The above text image seems to manage to address a lot of misconceptions in very few words. What do you think? Read more
The above text image seems to manage to address a lot of misconceptions in very few words. What do you think? Read more
Dear Colleague: The 2013 SBL Annual Meeting Call for Papers closes at Thursday, February 28 at 11:59:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. Program units then review proposals and issue acceptance/rejection notices in March (by April 1). Please note that you will need the following in order to submit a paper proposal: • Current SBL Full or Student membership • A valid email address • Paper title (formatted according to SBL Handbook of Style) • 300 word abstract (formatted according to SBL... Read more
Chris Spinks linked to and commented on a Lifehacker article by Alan Henry with the title “How to Conduct Scientific Research On the Internet (Without Getting Duped).” Michael Patton blogged about finding trustworthy scholars. Jona Lendering has a post about what the future might look like if the tide of poor quality information and simple misinformation is not stemmed. Amanda at Cheesewearing Theology contributed to the discussion of student blogging. A key point that has not been made strongly enough... Read more
As readers will know if they watched my recorded lecture about the Book of Revelation, I offer a lighthearted look at some of the proposed identifications of the Beast, including the suggestion that it could be Barney. To be fair, a purple dinosaur is obviously more like the monster depicted in the book than most other figures that have been proposed identifications of the Beast. Today, Scott Bailey shared this graphic explaining the rationale behind the identification, such as it... Read more
The saying “Why is it that the choice among churches always seems to be the choice between intelligence on ice and ignorance on fire?” is attributed in Diana Butler Bass’ book Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening to an unnamed Facebook poster. I think that this sense that one must choose between these two tendencies is one that has confronted many of us at some point. But I also think it... Read more
Bo Sanders discussed a bit of revisionist history offered in a tweet by Rick Warren, who outlandishly claimed (among other things): Liberal theology has never created any university. It just sucks the life our of those that were started by Bible believers. Fortunately he received a lot of responses challenging his either bizarrely ill-informed or downright dishonest claim. And if you missed it, see the meme that he inspired – and later even contributed to – on Twitter, #RickWarrenTips. Chris Hallquist asked... Read more
The cartoon above (and the one below) are from the delightful series St. Swithin's. I recently participated in a session aimed at identifying core values of our church, and so I can appreciate how close to home the cartoon hits. Our pastor used a denominational resource that was very helpful, asking us to come up with a list, but then, setting off in pioneering fashion with limited space, we had to then combine and jettison in order to remain with... Read more
My entire time at church today seemed to bring together thoughts and discussions related to this theme of belief and practice and the relationship between them for Christians. In my Sunday school class, having had a guest talk about the views of the Latter Day Saints last week, we planned to talk this week about the mainstream historic Christian tradition as reflected in such creeds as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. But before diving into those, I asked... Read more
This post will hopefully illustrate that serious thoughts can be generated by frivolous content on blogs. Allan Bevere shared this amusing image of “John the Southern Baptist”: That got me thinking of the question “What sort of Baptist was John?” – imagining various “baptists” fighting over a claim to him. And that led me to wonder whether we might not have gotten the logic of John's moniker backwards. It is often thought that, since there were so many ritual washings... Read more
Unvirtuous Abbey apparently started it, but Rod the Rogue Demon Hunter blogged about it and Storified it. I am referring to the Twitter meme #JediHymns. It is definitely worth checking out, whether in Rod’s post or on Twitter. It includes a lot of gems, of which the following are just samples: If you’re Jedi and you know it / Use the Force This lightsaber of mine; I’m gonna let it shine! It only takes a spark, to get a Death... Read more
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