A young-earth creationist has offered a $10,000 prize to anyone who can demonstrate the scientific case for evolution before a judge. Each side puts up $10,000, and whoever the judge decides in favor of keeps the total. The only question is whether the judge will be well-informed about the methods of the natural sciences. But otherwise, it should be an open and shut case. Any takers? Read more
Those who formulate doctrines of Scripture tend to focus on some classic statements which sound like they can be turned quickly into dogmatic statements. Phrases like “All Scripture is God-breathed” in 2 Timothy 3:16 and the like. I think those who want to determine and define what the Bible is ought to spend more time looking at what these writings show themselves to be. One great example, which came up in my Sunday school class yesterday, is Hebrews 2:6. There... Read more
Today in my class on the Bible, we talked about the crucifixion. In my class on the Gospel of John, we are entering the passion narrative. And this is what the Butler University campus looks like today: It certainly creates a holiday mood…but not for the holiday I was expecting people to have their minds on when I made my syllabi! Read more
I’ve been meaning to post for a while that my Society of Biblical Literature paper proposal has been accepted by the “Metacriticism of Biblical Scholarship” section, and so will be presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting in Baltimore. Here is the abstract: Mythicism and the Mainstream: The Rhetoric and Realities of Academic Freedom James F. McGrath The rhetoric of concern for academic freedom becomes prominent at different times and in different situations – for instance, when a scholar at an... Read more
To those who celebrate it, I wish you a Happy Passover! חַג שָׂמֵחַ HT Bob Cargill for the video. And here are a couple of cartoon for the occasion as well: Read more
I just saw this on Facebook and had to share it. Every time I talk about the parable of the Good Samaritan, I always throw in a Princess Bride reference along these lines! Read more
A friend shared a diagram from a blog called “Theologygrams” which has a lot of great stuff on it. Here’s the one that was shared with me: Also don’t miss the theology topic generator. Read more
I was recently contacted on Facebook by someone I don’t know, but with whom I share mutual Facebook friends. The individual is a young-earth creationist. Since I don’t see it as appropriate or useful to have a conversation with a complete stranger privately on Facebook, I am inviting the individual to interact here if they wish to. Below is the conversation thus far – I removed the individual’s name and put his words in bold. James McGrath :Do I know... Read more
You can sing this to the tune of “I Believe in Father Christmas” by Greg Lake (there are also versions by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer and also by U2 that you may be familiar with): I Believe in Snow at Easter They said there’ll be snow at Easter And snow on Palm Sunday too At this moment I hear it falling And there’s nothing that I can do I remember Palm Sunday morning In a springtime not long... Read more
My course on the Bible focuses a lot of attention on the identification and use of reliable sources. When students try to tackle an assignment on the authorship of the Book of Isaiah, they consistently find LaMar Adams’ online article, produced at Brigham Young University, which uses computer-generated statistics for the occurrence of certain prefixes to argue for unity of authorship. If they read this, without also finding either Radday’s statistical study which draws the opposite conclusion, or another source... Read more
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