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
Ken Ham has gone on record as saying that progressive Christianity is dangerous. This is good news. Any authentic Christianity ought to seem dangerous to oppressors and charlatans and the narrow-minded. Otherwise, we are doing it wrong. Among the ironic things Ham said was this gem: Apparently they call this sort of thing ‘Progressive Christianity.’ I guess that means ‘evolving Christianity’ – whatever the secular world believes about where they came from, you accept that as infallible and then change... Read more
I’ve been getting caught up on shows that I ought to have been watching for a while. Both Sherlock and The Big Bang Theory feature main characters who exhibit behaviors and abilities which suggest placement on the autism spectrum – incredible genius in some respects, but also difficulties in social interactions and knowledge that most ordinary people take for granted. In the episode “A Scandal in Belgravia,” mention is made of Sherlock believing in a “higher power” – namely himself.... Read more
As some conservative Christian leaders recently emphasized, inerrancy is a key doctrine. If you adhere to it, it can have a detrimental effect on all your other beliefs, and throw your entire worldview out of whack… Read more
Via IO9, I learned of this timeline of the far future on the BBC website: Read more
I recently watched the movie Elysium. It can't decide whether it wants to primarily be an action sci-fi movie or a dystopian political commentary, and so it tries to do both. But it is the latter that makes it powerful. The movie envisages a future in which the wealthy have moved to Elysium – a space station in Earth's suburb, if you will. There they have clean air, high tech medical equipment, and a lifestyle denied to most of humanity.... Read more
IO9 reported that Disney is apparently holding a meeting to determine what will be considered part of the Star Wars canon and what won’t. It is as though we have entered a parallel universe in which Dan Brown is right about the formation of the canon, only his timing is off and the canon is that of Star Wars rather than the Christian Bible. Still, even when a council decides, there are constraints. I can’t envisage this council jettisoning any... Read more
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