Joel Watts – sorry, Willy Wonka – makes an apt comparison on Joel’s blog: Joel also links to my response to Carrier, and emphasizes in the process that, while matters such as whether Jesus was the Messiah are questions that depend on faith, the question of whether there was an ancient human being around whom the movement later known as Christianity formed is not a matter of faith, but of historical evidence and deduction. Mike Bird quotes Chris Keith in... Read more
I linked previously to Bart Ehrman’s piece on whether Jesus existed in The Huffington Post. A response has been written by Richard Carrier (also discussed by Tom Verenna and Neil Godfrey), and I want here to point out some problems with that response. Let me begin by emphasizing that when scholars write op-ed pieces for newspapers, what we write almost never ends up preserving the precise nuance that we consider important. I do not believe I have ever had such... Read more
I am grateful to Keika, a regular reader of and commenter on this blog, for sharing a photo of Darth Vader reading what apparently is one of his favorite books. I’m honored, both by the sharing of the photo, and by Darth Vader’s choice. Read more
The episode The Ice Warriors from the Patrick Troughton era is particularly interesting to watch today, because it is set in a time in Earth’s future when humanity faces a crisis as a result of anthropogenic climate change. In this case, developments in both food production and population led humans to reduce the amount of plant life growing in the wild to a bare minimum, reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, triggering a new ice age. The... Read more
A post that appeared today on IO9 drew to my attention a topic at the intersection of religion and science fiction that I somehow managed to remain completely unaware of. Apparently there is Hebrew writing on the front panel of Darth Vader’s armor. Here’s an image (you will probably need to zoom in to see it properly, and even then it isn’t very clear): It is hard to make out some letters, and the second line is written upside-down. There... Read more
Here’s the latest round-up on the Talpiot tomb discussion in the blogosphere. The title of this post comes from a post by Bob Cargill which responds to the suggestion that the “fish” on one of the Talpiot ossuaries is inspired by a tropical fish. It includes this image which treats the logic of that claim facetiously but effectively. Tom Verenna’s reference to “leaps in logic” is presumably a funny allusion to the phrase “jumping the shark.” Jim West mixes metaphors... Read more
HT Marc Cortez The image, even if facetious, still encourages me to think that I am right to focus increasingly in my teaching on matters of digital and information literacy. If you don’t know how to track down reliable information, you won’t be effective in proving someone wrong – or God forbid, learn that you are wrong yourself! Read more
I find myself in two minds about the episode “Paradise Towers.” It certainly gives impressive expression to the Seventh Doctor’s persona. But the plot of the story seems in many respects to bring things down to the level of a relatively unconvincing children’s show. And while Doctor Who has always been a show for children, it has generally been a show that was not just for children. Perhaps the key to appreciating the episode may be found in the Doctor’s... Read more
Inspired by a comment shared on Jerry Coyne’s blog. Presumably most will grasp that this is satire of the foolish question sometimes asked by opponents of mainstream science, “If humans evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?” Obviously the same ridiculous question could be asked of young-earth creationists and anyone else who takes the creation language in Genesis 2 literally. Read more
Preparing for the appearance of his new book, Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth, which is now in stock on Amazon.com, Bart Ehrman has published an article on the topic in the Huffington Post. His conclusion is “Whether we like it or not, Jesus certainly existed.” To see how he gets there, click through and read the article. Bart Ehrman also now has a blog: Christianity in Antiquity: The Bart Ehrman Blog. It is disappointing to... Read more
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