So that’s why they always seem to be in a foul mood… Via Grumpy Cat on Twitter Read more
So that’s why they always seem to be in a foul mood… Via Grumpy Cat on Twitter Read more
The proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of Mandaic and Samaritan Studies, held in Berlin in 2008, has appeared in print, published by Harrassowitz Verlag. The title is »Durch Dein Wort ward jegliches Ding!« You can read the table of contents online in pdf format. A prepublication draft of Charles Häberl’s chapter on a Mandaean folktale can be found on Academia.edu, as is a draft of Ionuţ Daniel Băncilă’s chapter on a Mandaean version of Psalm 114 found in Qolasta, the Canonical Prayerbook... Read more
Gary Dorrien has some thoughts on why Liberal Protestantism may seem not to be thriving, and yet be doing some very important things less visibly. Here's the conclusion: I regret that religious progressives like me have reached so few people beyond the small worlds of the academy, church and community organizing in which we live. Progressive Christianity today, by whatever name, is characterized by an ethos of egalitarian civility that makes it allergic to developing strong leaders. It works in... Read more
Mark Goodacre brings his expertise in New Testament and his expertise in Doctor Who together in a Two Minute Timelord podcast. Click through to have a listen! I would be interested to know what listeners think of Mark’s points. An interesting point to consider is that this podcast is by definition not canonical, and so, just as with the New Testament, any answer to the question “what is in the Doctor Who canon?” is by definition itself extracanonical. Read more
Patheos is hosting a conversation about passing on the faith, and I encourage you to click through and read other participants in the conversation. My Sunday school class has been working through Hebrews, but as we encountered mention of people ceasing to meet together, our discussions have turned towards discussion of millennials, church attendance, communication and technology, and many other subjects related to this topic. One of the things we discussed in my Sunday school class this past Sunday was... Read more
Objective Ministries is clearly a parody site. But it is just close enough to what some extreme Christian groups claim and try to accomplish, that you have moments of doubt. I had come across it before, but having found my way there again yesterday, I thought I’d share the site with you. My favorite elements on the web site are the following: The suggestion that the ancient Israelites were attacked by Pterosaurs, and Moses scared them off with a divinely-provided... Read more
Stuff Fundies Like shared this questionnaire that would-be guest speakers at a fundamentalist church have to complete: I suppose the main point to make in response is that rejecting lots of things does not mean that your standard is high, only that it is narrow. And unless one figures out the difference early enough, the narrow approach will inevitably end up excluding things that are true, rather than holding oneself and others to the high standard of truthfulness. Read more
I have often said (in particular with reference to the creation account in Genesis 1) that one can read a text with great frequency and still fail to notice something for a surprisingly long time. We can also fail to notice what the text does not say, and what we are reading into it. Yesterday in a Facebook group I participate in, it was pointed out that, unless one has the Genesis 2 creation account in mind, when one reads... Read more
I’ve assigned Aaron Smuts’ chapter “‘The Little People’: Power and the Worshipable” from Philosophy in The Twilight Zone when I’ve taught my class about religion and science fiction in the past. Here is a link to the episode “The Little People” to which the title refers, in case you’ve never seen it: It turns out that not only is an earlier draft of Smuts’ chapter available online, but so too are many others of his writings. Among them, and of related interest,... Read more
Via Metanexus blog Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In