Church Death and Church Evolution

Last updated on: March 1, 2013 at 8:01 am By James F. McGrath

David Hayward's cartoon above is accompanied by a comment acknowledging that the church itself may never die, but churches die all the time. The reason some religious believers sometimes manage to persuade themselves otherwise is much the same reason some manage to persuade themselves that evolution does not occur. When change occurs over generations, it is easy for the people of one generation to convince themselves that it is not happening at all. But such beliefs do not change the... Read more

AAR and SBL Call for Papers: The End is Near!

Last updated on: February 28, 2013 at 10:57 pm By James F. McGrath

First, Daniel Kirk shared some advice about browser issues when submitting paper proposals – in short, if you have issues with one browser, try another! The SBL paper proposal deadline is a little over an hour away. If you plan to submit one, you need to do so quickly! Bloggers who've submitted their proposals are already beginning to mention them, as have Joel Watts and Dan McClellan. And those who chair sessions are putting out frantic last-minute reminders, as Chris... Read more

The Boredom of Eternity

Last updated on: February 28, 2013 at 4:55 pm By James F. McGrath

Today's Speed Bump cartoon pinpoints an important issue with the notion of an afterlife in which people exist forever more in much the same sort of existence as human beings experience now, with personalities and experience of passing time. It is not just the stereotype of sitting on a cloud playing a harp that seems like it would get old fairly quickly. Any sort of existence that goes on forever is likely to result in boredom eventually. And so why... Read more

Lil’ Plato and the Allegory of the Cave Rap

Last updated on: February 28, 2013 at 3:23 pm By James F. McGrath

A student in my colleague’s class made a rap video about the Allegory of the Cave in Plato’s Republic. It is filmed on the Butler campus and features Butler students. Let me know what you think of it! Read more

There Are No Contradictions! (A Game for 3-6 Players)

Last updated on: February 28, 2013 at 11:38 am By James F. McGrath

Ian posted this wonderful game idea on his blog, inspired by (among other things) the way fundamentalists deal with the diversity and contradictions within the Bible. If you play it, let me know – indeed, feel free to use the comments section here to play or at least start a game! There Are No Contradictions! (A Game for 3-6 Players) 3-6 players, ages 6+ Takes from 15 minutes to several hours. May be played face to face, by email or... Read more

Modern Exodus

Last updated on: February 28, 2013 at 10:49 am By James F. McGrath

If the Israelites crossed the Red Sea – or any body of water – in our day and age: HT Jim West Read more

Reluctant Adopter of New Technology

Last updated on: February 28, 2013 at 9:55 am By James F. McGrath

Did Jesus Foresee, Plan, and/or Interpret His Own Death?

Last updated on: June 27, 2017 at 10:23 pm By James F. McGrath

Did Jesus foresee his own death coming and interpret it beforehand? The opinions on this tend to be divided largely into two camps: conservative Christians who will say “Of course Jesus knew, he was God,” and others, including historians, who will say that, while Jesus might well have suspected that he might meet a fate similar to his mentor John the Baptist, as a human being he wouldn’t have and couldn’t have known. I wonder whether there isn’t a third... Read more

Take Up Your Cross

Last updated on: February 27, 2013 at 8:31 pm By James F. McGrath

I received a question in an e-mail that seemed worthy of a blog post rather than just a private response. The question was about the depiction in the Gospels of Jesus telling people to not simply follow him, but to take up their cross and follow him. One question is obviously whether Jesus can be envisaged as having uttered such words. But even for those who answer “yes” the question remains: what if anything would Jesus' hearers, prior to the... Read more

Review of Thomas Brodie, Beyond the Quest for the Historical Jesus

Last updated on: February 27, 2013 at 12:48 pm By James F. McGrath

Thomas Brodie’s book Beyond the Quest for the Historical Jesus: Memoir of a Discovery is in fact what the subtitle describes – a memoir of one individual scholar’s life and journey. It illustrates well that an academic career is not an isolated phenomenon, unaffected by the things that may be going on in the context we live and teach in – as Brodie had the opportunity to live, work, and teach in a wide array of national and cultural contexts.... Read more

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