Those who’ve begun tinkering at the wiki I set up on Wikia already disagree on whether the best use of time and space is to address mythicist claims or to present the positive case for there having been a historical Jesus on its own terms. I don’t see the two as mutually exclusive. But since both are potentially useful, I’ve set up a second wiki, TalkHistoricity: The Case for a Historical Jesus. Anyone who wants to focus on presenting the... Read more
It should of course be captioned, “If math was taught like some people want science to be taught, but thankfully in most cases it isn’t…” Read more
In response to my last post, a Facebook friend shared this with me: Read more
By Adele Lorienne, via Tumblr and Pinterest. Click through to see some of this artist’s other lovely works of Doctor Who fan art. My response to the above is this: Read more
Ian has posted on his blog a range of different views which might be – or be mistaken for – forms of “mythicism.” Obviously most historians find there to be myth in the Gospels, and so if finding myth to be present were all it took for one to be a mythicist, then everyone but conservative Christians would be mythicists. But since there is a distinctive view which argues against the overwhelming consensus of mainstream scholarship in suggesting that it... Read more
Jeff Carter has posted on his blog about his impressions from reading my short book The Burial of Jesus: What Does History Have to Do with Faith?. I encourage you to click through and read what he says about it. He ends the post with a question for me, which I’ll quote here: The earliest followers of the Resurrected Jesus were willing and even eager to declare their faith in this paradoxical and oxymoronic idea of a crucified and resurrected God... Read more
If there are parallel universes, there is surely one in which all Doctor Who fans know “The Masters of Luxor.” This story was originally intended to be the second episode or story arc in the series. Instead, “The Daleks” was chosen to serve that purpose, and the rest is history. But the story is an important part of Doctor Who history, and it has recently been released on audiobook so that we can enjoy it. The travelers seem not to... Read more
Fred Clark has a post about an Evangelical blog entry by Karen Swallow Prior that made a connection between the martyrdom of Stephen and the fact that Hobby Lobby is going to have to provide comprehensive insurance for employees, including coverage for things that the employer personally does not want to. Employers have always had to be compelled to provide safe work conditions, health insurance, fair wages, and so on. Some have done it out of the goodness of their... Read more
Myths have a power that should never be ignored and no one is more helpless against them than the man who supposes he has overcome them with reason. — Andrew Brown, “Sam Harris's dangerous faith in guns” in The Guardian. Read more
David Hayward’s latest cartoon depicts Jesus as having a truly prophetic ability, as illustrated by this uncannily accurate nightmare: Presumably it would have been enough to cause a nightmare if Jesus had simply foreseen what some people speaking in his name would about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Hector Avalos, a religious studies professor who happens to be an atheist, has written a letter to the editor which offers more theological precision and insight than... Read more
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