I came across this image on Pinterest, on the same day that the Pope excommunicated the entire Mafia from the Roman Catholic Church. Religion can be a powerful force to do harm or to combat those who do harm. And the line between the two sorts of religion is not one that lies between different religions or different sacred texts, but rather one that cuts through each and every one of them. I was talking just the other day with... Read more
Another funny New Yorker cartoon. But it shows the problems with imaginging an afterlife. Do problems like living far from one's inlaws go away? If so, that raises theological issues of its own. See also Jerry Coyne's post, which makes some important points about the problems of imaginging God as like a vertibrate, as humans are, but incorporeal. He somehow seems unaware that there are theologians who have made the same points and continue to do so. Read more
In response to my sharing of those “Bro, do you even…?” meme images with Biblical scholars earlier today, some people on Facebook decided to make some more. Here’s what I’ve seen so far: The first three are by Daniel McClellan, and the last one is by David Meadows. Read more
In the above TED Talk, Michael Dowd discusses personification, religion, and science. Read more
It struck me recently (perhaps when I noticed a look of exasperated eye-rolling condescension on the face of a Biblical scholar) that the “Bro, do you even…?” meme had yet to get a Biblical studies treatment. And so I made the following. Which scholars were included was determined solely by whether the expression on their faces matched an appropriate expression of this sort. If you are wondering why Bob Cargill is on here twice, it is simply because I expect... Read more
Via the blog Chibzuieli, I learned of the above combination of the Ave Maria and the Adhan, the Muslim call to prayer. It doesn’t work fantastically well musically speaking, but the very act of combining the two is interesting from the perspective of interreligious dialogue, especially coming (as this arrangement and performance does) from Lebanon. Does such a mash-up of the call to prayer and the Hail Mary make theological sense? Does anything more meaningful come out of the combination... Read more
Roger Wolsey shared this on the Kissing Fish Facebook page: It is apparently from the website Christian Evolution. I share it for you to discuss. Do you agree, disagree, or a bit of both? Do the statements seem to you to be obvious or controversial? Read more
The above quote from Eric Reitan comes from a post he wrote offering five Christian reasons to doubt Biblical inerrancy. That post in turn was responding to the Patheos multi-blog conversation on progressive Christianity and the Bible. Click through to explore both in more detail. The post by Derek Flood on an inspired but not infallible Bible may also be of interest. Read more
The above video, featuring Peter Pringle singing the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh in the original language while playing a replica of an ancient Sumerian instrument is very cool. Below is another video in which he plays a replica of a lyre depicted on a relief in Megiddo in Israel. HT The Cultural Mosaic Read more
The video above has been getting a lot of attention. It features Australian politician Kevin Rudd answering questions from a pastor about his views on same-sex marriage. Rudd actually posted a longer essay on the topic online before the last election to inform voters about his views. Many of the points that Rudd makes work equally well in other contexts, such as the United States, and Baptists ought to all be behind his points about the separation of church and... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In