Classes begin today at Butler University. This semester I am teaching two core curriculum courses, one on the Bible and the other a freshman seminar on faith, doubt, and reason. My third course is an upper-level course on religion and science. If you teach, what are you teaching this semester? If you are a student, what classes are you taking? Read more
My blog is usually about other things, but I have occasionally been able to offer useful technical advice. My solution to the problem of experiencing a black screen after login on Windows Vista remains one of the most viewed entries of all time on this blog. (My post on the most effective squirrel baffle of all time has not gotten nearly as much attention – even though it is free!) Anyway, I own an Insignia flatscreen TV – not a... Read more
Another recording of my favorite piece of music has appeared on YouTube, Kurt Atterberg’s Second Symphony. The opening and closing sections of the second movement take my breath away. Read more
Today’s “Quote of the Day” comes from Greg Carey: The best way for conservative churches to produce “liberal” biblical scholars is to keep encouraging young people to read the Bible…Reading the Bible is a terrific cure for fundamentalism. That’s exactly how many of us so-called liberal Bible scholars got our start. Those quotes are from near the beginning and end of the article, “Where Do ‘Liberal’ Bible Scholars Come From?” at the Huffington Post (HT John Byron). Carey’s perspective is... Read more
The “Mindset List” for freshmen starting college or university this year (2012, and thus set to graduate as the class of 2016) has been posted (HT Inside Higher Ed). That’s the list of things which have always or never been the case for these students, and which those of us significantly older than them may find it hard to imagine. Here are some that really struck me: The Biblical sources of terms such as “Forbidden Fruit,” “The writing on the wall,”... Read more
I’ve recorded a brief lecture on the creation account in Genesis 1. Read more
I’ve long known about (and have mentioned before) the Adherents web site’s catalog of superheroes’ religious affiliation. Today I learned via IO9 that on that web site there are now also graphics depicting the superheroes of a given tradition. Here are the Baptists: I am guessing that some are American Baptist, some are Southern Baptist, and some are from any number of tiny Baptist groups that don’t get along with anyone else. And so I don’t see the legion lasting.... Read more
The cartoon is good just for a chuckle, but I think it also illustrates an important point. Using the methods of analysis appropriate in an underlying domain will not produce useful results if applied without modification or addition to a different, overarching one. Organisms need to be approached differently than particles. Minds need to be approached differently again. Reducing things to their constituent parts can teach us important things, but we also need to study how they function as a... Read more
There were several quotes that I wanted to share, all related to inerrancy, and so I decided to collect them all here. I’ll let you decide whether I saved the best for last. First, Fred Clark wrote: The doctrine of “inerrancy” is often referred to as a “high view of scripture.” It is not. It’s a low-down dirty trick to play on the Bible and on anyone who tries to read it. Inerrancy is not a victimless crime. It chases... Read more
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