Via The Ministry of Progressive Christianity on Facebook. Can you think of examples of this being the case? To me, it immediately calls to mind two issues. One is the view that the text is inerrant, and so a reader with that presupposition may refuse to acknowledge when the text says something that is incorrect or immoral. Another is the view that the text provides supports for one’s worldview, and so evidence that a favorite prooftext means something other than... Read more
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As the first day of classes at most North American universities draws to a close, experts surveying the aftereffects of last week’s winter storms estimate that thousands of syllabuses nationwide may have been detrimentally affected by the severe weather. “With my children and spouse at home last week, there was little I could do,” said one adjunct at Butler University in Indianapolis, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I tried to work on my syllabuses, I really did what I could.... Read more
Today was the first day of classes at Butler University, as in many other places. This semester I’m teaching the Bible, the second semester of my first year seminar course “Faith, Doubt, and Reason,” and the second semester of a seminar course on “Religion and Freedom of Expression.” If you are an educator or a student, I hope your return to the classroom has gone and continues to go smoothly. What are you teaching/taking this semester? Below are some bits... Read more
For the start of a new semester, here are two humorous commercials which suggest that paper is not going to be completely replaced by digital tablets – although it does seem that, for at least some purposes, digital is just as good if not better. What do you think? Read more
The above cartoon comes from Adam4d. I would have liked to see the NRSV with apocrypha on there, with a tweed jacket with elbow pads and professorial-looking spectacles… Which other translations could be added, and how would you depict and describe them? Read more
As Peter Kirby mentioned on his blog a few days ago, he has added the Nag Hammadi Gnostic texts to his wonderfully useful website, Early Christian Writings. Mike Grondin has now added two lists of those materials to his Gospel of Thomas website: one listing the Nag Hammadi texts alphabetically by name, the other listing them by codex. Both lists link to the relevant pages on the Early Christian Writings website. The Gnostic Society Library also has translations and other... Read more
Deane Galbraith announced that there is a new website, Biblical Studies Online, seeking to bring together some of the best non-sectarian academic Biblical studies resources on the internet. Below are a few samples of the kinds of things you’ll find there. Click through to explore! For those who may have missed them, do note that my list of useful sites and blogroll are also available and may lead you to things that are of interest. You can always find them... Read more
The conservative Christian approach to Scripture has consistently led to conclusions and stances of which later conservative Christians are ashamed. When will there be an acknowledgment that it is the approach (the root) and not only the conclusions (the fruit) that are the problem? Today in my Sunday school class we continued our discussion of commands that do not make sense to us or seem applicable. Then in the service, the sermon was about what Scripture is and what it... Read more
I’ve shared the above image before. But I came across it again, and it struck me in new ways, as I had recently been reading discussions about where the life of the church actually unfolds in our time. I’m not sure how it was that it was once possible to have people join together with no real issues of musical preference arising. But it has never been the case that choices of hymns or topics of sermons were meaningful to... Read more
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