Both Jim Davila and John Byron link to and discuss the article in The Tablet about a new video game which involves following the rules in Leviticus. I’d be interested to know what sort of possible educational uses a game like this might have, and how much someone who plays it ends up understanding about Leviticus! Read more
David Hayward posted this image on his blog yesterday: His botching of the title (confusing “who’s” and “whose”) isn’t the only problem. The statement in the speech bubble is suggesting that we make God in our image, and David’s commentary points out that we are incapable of completely avoiding idolatry. If we think about God, if we speak about God, we commit idolatry, since we make images with our minds and words, and not just with our hands, utilizing wood... Read more
I apologize for the wacky title, but if a movie is made which features August Pernilla as Mary and Christian Bale as Jesus, then one simply has to make some sort of reference to their other roles along the lines of the title to this post, and get it out of one’s system. Or perhaps we should actually discuss science fiction and superhero saviors in connection with the movie, if there is interest. The movie I am referring to is... Read more
A couple of photos I took on the Butler University campus today. Read more
As I was gearing up for the second class period focused on The Communist Manifesto in my First Year Seminar course, this video came to my attention on several blogs I subscribe to. How can anyone think that this degree of inequity is acceptable? And it pales in comparison to the inequity that exists on a global rather than a national scale. I lived for a few years in a post-communist society, as well as for longer still in another... Read more
This is the song that sparked off my recent bit of songwriting. I reworked the melody for this recording, having revised it multiple times already because I wrote it in a range that few people can sing in, least of all me. I hope to have at least one version to share in the near future with someone else singing the lead vocals, so that you can hear it as I imagine it in my head, and not merely in... Read more
Michael Bird shared this Mitchell and Webb video about an imagined conversation between Richard Dawkins and his publisher. It actually gets at a really good point, which connects with an issue I often blog about, namely the embracing of Jesus-mythicism and other such fringe ideas among atheists. There is something enjoyable in denying what others affirm, and in believing oneself smarter than the majority of people who affirm whatever it is. And so I suspect that the love of denial,... Read more
The attempt at an alliterative title hopefully will not obscure what this post is about, which is an attempt to clarify my thinking about Adam in Paul’s letters. This is a follow-up to my earlier post, in which I explained some of the reasons for concluding that Jesus and Paul were not literalists, which in turn emerged from the comment thread on an earlier post about evolution. In saying that Paul was not a literalist with respect to the Adam story, that... Read more
Several posts and graphics have come my way that intersect under this heading. First and most directly is this Chuck and Beans cartoon (HT David Meadows): Next, Tony Jones shared an excerpt from Peter Rollins’ book which mentions the Sirens’ song of offering a product that will fill a gap in our lives, even if we call that product “God”: Finally, at Stuff Fundies Like there’s a post about the appeal of returning to fundamentalism when one has left it,... Read more
A friend shared this cartoon from “Inherit the Mirth” on Facebook. I was entertained by it immediately, but only later it struck me that it can also be used to make a serious point. The Bible and other ancient Jewish and Christian texts use manna as a symbol – for the word of God, for wisdom, and/or for Jesus. There are a lot of religious believers who undiscerningly accept whatever is offered to them, as long as the one offering... Read more
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