If you are on Twitter, please do follow me there! It’s a convenient way of keeping up with the latest blog posts here, and also sharing with me things that you find interesting that might provide inspiration for me to blog about! I also share links to other blog posts and things I find interesting via Twitter. My Twitter nickname is ReligionProf. Hope to see you there! Read more
I sometimes wonder if mythicists realize when they are making fools of themselves. If they do, then they are presumably akin to clowns and comedians who provide a useful service in providing us with entertainment. If they are unintentionally funny, then their clowning around in some instances may include misrepresentation of others which, however ridiculous, requires some sort of response. A case in point is Neil Godfrey’s recent posts about how historians work and the specific case of Jan Vansina.... Read more
The episode of Doctor Who, “The War Machines,” may seem to explore familiar terrain to viewers today. But keep in mind that this episode was written and aired not only decades before Skynet and the Terminator films, but also years before the movie Colossus: The Forbin Project was released. And so the Doctor Who episode is a forerunner to those famous sci-fi movies and not a mere imitation of them. If you haven’t seen it, you have probably guessed by... Read more
The Exodus story contains numerous miracles. But one of the biggest miracles involved in taking the Exodus story literally is only likely to be noticed if you try to correlate the Exodus story in the Bible with external evidence from ancient Egypt, the history of which is well documented not only by royal and other formal inscriptions, but also in surviving correspondence, fiscal transaction records, and other textual as well as archaeological evidence. To treat the Exodus story as literal,... Read more
The Doctor Who episode “The Web Planet” from the show’s second season, still in the era of the first Doctor, accompanied by Ian, Barbara, and Vicki, sees the travelers materialize on a barren world, resembling Earth’s moon. This world, called Vortis, is inhabited by giant insects. The Menoptera who initially are thought to be invading are trying to reclaim the planet, which they previously inhabited. It has been taken over by the Animus, which is controlling giant ants called Zarbi.... Read more
Amanda at Cheese-Wearing Theology has posted a reminder that she will be hosting the next Biblical Studies Carnival on her blog. Click through for information on where to submit posts from this month – whether by e-mail or twitter. Read more
Fringe returned last night with the episode “Back To Where You’ve Never Been.” It featured all the surprises, twists and turns we have come to love from the show, and from J. J. Abrams shows in general, while continuing to feel more satisfying than LOST in giving answers as well as raising questions. While this post does contain spoilers inasmuch as it talks about a specific scene in the episode, it is not going to recap the episode in detail.... Read more
The episode “The Savages” is significant for several reasons. It was the first episode to have one single title for its multiple parts – earlier “episodes” had completely separate names for the individual parts, and no clear name for the unified story that was told across them. It also was, I believe, the first time the Doctor reached a planet and was clearly already famous there and welcomed on his arrival (just as the Doctor was aware of them): EDAL... Read more
I previously blogged about Sabio Lantz’s diagram depicting a spectrum from a little to a big God. He meant by this a spectrum from a God with few specific attributes to a God with many, but I approached it in terms of which has the more exalted or majestic view of God and suggested that perhaps the spectrum ought to run in the opposite direction. I had hoped to follow up on this, and then today I saw two posts... Read more
The news is circulating that, after a long period of little progress, an untethered jailbreak for the iPad 2 and other A5 devices running iOS 5.0.1 is expected to be available very soon. I’m looking forward to being able to activate voice control, available on the iPod Touch but switched off on the iPad and available only through jailbreaking, for reasons I can’t imagine. My iPad doesn’t communicate effectively with my car stereo, even though they are supposed to be... Read more
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