Features of Fundamentalism Mnemonic

Last updated on: April 15, 2014 at 9:54 am By James F. McGrath

Paul Regnier shared the above useful mnemonic for remembering key features of fundamentalism. Here is his further explanation of the points: Science – Rejection of scientific views when they conflict with sacred texts. However, many fundamentalists have made effective use of modern technology to promote their message. Elect – The view held by some fundamentalists that they are part of a spiritual elite, chosen by God for a particular mission. In some cases, this may justify violence. Patriacrchy –... Read more

Tempted In Every Way As We Are

Last updated on: April 15, 2014 at 7:29 am By James F. McGrath

Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus was “tempted in every way as we are – yet without sin.” I had someone mention to me a book which suggested that this must have included same-sex attraction, since otherwise Jesus was not tempted in every way the author was. This seems to take things too far – in what is itself at any rate a theological statement rather than something that can be considered historical fact. Could one really make the case that... Read more

Red Moon Rapture

Last updated on: April 14, 2014 at 8:57 pm By James F. McGrath

This came to my attention on Facebook: If you have never seen one, or even if you have, it is worth getting up to see the lunar eclipse in the early hours of tomorrow morning. But if you are prone to end-times thinking, you would do yourself and those around you a favor to stay in bed. Or, if you live in the Midwest, you can stay in bed and not bother getting up because they are predicting snow tonight.... Read more

Cloak Sunday

Last updated on: April 14, 2014 at 3:43 pm By James F. McGrath

The service at my church yesterday focused on “Cloak Sunday.” Although it is “Palm Sunday,” the reading was from Luke’s Gospel, which has people strewing clothing before Jesus rather than palm branches. It is interesting to ask whether Luke was aware that the use of palms in the manner depicted would more naturally suggest a different feast than Passover, namely Sukkot – and whether in the transmission of the story, we have an event from another time and context being... Read more

Biblical Sodom Unearthed?

Last updated on: April 14, 2014 at 1:28 pm By James F. McGrath

An article in World News Daily suggests that archaeologists may have uncovered the Biblical city of Sodom. Apparently the city was destroyed by fire and brimstone, and archaeological excavations show that all of the family tombs in the city belonged to same-sex couples who were dressed in fabulous clothing with no clashing colors. This would fit well with conservative Christian depictions of ancient Sodom, although those depictions only begin to appear much later and are viewed with suspicion by many... Read more

The Grand Christian Tradition

Last updated on: April 14, 2014 at 8:49 am By James F. McGrath

The quote above comes from the conclusion of a post on David Williams' blog Brick by Brick about John Calvin's approach to Genesis: All too often it is assumed that a “traditional” or “conservative” reading of Genesis will be a literal reading and that anything else is but “liberal” pandering to Darwinism. This assumption is flatly false and is only kept alive by our evangelical amnesia as to what the Fathers, the Medieval Doctors, and the Reformers actually said. The... Read more

Holy Week Spoiler Alert

Last updated on: April 14, 2014 at 7:46 am By James F. McGrath

Hope I didn't ruin it for anyone. Even if this really was a spoiler for you, trust me, the story is still worth reading to the end… Read more

Saddest Search of the Internet Age

Last updated on: April 13, 2014 at 12:26 pm By James F. McGrath

One of the reasons I focus so much attention on information literacy skills, and require students to not merely say “I found it on JSTOR,” is that it is important to know how to cope without resources that we normally rely on. The best example of this in our time is relying on Googling for answers, which can be an enormously helpful resource – until the problem you need to Google is about how to fix your internet… Read more

As You Would Want Done Unto Your Children

Last updated on: April 13, 2014 at 10:16 am By James F. McGrath

I saw this on Facebook, and it made me wonder whether this could lead to a more powerful restatement of the Golden Rule. We may forego our own needs, but we will often trample others in the interests of our own children. When we do that, we forget that those we trample are someone's children, and we are thus contributing to making the world a place where children are trampled. And so what if we did unto others – the... Read more

Just the Right Amount of Literalism?

Last updated on: April 13, 2014 at 8:40 am By James F. McGrath

The quote comes from Melody McConnell on Facebook, when sharing a link to this article by Karl Giberson. I didn’t include her name in the image because I was concerned that it might be misunderstood either that the words in the quotation marks were her view, or that she was actually quoting rather than parodying the young-earth creationist viewpoint. Read more