Here’s what I wrote in a comment responding to some of the further discussion that has been taking place on the website of The Bible and Interpretation, which published an article by Raphael Lataster, my response to him, and his further response to me. I think my biggest problem with the discussion from mythicist perspectives, here and elsewhere, is the inability or unwillingness to discuss at the level of very minute details and specifics. If one paints with a broad brush,... Read more
I’m wondering whether it will be helpful or counterproductive to have students in my course on China this semester think about what Confucius advocated – accuracy of description, ritual and decorum, reciprocity, and so on – and relate that to the internet age. Some discussion forums insist on ritual and impose linguistic restrictions. We’ve had the odd experience here at Patheos of having Disqus impose restrictions on keywords like Islam (this is a religion site for crying out loud) and... Read more
As I have been gearing up to teach Global and Historical Studies courses again (China and the Islamic Middle East this semester and South Asian Civilizations the next), I’ve been reminded of the alleged Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” It was mentioned in an audiobook I was listening to about Confucius. It turns out that the saying is yet another apocryphal one that cannot be traced back to its supposed original source or context. But it is... Read more
I wasn’t sure what to call this post. A number of jokes come to mind. It isn’t every day, even for a religion professor, when a colleague comes up to you saying that they need help finding a demon! Now, to be clear, this individual is interested in finding out about a name for and ancient ideas about a demon, rather than conjuring the demon up. At least, that is what they have said to me. What one does with... Read more
One of my favorite things that I learned from teaching a Global and Historical Studies course about China is from the Daoist sage Chuang Tzu. He highlights how a person can be incredibly skilled, and yet if they enter a competition and there is a prize at stake, suddenly their competency is diminished. When we focus on a prize, it divides our attention. Here is what he wrote in his own words: When an archer is shooting for nothing, he... Read more
I know, I know. The title of the piece was “Using Star Trek to Teach Rabbinics.” How could it have taken me so many weeks to get around to blogging about it? In my defense, I was traveling when the piece appeared and I knew I should mention it here on my blog rather than merely circulating it on social media. Rebecca Kamholz writes: What I finally realized was that there is a genre familiar to us in modern life... Read more
The Bible and Interpretation has published a response I wrote to Raphael Lataster’s article that recently appeared there. His article is called “Questioning Jesus’ Historicity” and my response is called “Exorcising Mythicism’s Sky Demons.” Here is an excerpt from towards the end of the article: In case it may not be as clear to members of the general public as it is to academics, the mere publication of a book that makes the case for a particular viewpoint in no... Read more
When new technology makes a skill more essential than ever, I don’t think we can blame the technology for widespread laziness. True, it is easier than ever to ask a question and get an instant answer. But when, whether, and why one should or should not trust the answer one receives from Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, crowdsourcing, phoning a friend, or any other source is an important and obvious question that everyone ought to have been asking already, and merely continued... Read more
From the article in Salon about Dick’s turn to Christianity (famously of not just a vague Gnostic sort, but quite specifically Valentinianism): These science-fiction devotees had more influence on the cultural explosion of the sixties than is usually acknowledged. Indeed, one of the secret histories of the era is the migration of some very idiosyncratic bohemian writers from the tiny world of science-fiction fanzines into the emerging rock press, where they exerted an outsize influence on the vibrant spunk of the... Read more
In this video, Rob Orlando (maker of the documentary Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe and author of the book by the same name) suggests that Paul was inclined towards fanaticism – and like many who switch their allegiance from one group to another, even (or perhaps especially) a diametrically opposed one, he remained as fanatical as a Christian as he had been as a non-Christian Pharisee. He was just fanatical about something different. What do you think? I think this... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In