The Doctor Who story “The Rescue” is a relatively short (two-part) but nevertheless powerful episode. With “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” having seen the departure of Susan, “The Rescue” introduces a new young girl to fill the function she did, namely providing a relatively young person’s perspective and involvement in the action. In fact, it was precisely because Susan was growing up and had matured into a woman that she was left behind. The question of whether Doctor Who is... Read more
Many bloggers mention their most popular posts of the year in an end-of-year post. I plan to do the same. But I am also curious to hear which ones were the favorites of regular readers, too. What goes viral, and what is of interest to regular readers, is not always the same thing. What would you like to see more of – or less of – on this blog in 2012? Read more
I made a video some time ago, and it continues to get visits from the occasional mythicist who rejects the argument and wants to be persuaded that Jesus existed in 500 characters or less. I’m sharing the video again here in the hope that perhaps the commenter currently wasting time over there might come here for less constrained discussion – but barring that, to encourage those who are interested to try their hand at making a persuasive case in up... Read more
Thanks to Cliff Martin for pointing out this story by Isaac Asimov. It offers yet another slant on the composition of the creation account in Genesis 1: “How It Happened” by Isaac Asimov My brother began to dictate in his best oratorical style, the one which has the tribes hanging on his words. “In the beginning,” he said, “exactly fifteen point two billion years ago, there was a big bang and the Universe–” But I had stopped writing. “Fifteen billion... Read more
Brian LePort shared a brilliant comment someone left on the Reclaiming the Mind blog on a post about evolution. I thought I should share it, tweaking it slightly to improve the punctuation, and expanding it to show how it relates not only to the interests of scientists but also (perhaps even more so) to others such as young-earth creationists. Here it is: God: “Now Mo, I want you to pass on the following information to the uneducated, polytheistic Hebrew slaves,... Read more
I’m planning on revising my book The Burial of Jesus: History and Faith and releasing the second edition as an ebook. Having spotted a post on IO9 about the claim that there is a tomb of Christ in Japan (a topic that has come to my attention from time to time), I am wondering (1) whether I need to include something about that subject in my book, and (2) whether I need to see about getting The Burial of Jesus... Read more
I’m grateful to a commenter for pointing out to me that on December 24th, The Guardian featured an op-ed piece on the Doctor from Doctor Who by Stephen Kelly, asking “Does Doctor Who feature a god for our times?” Here’s a sample: He may not be the messiah but this Sunday, one and all shall gather to worship in his name. That name being the Doctor: he who, the Scriptures of Moffat say, brings salvation wherever he goes – transforming... Read more
This classic episode of Doctor Who, “The Dalek Invasion of Earth,” featured (as the title indicates) the return of the Daleks. When Ian said he thought they had destroyed the Daleks on Skaro, the Doctor pointed out that that was at a different time, presumably in the future, while the Daleks clearly had spread elsewhere prior to that. This device would allow for enemies to return time and again. Having “defeated” the Daleks or the Cybermen or the Master on... Read more
The 2011 Doctor Who Christmas special, “The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe,” is full of all the magic one expects from a Doctor Who Christmas special. If you have yet to watch it, do not read on (but do click through and watch the prequel before watching the episode, since it depicts the moments immediately before the episode starts, and it really is useful to have seen it first). The Christmas special itself is full of surprises and they... Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In