discussion online in recent days about the way key terms are translated in Genesis 19, what their connotations were when they were written, and how that should impact the way they are rendered into contemporary vernacular. Daniel McClellan made the above comic on the subject. See too the discussions on the blogs Remnant of Giants and BLT. Read more
William Ross has posted the latest Biblical Studies Carnival. Phil Long has details about upcoming carnivals, and your chance to host one. See also the month’s Hebrews Highlights, and Peter Kirby’s new biblioblog resource at ChristianOrigins.com. Read more
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act kicks into effect today in Indiana. This is the bill that brought Indiana national attention and made it the butt of a presidential joke. A “fix” amended to the legislation specified that it does not provide grounds or justification for discrimination. The most interesting thing, in my mind, is that the legislation was written with two things primarily in view: the Affordable Care Act and same-sex couples. Both of those matters have been the subject... Read more
“There is only one defense against the rising, worldwide, fear-filled fundamentalist tide engulfing all religions (including the intolerant religion of the New Atheists) which once engulfed me: the embrace of paradox and uncertainty as the virtuoso expression of love.” – Frank Schaeffer, Why I am an Atheist Who Believes in God: How to give love, create beauty and find peace, as quoted on his blog. I like the quote, and think that the language used deserves to be reflected on.... Read more
I am grateful to Baylor University Press for having sent me a complimentary copy of a book that I read prior to publication and provided a blurb for. The book is Science Fiction Theology: Beauty and the Transformation of the Sublime by Alan Gregory. Here is what I wrote, part of which became the blurb for the back of the book: Science fiction depicts the vast extent of space and time, the enormity of the worlds that can exist within... Read more
Until today, I had been very impressed with the breadth of Fuller Seminary. They have long managed to maintain a reputation for being Evangelical and yet seriously scholarly, in a way that meant allowing room for a genuine diversity of voices and the kind of creative exploration that is essential to genuine scholarship. I was particularly impressed by the presence of Daniel Kirk on the faculty, as I knew Daniel to be a person of serious faith who was not afraid... Read more
A couple of years ago, Fred Clark posted about the way playing Bible clobber verses resembles a card game. His point reminded me of the famous scene towards the end of the movie WarGames. And so I wrote, in a post entitled “How To Win At Bible”: The only winning move in the clobber verse Bible game is not to play. For even to play the game concedes the rules for Bible reading to be what fundamentalists claim it is: a distortion which... Read more
If those who are against same-sex marriages want to use the Bible to argue against such marriages, they will need to explain why they are taking only part of the biblical definition of marriage. And if they want to complain about the redefinition of marriage, they should focus on the redefinition that made marriage a temporary commitment. After all, opposite-sex divorces are much more common than same-sex marriages will ever be. This quote from Kevin A. Wilson was part of... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In
If The Princess Bride Were Remade Today
The image is from Jeff Carter. I try to make this blog an exception to the classic blunder mentioned in the updated movie dialogue. The image is funny because we can all relate to it. And so it is also sad. Serious, profound, deep discussion has taken place on the internet, and continues to do so. We may not be able to have all online discussion be great, or even tolerable – OK, we might not even be able to ensure that participants in all online... Read more