I did not plan it to reach its finale in precisely this manner, when I began blogging the entire classic series. I started two parallel sets of postings mainly because I was listening to many very early episodes in the car as audiobooks, since they do not exist any longer in their original aired form in their entirety but the audio track does and has been turned into audiobooks with added narration to describe on-screen events that cannot be heard.... Read more
I’m going to get to a collection of links related to three areas of interest of mine, all of which start with the letter “M” and have something to do with Jesus, but are not directly linked to one another in most other ways. But first, here are some things I wrote on Facebook in comments responding to a person who made the not merely false but ludicrous claim that ‘”Jesus Christ” was also a title that meant “anointed one.”‘... Read more
This episode, the penultimate of the Tom Baker era, introduced two new characters: Nyssa, who would become the companion of the Doctor for some time thereafter, and a new actor playing the Master who would appear quite frequently from that point onward. After Roger Delgado’s death, he having played the role since its introduction during the Jon Pertwee era, there had clearly been a desire to bring him back, and there had been a couple of appearances of a deteriorating... Read more
I started one session of my Religion and Science Fiction class this past week with music. Here is the playlist I had lined up in advance: Sydney Carter, “Every Star Shall Sing A Carol” Chris DeBurgh, “A Spaceman Came Traveling” Larry Norman, “UFO” Styx, “Come Sail Away” There is also a video with a reading of the poem “Christ in the Universe” by Alice Meynell which is among the texts students read for today. Students agreed with me that a... Read more
TheoCon 2020 is ONLINE! Fandomental Workshop Session Details Thurs Sept 17 @ 7pm TheoCon Thursday w/ Church of the Geek “Anointing Fantasies: Swords, Spells, & Messiahs” Register at http://bit.ly/TheoConThursday Prophecies surrounding figures in fantasy are commonplace. How is the concept of being chosen and anointed illustrative of the notion of messiah? Fri Sept 18 @ 6pm-7pm TheoCon Happy Hour w/ God Loves Geeks Register at http://bit.ly/theoconhappyhour Bring your favorite beverage in your favorite glass, mug or flagon and join Pastor... Read more
Today seems like a good occasion to revisit a document that was issued in conjunction with a congress of world religions in 2016, a Declaration of Human Rights issued by and reflecting the perspective of the world’s major religions. The statement was a response to September 11th and has not received the attention I would have expected such a document to receive. The statement addresses a variety of matters pertaining to rights and the denial thereof that are sometimes associated... Read more
I promised a few months ago that sometime soon I would have a conversation with Aaron Abrahamson Cote, a Butler graduate who is a musician and recently started a project called Songs of Scripture. Well, yesterday we finally made it happen. Here is the latest episode of the ReligionProf Podcast with special guest Aaron Cote: In addition to the usual audio-only version of the podcast, here’s a special video edition! Check out the project’s YouTube channel, or better yet, pay a... Read more
Warriors’ Gate is the final episode in the E-space trilogy. It is also the one which saw Romana depart, preferring to do so and remain in e-space than to return to Gallifrey. The Doctor mentions the I Ching, suggesting that random sampling accesses fundamental aspect of universe. Romana calls it superstition. I was surprised to discover that the episode is not penned by Douglas Adams, who authored a number of them during this era, since the idea of using randomness to... Read more
As I worked on a book chapter about afterlife and resurrection at the intersection between the Bible and science fiction, and had begun another book chapter about afterlife and resurrection in Black Mirror, the television series Upload was released and provided a great deal of interesting food for thought that touched on the same themes. The series manages to engage with serious issues pertaining to ethics and technology, including their religious aspect, while also being genuinely funny. Here are just a... Read more
I was so excited to see an announcement about the appearance of Elaine Storkey’s new book Women in a Patriarchal World: Twenty-Five Empowering Stories from the Bible. It appeared just in time for me to potentially take it into account as I worked on finishing my book What Jesus Learned from Women (which has now been submitted to the publisher, I am delighted to say). I took a peek inside on the Google Books preview and knew right away that I... Read more
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