Atheism Isn’t Skepticism

Last updated on: November 16, 2014 at 11:04 am By James F. McGrath

A recent IO9 article indicated that more people in Britain believe in ghosts and aliens than in God. IO9 also highlighted a science experiment that might offer an explanation of why people see/feel ghosts (which Smithsonian also reported on), talked about spirituality and pseudoscience in science fiction, and shared an infographic of misconceptions which are widespread, and which include both religious and non-religious erroneous views. A post at Atheist Revolution talked about ancient aliens ideas as a “secular God of the... Read more

Creation Science in a Nut Shell

Last updated on: November 16, 2014 at 9:46 am By James F. McGrath

From Pliny the In-Between Read more

N. T. Wright on Paul and the Invention of Christian Theology

Last updated on: November 15, 2014 at 4:00 pm By James F. McGrath

Via Mark Goodacre’s NT Blog Read more

Calvinism, Arminianism, and Vaderism

Last updated on: November 15, 2014 at 11:44 am By James F. McGrath

From TheologyGrams Read more

Deifying the Bible

Last updated on: November 15, 2014 at 10:32 am By James F. McGrath

In an article about 6 popular Christian sayings that aren’t true, David Schell points out the problems with saying that the Bible is the “Word of God.” He writes: Neither the Bible, nor the Nicene Creed, nor the Apostle’s Creed says this. 2 Timothy 3:16 says all scripture is inspired by God, but “inspired” ≠ God’s word, nor God’s words. John 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.”... Read more

Far from God

Last updated on: November 15, 2014 at 8:20 am By James F. McGrath

This Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal cartoon illustrates nicely what the implications are of God in spatial terms, as a being rather than Being itself. On this one it is definitely worth clicking through to read the additional panel that appears when you push the red button. Read more

Doctor Who Christmas Special Preview

Last updated on: November 14, 2014 at 5:48 pm By James F. McGrath

I was so delighted to see this snippet of the Doctor Who Christmas special, courtesy of IO9. The Doctor, Clara, and Santa, will all be back, together with a couple of elves! Read more

A Polite Bribe Q and A at Butler University

Last updated on: November 14, 2014 at 3:50 pm By James F. McGrath

I was delighted that Robert Orlando was able to come to Butler to make a guest appearance in my class on Paul and the early church, and then participate in a Q&A session after we showed his movie “Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe.” Perry Kea of the University of Indianapolis also participated in the Q&A, and students from both there and Butler University attended as well as other interested people from off campus. The Q&A session was recorded and the video... Read more

Did Morton Smith Forge the Gospel of Philip?

Last updated on: November 14, 2014 at 10:05 am By James F. McGrath

The Gospel of Philip was found at Nag Hammadi together with other Coptic texts, and so it would have involved quite a conspiracy for Morton Smith to have forged the text and placed it in the midst of the other Nag Hammadi texts. But since some scholars consider Smith to have been a mastermind at such forgery, we should not let that stop our imaginative exploration of this topic. However, I should, at the risk of spoiling this post, say... Read more

The Doctor Studied at the University of Glasgow

Last updated on: November 14, 2014 at 9:10 am By James F. McGrath

Well done, University of Glasgow! The university dug into its archives and found evidence that the Doctor did indeed study there. Read more