I asked students whether Peter (as in the apostle) was married. Some decided to Google it. What they discovered is that most people who start their inquiry with “Was Peter” are not interested in the apostle and whether he was married. Here are the autocomplete suggestions: On the question of whether Peter was married, Google offered a response from GotQuestions.org that wasn’t half bad. Read more
Leonard Nimoy has passed away, at age 83. Tributes are appearing far and wide. The character of Spock on Star Trek is obviously his most famous role, and the commitment to logic without emotion, and yet the forging of friendship and self-sacrifice, coupled with the ideology of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, offered a worldview that, although fictional and alien, inspired many human beings. Here is a video in which Nimoy talks about the Jewish roots of the famous Vulcan salute. Read more
The above graphic came to my attention on Facebook. I appreciate attempts to introduce nuance into discussions of beliefs and views. The above does better than the “Dawkins Scale.” But the color coding doesn’t seem like it is going to be useful. Can you imagine the conversations? “You’re indigo on the existence of God? As an olive drab, I simply can’t understand how you can think that way! But at least you aren’t one of those oranges…” And why are... Read more
Via Episcopal Church Memes on Facebook. Read more
I had seen a lot of discussion online about the Gospel of Jesus' Wife. But I think this may be the only discussion of its resemblance to breakfast cereal! Read more
The quote comes from a video by Hip-Hop radio show host Jay Smooth, which was quoted by Fred Clark and in turn by Steve Thorngate, both of whom noted the similarities with the thought of Reinhold Niebuhr. The video can be watched below (the quote comes from around the 2 minute mark). Here is a bit of the larger context of the quote to whet your appetite. That mindset right there is what does as much as anything to perpetuate... Read more
Dale Tuggy posted not that long ago on the late Marcus Borg’s view of God, declaring it essentially a form of atheism. This is a very old accusation. Mystics in the Islamic tradition were accused of pantheism, which Richard Dawkins famously declared to be nothing more than “sexed-up atheism.” Hume depicts the mystical theist Philo as being accused of atheism in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. It is interesting that, when thinkers increase the degree to which God is thought... Read more
This is a friendly reminder that the SBL call for papers for the November annual meeting closes Wednesday, March 4th. Here is the call for papers for the Blogger and Online Publication Section: The Blogger and Online Publication Section has focused most of its attention in recent years on the blogging side of its name. And thus discussions related to online publication – such as the challenges of preserving digital materials, and the ways in which online publications are appreciated,... Read more
Here’s the Call for Papers for the Traditions of Eastern Late Antiquity AAR sessions for the 2015 Annual Meeting. For the AAR meeting in Atlanta, November 2015, we are planning the following sessions: 1) A panel will review Shai Secunda’s new book, The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in its Sasanian Context (U Penn, 2014). The panelists will be pre-chosen and invited to participate by the steering committee. Shai Secunda will serve as respondent. 2) Our second session will be an... Read more
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