SBL Paper Accepted

Last updated on: March 31, 2014 at 3:19 pm By James F. McGrath

I’ll be on a panel of invited speakers at SBL in 2014, talking about Bart Ehrman’s latest book. In addition, I’ve had a paper accepted by the Metacriticism of Biblical Scholarship consultation. Here’s the abstract: Can University Walls Keep Out The Internet? Statements can be found on the websites of many sectarian educational institutions, indicating that faculty and students are required to subscribe to a particular doctrinal statement. The rationale for this was presumably clear, once upon a time. By... Read more

Are the Christologies of Paul and Mark Different?

Last updated on: March 31, 2014 at 2:13 pm By James F. McGrath

In discussions of Christology, a major divide (as illustrated by the dueling books between Ehrman and several Evangelical scholars) is between those who say that “high” Christology was present as far back as we can trace, and those who see such Christology as a result of a long period of development. Two key pieces of evidence influence these two standpoints. On the one hand, we can clearly trace development across the Gospels over time, from Mark to John. On the... Read more

Not the Best Spokesperson for Christianity

Last updated on: March 31, 2014 at 1:33 pm By James F. McGrath

Then again, the sign did get me to go look at their website and watch a bit of a video, and so if that was the aim, it worked… Read more

The Triumph of Idealism

Last updated on: March 31, 2014 at 1:17 pm By James F. McGrath

A comment on this blog drew the above lecture by Keith Ward to my attention. There is a transcript on the Gresham College website. I have not had time to watch the video yet, but I previously shared another of his lectures on this topic, and blogged about his book More Than Matter? Let me also use this opportunity to share a link to a recording of the THATCamp roundtable last year on religious studies. Read more

Are You Backed Up?

Last updated on: March 31, 2014 at 10:07 am By James F. McGrath

I have often been struck by the parallel between religious terminology about salvation and the ways we talk about digital data: in terms of being “saved. And there are those who hope to achieve longer life, if not ultimately eternal life, by making a backup copy of their mind that can be transferred to a computer, or better still an artificial body. It’s a staple of science fiction, and even gets a mention in an episode of Friends. Could you... Read more

Top 50 Biblioblogs

Last updated on: March 31, 2014 at 9:24 am By James F. McGrath

Peter Kirby has shared a list of the most popular biblioblogs this month. Exploring Our Matrix came in at number 8. Thanks for reading! Read more

God is Truth

Last updated on: March 31, 2014 at 8:53 am By James F. McGrath

The above quote on Facebook seemed worth turning into a meme, and so I did so, with the author’s permission. “In my view, Ham’s basic mistake is to separate God and Truth. Not only is all truth God’s truth, but God and Truth are indistinguishable. God is identical to his attributes. Inasmuch as Ham stands against reason, he stands against God. An atheist on his knees brushing sand from a fossil kneels in worship, whether he knows it or not.... Read more

Cosmos Quotes

Last updated on: March 31, 2014 at 8:30 am By James F. McGrath

I have mentioned both these details in the second episode of Cosmos here on the blog before. And so, having come across meme images with them (both came to my attention on Facebook yesterday), I thought I would share them. Read more

Please Keep Your Head

Last updated on: March 30, 2014 at 8:55 pm By James F. McGrath

Jeff Carter shared this photo of a sign at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Presumably this good advice ought to be posted in all churches? Read more

Research Terminology Explained

Last updated on: March 30, 2014 at 6:16 pm By James F. McGrath

Via Dorothy King Read more