Photos of a replica of an ancient Israelite house from the Houses of Ancient Israel exhibit at the Semitic Museum at Harvard University. Via the Ancient Art Tumblr Read more
Photos of a replica of an ancient Israelite house from the Houses of Ancient Israel exhibit at the Semitic Museum at Harvard University. Via the Ancient Art Tumblr Read more
This choral composition by Will Todd is a setting of Biblical texts from Proverbs 8 with some additional words. HT Methoughts, Mefeats, and Medefeats Read more
Fred Clark recently noted how odd it is that some will make an issue that is of at most tangential interest (pun intended) to the Biblical authors a litmus test of religious identity, but ignore things that are emphasized repeatedly. One obvious example is the Bible's prohibition against charging interest (at least when lending to others who are also part of God's people). It says this clearly, on numerous occasions. Here's Exodus 22:25: If you lend money to one of... Read more
A couple of article have come to my attention in recent days, both relating to religious progressives (mainly in the political and economic sense of that term). First, Jack Jenkins wrote an article for Think Progress suggesting that progressive religious people will soon outnumber conservatives. Second, Robby Jones wrote in The Washington Post that progressive religion has more appeal with young people. The Huffington Post also has an article about this. All of this is the result of a survey that suggests... Read more
Rick Sumner poses some interesting questions on his blog The Dilettante Exegete – during some of which he has an imaginary gun to his head! One that I think is particularly interesting is the question of what one ought to call the stance that there probably was a historical Jesus – the brother of the James whom Paul mentions meeting in his letter to the Galatians – but about whom we can say next to nothing, since the Gospel material... Read more
Fred Clark has a great post on magic tricks and the art of debate, which he starts off by saying ““Debate” is a parlor trick.” Here is a sample: When Ray Comfort challenges someone to a debate over the truth of Christianity, I wince because I am a Christian and I know that Comfort is most likely going to “lose” that debate, leading some to the mistaken conclusion that this indicates something meaningful about the truth or untruth of what... Read more
Via Unfundamentalist Christians on Facebook. If you don’t get the musical allusion, then you presumably need to listen to this: Read more
Via God of Evolution on Facebook Read more
David Hayward's latest cartoon will probably be controversial in some circles. But on one level, it reflects a very mainstream understanding of what happened in the early church. Jesus' followers thought he was destined to be king and restore the kingdom of David. They were so persuaded that, when the Romans crucified him, their belief system found a way of adapting, rather than merely abandoning that central conviction that Jesus was the chosen one. However much else one might wish... Read more
IO9 recently featured an interview with science-promoter Joe Rogan. If you didn't read all the way to the end, you missed his thoughts about religion: I think that the form of creationism that’s being promoted by fundamentalists today is incredibly simplistic, and it’s coming from a very simplistic mindset. These people, along with their ideas, get bogged down through control, through ideology, through fear, and all the different aspects of religion that are so unsavoury. But at the very root... Read more
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