Mitch Chase has posted the latest Biblical Studies Carnival, rounding up last month’s blogging about the academic study of the Bible. The Hebrews carnival is now called “Hebrews Highlights” and has likewise been posted. And Phil Long lets you know where the next few upcoming carnivals will be hosted. Read more
Hemant Mehta has highlighted one of the most subversive attempts to undermine Christmas that has appeared in recent years. I am referring to the “Naughty or Nice” list issued by the American Family Association and the “Friend or Foe” list from Liberty Counsel. This effort is, of course, spearheaded by people claiming to be Christians. But as Alyssa Rosenberg (HT Andrew Sullivan) points out: The only stated value, in other words, is how much retailers talk about Christmas. By this metric, a porn company, or one... Read more
Now that it is December, we can start sharing Christmas memes, music, and other things, right? From The Leek Read more
Fred Clark has offered a characteristically witty post that builds on my recent one about an ancient spruce tree in Sweden. He suggests that “spruce tree” can become the standard response to any young-earth creationist nonsense one is presented with (much like the YEC phrase “were you there” except that in this case the response is appropriate and reasonable). Here is a sample from Fred’s post – click through to read the rest! This isn’t a dispute about the meaning... Read more
Sabio Lantz shared the above image in a post that addresses the way “the Bible says” is used to slip past major issues, such as “Which Bible?” and “Which author?” and “What is the Bible?” Click through to read the entire post. The image of homogenization is particularly apt. The only way to homogenize something with a great deal of diversity is to grind it up into particularly small pieces. And so if you are being served “Bible” in that... Read more
Thom Stark was one of several who shared this on Facebook. In addition to the irony of the phrase, which applies as well to newspapers as it does to smartphones and other electrinic devices, there is the fact that the things the passengers are holding connect them to news and information about and from a wider world. How is that anti-social? I am sure I am not the only one who is in touch with more old friends, relatives, and... Read more
This song makes no sense, and the Daleks will exterminate whoever is responsible for it if they get wind of it. But as a Whovian, one has to mark the beginning of the Christmas music season with this sort of thing. Read more
Chris Keith shared a link to the above lecture on social memory theory and the Gospels, his inaugural lecture at St. Mary’s University College, Twickenham. See also Chris’s own post as well as Mike Kok’s and Tyler Stewart’s posts about a session at SBL in which Chris and others addressed the same topic. Read more
Via John Morehead, I learned that there is a call for papers for the second time for a session on “Science Fiction and the Bible” for the International Society of Biblical Literature and European Association of Biblical Studies conference in July. Click through for more details! Read more
I adapted a review I wrote for this blog of Pete Enns’ book Evolution of Adam, The: What the Bible Does and Doesn’t Say about Human Origins for publication in Reports of the National Center for Science Education. It is now available to be read online. Read more
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