Tom Verenna has written an article which has just appeared online in The Bible and Interpretation which explains clearly and concisely why increasing numbers of scholars have reached the conclusion that the lead books allegedly discovered in Jordan are fakes. Read more
I moved back to the United States in the summer of 2001, having spent most of my time during the decade prior to that in Europe – in the UK as a student, and then as a professor in Romania. I managed to piece together enough work to make ends meet that year, teaching adjunct at two seminaries: Alliance Theological Seminary in lower Manhattan, and Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. I was scheduled to teach an evening class on... Read more
Perhaps the most significant thing that we have known all along but were reminded of forcefully in “The Girl Who Waited” is this: the Doctor is not infallible. It is not a given that he will make everything right by the end of the episode or the end of the season or the final episode of Doctor Who ever. Indeed, in some situations there is no way to “make things right.” If older Amy continued to exist, scarred by being... Read more
The following two quotes are obvious candidates. Which would you pick from the two – or would you propose a different one altogether? Read more
Today’s episode of Doctor Who was not merely a great one but a beautiful one. What a brilliant use of time travel to explore the people we are and the people we become, and what might happen if the time stream of the person we want to spend our life with gets out of sync with our own. Spoilers and theological and philosophical reflection ahead! The story begins with a simple and familiar premise: we have often seen the Doctor... Read more
Rod of Alexandria has begun reading and reviewing <i>Religion and Science Fiction</i>. He is already finding that the works explicitly mention could be substituted with countless other works of sci-fi too numerous to mention and the points made would still be relevant. That was one of the aims in putting the volume together: to make sure that, whatever specific examples contributors focused on, the content would be interesting and relevant to those who hadn’t read that particular story or watched... Read more
Here are some posts that are part of or relate to the ongoing discussion of the essential languages and tools for New Testament Study. Daniel Streett posted about the difference between reading a language fluently and being able to translate it word for word. Anyone who has learned to speak a modern language fluently will know that as long as you are translating each word individually in your head, you are not yet fluent. The closer one can get to... Read more
Via Blastr (If you don’t get it immediately, look at the sign on the wall behind him). Read more
This one is from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: But as a sci-fi fan, and as someone who doubts the sentience of octopuses, I find this one more meaningful: Read more
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The Evidence for a Historical Jesus/Against Mythicism in 400 Characters or Less
A commenter on a video of mine on YouTube is insisting that the evidence for Jesus be presented in YouTube comments, which limit you to a maximum of 400 characters. Having interacted with not only mythicists but also creationists and other detractors from mainstream scholarship on so many occasions, I know that the very reason why people with such viewpoints gravitate to YouTube for discussion is that the space constraints are bound to turn even the most well-documented scholarly theories... Read more