In discussions of whether Jesus was married, two main options are usually considered. One is that Jesus had never married. But in that case, it is objected, Jesus was rather unusual, and so it is surprising that this is never explicitly explained or mentioned. The other is that Jesus was married. But in that case, it is objected, it is surprising that this is never explicitly mentioned, given the debates about marriage and discipleship. A third option is rarely mentioned.... Read more
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Via Jerry Coyne. If the ancient Egyptians were right, then dogs are in trouble. As are we all… Read more
The title is the first thing that popped into my head when I saw that Peter Kirby had a round-up of 50 blogs abuzz about the so-called Gospel of Jesus’ Wife fragment. I’m grateful that my previous round-up was one of the ones he chose to include. Among recent scholarly posts, see those by Brice Jones, April DeConick, Christian Askeland, Larry Hurtado, Mark Goodacre, Jim Davila, Anthony LeDonne, and Francis Watson (hosted by Mark Goodacre). And of course, still see the articles... Read more
I have blogged in the past about just how obscene a notion it is that removing prayer, or displays of the ten commandments, from schools, is an explanation of why shootings occur there. Such claims are in fact an attempt by those who have failed to raise their children to not shoot others, and given them easy access to guns, to make themselves feel better by passing the blame onto others. But I did like this cartoon, with its suggestion... Read more
A recent post on the blog an und für sich offers both an insightful retrospective on the nature of liberal theology (including noting the irony of the classic language of “husk vs. kernel” which ends up looking a lot like the “letter vs. spirit” dichotomy of supercessionist theologies), and a vision for the future. Here is a long excerpt from that second section: I take ‘liberal’ theology, in its most positive form, to be a dynamic set of interventions and... Read more
Two things of interest via IO9. First is a trailer from a movie, “I Origins,” which explores the story of a scientist trying to make sense of evidence he encounters that there are aspects of existence beyond what science can explain: Second, there is a post on the impact of spirituality on the legacy of Battlestar Galactica. Read more
Despite having received criticism the last time he did so, C. Michael Patton has posted these two images again, which are supposed to compare how Christianity started with how all other religions started: The first image is simply wrong, unless Patton accepts certain extracanonical texts as historically reliable. The Gospel of Peter depicts a scene with Jesus exiting the tomb. The New Testament Gospels depict people finding the tomb empty, not people witnessing the resurrection. John 14:22 explicitly has one... Read more
The Daily ShowGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook Jon Stewart offers an insightful treatment of some Christians’ reactions to the Noah movie. Read more
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