Chris Brady just posted that the next Biblical studies carnival will be held at his blog Targuman. Please click through and suggest posts to be included from Biblical Studies blogs you read. Read more
Chris Brady just posted that the next Biblical studies carnival will be held at his blog Targuman. Please click through and suggest posts to be included from Biblical Studies blogs you read. Read more
I heard from a relative today a story about a younger child in our family who asked her parent if God has hair. The parent had at least enough theological sophistication to recognize that it is inappropriate to say “yes” in response to such a question, and so answered “No.” The child looked puzzled, and said “So God is bald, then?” It occurred to me that this story illustrates the simplistic character of many discussions about God. If God is... Read more
I made it to Romania late last night. I just learned that my luggage has made it to Romania too, and should catch up with me this evening. Even so it has been nice to see relatives here, and I feel refreshed after the time spent in airports and airplanes. Tomorrow I leave for Israel. Read more
I wrote this post back in 2007, after I had just finished watching the episode of NOVA, “Judgment Day”, about the Dover intelligent design trial. What I liked best about it was the way it highlighted the predictive power of evolutionary theory, something often denied by creationists of various sorts. When we hear about the discovery of a transitional form or ‘missing link’ like Tiktaalik, it would be possible to presume that this discovery came about by accident. In fact, the paleontologists who found... Read more
Take one part overly-familiar Bible verses. Repeat these verses over and over again until a thick, opaque layer is formed. Use this layer to cover the remaining 39 parts consisting of Bible verses that do not talk about the same subject as those more familiar verses, verses which seem to disagree with them, as well as verses you don’t understand, verses you understand but do not put into practice, and any other verses you could happily live without. Bake until... Read more
What can one do if stranded waiting for a flight, or perhaps just waiting for a flight without unexpected delays? It is amazing how much work and how much entertainment you can bring with you on an iPad. Depending on the amount of free space you have, you can fill up with more books, working documents, comic books, recorded or downloaded TV shows, and probably much else. For the academic, proofreading the proofs of a book you edited is easy,... Read more
I have been stuck in Chicago since last night. I missed a flight to London because of a delay from Indianapolis. Indianapolis airport has free wi-fi thanks to Marriott which sponsors it. You watch a short video about them, and then can access the Internet. Chicago O’Hare on the other hand asks you to pay for Internet access, as does the nearby Hilton. If you are stranded in Chicago airport due to some fault of an airline, and they give... Read more
As I mentioned in a recent post, there is great difficulty fitting together the information in Matthew and Acts about Judas’ death and his connection with a field known as “The Field of Blood”. One has him buy the field, while the other has the authorities do so with his money. One has Judas fall headlong and burst open, the other has him hang himself. (To see the lengths to which some will go to harmonize them, click here). If we... Read more
I will be travelling for several days prior to going to Israel, and so I have scheduled some posts to appear on the blog during that period. If I don’t respond to comments during the next few days, it isn’t because of lack of interest, but I may actually not have internet access. But please do have conversations in my absence, and I’ll chime in as soon as I can! Read more
When does an openness to ‘taking things on faith’ become gullibility? Why should God view people favorably because they show themselves open to falling for claims that do not have evidentiary support? And if God does indeed value belief of that sort, why would a willingness to believe without sufficient evidence that an individual was raised from the dead 2,000 years ago be more positive than a willingness to believe that someone in Nigeria wants to transfer millions of dollars... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In