Today I will appear on my local public radio station, WFYI, 90.1 FM if you are in the Indianapolis or central Indiana area. I will be on the program All IN which begins at 1 pm. If you are not in Indiana never fear, you can tune in online. Whether listening online or on the radio, you will have a chance to submit questions if you would like to. Lest any of you think that, if you are not in... Read more
It has been a while since I’ve written about the intersection of technology and religion. Although I have a lot of other interests that I have been focusing on, this has not ceased to be an ongoing interest of mine, and it is one that I will continue to return to. In the meantime, here are some things I’ve come across or had drawn to my attention elsewhere, not only about AI and religion but also technology and education and... Read more
Therefore, since it is loyalty that sets us in a right relationship with God, our allegiance marks an end to hostilities. Through our Lord and King Jesus we have been granted mercy and undeserved forgiveness. We take our stand in this, even daring to boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. Not only that, we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering teaches us perseverance, which develops character, which fosters hope. Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been... Read more
I have been wondering for a while what to blog about for Palm Sunday. It is one of those events that is far more complicated when considered historically than most would realize who celebrate it. Jesus’ triumphal entry (as it is called) has people shouting “Hosanna.” The cry for salvation features in Psalm 118, known as one of the Hallel Psalms. It was used at major festivals including but not limited to Passover. The waving of palm branches, on the... Read more
I promised to return to the lyrics of the parody song “Fifty Ways to Forge a Gospel” I wrote several years ago and explain all the references in it. Here is that post. The annotated lyrics follow, with my comments in square brackets. The names, as in the original song are mostly chosen by rhyme. But each line has an allusion to an actual canonical or extracanonical work that could be considered a “forgery” in one of the many senses of... Read more
It makes for natural sermon fodder but is very puzzling as part of the narrative of Gospels. How does one make sense of the several stories in the New Testament Gospels, in both Luke and John, in which Jesus is not recognized? It is great preaching material: Just ask how often we fail to recognize Jesus, in those whose humanity we fail to recognize, in the poor and marginalized, in the breaking of bread and fellowship. But that kind of... Read more
Andy Cassler is continuing his blogging through my book, having added a second post about the introduction. Knowing Andy’s views, I was expecting him to approach the book with significant reservations and to not be persuaded by many things I wrote. Nonetheless I am somewhat disappointed that he leads this blog post by focusing on what I don’t mention rather than what I do. He points out that those to whom Jesus asked questions when learning in the Temple were... Read more
I hope that Macey Dickerson’s fantastic artwork for my book What Jesus Learned from Women will get attention in the media at some point in its own right. When I spoke to Butler alumni about the book recently and shared the story, the response was immediate that it is a story that needs and deserves to be told. The initial question was actually whether the story is told in the book itself. The answer is no, as cover artwork only becomes a... Read more
Here is the poster for a talk I will be giving in April: Yes, that is the Red Angel from Star Trek: Discovery as depicted in the stained glass window of a church that was whisked away from Earth during World War III. In addition to so much science fiction in writing, longstanding television shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who as well as recent additions to the genre such as The Expanse and Devs engage not just with Christianity... Read more
A friend and colleague shared this vision from 1997 of what education would be like in 2021, noting how accurate it is (with the exception of the flying cars that everyone assumed we’d have by now, even though earthbound drivers still aren’t using turn signals and obeying the rules of the road consistently which means letting them wreak havoc in the air would be catastrophic). I reshared it on Facebook (after due fact-checking of course) and immediately heard from friends... Read more
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