Marvin Meyer, known to many not only for his work on the Gnostic Gospels but also his appearance in several documentaries, has passed away. Alin Suciu has more details about his career and his passing. Meyer was scheduled to present in the same Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism session as I am in November at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting in Chicago. I was particularly looking forward to having the opportunity of that occasion to get to meet him... Read more
On Facebook I shared this quote from Richard Dawkins, which came to me in poster form via George Takei: Biologist Larry Moran chimed in both on Facebook and on his blog to point out that the statement is, at the very least, not entirely correct, and the extent to which it is true depends on what one is referring to by the word “evolution.” If, to use a classic example, a fossil of a rabbit was discovered in the Precambrian... Read more
John Byron has offered a great response on his blog to my post about the New Testament’s relative lack of interest in the topic of homosexuality. He agrees with me on the point that at times it is appropriate to view a matter differently than New Testament authors did. And he makes the point that an argument from silence is unworkable. Even though most will understand that my argument from Jesus’ silence was aimed primarily at poking fun at those... Read more
As many of us prepare to teach again, professors are thinking already about how students will evaluate their courses. Here’s what one student wrote on an evaluation form, about what they’d do if they had just one hour left to live: HT The Mills River Progressive Read more
There is something ironic about people pointing to their canon of Scripture and being uncompromising on the basis of it or about things that it says. A canon is almost always a result of compromise, and this is nowhere more true than in the case of the Jewish and Christian Bibles. Indeed, the fact that we speak of “the Bible” despite the fact that there are different Bibles used by Jews, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholic Christians, Protestant Christians, and... Read more
Jona Lendering posted a reply on his blog to a recent post on mine, about teaching students to use online sources discerningly. His conclusion is stated bluntly at the end of the post: To sum up: at this moment there is no good reason why students should use the internet. Let’s face it: the internet has failed. I strongly disagree, both on principle and in practice. On principle, I think that there is reliable information available online, if one knows where... Read more
I've seen lots of science fiction versions of the Last Supper: LOST, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars. But this one is new to me. I found it via The Daily Dalek on Facebook, which is also a new discovery for me. Also for Doctor Who fans, IO9 had the latest Doctor Who news, with information (spoilers) about upcoming titles of Doctor Who episodes this season. This quote made me laugh: Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill's final episode is called “The Angels... Read more
I have found myself blogging on the topic of same-sex marriage and related subjects a lot lately. Perhaps I should try to take a more Biblical approach to the matter in the future – in other words, not talk about it much, if at all. 🙂 But perhaps I can use this opportunity to share one more thought on the subject. Among the Greeks and Romans, same-sex relationships between men were common, so much so that the entire Greek culture... Read more
In my current teaching, I focus increasing amounts of attention on the discerning use of online sources of information. People no longer rack their brains to recall facts learned in school. They will pull out a device and look up what they want to know. And so, while some factual information is crucial in order to be discerning in this way – one cannot spot counterfeit money without experience of handling the real thing – the skill of evaluating sources... Read more
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WWJCOB? (What Would Jesus Comment on Blogs?)
There are many people in our time who claim to follow Jesus and to be seeking to emulate him. But it is clear that not everyone who has adopted such an approach to life has given thought to its implications for comments left on blogs. I wonder whether this is a lack of attention on their part, or a lack of imagination – or perhaps simply a rather different imagination. After all, if one reads the description of Jesus' preaching... Read more