Carl Pace shared a favorite quote from the Maharal of Prague that I wanted to share here on the blog: It is wrong for those who love research and knowledge to dismiss any position that opposes their faith, especially if the opponent is not intending to provoke or vex but only to express his own belief. Even if his words are antithetical to their own beliefs and their religion, they should not say, “Stop speaking, shut your mouth,” for if... Read more
Some years ago I participated in a Wabash Center workshop that required me, as I worked on a research project, to keep a journal. My attitude going in was that the process would likely resemble this Dilbert comic strip: In fact, however, the experience was genuinely transformative. It made me appreciate that my workflow was not lengthy periods of frustrating procrastination followed by frantic work to meet a deadline or simply finish, as it sometimes seemed even to me (I can... Read more
I’m delighted to resume my blog series “Paul APB.” For those who may have forgotten or may be new to the blog, and thus may not get the pun, in the United States “APB” stands for “All Points Bulletin” and was a common way of referring to an urgent police message, especially when they were looking for someone. APB is also a good abbreviation for “A Polite Bribe,” which is part of the title of Rob Orlando’s great movie about... Read more
I continue to find the things that I read and watch while working on my book What Jesus Learned From Women fascinating, and the new things that jump out at me as I ask neglected questions truly remarkable. I’ll be sharing more about some of those things in blog posts in the not too distant future. But until I find the time to get to that, here’s a round-up of some things that I’ve found useful and interesting which I... Read more
I shared something a while back that led to me having a conversation with another white American male, one whose late wife was African-American and who has a child that is thus considered “black” in the American imposition of racist binaries. The conversation was about the idea and the terminology of white privilege. As our conversation proceeded, I very much started to grasp his perspective on what he found problematic about the terminology, in particular that privilege is not something... Read more
Even before I finished listening to the audiobook of Orson Scott Card’s novel Xenocide, I knew I was going to find and share this quote. Doing so was easy, since others had found it worth sharing before me. I appreciate the sentiment, and it is one that is theologically rich. Unlike many of humanity’s most classic and best-known depictions of the divine, a real God (whatever that might mean) ought not to be threatened by humans and so feel the need to... Read more
As someone who is fascinated by new technology, including robots, and who thinks that ancient technologies now taken for granted have a lot to teach us about the present and future when it comes to the current and potential impact of new technologies, this article about the impact of oxen in the ancient world fascinated me. Here’s a lengthy excerpt: If it sounds silly today to lament that oxen were taking the jobs of people 7,000 years ago, it is... Read more
Barton Breen wrote the above as a comment on Facebook, and I asked for permission to share it, since it sums up a point I’ve often made, but does so succinctly and memorably. Of related interest is the Sojourners piece on the fact that not everything “biblical” is Christlike, as well as this one on Patheos about whether the red letter are merely suggestions. Read more
A while back, Richard Beck pointed to Johnny Cash’s song “Belshazzar” as an example of the currency that certain stories or just phrases from the Bible once had, but largely no longer do. Being “weighed in the balance and found wanting” is the particular example in mind here, but there are obviously many others. Here’s the video of the Johnny Cash song: Georg Friedrich Haendel composed an oratorio around the story: Jean Sibelius and William Walton both composed works with... Read more
Bruce Gerencser shared something that a proponent of young-earth creationism recently said. Bodie Hodge of Answers in Genesis claims: Where Did a Young-earth Worldview Come From? Simply put, it came from the Bible. Of course, the Bible doesn’t say explicitly anywhere, “The earth is 6,000 years old.” Good thing it doesn’t; otherwise it would be out of date the following year. But we wouldn’t expect an all-knowing God to make that kind of a mistake. God gave us something better.... Read more
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