Someone commented on a post I shared on Facebook, “The Bible gives clear evidence of the dates [of the flood] in Genesis 5 and 11.” Murray Hogg offered the following reply, which I thought was worth sharing as a post on my blog, and so I am doing so with his permission: Yep. It sets the date of Noah’s flood to about 2300 BC <http://creation.com/the-date-of-noahs-flood>. Problem is, this is a period of history about which we know a fair deal,... Read more
Defining Christianity is challenging, despite what you will sometimes hear from conservative Christians as well as some atheists. Does one have to view Jesus as God? Accept the Trinity? Accept a particular view of the significance of Jesus’ death? The early Christians disagreed on all of these things and more, and it is unclear to what extent various “essentials” of Christianity can actually be traced back to Jesus himself, which is ironic, since many would say that Jesus and/or his teaching are in fact... Read more
Someone asked me today if I am the same James McGrath that appeared in a podcast in 2010 of “Conversations from the Pale Blue Dot.” The answer is yes, and so I thought I’d share the podcast here. You can also download it from the Internet Archive. Read more
Tim Wright shared the image above. While it can be viewed as “using” a commodity to attract people to attend, and some churches do that, it can also exemplify Christians sharing what they have, which is not a bad thing. Read more
GENESIS God: All right, you two, don't do the one thing. Other than that, have fun. Adam & Eve: Okay. Satan: You should do the thing. Adam & Eve: Okay. God: What happened!? Adam & Eve: We did the thing. God: Guys THE REST OF THE OLD TESTAMENT God: You are my people, and you should not do the things. People: We won't do the things. God: Good. People: We did the things. God: Guys THE GOSPELS Jesus: I am... Read more
I received this e-mail a while back: Professor McGrath, I apologize for approaching you directly with my question: I realize that it’s like asking a doctor for free medical advice. Unfortunately I don’t know where to turn, in the bewildering sea of conflicting information out there. Perhaps the answer to my question would be a worthwhile topic for a blog post? The question in a nutshell is: what books should an ordinary Bible reader read in order to appreciate the... Read more
A couple of students in my class on Paul and his letters this semester have made a Buzzfeed-style quiz of the kind that you have surely seen circulating on Facebook and elsewhere. Click here to take it and find out which understanding of Paul the apostle matches you! Read more
Via BoingBoing. Be warned that there is foul language at one point. I often tell students that there are audiobooks they may be interested in – Charlton Heston reading the Bible, which is the closest that they can get to hearing Moses read it, and James Earl Jones reading the Bible, which is the closest that they can get to hearing Darth Vader read the Bible. I assume that is what was used as the basis for the voiceover in the... Read more
Ross MacKenzie has a nice breakdown of what motivates – and what is wrong with – attempts to identify ahead-of-its-time knowledge of science in the Bible. Some of these are very dubious – far from being the idea design for a ship, the box-shaped humongous ark may not have been seaworthy at all. Others are so vague as to be ridiculous – such as “Genesis 1” being matched with “Hubert Spencer’s Scientific Principles.” Many are simply wrong – Leviticus 11 has nothing... Read more
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