Too many undiscerning Christians (apparently including the majority of those who live in Russia) have been duped and thus fail to realize that the Mayan prediction of the end of the world on December 21st 2012 is simply another salvo in the war on Christmas. You don’t think the ancient Mayans set the date for the apocalypse so close to the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth just by accident, do you? The aim is presumably to prevent people from buying present,... Read more
  Read more
The last class topic of the semester, this lecture begins with a bit of background about apocalyptic literature such as the Book of Daniel, covers general points about the Book of Revelation, and then tackles the number of the Beast, mentioning some prior proposed identifications both frivolous and serious. Read more
Religion Call for Papers passed on an exciting bit of news: The European Association of Biblical Studies will be holding a workshop in Leipzig next summer on science fiction and the Bible! There’s more information on the EABS website, and the call for papers opened today. Sounds like something I really ought to find a way to go to. The workshop is organized by a doctoral student named Frauke Uhlenbruch who appears to have a longstanding interest in the topic.... Read more
This marks the start of the season when a small remnant of liturgically-minded Christians (including some of us American Baptists!) mark the countdown to Christmas – and a comparable number of Doctor Who fans count down the days to the Christmas special. Either way, the symbolism relates to the arrival of something or someone long awaited. And those who are interested in the intersection of religion and Doctor Who, recalling the jumbled history of Christmas vaguely understood and remembered by... Read more
The Christian Century has released its issue with recommendations for Christmas gifts. This year they had a science fiction category, and Gabriel McKee and I wrote the recommendations. Click through to read them! Fuller reviews of Shada and Existence can be found in separate posts on my blog. Read more
Another modern classic in the making. Â Â Read more
Via a Facebook friend, I learned of a collection of the 42 worst nativity sets (although the last one I actually kind of like). But this kitchen time Nativity is full of Advent symbolism, since you can use it to count down. And since Advent starts tomorrow, I thought I’d share it: Read more
Via Stephen Carlson on Facebook   Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In