2020-10-09T09:03:58-04:00

Time for another round-up of things related to the Bible and music that I’ve come across, always having my eyes and ears peeled for points of intersection as I work on an open textbook on the topic. Let me start with Jonathan Tweet’s helpful survey of antisemitic aspects of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. The main disagreement I have is with the idea that “Judas” denoted or signified “Jew.” The name in question is Judah, the Jewish name that was... Read more

2020-10-06T21:19:30-04:00

I hope at some point to blog about recent books related to racism and the Bible, such as Esau McCaulley’s Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope and Antipas Harris’ Is Christianity the White Man’s Religion? How the Bible Is Good News for People of Color. It has been interesting to incorporate even more readings in my course on the Bible this semester that focus on social justice, diversity, and inclusion (both as subject matter... Read more

2020-10-08T20:06:15-04:00

I know this is something I talk about at this point in the semester every time I teach this course. Perhaps I have usually taught Religion and Science Fiction in the spring? I don’t remember conversation ever seeming quite so timely, indeed urgently so. The question I always ask is whether a machine, an appropriately-programmed supercomputer, would do a better job of overseeing our economy and other aspects of our communal life as a society, making the decisions that a... Read more

2020-10-06T09:00:43-04:00

I don’t know exactly where a conversation in class may go. Only old-fashioned professors who lecture with little room for question or discussion might claim to know precisely how a given time slot of 50 minutes or an hour and a quarter will unfold. Unpredictable conversations, I would argue, make more significant learning possible not only for students but the professor as well. Not that they are completely unforeseen (at least most of the time). The most interesting conversations and... Read more

2020-10-06T13:18:31-04:00

When I saw the article below on 3 Quarks Daily, I thought it was time to share some thoughts I had on the popularity of Donald Trump in conservative Evangelical churches. Trump Won the Debate Big The article’s argument is that Trump was already known to be a bully, and Joe Biden’s platform was as one who would stand up to the bully and give him a taste of his own medicine. If that was what it would mean to... Read more

2020-10-05T15:26:40-04:00

The news reported recently that perhaps we needn’t throw out the notion of time travel due to the problem of the grandfather paradox and various other related conundrums. As Desmond on LOST told Charlie after hearing it from Eloise Hawking, the universe has a way of course-correcting. In other words, if you go back in time and try to kill your grandfather, something will prevent it. In some ways, that’s more disturbing than the original paradox. As Daniel said on... Read more

2020-10-04T21:42:38-04:00

I am writing this reflection for the benefit of students in Prof. Maria Doerfler’s seminar on religion and science fiction at Yale, where I will be making a guest appearance, but am also sharing it here since I think it will be of interest to blog readers as well. The theme for the day provides a fantastic opportunity to explore the points of intersection and overlap among a number of interests of mine, which are more directly related that I... Read more

2020-10-03T18:30:57-04:00

I realize there is significant potential in the punny title of this post. The Gospel of Mark ends abruptly, just as its climactic finale seems to be taking off. The author seems to be on a roll as we say in English, and then suddenly stops. I’ve expressed my view on how the Gospel of Mark probably continued. I am unpersuaded by those who insist that the ending indicates that this premodern author had postmodern sensibilities, inviting us the readers... Read more

2020-10-01T12:31:37-04:00

Open Theology invites submissions for the topical issue “Women and Gender in the Bible and the Biblical World II”, edited by Zanne Domoney-Lyttle and Sarah Nicholson. This special issue aims to explore, interrogate and reflect on the ways in which women are understood, contextualised and represented in the text of the Bible that has developed, in various ways, a foundational significance for Western culture. We welcome papers that could contribute to this discussion by addressing, for example, gendered relationships between... Read more

2020-10-01T14:05:13-04:00

There are two new interviews with me that both feature me talking about Jesus. The focus of each is different. First, I spoke with Shirley Paulson for her podcast The Bible and Beyond, about my next book which will be published by Cascade: What Jesus Learned From Women. Have a listen: Sara Parks is one of several people who kindly read a draft of the manuscript for my book What Jesus Learned From Women and provided feedback on it. She wrote the... Read more

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