From God of Evolution. Young-earth creationists regularly claim that accepting evolution is putting the words of human beings above the Word of God. That is precisely backwards, Biblically speaking as well as logically. Young-earth creationists claim to believe that God is the Creator, and so rejecting the testimony of the work of God’s hands is rejecting God’s own testimony. And what they appeal to instead of the work of God’s own hands are – you guessed it – human writings. The... Read more
From the Doctor Who and History blog: CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS: DOCTOR WHO AND HISTORY Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2015 (contributors will be notified within two weeks of the deadline) When Sydney Newman created a new family-orientated show for the BBC back in early 1963, he envisioned it as being, in John Reith’s terms, to “educate, inform and entertain”, one in which all stories “were to be based on scientific and historical facts as we knew them at that time”. It... Read more
The above video is of a discussion that took place at Harvard Divinity School, on the topic of peacemaking and non-violent conflict resolution in Israel and Palestine. Read more
I recently heard from an old friend who had attended the same church as me when I was a teenager. As this was someone towards whom I had at one point been a self-righteous, arrogant, judgmental know-it-all, I offered a long-overdue apology. They very graciously accepted it, saying that they too had once been “obnoxious for the Lord.” I love that phrase. I think it should become a standard way of referring to what is an all-too-common kind of behavior. At present, it seems to... Read more
My son decided to show how much better he is at making a movie trailer than I am, and so made his own video about my Israel trip(s), using the same collection of footage from my 2012 trip as I used for my own trailer. Read more
Via the Hugoye list: The Harvard Library seeks applicants for a two-year Post Doc Fellowship to develop a prototype for a Digital Library of the Eastern Mediterranean (DLEM). The project focuses on creating a digital archive drawing on materials in international repositories in Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe. Although the DLEM is envisaged to expand coverage to include broad themes relating to economics, history, geography, environment, and culture, it will concentrate initially on... Read more
Andrew Perriman blogged about the interaction between myself and Michael Bird about the penal substitution theory of the atonement. His reckoning suggests that the biggest difference between conservatives and liberals/progressives might be the willingness of the latter to make puns and other jokes about “penile substitution.” He may or may not be right. But in order to provide more data on the basis of which to determine whether Andrew is right, rather than write more on the subject, here are... Read more
This cartoon should serve as a helpful reminder to fundamentalists. You must make sure to use the right implausible answer to the specific question asked. Otherwise, theological and ethical confusion might result (in other words, the problems with your worldview might be exposed to your conversation partner and, worse still, to you). Read more
I am planning to lead another trip to Israel and the West Bank in the summer of 2016, lasting about 9 days and departing in late May or early June. My son helped me make a movie trailer for the trip with iMovie, using footage taken by Johnny Traylor on the 2012 trip I led. I am looking into the possibility that this trip might be open to alumni and other members of the public, and so if you are interested in participating,... Read more
I paid a visit to Amazon.com today to see if I could find a particular piece of sheet music. I didn’t find it, but on the front page was an announcement that Amazon Echo is available to the general public. I had not really paid attention to the news about this before. But when they quoted CNET as saying “The Echo may be the closest thing we’ll have to a Star Trek computer at home” it got my attention. The video... Read more
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