LOST Rewatch: The Constant

Last updated on: March 8, 2015 at 9:18 am By James F. McGrath

This episode is one of my favorites, one of the episodes that made me, already impressed with LOST, think, wow, this is television at its finest, most emotionally powerful, most deep and symbolically rich and clever and interesting. Daniel Faraday had emphasized the importance of staying precisely on course. The helicopter which Frank is flying and which is also carrying Desmond and Sayid is confronting a large thunderstorm. Suddenly, Private Desmond Hume is back in the military for a moment,... Read more

I’m Saying it was Aliens

Last updated on: March 8, 2015 at 6:45 am By James F. McGrath

Makes the Trip Seem Quicker

Last updated on: March 7, 2015 at 1:57 pm By James F. McGrath

This cartoon from the New Yorker popped up on Facebook as I am sitting in Baltimore airport, waiting for my flight back to Indianapolis. And so it seemed timely as well as funny. But it is interesting to reflect on which religious and non-religious activities are just versions of the same thing, done for comparable reasons, as done by different individuals, groups, and communities. Blogging about a New Yorker cartoon may make the wait for my flight seem shorter… Read more

LOST Rewatch: Eggtown

Last updated on: March 7, 2015 at 9:10 am By James F. McGrath

This episode begins with Locke making breakfast and then bringing it to Ben, together with a book. He says he has already read it, but Locke says that he might catch something he missed when reading a second time. That is an interesting analogy to the need to watch LOST a second time. Ben tries to manipulate Locke, making him angry by suggesting that Locke is just as lost as he ever was, and clearly desperate if he is turning... Read more

The First Rule of Being God

Last updated on: March 7, 2015 at 6:53 am By James F. McGrath

I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to the depiction of powerful godlike beings on Star Trek. There is, on the one hand, a direct rejection on Star Trek of the appropriateness of any being demanding worship or treating less powerful beings as their playthings. Yet on the other hand, Gene Roddenberry said that he views humanity as part of God and becoming God. And so perhaps the two together suggest that any being that has achieved something like genuine divinity will not... Read more

CIC Information Fluency Workshop

Last updated on: March 6, 2015 at 11:17 am By James F. McGrath

I am currently in Baltimore with some colleagues, at a workshop focused on information fluency in the disciplines of religion, philosophy, and the history of ideas. It started yesterday, and has already offered a lot of fascinating perspectives from faculty and librarians, including practical examples and specific online tools that can be used for teaching and collaborative learning. The workshop is supported by the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the American Philosophical Association. If you... Read more

LOST Rewatch: The Economist

Last updated on: March 6, 2015 at 9:25 am By James F. McGrath

The episode opens with Sayid praying. In flashes forward, we see Sayid working as a hitman for someone we will later learn is Ben Linus. That is interesting, because in another scene in this episode, earlier on the island, Sayid says that the day he starts trusting Ben is the day he sells his soul. In another flash forward, Sayid arranges to meet a woman named Elsa, and has a relationship with her. He is trying to get to her... Read more

Get a Life

Last updated on: March 6, 2015 at 7:08 am By James F. McGrath

A friend shared this picture of a comment someone had written in an academic book. I am surprised I don’t get similar comments on some of my blog posts… Read more

Richard Carrier at SBL

Last updated on: March 5, 2015 at 10:38 am By James F. McGrath

Richard Carrier posted the following on his blog: The big news is that I’ve been asked by the Society of Biblical Literature (the largest academic society representing the field, of which I am a member) to present and defend the thesis of On the Historicity of Jesus at their Western Regional Conference at Azusa Pacific University next Monday (program here). Notably, Dennis McDonald’s fascinating Homeric emulation thesis will get the same treatment the morning of Monday March 9, and then... Read more

LOST Rewatch: Confirmed Dead

Last updated on: March 5, 2015 at 8:42 am By James F. McGrath

The episode stars with the salvage vessel Christiane I finding the remains of Oceanic 815 in the ocean. Daniel Faraday, a physicist, is watching and saddened by what he sees, although he isn’t sure why. Then in the present day we see him parachute onto the island. He tells Jack he is there to rescue them, but then admits that that is not their primary objective. Then they try to track down other people from his chopper. They find Miles.... Read more