Gene Roddenberry and the Gods

Last updated on: October 24, 2013 at 4:30 pm By James F. McGrath

On this day in 1991, Gene Roddenberry passed away. I didn’t even realize that when I talked about Star Trek today in my class on religion and science fiction. Roddenberry’s own life story is fascinating, and the Star Trek phenomenon that he created is something to marvel at. Today’s theme in class was “ancient aliens” and so we looked at clips from “Who Mourns for Adonais?”, “Bread and Circuses,” and (from The Next Generation) “Who Watches the Watchers?” It is... Read more

Good Fight

Last updated on: October 24, 2013 at 1:49 pm By James F. McGrath

“Good fight” is something that two competitors can say to each other, winner to loser and vice versa, after a boxing match or something similar. It is also part of the phrase found in the Bible, “fight the good fight.” David Hayward’s cartoon above, and his post related to it, helpfully ask whether one can do the latter without the former. Can one ever say that one is “fighting the good fight” and yet doing so in an unsportsmanlike manner?... Read more

Star Trek Name Tag

Last updated on: October 24, 2013 at 11:11 am By James F. McGrath

Beyond Tribal Theology

Last updated on: October 24, 2013 at 9:49 am By James F. McGrath

The blog Psephizo shared this graphic, developed by Jon Kuhrt: Although I line up more on the liberal side of many things, I am delighted to be part of a church that isn’t liberal, nor moderate, nor conservative. It is diverse, and finding a church where you can not only be welcome and fit in, and not only be encouraged by a community where your views are understood and shared, but also challenged by others who do not see things as... Read more

And There You Have It

Last updated on: October 24, 2013 at 8:26 am By James F. McGrath

Via Pinterest. Einstein is purported to have said “Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Whatever you think of the Bible, those thoughts should reflect what the Bible actually is. And there are a great many people who embrace it or reject it not as a complex compilation of diverse literature, but on the basis of a mistaken illusion that it is something else, something much simpler, clearer, and very different from the actual Bible. Read more

What Is Open Access?

Last updated on: October 24, 2013 at 7:36 am By James F. McGrath

From the creator of PHD comics, courtesy of the Chronicle of Higher Education. I was glad to discover that there is in fact a PHD comics YouTube channel, with other cool stuff, such as this: Read more

AAR SBL Annual Meeting App Available! #sblaar

Last updated on: October 23, 2013 at 4:06 pm By James F. McGrath

For those of us who’ve long been waiting, there is good news: the mobile app for the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting in November is now available! ANNUAL MEETING MOBILE APP IS AVAILABLE! Plan Your Meeting with the free Annual Meetings mobile app! AAR and SBL introduces the use of Mobile Meeting Guide technology to provide members with a technically reliable, intuitive, and functional meeting solution. The app will provide attendees with: The entire... Read more

Can Accepting a Default View be ‘Faith’?

Last updated on: October 23, 2013 at 1:00 pm By James F. McGrath

David Hayward’s cartoon gets at a serious question. Read more

GERT at SBL

Last updated on: October 23, 2013 at 12:05 pm By James F. McGrath

Randall Tan passed on this information, which is also on the Biblical Humanities website: The proposed Global Education & Research Technology (GERT) section at SBL is organizing additional meetings on Friday, Nov 22, 2013, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m., just prior to the start of the SBL Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. This is in addition to our two normally-scheduled sessions during SBL (for details on those sessions, please seehttp://biblicalhumanities.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=107). We have an informal agenda & meeting structure with distinct topics... Read more