In a recent post I shared a drawing of one way that Jesus might have ridden on both a donkey and a foal as Matthew’s Gospel claims. This is another possible way it could have been done: Read more
In a recent post I shared a drawing of one way that Jesus might have ridden on both a donkey and a foal as Matthew’s Gospel claims. This is another possible way it could have been done: Read more
I just spotted that the book Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith: Religion and Doctor Who is now available for Kindle through Amazon.com! As with most Kindle books, there is a sample from the introduction that you can read. Read more
I am grateful to Paul Braterman for helping me to notice just how circular a particular objection to evolution is. Some science deniers accept microevolution, the sort that can be experimentally studied in laboratories, but will reject macroevolution, saying that macroevolution has never been observed. The problem with this is that macroevolution is defined as the sort of evolutionary change that occurs over longer periods of time than are observable. If you define macroevolution as that which occurs over periods... Read more
Tim Kimberley recently posted on the question of the commands to exterminate Canaanites in the Bible. In the post, he suggests that the genocide may have been justified since the Canaanites were practicing things like child sacrifice. The problem is that, historically speaking, the Israelites were Canaanites. The genetic evidence suggests this. The linguistic evidence suggests it. The evidence from pottery and other material culture suggests it. And the evidence likewise suggests that the practices condemned as “Canaanite” in the Bible... Read more
This is a literalistic depiction of a literalistic understanding of Matthew 21:7, which reflects the author of that Gospel taking Zechariah 9:9 literally. Read more
Today's Luann comic Read more
I spoke recently with Marc Allan, Butler University’s associate director of public relations, about the Doctor Who 50th anniversary and the new book, Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith: Religion and Doctor Who. He wrote a piece on the subject, “Professor McGrath Offers a Scholarly Take On ‘Religion and Doctor Who’”, and so I thought I would share a link to it with you. I also want to let you know that the publisher, Darton, Longman, and Todd, is offering... Read more
Shouldn’t the needle be through the eye of the camel, if it is a misunderstanding of Jesus’ saying? Read more
Those interested in the Mandaeans find themselves overlapping the AAR and SBL groups, and there is a session hoping to lead to a new AAR program unit which is offered this year with a view to providing a natural home for the study of the Mandaeans and other traditions. Since some who study Mandaeism are in AAR but not SBL or vice versa, I thought I would gather here a list of the sessions and papers that are sure to... Read more
Kurt Willems shared the quote below from Greg Boyd’s book Benefit of the Doubt: Breaking the Idol of Certainty (p.149): One of the most unfortunate consequences of certainty-seeking faith is that, because it rewards people for feeling certain they’re right and discourages people from questioning their perspectives, it conditions people to insist that their maps are the territory. People who embrace this kind of faith will be more inclined to assume that their interpretation of a biblical verse is the meaning of the verse itself. So to... Read more
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