I was delighted to have the chance to make a guest appearance in Steven Schweitzer’s class on theology and science fiction at Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Indiana. Steve is working on a book about theology and science fiction, as well as teaching a class on the subject, and it was a real delight to get to spend several hours talking about this topic – focusing mostly on Star Trek. One line of conversation in the class will, I think, lead... Read more
Darrell Lackey wrote a post that has so much rich and provocative detail that I felt I should highlight it here on my own blog, and not just share a link to his post on social media. He writes: Only pride would ever lead a religious group or tradition, produced by an enormously complex matrix of historical events, to believe (as if similar events could not arise in the future) they were somehow a permanent feature of temporal time–blessed above all... Read more
WalMart has been the focus of a lot of attention because of how it pays its employees and other matters related to economic justice. Well, here’s another: they have been charging sales tax on water. Laws differ in certain cases that are understandable. Flavored waters, sweetened waters, bottles sold in vending machines are all taxed in at least some states in some instances. Indiana is rare in not imposing sales tax on most water. But in this case, we are... Read more
Laurie Gudim wrote: If the Holy Family were to seek refuge in the U.S. today as they did all those centuries ago in Egypt, a report much like this might be generated: “This family of asylum-seekers is questionable at best. The head of household, Joseph, says that Herod, the corrupt dictator of the country from which they have fled, is seeking to kill their son. There is no apparent basis for this highly improbable allegation other than a couple of... Read more
This quote came to my attention not long ago: There have been lots of things related to this theme that are worth sharing. For instance, this post challenging the idea that it is being overly intellectual that leads to a focus on doctrine and assent to propositions as defining faith, when it may be that the opposite is true: I’d say an intellectual disinterest in the faith has a tendency to lead to a “head” religion. American Evangelicalism is almost... Read more
Fred Clark sums up well one of the biggest problems with the way that many in our time, and Americans in particular, interpret the Bible: When 21st-century American Christians go looking for 21st-century America “in the Bible” they’re approaching the text in a way that ensures they’ll never see what it actually says. Their problem isn’t merely a howling anachronism, but a narcissism that won’t allow them to seek or to find anything but their own reflection. What were the... Read more
From the blog post at Land of Lost Content about Peter Dickinson’s Mass of the Apocalypse: The most challenging piece on this CD is the Mass of the Apocalypse, which was commissioned for the 300th anniversary of the radical Anglican St James’s Church, Piccadilly. It received its premiere there on 15 July 1984. It is certainly not a work that could be used in any liturgical context and can only be performed as a ‘concert piece’. Structurally, it is a mish-mash of words collated... Read more
The ReligionProf Podcast is back! In this episode I talk with Brandon Hawk about his new book, The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Nativity of Mary. I’m still debating whether I should try to keep up the pace of having an episode every week, should make it every other week or monthly, or should just do them as often or infrequently as happens to work out. I assume that podcasts are like blogs, and that people will for the most... Read more
I found an email in my junk email folder that is about the Book of Revelation, and I thought I would share it. This kind of stuff is nothing new, but often interesting, and so I thought a public record and discussion of it could be worthwhile, if only for the purposes of debunking and education. Hi, This is a very important public service announcement concerning our future well being. I found this information very interesting and should be... Read more
There is a lot that one can write about the music composed especially for Doctor Who. But there is also a lot to be written about the already-existing music that the show has included at times. For instance, Anton Bruckner is a composer whose music I love. Yet somehow I was not consciously aware of the fact that part of his Symphony No.7 (which I can immediately recognize) is incorporated into Part 5 of “The Mind Robber,” an episode from the... Read more
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