The pope has now concluded his visit to the Holy Land. My own trip was moved earlier to avoid having places be closed in preeparation for his visit. Apart from the “upper room,” traditional site of the last supper, which is over the traditional site of the tomb of David, we did not experience any closures. The big question now, apart from whether Pope Francis will be able to help with peace talks, is this. The pope was traveling around... Read more
KDRV News shared the above list of rules for teachers from a hundred years ago, in conjunction with the celebration of the centennary of Ruch School, from which the list comes (HT Shelley Ross). It is interesting to reflect on – the gender assumption about who would teach, the need to get there early to warm up the building, the behavior codes. But one could easily make too much of the differences or the similarities to our time. Unlike one... Read more
I presume that everyone has heard by now that Maya Angelou has passed away. I thought it would be fitting as a tribute to share some of her quotes that have been turned into memes here. Read more
There were a number of interesting places to drink coffee and/or eat around Israel. One that the students on my recent trip found particularly amusing was “Stars and Bucks” Cafe: We also came across this homemade sign: I particularly appreciated this place’s name: However, when in Jerusalem I prefer to get what the locals call bagels, eaten with za’atar: Read more
From Speed Bump Read more
April DeConick continues her quest for the perfect word for a particular kind of religion, one that emphasizes the inability of the human mind to grasp the divine reality that is its focus, and the comparable inability of human words and images to do justice to the ultimate. Her latest post on the topic proposed these two words: 1. TRANSTHEISM The view that the ultimate reality is beyond the gods that the conventional religions advocate. 2. NUMINALISM The view that... Read more
Biologos announced on their website that they will be having an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit: On June 24, Deborah Haarsma, Jim Stump, and Dennis Venema will be participating in an AMA where for two hours, Redditors will have the opportunity to ask questions and receive responses from our experts. If you’re interested in the intersection of science and Christianity, you’ll want to check it out! Read more
I’ve shared this before, some years ago, but it is worth circulating again. Click on the above to see “Eman Laerton” (read it backwards) explain the Synoptic problem using Mr. Potato Head. HT Mark Goodacre Read more
From Dan Nuckols’ cartoon series C2it. UPDATE: Just after I posted this, I saw that Bo Sanders had blogged almost simultaneously about contemporary worship music, focusing on “How He Loves” as an example. While that is an easy song to pick on, I’m not sure whether I agree with his insistence that lyrics always need to be clear and unambiguous. I wonder whether that view of lyrics actually reflects the (in my opinion, problematic) view that theology offers clear statements... Read more
At least twice before, I’ve shared images playing on the fact that “Q” is both a Star Trek character and the designation for a hypothetical source thought to have been used by the authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. But I am not sure if I shared this one. And so here it is! Read more
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