Culture Wars

Last updated on: March 1, 2014 at 9:06 am By James F. McGrath

The truth is, evangelical Christians have already “lost” the culture wars.And it’s not because the “other side” won or because evangelicals have failed to protect our own religious liberties. Evangelicals lost the culture wars the moment they committed to fighting them, the moment they decided to stop washing feet and start waging war. And I fear that we’ve lost not only the culture wars, but also our Christian identity, when the “right to refuse” service has become a more sincerely-held... Read more

What Makes Someone Become a Biblical Inerrantist?

Last updated on: March 1, 2014 at 8:06 am By James F. McGrath

John Schneider said this on Facebook, and it seems like such an important point, made so succinctly, that I wanted to turn it into a meme. Here’s another one, if you’d like a smaller image: The idea that the Bible is “inerrant” is something that has to be imposed on the Bible, forcibly, fighting against all the extensive counter-evidence that the Bible proffers, kicking and screaming until its multitude of voices are mostly silenced by the inerrantist straightjacket, which allows... Read more

Church of the Future

Last updated on: February 28, 2014 at 8:03 am By James F. McGrath

Dave Walker’s latest, as it appeared in Church Times. HT Al Pinto on Facebook. Read more

Changing Science

Last updated on: February 27, 2014 at 1:31 pm By James F. McGrath

Young-earth creationists often adopt the dogmatic stance that they have unchanging truth, and that somehow the advances of science are something to be rejected rather than appreciated. And so, with some inspiration from Alasdair Crawfish on Facebook, I made the above image. Not all instances of failing to change or refusing change are praiseworthy. Read more

I Have This Book

Last updated on: February 27, 2014 at 11:25 am By James F. McGrath

Navigating the Internet’s Wastelands

Last updated on: February 27, 2014 at 10:26 am By James F. McGrath

This post started with my coming across this XKCD cartoon (HT Marc Cortez) after having had some information literacy discussions in class just before, and having gone in class onto the second page of Google results: I had used our desire to win arguments and prove others wrong using our smartphones and other devices as a starting point. Someone might dismiss our efforts if we take too long. And so, while it is better to go into the second, third,... Read more

It Is Written and Rewritten

Last updated on: February 27, 2014 at 9:29 am By James F. McGrath

Bruce Gerencser shared another Answers in Genesis cartoon that seems to get things backwards. The Bible has been written and rewritten. There is evidence that individual texts made use of earlier sources, and that authors like the Chronicler or Luke used one or more texts now included in the Bible as sources. The texts were then copied, and did not remain entirely unchanged in that process. While scientists do revise their conclusions, the evidence they study does not change, unless... Read more

Unicorn Museum

Last updated on: February 27, 2014 at 7:58 am By James F. McGrath

There is a parody site for a “Unicorn Museum” which includes images such as those above and below. One thing that makes this parody particularly useful is that it is liable to be met with objections that it is unfair ridicule. But why is taking fire breathing dragons or the ark as museum-worthy less ridiculous than doing the same with unicorns? Read more

How Did Jesus Become God-Become-Jesus?

Last updated on: February 26, 2014 at 5:40 pm By James F. McGrath

David Capes mentioned a panel at the next SBL annual meeting, which I will have the privilege of being on, which will discuss Bart Ehrman’s forthcoming book How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. Publishers know how to promote their books, and so Mike Bird and others have already come up with a response to Ehrman’s book even before advance copies are available, calling their book How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in... Read more

Walking the Extra Mile With Pastries for Gay People

Last updated on: February 26, 2014 at 4:00 pm By James F. McGrath

Rachel Held Evans has written about the legislation currently under discussion in Arizona. Her words are insightful. I quoted part of her post above. Here is a little more: You know who was actually persecuted for their religious beliefs? Jews under Roman occupation in the first century. And you know what Jesus told those Jews to do? Pay your taxes. Obey the law. Give to those who ask. Do not turn people away. Love your neighbors. Love even your enemies. When... Read more