Science Denial Mad Libs

Last updated on: December 3, 2014 at 7:32 am By James F. McGrath

Also note how well this works: The scholarly consensus regarding the historical Jesus leaves something to be desired. If Jesus is historical, then why are the details of his life absent from Paul’s letters? Besides, Richard Carrier, Robert Price, and others have challenged the views of scholars like Mark Goodacre and James Dunn, proving that the historicity of Jesus is far from a settled matter. Wake up! Big Tobacco did their own research, and so why should we trust anything from New... Read more

Jesus to Appear in Star Wars Episode VII

Last updated on: December 2, 2014 at 9:02 pm By James F. McGrath

The picture above came to my attention today. It is the most recent in a series of Jedi Jesus images, some of which I’ve shared here before. There is no need to read Christianity into a cross-shaped sword, given that that shape has a long established history apart from Christianity. More appropriate discussion has focused on whether the crossguard on the lightsaber in the new trailer makes good defensive sense – even Stephen Colbert has chimed in on that one!... Read more

Pop Music Nativity

Last updated on: December 2, 2014 at 6:49 pm By James F. McGrath

HT Hemant Mehta Read more

Christmas Gifts

Last updated on: December 2, 2014 at 3:01 pm By James F. McGrath

I think that the two things I’d really like for Christmas this year are a Tom Baker Doctor Who scarf, and Anne Akiko Meyer’s CD American Masters, which has a couple of pieces on it I know and love already as well as one that I heard part of on the radio for the first time recently, Mason Bates’ violin concerto, and which I really want the chance to hear in its entirety. But I’d settle for a Doctor Who... Read more

Spending the Night with Jesus

Last updated on: December 2, 2014 at 10:05 am By James F. McGrath

One objection to the antiquity of the Secret Gospel of Mark is that it uses the phrase “to spend the night with” (εμεινε συν αυτω την νυκτα εκεινην), which has sexual connotations in our time, but was not so used in antiquity. It should be obvious that this is a circular argument. If the phrase had no connotations of sexual intimacy in ancient times, that would be a good reason to think that sex is being read into Secret Mark, rather than intentionally... Read more

Literalists Have a Choice

Last updated on: December 2, 2014 at 7:24 am By James F. McGrath

If the biblical account of creation is literally true, then the creator is maliciously lying in the great book of nature, which plainly says otherwise. If it is not literally true, then literalists are in error in their hermeneutics. So literalists have a choice; admit their hermeneutics are mistaken, or call God a malicious liar. — Paul Braterman Read more

Biblical Studies Carnival November 2014

Last updated on: December 1, 2014 at 10:37 pm By James F. McGrath

Jim West has this month’s Biblical Studies Carnival – in Twitter form. Brian Small has the Hebrews Highlights for this past month. Read more

Assessing the Lost Gospel

Last updated on: December 1, 2014 at 12:16 pm By James F. McGrath

Mark Goodacre has been sharing Richard Bauckham’s response to the claims made in the book The Lost Gospel in installments. Here are links to the posts in question: Part 1: The Chronicle of Pseudo-Zachariah Rhetor – Content and Context Part 2: Misinterpreting Ephrem Part 3: Misreading Joseph and Aseneth Part 4: Responding to Simcha’s Responses We had an interesting discussion in the Blogger session at SBL this year about this phenomenon, of scholars posting pdfs on blogs even when they do not... Read more

Ken Ham, Whovian

Last updated on: December 1, 2014 at 9:39 am By James F. McGrath

I learned previously that Ken Ham is a Doctor Who fan. But a photo in a recent article on RawStory made it clear that he is a die-hard Whovian. I find it distressing enough that he is associated with my faith tradition as a Christian. But that he is a Whovian as well seemed too much to bear. But then I realized that this is a good thing. It is a reminder that Ken Ham, whatever the harm he does to Christianity... Read more

Explaining the Fossil Evidence from a YEC Perspective

Last updated on: December 1, 2014 at 7:04 am By James F. McGrath

Via Michael Roberts Read more