I saw this on Facebook. I really don't see the overlap. Sure, light is a connection. But spacetime isn't mentioned in Genesis, nor is hydrogen, and even if free will is implicit in the story in Genesis 3, uncertainty is not the same thing. So I don't think this depicts “the quantum physics of Genesis” in any meaningful sense. What do others think? Read more
The discussion of the Talpiot tomb (not that one, the one across the street) and the rhetoric used by Simcha Jacobovici in recent blog posts continues. Steve Caruso offers a visual representation of the differences between the two “replicas.” Mark Goodacre responded to specific claims Jacobovici made, while Bob Cargill and Dan McClellan look specifically at his rhetoric. Here’s the image Steve made: Read more
One of the students in my First Year Seminar course, “Faith, Doubt, and Reason,” is also a blogger and is blogging about the class! The blog is called “Fast Times at Butler University” and here is link to a post about the most recent class meeting (which I mentioned in my last post): “Objective Morality (Thou Shalt Not Kill)” Read more
Fred Clark has posted about Evangelical defenders of slavery and what their stance in a bygone era tells us about their approach to the Bible. In the process, he writes: The white evangelical opponents of slavery thus adopted a “more complicated view” because biblical literalism was inadequate — incapable of offering wisdom, guidance or truth. As an approach to reading the Bible, it was not profitable for doctrine, for reproof or for instruction in righteousness. What they required, sought and... Read more
The Talpiot Tomb seems to surge in and out of public attention, and thus also in and out of focus in the biblioblogosphere, on the blogs of academics who focus on Biblical studies, archaeology, and other related fields. What led it to become a focus again was the report that renowned scholar Emile Puech had agreed with the identification of the name “Jonah” on one of the ossuaries. It turns out, as Jim West reported, sharing an e-mail from Puech,... Read more
Was I the only person to read yesterday's Ziggy comic and think of Battlestar Galactica? We actually focused on machines becoming self aware in my religion and science fiction class yesterday, the readings being “Gus” by Jack McDevitt and “Good News from the Vatican” by Robert Silverberg. For next time, they are reading “Reason” by Isaac Asimov. Read more
This digital recreation of first century Jerusalem was shared by the Huffington Post together with a large number of real photos from modern Israel, all of which I understand are from the long-awaited IMAX movie about Jerusalem. Many of the photos are breathtaking, and so do click through and take a look! Read more
In 2010 I read a conference paper at SBL on the reference in the Gospel of Matthew to something prophets had supposedly said, “He shall be called a Nazorean.” I looked at it from the perspective of intertextuality, and also brought my work on the Mandaeans into the picture. Since I still have not found the time to turn the paper into an article, I have decided to upload the conference paper in a slightly edited form to my institution’s... Read more
This bit of musical humor came my way via Facebook. The text instructions are hilarious and deserve to be read, even though just looking at the notes will crack you up (literally and/or metaphorically) if you are a musician. Read more
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