Making Christianity Easier

Last updated on: March 18, 2015 at 6:57 am By James F. McGrath

Benjamin Corey wrote a post that offers an explanation of the popularity of end-times Christianity: The end times version of Christianity that many of us grew up with has been immensely popular, not because it’s true, but because it’s easy. Prior to the invention of end times fanaticism, Christians were busy trying to change the world on a massive scale- changing broken social systems, uplifting the poor and oppressed, and addressing all sorts of other problems they referred to as “social... Read more

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Last updated on: March 17, 2015 at 2:06 pm By James F. McGrath

To celebrate the occasion, here’s Máire Brennan singing the ancient Irish hymn “Be Thou My Vision” in Irish. Read more

Survey Says: Not a Chance

Last updated on: March 17, 2015 at 11:51 am By James F. McGrath

ProgressiveChristianity.org shared data from a survey of 500 progressive Christians. I was particularly struck by how the most negative answer to the particular questions above were worded. “Is the Bible inerrant?” – “Not a chance.” Read more

Doctor Who: The Hand of Fear

Last updated on: March 17, 2015 at 8:50 am By James F. McGrath

The Doctor Who episode The Hand of Fear is probably best known as the episode in which the show says farewell to Sarah Jane Smith, one of the more popular companions of all time – revisiting in several later episodes, and becoming the subject of a TV movie, K9 and Company: A Girl’s Best Friend, and a spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures. But it also has some very interesting elements in its own right. We get a glimpse of... Read more

Biblical Geocentrism

Last updated on: March 17, 2015 at 7:01 am By James F. McGrath

The above photo appeared on Reddit. I was going to post it without much comment, but Lydia Allen wrote a post of related interest, trying to get past an unhelpful and inaccurate view of religion and science as always in conflict, based on a particularly simplistic view of the Galileo story. She writes: If we are going to criticize either scientists or religion for interfering with each other, we must, as much as possible, attempt to get the facts straight. Read more

Doctor Who: The Masque of Mandragora

Last updated on: March 16, 2015 at 9:18 am By James F. McGrath

There are a lot of nice elements in the Doctor Who episode The Masque of Mandragora. Towards the beginning, we get a tour of the TARDIS, including the secondary control room, which the Doctor then begins using – making for a redecoration of the longstanding control room set, which the show would later return to. But it introduced the idea of changing the decor of the control room, and a very large interior to the TARDIS, all of which have been ongoing features... Read more

A Hole-Shaped God

Last updated on: March 16, 2015 at 6:57 am By James F. McGrath

It’s not so much that we’ve got a God-shaped hole inside, it’s more that we’ve got a hole-shaped God. We made him to suit our own wishes, so of course he fits them like a hand in a glove, or rather a glove over hand. We’ve been duped about which one made the other. Neil Carter, in the post “Are Beliefs Too Big To Fail?” It seems to me that this is an insightful warning. But is there any way that... Read more

The Dark Ages

Last updated on: March 16, 2015 at 6:48 am By James F. McGrath

The above image was left by a commenter on my blog. It reflects a common trope about the “dark ages” which reflects not actual darkness, but modern lack of awareness about developments in science, philosophy, and universities in this period, often under the auspices of and with support from the Church. (Although I doubt it deserves the label one person has given it: “The most wrong thing on the internet ever.”) And even if it were correct about Christian dark... Read more

Eldad Keynan among the Tombs

Last updated on: March 15, 2015 at 12:11 pm By James F. McGrath

ASOR recently had an article highlighting the work of my friend Eldad Keynan, who has been surveying tombs in Israel, especially in the Galilee. Urban von Wahlde had an article in Bible History Daily about what kind of stone was most likely placed over the opening of the tomb in which Jesus was buried, according to the Gospels. Read more

LOST Rewatch: There’s No Place Like Home

Last updated on: March 15, 2015 at 9:03 am By James F. McGrath

The season 4 finale is in three parts, and its title alludes to the Wizard of Oz. Part 1 begins with a flash forward, of the Oceanic Six on a Coast Guard plane, being taken to a military facility near Honolulu. Their families are there to meet them, other than Kate’s and Sayid’s. At the press conference, we learn the story they are telling of surviving the crash and reaching an uninhabited island in Indonesia. After the press conference, we... Read more