The Sin of Biblical Inerrancy

August 9, 2023 By James F. McGrath

It is ironic that those whose deceptive marketing strategy is to claim they are “Bible-believing Christians” view denial of the inerrancy of scripture as the root of all heresy. Rejecting inerrancy is something that I did because I recognized that the Bible kept providing me with evidence of its internal diversity and contradictions, and that in refusing to accept that evidence I was elevating my doctrine about the Bible above the Bible itself (which was allegedly supposed to be the... Read more

John the Baptist Song (with 17 verses!)

August 7, 2023 By James F. McGrath

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The big academic book about John the Baptist has been submitted to the publisher. It is presumably time to declare my sabbatical over, turn off the automated reply on my email, and consider myself back. How better to celebrate but with song? I’m teaching my course on the Bible and music this coming semester, and one of the things I’ve had as an assignment in the past is the creation of song lyrics. Most of the educators I know are... Read more

Dreamin’ Wild

August 3, 2023 By James F. McGrath

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I am probably not the only person to watch Dreamin’ Wild who was in a band (actually, several) when they were younger, who wrote songs (I still do), who at one point considered pursuing music as a subject of study, taking the chance on a dream that had little chance of coming to fruition. As an avid music listener as well as amateur music-maker, I love that the internet has allowed me to discover music that I otherwise would not... Read more

Inverted Parallelism in the Benedictus?

July 19, 2023 By James F. McGrath

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I used to be much more fascinated by chiasms than I have been lately. What are chiasms, you ask? Instances in which, in the two-line units characteristic of poetry in Semitic languages such as Hebrew and Aramaic, two keywords or ideas switch places. A classic example from a saying of Jesus: The sabbath was made for people not people for the sabbath “Man” and “sabbath” swap places in the second line. If you draw lines between the matching keywords or... Read more

New SBL Consultation on John the Baptist! Mandaean Convention in San Antonio!

July 3, 2023 By James F. McGrath

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It is now official and so I am delighted to be able to announce that a proposal for a new SBL consultation focused on John the Baptist has been approved. Here is the information from the Society of Biblical Literature website: JOHN THE BAPTIST Chairs: James F. McGrath and Tony Burke Description: While there is always a steady trickle of interest in John the Baptist, recent publications in English, Spanish, and Italian suggest that there is a current surge not only in... Read more

SBL, John the Baptist, Q, AAR, and the Mandaeans in San Antonio

May 24, 2023 By James F. McGrath

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I have been trying not to even think about what my next book might be after I wrap up the current project on John the Baptist. But as I’ve been moving towards completion of the current project, some of the points of intersection with other areas have grabbed my interest not just in relation to John the Baptist, but in their own right. One of those is the Synoptic Problem, i.e. the subject of how the Gospels of Mark, Matthew,... Read more

Mrs. Davis

May 19, 2023 By James F. McGrath

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Forgive me readers…it has been eleven days since my last blog post. That Catholic allusion seemed like an appropriate way to start this post about the topic that drew me out of my sabbatical blog lull: the hilarious, profoundly moving, hard to categorize TV series Mrs. Davis. Like Everything Everywhere All At Once, Mrs. Davis manages to be ludicrously silly, literally laugh out loud funny, and so emotional that I got choked up. This seems to be an emerging genre of its... Read more

Ms. Marvel

May 8, 2023 By James F. McGrath

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I apologize that it has taken me until now to blog about season 1 of Ms. Marvel. It is obviously great simply as yet another superhero television series, but this one is going to be of particular interest to those who teach about religious studied in general and Islam in particular, as well as those involved in interfaith efforts. I made notes as I watched it but didn’t turn it into a full-fledged blog post. Now let me just provide... Read more

Babies’ Sinful Cries?

May 1, 2023 By James F. McGrath

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I heard a preacher recently who claimed that babies crying for food and not being satisfied unless they got what they demanded was evidence of their inherent selfishness and thus sinfulness. At one point in the past I might actually have nodded in agreement, or at least not objected. This time I was quite horrified. I wrote a draft blog post and then set it aside. But then my Sunday school class turned its attention to the creation stories in... Read more

What Jesus Learned from Women…and Science Fiction

April 26, 2023 By James F. McGrath

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I made an appearance on the Unrelenting Love YouTube channel and spoke about my book What Jesus Learned from Women as well as about my work on the intersection of science fiction with theology. There are three segments and you can find all of them in a playlist here. Here are the individual videos: I should also share some of the memes made by my students this semester, which I have circulated on social media but never shared here on... Read more