Andrew Brown wrote a piece for The Guardian in which he says, “It’s been fairly clear for weeks that the papyrus fragment known as the“gospel of Jesus’s wife” was a modern fake, assembled from phrases found in real gnostic gospels and in particular the Gospel of Thomas, a 4th-century copy of a 2nd-century manuscript.” He then goes on to discuss the evidence provided by Andrew Bernhard that the forger used an online version of the Gospel of Thomas, replicating a... Read more
Since I last blogged about the topic of Christopher Rollston’s situation at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, a lot has appeared not only on blogs, but in Inside Higher Ed, which carried a story about what has been going on. That article suggested that the Emmanuel Christian Seminary administration was choosing to pander to a potential donor (and pursue a large donation) rather than respect the wisdom and insight of a valuable professor. Bob Cargill offers further comments on that topic, as does Jeremiah Bailey. Matthew... Read more
I’ve been wanting to post some thoughts that came up in my class on the Bible last week. We were discussing the Book of Ruth, which itself challenged Israelite laws and prejudices aimed at Moabites (that itself is a message that some Christians seem not to have grasped). In the process of discussing Ruth, the law pertaining to gleaning obviously came up, and so we took a look at the law in Leviticus requiring landowners to leave the edges of... Read more
IO9 has another set of Star Wars religious iconography, of which the above is but one example. Click through to see more. And despite what you’ll read there, Jar Jar Binks is not included in the ranks of sainthood – no halo! Here, see for yourself: Read more
By QualiaSoup HT Hemant Mehta Read more
The New York Times has reported that the organization that calls itself the “American Family Association” is opposing Mix It Up Day – a day during which children are (get ready for it) encouraged to sit with someone that they would not normally, outside of their comfort zone. American Family Association, and anyone who keeps their children home from school at their advice, I am talking to you: The Jesus you claim to follow ate with tax collectors and sinners.... Read more
Over the past day or so, several bloggers have responded to, mentioned, or built upon things I've written here or said elsewhere on the topic of religion and science fiction. At Political Jesus, Rod the Rogue Demon-Hunter shared several tongue-in-cheek explorations of the idea of Jesus as Sith Lord. Below is one of the images he shared (another is at the end of this post): Of course, elsewhere Jesus is depicted as saying the opposite – that anyone who is... Read more
HT John DeNardo. Read more
I spotted this on Facebook about a week ago, but IO9 mentioned it today and so I thought I’d share it. It’s an interesting bit of trivia, making for a nice addition to the “most interesting man in the world” meme. Read more
OK, the argument above is cute. Can it be used to prove not only that there is a Santa Claus, but also that there is a God – indeed, an infinite number of them? Or does the apparent absence of Santa from our universe suggest that there are not an infinite number of universes? And if the multiverse idea ends up needing to be discarded, what are the implications for atheism and for various religious beliefs? Since I have mentioned... Read more
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