Someone shared a link the other day to a blog post which Don Burrows wrote a couple of years ago, about Paul's letter to the Romans, and in particular the interpretation of the “clobber passage” in chapter 1 in the context of the letter as a whole. I shared the link on Facebook, but wanted to not only share the link here as well, but dig deeper into the subject. The blog post asks who the “man” is that is... Read more
I’m grateful to the folks at Logos Bible Software for the opportunity to review the latest version of their product, Logos 5. I plan to do several posts on this software, including the desktop version. And so in this one, I will focus only on the corresponding iPad app, which provides convenient access to the same purchased materials one can access on one’s desktop computer. While most of the bloggers I have read talk about the software have focused, understandably,... Read more
What do you think? Accidental or specially ordered? Real or Photoshopped? Uninteresting or really cool symbolism about trust in God making one unconcerned about end times mania? HT Mike Beidler on Facebook Read more
From Scenes from a Multiverse. The view of how Christians view the Old Testament is at best a caricature. But the cartoon does nicely poke fun at those who would speak of the inerrancy of “original autographs” that we no longer have, simply to be able to assert that the Bible was once inerrant (and so now is still a close approximate to that inerrant original). This has long struck me as a rather odd last-ditch attempt to salvage the... Read more
This graphic which came my way on Facebook seems to make an excellent point. I was not able to confirm that the actual number of shootings in schools was 5, and it seems that that number may include institutions of higher education as well as elementary schools. Whether any religious schools are in that figure I am also not sure. But the stat for church shootings 115 in 2012 – is confirmed by Christianity Today. There are two possible ways... Read more
A cartoon from ASBO Jesus. An irony I see is that, precisely because the Bible cannot talk in the way depicted in the cartoon, it cannot object to conservative Christians who say things like “the Bible says….” They often try to treat God in the same way. Read more
I’m posting this to spread the good news that David Hayward, the cartoonist known to many from his blog Naked Pastor, is moving his blog to Patheos. Welcome, David! Some of his cartoons I absolutely love. Some of them I strongly disagree with. They are pretty much never dull and never fail to get you thinking. Do you have a favorite David Hayward cartoon? If so, which one? Here’s one of my favorites of his: Read more
At SBL in November, John Dominic Crossan spoke about Eastern Orthodox iconography of the resurrection (I previously blogged about this). Here is an example of the iconography: I was struck by the consistent depiction of Jesus grasping Adam by the wrist, which I assumed symbolized that the entirety of the salvation was accomplished by God, with humanity passively rescued and unable to contribute. The day before yesterday, in a presentation by a colleague in Classics, I discovered that this gesture... Read more
Ovid Butler was born on this day in 1801. Among the things that he did during his life was to found North West Christian University, which eventually became Butler University. And so at Butler we call this day Founder's Day. Read more about Ovid Butler in the brief bio on the university web page. Read more
Tim Gombis has shared some powerful thoughts about fundamentalism. Here is a sample: The fundamentalist error is the assumption that when I perceive some fundamental of the Christian faith to be threatened, I have the prerogative to be violent. The implicit logic at work here is that at critical moments the best way to defend the Christian faith is to betray it. The most effective way to advance the cause of Christ is to disobey his commands. It is the... Read more
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