The episode begins with the Oceanic Six discussing whether to lie about what happened to them, to protect the people they left behind. Hurley doesn’t want them to lie, but the others persuade him. Hurley tells Sayid that he’s going to remember that he didn’t back him up, and sometime in the future when he needs help, he won’t get it. In the present day, however, he is doing just that. Hurley sees Ana-Lucia, who asks him “What if I... Read more
There have been a couple of blog posts over recent months about the book A Canticle for Leibowitz, a famous example of science fiction exploring religious themes. IO9 recommended a piece in the New Yorker which fills in the context against which the book was written. And Speculative Faith shared a review of the book by Michelle Wood. Of related interest, a Florida minister has expressed an interest in converting robots to Christianity. I hope someone recommends to him my chapter... Read more
OK, so I found this cartoon funny, even before I learned that it was based on a real life occurrence, which I think makes it even funnier. The cartoon is by Tracey Moody and came to my attention via Hemant Mehta. I’ve avoided reading Bill O’Reilly’s book Killing Jesus up until now. Should I watch the TV show based on it when it appears on National Geographic? Read more
From Bible Study and the Christian Life Read more
The fifth season begins wonderfully, with us witnessing Dr. Marvin Candle filming the orientation video for the Arrow station. He is interrupted because something has happened at the Orchid. As they were drilling, their drill melted. Candle talks about the energy there and time travel. Daniel Faraday is there! Three years earlier, the island moves. Dan compares the island to a record that is skipping, and that whatever Ben did at the Orchid dislodged them in time. Locke, elsewhere, sees... Read more
In the video above, Henry Neufeld asks a question which was also discussed here on this blog recently: is panentheism atheism? Hemant Mehta also discussed a book by Nancy Abrams, about a God that atheists might be able to embrace. The book is called A God That Could Be Real: Spirituality, Science, and the Future of Our Planet. See also the discussion on that same blog of how human religion tends to think of God as akin to the alpha male... Read more
Another amusing Venn Diagram, courtesy of TheologyGrams. Read more
Patheos has partnered with BioLogos to offer a number of videos on topics related to religion and science. Here is one example, about the ways those people who promote pseudoscience in the name of protecting children actually set them up to lose their faith when they discover they’ve been lied to: When I was up in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, I had dinner with a group of scholars most of whom were from Europe, and they expressed significant... Read more
The Talons of Weng-Chiang is an episode that one could discuss from many perspectives – including an examination of whether it mainly reflects, or at times challenges, racist stereotypes about the Chinese. The choice of a British actor not of Chinese descent to play the main Chinese character is certainly an odd one. And does the presence of slurs represent prejudice or merely an attempt to be historically authentic to its Victorian setting? The Doctor refers to the criminal gang... Read more
Jonathan Bernier raised some interesting problems with suggestions that are often made regarding why Luke ended Acts where he did. The open ending doesn’t really work well as a defense of Paul’s innocence, if the work was written after Paul’s death. That does not, however, mean that we must embrace as the only alternative dating Acts to soon after its final scene. There is a good option available to those who think evidence points to Luke being late: that the author intended to write... Read more
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