A few years ago, I wrote a post with the title “Advice for Those Buying a Used Religion.” The title was inspired by an analogy Carl Sagan makes in his book The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, which is essentially a transcript of his Gifford Lectures. I thought it was time someone turned his words into one of these internet quote images. And rather than just offer one, I thought I would make... Read more
The image below is a small version of an infographic created by Julie Anne Kent (the full sized pdf version is here). I'm gearing up to teach again, and as regular readers know, information literacy (and where possible information fluency) are important emphases. What are some of the best tools, guides, and infographics you've come across in this area? Read more
Steve Caruso shared the video below featuring Christopher Rollston and Gabriel Barkay talking about the James Ossuary. (If you missed it, see also Steve’s recent Twitter exchange with Jesus.) Of related interest, the Israel Antiquities Authorities has an online archaeological database that is full of useful resources. Read more
There are lots of problems with a literalistic approach to Genesis, and to the Bible in general. But the biggest is that it denies that God so transcends our human comprehension that God can only be pointed to through symbols. The final editor of Genesis presumably understood this. He placed side by side two depictions of God creating which have different orders, chronologies, and other details. And so in addition to being a rejection of the God the Bible points... Read more
There has been a lot of confusion about how to refer to the various Doctors, as a result of the surprises thrown our way in connection with the 50th anniversary. Peter Capaldi’s Doctor is the Twelfth Doctor, but the thirteenth regeneration. I’m not sure why adding the term “incarnation” helps in the chart above, since the post-regeneration David Tennant, when he directed the excess regeneration energy into his previously-severed hand and thus did not change appearance, also did not change... Read more
David Gowler of Emory University is currently writing a book about the reception history of the parables. He has decided to blog through the process of writing the book, and has set up a blog for this purpose, called A Chorus of Voices. I know it will be of interest to some readers of this blog. Read more
The above definition came my way via the Patheos Progressive Christian portal page on Facebook, although it did not originate there. Read more
Johnny Walker responded to a response to a blog post of his about mythicism. If you are experiencing yet another day disrupted by the arctic weather, and are looking for something to read, there’s that. Of related interest: Mauro Pesce shared a book chapter on Academia.edu, “The Beginning of Historical Research on Jesus in the Modern Age.” James Charlesworth’s article on the Gospel of John and the historical Jesus is available for free through Brill Online. Jason DeBuhn has an... Read more
I recently experienced the irony of having someone quote 2 Peter in an attempt to show that there must have been a literal global flood. 2 Peter is the New Testament work which is the most universally acknowledged to be pseudepigraphal – in other words, an example of someone writing in the name of someone else, pretending to be that person. Even some relatively conservative scholars acknowledge this fact (although obviously not all – but even they have to admit to... Read more
Richard Beck shared in a blog post about his experience of preparing and preaching a sermon about hell. Here is the conclusion: And that was the turning point. Somewhere deep within me I knew, a feeling I’ve never let go of, that there was no way I could reconcile the bullet points of my sermon with my breaking heart. Going forward from that sermon I knew faced a choice. I was at a spiritual crossroad. On the one hand I... Read more
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