Let me start this post with a quote from an alumnus of the Religion program at Butler University, something that he said on Facebook. Karl Hofstetter provides one of my favorite answers to the question “What can you do with a degree in religion?” This post began several years ago as I started collecting posts related to the different sorts of things that “biblical studies” can sometimes be in different contexts, a state of affairs that creates confusion among some... Read more
Tom McLeish wrote recently: It’s been a long and tiring century or more of fake news, but I nurture a precious hope (how can one live otherwise?) that the voices of evidence, reason and truth will ultimately prevail. One of the more persistent myths that have invaded our conversation, media and (very sadly) education, is the late Victorian invention that religious faith and science are necessarily in conflict. So prevalent and normalised is this assumption, that recent surveys in UK... Read more
The Genesis referred to in the title of this post is not the book in the Bible, but the band. Obviously the two are related. But they are not identical. I have started work on a book I have under contract, which I am writing together with my colleague in the Butler University School of Music Frank Felice, on Progressive Rock and Theology. This is a genre I love, but as I’ve dug into the genre through this lens, I’ve... Read more
There have been a number of blog posts about recent research by Elizabeth Schrader on Martha in the Gospel of John, and whether her presence is in fact an interpolation that caused some confusion and misidentifications related to the Mary mentioned alongside her in the majority of manuscripts. I think it will take a book-length treatment to explore how our portraits of the various women involved would change in light of this work. It probably won’t make sense for me... Read more
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
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In