Mark Goodacre shared that he will be presenting two papers at the international SBL meeting in London this year, one of them in the same section as me (and perhaps we’ll even end up in the same session). They will be about the discovery of the Nag Hammadi codices, and the talking cross (or was it the crucified?) in the Gospel of Peter. Having to do with a different Mark, Phil Harland drew attention again to a conference in April... Read more

I just received word that my paper proposal for the Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism section at the SBL International Meeting in London in July has been accepted. Here’s the abstract: The Reception of Lukan Infancy Traditions in the Mandaean Book of John Chapter 18 A careful analysis of the relationship between Mandaean sources and Jewish, Christian, Islamic and other Gnostic literature is long overdue. If the older view that the Mandaeans originated among the followers of John the Baptist has... Read more

Paul Flesher at Religion Today suggests that we are not quite ready to meet extraterrestrials, since we still have a hard time appreciating the diversity in other human groupings and societies, never mind appreciating that any alien species we encounter will likely be as diverse as humanity is. Our tendency in science fiction at present is still to depict one species as having one culture – or perhaps two rival factions – but nothing close to the diversity found among... Read more

Another irony related to the mythicist emphasis on the existence of stories about Jesus not constituting proof of Jesus’ existence is this: Mythicists regularly weave stories about how they think Christianity might have arisen, how and why Gospels were composed, how Paul’s letters were composed and interpolated, and much else. They tell a story and treat their ability to do so as though it were proof of mythicism, or at least an argument in support of it. Is this not as self-contradictory as the claim... Read more

One of the pioneers in the realm of online journals, the Journal of Biblical Studies has long been dormant, due I believe to technical issues. Deirdre Good mentioned it today on her blog, and when I clicked on the link, it seemed to be gone altogether. Is this the end – or a sign that in fact technical difficulties are being resolved, and a rebirth awaits the journal in the near future? Read more

Visiting Assistant Professor in Religion Butler University is seeking to fill a one semester Visiting Assistant Professor in Religion position for the fall semester, 2011. The candidate selected will teach 3 undergraduate courses: Hinduism and 2 sections of Religions of the World (for a total of 9 hours). Ph.D. or ABD in religious studies field required, demonstrated collegiate teaching ability preferred, as well as demonstrated success in working with diverse populations. Please send by email a cover letter, CV, copies... Read more

HT Jesus Needs New PR. Apparently the clip is from a show Outnumbered which I’d never seen before. Read more

Jim Linville has a reply to my recent post about V and cargo cults. He is of course right that, at the very least, we would find vendors selling “real authentic alien gadgets” to cure your ails, or perhaps increase the size of certain parts of your anatomy. He is also right, I believe, that we would see older religions embracing elements of the extraterrestrial, perhaps in unexpected ways. http://fr.toonpool.com/cartoons/jesus%20flying%20saucer_73302 HT Jim Linville And if the aliens were atheists, presumably... Read more

Let me emphasize from the outset that I am talking about a particular brand of mythicism, one well represented in discussions on blogs like Vridar as well as by commenters here at Exploring Our Matrix. It is the type of mythicism which asserts that it is impossible to deduce the historicity of events on the basis only of details in texts. I can see how this principle, having been adopted, would lead naturally to Jesus agnosticism. If you view it as... Read more

A recent comment suggested that language in the Bible such as storehouses of snow, the dome over the earth, the earth’s immovable character, and so on, might all be metaphorical. After all, we use such language metaphorically today. But our use of it is a hangover from a bygone era when that language was presumed to be literal. And so the metaphorical approach seems to me to imply that the authors of the Bible used language metaphorically which their contemporaries... Read more