Summers are special times for professors. At the start of them, we make implausibly grandiose plans about what we are going to accomplish during them. At the end of them, we wonder where the time has gone. Here are some of the things I did this summer: Took students to Israel. Finished work on translating the chapters I was responsible for in the Mandaean Book of John. Worked on an encyclopedia article on “monotheism” (Almost done…) Began work on creating... Read more
I have shared on my blog more than once a challenge that I was given a while ago, or better, a thought experiment I was encouraged to carry out, namely, to ask myself “What would it take to make you lose your faith?” For the purpose of this scenario, I was allowed to have a time and space machine, and so could go anywhere in the universe and anytime in history. You can click through to read more about my thoughts back... Read more
Here’s part two of the webisode series Pond Life leading up to the new season of Doctor Who this weekend. Read more
Just when I thought that I might be able to narrow down which Bible software I want to use, or resign myself to using two different platforms, Accordance is throwing a spanner/wrench in the works. They will be releasing Accordance for Windows PCs in 2013! Now I'll have another one that I'll have to consider… In related news, Jim West shares some thoughts from Bryan Bibb on how Bible software is changing the way that people read the Bible. Read more
Given my interest in religion and science (I’m even teaching my class on the subject this semester) this quote which Menachem Mendel shared, and which apparently comes from Thomas Friedman’s book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, p.429, seemed worth sharing. I’ve only been to one of the two – like most human beings, I’ve never been off the Earth – and so I can’t compare. But with Neil Armstrong’s passing, and my recent second visit to Jerusalem, and my interest... Read more
One doesn’t have to spend much time online, whether on a blog like this one o ever more so a site like Reddit, to experience what I am talking about. There seem to be more people than ever before who treat their interactions with other people, things that might well have been conversations had this approach not been taken, as though they were interacting with enemies in a first-person shooter game, or monsters in a hack-and-slash role playing game. It... Read more
I can’t understand why the only people who have been saying that God is judging the Republican party by throwing hurricane Isaac at their convention in recent days are people who are parodying conservative Christians’ typical rhetoric. Where are the actual conservative Evangelical Protestant Christians who are willing to at least try to give an appearance of consistency? I mean seriously. Don’t most conservative Christians view Mormonism as a satanic lie, a distortion of Christianity? And given that Ayn Rand’s... Read more
I have recorded a lecture covering some of the topics I normally discuss in class about Genesis 2-3, and whether there is one creation account or two. Let me know if you find it interesting/useful, and any and all feedback is appreciated! Read more
The first part of the webisode series “Pond Life” – which will serve as the prequel to the first episode of Doctor Who this season (which will air on September 1st) – is now online. You can watch it here, on YouTube, or on the BBC web site! Read more
My friend John Weightman wrote this in a comment on Facebook: In the UK I have noticed that there appears to be a tendency for some people to want to 'roll back the state' when it involves being generous to the disadvantaged or the sick, but to want a bigger state when it comes to the military, the police or prisons. Now that seems to me to be just the opposite of what Jesus taught. Perhaps we should fund the... Read more
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