Since someone made this image and shared it on Facebook, but with the quote attributed to someone else. Since the quote is from me (made in this post), I thought I’d modify it in the hope that eventually one or more with the correct attribution will predominate… Read more
A substantial part of the Christian blogosphere has been distracted from further discussion of Ross Douthat’s piece on Liberal Christianity, by a conservative Christian blog post about the novel Fifty Shades of Grey. I have not read the novel, but from reading the blog post in question, the reactions to it, and the follow-up from the Gospel Coalition’s Jared Wilson, we see clearly that the well-being of conservative to fundamentalist forms of Christianity is not at all a given. Let... Read more
Paul, in his time, made a case for relaxing Scriptural stipulations about the need for anyone within Abraham's household to be circumcised in order to be part of the covenant (Genesis 17:9-14). He did the same with regard to the people of God being called to observe the things written in the Law of Moses, i.e. Scripture as it existed in his time. When he did so, he himself could not simply declare his own writings Scripture so that it... Read more
Late yesterday I posted a round-up of links on this topic, and already there are enough for another, just on blogs to which I subscribe! First, let me mention that Ross Douthat himself has written a follow-up piece, “What Is Liberal Christianity?” In it his primary conversation partner is Steven Holmes, a British Baptist who wrote a response to Douthat’s initial piece in which he addressed this issue of defining Liberal Christianity. Holmes has now responded to Douthat, tempering his passion in... Read more
One nice feature of Kindle ebooks, such as my own The Burial of Jesus: What Does History Have to Do with Faith?, is the fact that data can be collected about what readers highlight in the text. Amazon shares such information anonymously on the book’s page. Here are the three most popularly highlighted quotes from that book: For some, religion is about confidently knowing; for others, it is about meekly acknowledging the inadequacy of our human knowledge. it was, in fact,... Read more
Some people think that they must defend the Bible's various words, statements, and depictions as being compatible with what we today know, whether scientifically, historically, or in other terms, lest its entire message be put in doubt. But it just cannot be done, at least not without a far greater cost, and undermining the very goal of attempting to do so in the first place. If you have to twist the meaning of Scripture in order to claim that it... Read more
There have been quite a few responses and reactions to Ross Douthat's New York Times piece since I posted my own response and round-up (as there have been other responses to other reporting on the recent Episcopal General Convention here in Indianapolis). There are several excellent ones, but the most striking title award goes to Rev. Matthew Lawrence, for his post, “Ross Douthat is a Fruit Fly.” The post contains a lot of insight, but what I valued most was... Read more
It struck me powerfully as I replied to a comment on a recent post featuring an infographic about the age of the Earth, that there is indeed a resemblance that appears between a deity and his or her worshipers, as one might and indeed should expect. In the case of young-earth creationists, the resemblance is deception and dishonesty. Think about it. Young-earth creationists claim to worship and serve a God who placed evidence in creation all of which agrees in... Read more
When I traveled to Israel and the Palestinian territories in May, I had the privilege of having a student of Palestinian descent on the trip. Loor has now shared a brief account of her experience on the Butler University Center for Faith and Vocation’s blog. Please click through to read it! Read more
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