Observing Evolution

Last updated on: January 17, 2012 at 2:39 pm By James F. McGrath

Creationists regularly claim that evolution is unobservable. This claim is false. To give some examples, just in recent days there have been a few important instances of scientists being able to witness crucial evolutionary transitions as they happen. Here are links to relevant articles: In yeast, scientists have observed the transition from being a single-celled organism to multicellularity. In a particular type of skink (a lizard), we have been able to witness the transition from laying eggs to live births.... Read more

Research in Religious Studies Conference Call for Papers

Last updated on: January 17, 2012 at 12:03 pm By James F. McGrath

From Jim Linville: The Religious Studies Department, at the University of Lethbridge, will present the 10th Annual Research in Religious Studies Conference on May 5 – 6, 2012. The conference provides undergraduate and graduate level students with the opportunity to present papers on the history, belief, practices, cultural contexts, and artistic or literary expressions of any religious tradition. Proposals for papers from any discipline within the academic fields of the humanities and social science are welcome. The conference is open... Read more

Bart Ehrman’s Did Jesus Exist? to be published in hardback

Last updated on: January 17, 2012 at 11:42 am By James F. McGrath

Thanks to Tim Henderson for pointing out that Bart Ehrman’s book Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth will be published in hardcover and not only in ebook form, as originally planned. Read more

A Comprehensive Bibliography on Syriac Christianity

Last updated on: January 17, 2012 at 11:35 am By James F. McGrath

Via NASCAS I learned that a trial version of the “Comprehensive Bibliography on Syriac Christianity” is now available online. Read more

Moses and the Screenwriter

Last updated on: January 17, 2012 at 9:23 am By James F. McGrath

Non Sequitur HT Kristian Petersen Read more

Doctor Who: The King’s Demons

Last updated on: January 17, 2012 at 8:31 am By James F. McGrath

The Doctor Who episode “The King’s Demons” is a short (two-part) and fairly entertaining tale about the Doctor and his companions arriving in the time of King John and the Crusade, shortly before the signing of Magna Carta. The Doctor finds the Master there working to change history so as to prevent Magna Carta from being signed and thus hinder democracy and leave more room for his despotic rule. This reflects, however subtly, a Western colonialist perspective – the notion... Read more

Martin Luther King and the Quest for a Just Society

Last updated on: January 16, 2012 at 10:25 pm By James F. McGrath

This semester, my freshman seminar course “Faith, Doubt and Reason” focuses on utopias, dystopias, and the quest for community and a just society. Since we start tomorrow, the day after Martin Luther King Day, I moved the readings – in fact, viewings – up to the very first day of class. Most people are familiar with one snippet of the “I have a dream” speech and the “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech – or perhaps they would be better... Read more

Doctor Who: Special Effects Dinosaurs

Last updated on: January 16, 2012 at 10:04 pm By James F. McGrath

IO9 shared this video about the famously poor special effects in the Doctor Who episode “Invasion of the Dinosaurs.” Read more

Ezekiel 4:12 Cereal

Last updated on: January 16, 2012 at 7:55 pm By James F. McGrath

Ask and you shall receive! After I suggested the idea in my last post, Jeff Carter kindly made this addition so as to offer a more comprehensively Biblical range of cereal choices: If you don’t get the joke, take a look at Ezekiel 4:9, which gives its name to a genuine range of products, and keep reading at least until Ezekiel 4:12. A nice bowl of Ezekiel 4:9 cereal will go nicely with a slice of Ezekiel 4:12 toast… What... Read more

Biblical Breakfast?

Last updated on: January 16, 2012 at 1:28 pm By James F. McGrath

I just saw this on Jesus Needs New PR: It definitely cries out for someone to photoshop it so that it mentions Ezekiel 4:12 and is proudly said to have been baked over excrement! Read more