Here are some thoughts I shared for the first time many years ago, after an on-campus discussion of the subject. If the question is understood to mean whether one can prove God’s existence, then presumably the answer is no, in the sense that no argument has been found that is entirely persuasive so as to convince any skeptic. If, on the other hand, we mean whether it is compatible with reason, then the answer may be yes. Is it reasonable for... Read more
Star Trek fans will get the Kobayashi Maru reference immediately. Starfleet Academy prepared its cadets for no-win situations, which they will inevitably face as captains of starships, by using a simulation of a situation with no good options. Capt. Kirk became the first to successfully rescue the other ship that had drifted into the neutral zone, and he did so by cheating: he reprogrammed the computer to allow him to win. I think we’ll all agree that this isn’t a... Read more
I remain indebted to Stephen Colbert for coming up with the concept of ‘truthiness’. As a religion professor, I find this term denotes the most common hurdle students face in trying to do any kind of critical thinking, much less about religion. How can there be any historical uncertainty, much less doubt, about the details of the Exodus from Egypt, or the life of Jesus, when it feels so right? Let me simply reiterate the statement attributed to Jesus in John’s Gospel:... Read more
I have focused a lot on the way the Star Wars franchise depicts the two sides of the Force not as good vs. evil but as opposites which need to be kept in balance. If this way of viewing the matter is taken to an extreme, however, it can begin to sound like either the denialist call to “teach both sides of the controversy” or the stance that it is better in each and every case to be a moderate... Read more
Imagine you find the following page that has become detached from a book in your local public library. It is a modern book page and not an ancient manuscript, just to be clear. In which section of the library would you begin looking for the book to which it belongs? Judas Iscariot, at Jesus’ behest, informed the Sanhedrin where Jesus would be. Jesus had seen in a vision that the time had come for the kingdom to dawn, and thus... Read more
As someone very concerned about social justice and inclusivity, I am struck that the only times when anything I have shared has met accusations of cultural appropriation, they have had to do with science fiction. One was when someone suggested that the Vulcan salute, originating from a priestly gesture in Judaism, is cultural appropriation. I was surprised, both because the creation of the Vulcan salute originated with Leonard Nemoy, a Jewish actor who saw it in a Jewish context and... Read more
There is a national discussion happening about whether the best way forward for the United States during the Biden administration is to pursue criminal investigations and charges against Donald Trump for things he did while in office, hopefully going hand in hand with something like a Truth and Justice Commission that works to accomplish reconciliation and healing through that kind of painful honest reckoning; or whether it is better to move on, accepting that few will change their minds as... Read more
I wrote a blog post in 2005, soon after seeing the final installment of the Star Wars prequel movies that George Lucas made. This was on my first blog which came to be back when one had to install special software and host a blog on one’s own web space. My how things have changed. It is interesting to consider that Lucas told a story that, because of the order, ended with only a hint of hope in the midst of... Read more
There’s a new episode of the ReligionProf Podcast featuring theologian and fellow podcaster Tripp Fuller. The starting point for our conversation is his latest book, Divine Self-Investment: An Open and Relational Constructive Christology. I also ask him about his most recent endeavors which have taken him to Edinburgh in Scotland. But the main focus of our conversation is one that is also a major focus of his book, namely the question of how the task that he is most focused... Read more
The conversation started with demons. Lots of people have had experiences such as sleep paralysis which are often then interpreted as some sort of sinister force attacking you in your sleep. One of the reasons for so many scandals and so many unhealthy attitudes among conservative Evangelicals is the tendency to treat natural urges and experiences as something coming from outside themselves. Repressing then and being dishonest about their source makes matters worse, not better. But talking about shifting away... Read more
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