I came across this quote from Francis Collins on Reddit: I am sharing it because I thought it might lead to some interesting discussion. On the one hand, Collins’ perspective is an important and helpful one, since it illustrates that it is possible for people of faith to embrace mainstream science. And yet I don’t think that embracing of science can leave one’s faith unchanged, and that isn’t a bad thing. The Bible doesn’t know God as “God of the... Read more
I've heard this claim a lot lately, and it seems to me bizarre, particularly when it focuses on an example like the Good Samaritan. A friend actually told me recently that the Good Samaritan didn't rely on the government to take care of the man, appealing to that as if it were an argument against governments being involved in addressing matters of need or equity or safety. That seems to me to be making a virtue out of an unfortunate... Read more
     I created a couple of images to help me make my point about fact-checking information found on the internet – making the point both by what is said, and by the fact that Jesus didn’t say these things, as one will know if one fact-checks the quotes! Feel free to share and circulate them!   Read more
img class=”alignleft” src=”http://i.ytimg.com/vi/COeqlKXvgN4/0.jpg” alt=”” width=”202″ height=”151″ />I focus on information literacy skills in my course on the Bible – i.e. the ability to identify and utilize reliable sources of information amid the wide array of sources of varying degrees of reliability – and ridiculousness – that abound on the internet. And so I asked them at the end of class last time to come up with something bizarre that they have found or can find online that relates to the... Read more
Those who are not fans of Doctor Who will read the title of this post and think that I am going overboard in my praise of the show. Fans will know that I am in fact referring to the episode from the Sylvester McCoy era of the show, the final episode of his penultimate season, which had the title “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.” It is in fact interesting to ask whether the potential for confusion was intentional. It... Read more
At least they spelled his name correctly as “Pilate.” I regularly have students write “Pilot” or “Pontius Pilot.” From here Read more
There’s a quote, attributed to James Barr, which is popular among young-earth creationists. Here is the quote: Probably, so far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Genesis 1–11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that: (a) creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience. (b) the... Read more
I found the image at Political Graffiti. It seems to me that there is a more serious parallel that one can draw between Christian discipleship and education in general. Traditionally, Christianity has been characterized by the vast majority of its devotees thinking in this term, so that even its teachers have ended up “teaching to the test.” What will we be judged on? What will we be held accountable for? But the real test of religious faith, and of any sort... Read more
A friend drew to my attention a piece of Doctor Who history which will soon be released as an audiobook. Masters of Luxor (Doctor Who Lost Stories 3.7) was originally intended to be the second story in the serial, but it was never made, being replaced by The Daleks. And while the Daleks helped turn Doctor Who into a phenomenon, as a scholar of religion, I can’t help but wonder what might have been – and take an interest in this... Read more
A recent comment got me thinking about what it means to be a progressive or liberal Christian, and in what ways it is fundamentally different than being a conservative. I am not sure whether there is in fact more or less diversity among liberals than conservatives as far as beliefs and practices – I would expect there to be, but I don’t have data. I suspect that liberal and progressive Christians will probably agree on at least some major things... Read more
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